To Find the Best Nakiri Knives, I Sliced and Diced Loads of Vegetables

Years ago, I got it in my head that I wanted a nakiri knife. Most Western-style chef’s knives were too bulky for me (or so I thought at the time), and the sleek form factor of this Japanese vegetable knife promised a nimbler, more refined cutting experience. But I had no idea what I was looking for and purchased a knife that, while sharp, was too heavy, with a thick blade and clunky handle. In my ignorance, I’d bought a knife just like the Western-style knives I struggled with. Yes, a nakiri needs some heft and durability to glide through potatoes or break down a squash. But it’s not a meat cleaver, and it should also be sharp, nimble, relatively lightweight, and comfortable to hold. 

We first tested nakiri knives in 2022. However, our winner was discontinued, so I took up arms (er, blades) in a quest to find a new set of champions. To do so, I ran 12 knives through the wringer: I cut up a dozen tomatoes and minced so many shallots that my whole house smelled like alliums. I also used each nakiri to dice a sweet potato and evaluated my favorites’ agility by coring and slicing bell peppers. It was a test of wills, blades, and dexterity, and while most knives performed admirably, here at Serious Eats, not everything can be a winner. 

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Nakiri Knife

Tojiro Fujiro DP Cobalt Alloy Steel Split with Base Deba Knife

$100 at Amazon

This is basically an updated version of our previous winner, and it brought serious chops to the vegetable prep game. It has a sharp blade and comfortable handle and was the cheapest knife I tested.

Another Fantastic Nakiri Knife

GLOBAL 7 Inch Vegetable Knife

$125 $100 at Amazon $100 at Williams Sonoma View on Globalcutleryusa.com

This was a previous winner that retained its laurels. It’s sharp and balanced, and it cleanly cleaved through every piece of produce. Senior commerce editor Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm received this knife as a gift from her mom years ago, and it’s still one of her go-tos. “I've owned this knife since 2013 and heavily use it to this day,” she says. “While the Global's dimpled handle can be divisive, I really like how grippy it is.”

The Best Mid-Priced Nakiri

Yoshihiro 16 Layer Hammered Damascus Stainless Steel Nakiri Vegetable Knife

$145 at Amazon

This knife was Sharp with a capital S. While I initially pooh-poohed it for its gaudy aesthetic (the “mahogany” handle decidedly did not look like real wood), it performed well in all of my tests. It cleanly and delicately minced shallots and tackled sweet potatoes without a hitch. (Literally, it didn’t get stuck.) 

The Best Splurge-Worthy Nakiri

Messermeister Olivia Elite 6.5" Nakiri Knife

$180 $144 at Sur La Table View on Bespokepost.com

This knife is so beautiful. But even better, it performed well, too, slicing quickly through tomato skin, cleanly cutting shallots, and cleaving sweet potatoes with little effort. The olive wood handle was smooth and perfectly proportioned. 

The Tests

• Blade Sharpness Test: I used a professional blade edge tester to measure the sharpness of each knife straight out of the box. I repeated this after testing, too. 
• Paper Test: Before using the knives on vegetables, I cut through a piece of printer paper with each model. This test gave an anecdotal impression of each blade’s sharpness. 
• Tomato Test: I used each knife to slice a tomato, noting if it struggled to cut through the rubbery skin. 
• Shallot Test: I minced a shallot with each knife to test nimbleness and maneuverability and to see how sharp the blade was. 
• Sweet Potato Test: I cut a large sweet potato into one-inch chunks with each knife to evaluate the blade’s strength, durability, and control. I noted when any knife cracked the sweet potato rather than cleanly slicing through it. However, during this test, I noticed some potatoes were harder to cut than others. This made it less of a decisive test when choosing winners. 
• Bell Pepper Test (Winners Only): I stemmed, cored, and sliced bell peppers with the finalists. This test examined agility and also tested the knives’ blades on rubbery pepper skin. 
• Cleaning and Care Test: I hand-washed and dried the knives and noted if they stained or blemished.

What We Learned

What Is a Nakiri Knife?

A nakiri is a Japanese vegetable knife. (Its full name, nakiri bōchō, translates to “leaf cutter.”) As Josh Donald, owner of Bernal Cutlery in San Francisco, California, explains, “Before the Western influence, knives were very much separated to task. The nakiri was your vegetable knife, and the notion of going between animal and vegetable with a knife wasn’t part of the Japanese batterie de cuisine.” The deba, a fish knife, is another example of this task-oriented construction. While historically considered vegetable knives, nakiri knives are also great for slicing up softer proteins like chicken breast or pork tenderloin. I’ve even used mine to break down a small chicken since I’m not cutting through bone (leave that to a meat cleaver). 

Nakiri have rectangular blades with a relatively flat, double-beveled cutting edge and rounded tips (though some blades get creative and have pointy ends). Unlike a Western-style chef’s knife, which has a round belly and uses a rocking motion, a nakiri requires a slicing action, a.k.a push cutting, where you slide the blade forward and back. 

Most Nakiri I Tested Were Sharp

All of the blades were sharper than a utility razor blade out of the box and none dulled majorly during my tests. Of the winners, the Yoshihiro was the sharpest, with an average pressure of 83.3 grams needed to cut through the wire on the edge sharpness tester—for reference, that’s sharper than a double-edged razor blade. (Note: Some knives seemed to become sharper after testing, though I chalk this up to variability in testing blade sharpness; it’s not exact. I also think it shows that the knives remained quite sharp.)   

All this said, throughout my years of testing knives, I’ve found that sharpness readings should be taken with a grain of salt. Oftentimes a blade will read as super sharp, only to feel significantly less so when used. This was the case with a few knives in my arsenal, namely the Mac. While it required a mere 128 grams of pressure to cut through the wire (well below the 200-gram utility razor mark), its true colors showed while slicing produce: It slipped on tomato skin and roughly hewed through shallots, a disappointing performance.

Thinner, Lighter Blades Were Better 

A nakiri, while slightly similar in shape to a cleaver, functions nothing like them. Meat cleavers are heavy and thick and can crack through sinew and thin bones and cartilage. Nakiri, on the other hand, are made for cleaving through hardy root vegetables or finely slicing scallions, not whacking through bone. As such, a good nakiri shouldn’t be super heavy, and the blade should be relatively thin for precise prep work. My favorite nakiri from Tojiro hit the sweet spot, with enough heft to cut through fibrous sweet potatoes but also a light touch and agile blade when slicing tomatoes and coring bell peppers.

Conversely, the wide heavy blade on the Cangshan wedged into items, resulting in bruised shallots and cracked sweet potatoes. It felt more like a small cleaver than a nakiri.

Balanced, Tapered Handles Were More Comfortable

As we’ve noted in other knife reviews, handle preferences are just that. I have petite hands and prefer thinner, shorter handles that are easy to grip and don’t dig into my wrist. This made the short, straight handle on the winning Tojiro a pleasure to use; ditto with the thin handle on the Global. While the Messermeister’s olive wood handle was longer than I prefer, the curved shape and buttery smooth finish were comfortable to hold. Bulbous handles, like on the Miyabi Kaizen, were tiring to grip.  

A balanced handle, on the other hand, is less subjective than shape—if the knife is weighed down on either end, it’s trickier to control and maneuver. This was the case with the Cangshan, which has a thick, weighty blade and a lighter handle. The Shun, while a solid knife, also fell prey to this with a slight imbalance between blade and handle. 

Damascus Steel Blades Looked Good, But Stuck to Produce

We’ve written an in-depth piece about Damascus steel that details its history and what it is, but TLDR: Modern Damascus steel is an aesthetic option and with it comes gorgeous, swirled designs or shimmering fish scale-like patterns (see one of my favorite petty knives from Shun for an example). However, it won’t improve the knife’s performance and, in the case of my testing, it actually proved a hindrance. The Zwilling Bob Kramer and Miyabi Kaizen both had textured metal ripples on their blades which, while beautiful, created some resistance when cutting; the pattern gripped at shallots and sweet potatoes as I brought the blades down. 

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Nakiri Knife

I preferred nakiri knives with thinner, lighter blades, which were more versatile and didn’t mash produce. Look for blades that weigh close to seven ounces and that are about two millimeters thick. This leads to a blade that can readily break down hardy root vegetables while still being adept at prepping more delicate items, like herbs or garlic. Sharpness is key—you don’t want a knife that struggles to cut through a tomato’s or pepper’s skin—and most of the knives I tested passed this test. Finally, look for a balanced knife with a handle that’s comfortable to hold.

Our Favorite Nakiri Knives

The Best Nakiri Knife

Tojiro Fujiro DP Cobalt Alloy Steel Split with Base Deba Knife

$100 at Amazon

What we liked: Like our previous winner from Tojiro, this knife had it all: It’s sharp, lightweight, and nimble. It precisely minced shallots and slid through tomato skin like a hand sliding into a silk glove. Sweet potatoes were also no match for its keen blade, and the slim, balanced handle made it easy to control. 

What we didn’t like: While it technically wasn’t as sharp as the Yoshihiro, it was still very sharp. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 7.1 ounces
• Handle material: Pakkawood (a wood and plastic resin composite)
• Blade material: VG-10 stainless steel core with 3-ply clad construction
• Blade length: 6.5 inches
• Handle length: 4.75 inches
• Spine thickness at widest point: 2 millimeters
• Total knife length: 9.6 inches
• Out-of-the-box sharpness average: 115 (utility razor blade sharp)

Another Fantastic Nakiri Knife

GLOBAL 7 Inch Vegetable Knife

$125 $100 at Amazon $100 at Williams Sonoma View on Globalcutleryusa.com

What we liked: With a slightly curved blade, this knife is more forgiving for someone new to the push-cutting motion. It’s also nicely balanced, very sharp, and felt incredibly agile, especially when mincing shallots. While nimble, it still had enough heft to cut through sweet potatoes like butter. 

What we didn’t like: Some might not love Global’s signature dimpled metal handle and the lack of a bolster. I found its slim, tapered handle shape quite comfortable to hold, though it was slippery when washing it. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 6.8 ounces
• Handle & blade material: Cromova 18 stainless steel (a blend of chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium that is exclusive to Global)
• Blade length: 7 inches
• Handle length: 4.75 inches
• Spine thickness at widest point: 2 millimeters 
• Total knife length: 12 inches
• Out-of-the-box sharpness average: 132 (utility razor blade sharp)

The Best Mid-Priced Nakiri Knife

Yoshihiro 16 Layer Hammered Damascus Stainless Steel Nakiri Vegetable Knife

$145 at Amazon

What we liked: This knife was a lesson in “don’t judge a book by its cover.” At first glance, I thought the knife looked cheaply made, but holy heck, the blade was sharp. It whistled through tomatoes, shallots, sweet potatoes, and bell peppers without a hitch. While the handle was not my favorite looks-wise, it was balanced and curved to fit my hand nicely. 

What we didn’t like: How do I say this kindly? It’s, well, not the prettiest. The mahogany handle has a plastic sheen to it, and the shiny, dimpled blade that fades into Damascus ripples looks tacky. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 6.3 ounces
• Handle material: Mahogany
• Blade material: VG-10 stainless steel
• Blade length: 6.5 inches
• Handle length: 4.75 inches
• Spine thickness at widest point: 2 millimeters
• Total knife length: 11.5 inches
• Out-of-the-box sharpness average: 83 (double-edge razor blade sharp)

The Best Splurge-Worthy Nakiri Knife

Messermeister Olivia Elite 6.5" Nakiri Knife

$180 $144 at Sur La Table View on Bespokepost.com

What we liked: This eye-catching knife was balanced and keen; it swiftly sliced through produce both hardy and tender. The pointed tip was great for making precise cuts when mincing shallots or garlic. I also liked the smooth olive wood handle, which had a nice curve to it and felt balanced with the blade. 

What we didn’t like: The blade is slightly different from a traditional nakiri in that it’s cut at a severe angle at the end and has an arc between the bolster and the heel. This didn’t affect performance, though the cutting motion did take some getting used to. The handle was also a bit long for me. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Handle material: Olive wood
• Blade material: Stainless carbon alloy
• Blade length: 6.5 inches
• Handle length: 4.75 inches
• Spine thickness at widest point: 2 millimeters
• Total knife length: 13.25 inches
• Out-of-the-box sharpness average: 128 (utility razor blade sharp)

The Competition

Also Recommended 

• Shun Classic Blonde Nakiri Knife: While I found the handle a bit too long and chunky for my liking, this was a wicked sharp knife that sailed through the tests with aplomb. 
• Milk Street Nakiri: This knife weighed a mere six ounces and had a thin 1.6-millimeter blade, making it supremely nimble. It was sharp, too—though it struggled slightly to dice a sweet potato, likely because it’s so lightweight. 
• Zwilling Pro 6.5-inch, Nakiri Knife: This knife was nearly a winner except that less expensive knives performed similarly, if not better. Still, it’s a nicely balanced and keen blade, and I liked the compact, slim handle, too. 
• Miyabi Evolution Nakiri Knife: Made by Zwilling, this is a beautiful—if slightly large—nakiri that did well in all my tests. The blade outweighed the handle, making it slightly imbalanced. The handle was also long, though it was slim and comfortably curved. 
• Zwilling Bob Kramer Damascus Steel Nakiri Knife: It’s an undoubtedly beautiful, well-performing knife—but it’s also an expensive one. The winner from Tojiro is a quarter of the price and is just as good, though less eye-catching. The handle was also bulbous. 
• WÜSTHOF Classic 7" Hollow Edge Nakiri Knife: The indents along the blade kept tomato slices and shallots from sticking, but they hitched on sweet potatoes. 

Not Recommended 

• MAC Knife Japanese Series 6 1/2" Vegetable Cleaver: While this knife looked similar to the winning Tojiro, it just wasn’t as sharp. It struggled to cut through rubbery tomato skin and caused small cracks when slicing sweet potatoes. 
• Miyabi Kaizen II Nakiri: While this was a beautiful, sharp blade with Damascus steel ripples, you can get a great knife for less. The handle was bulky, and the wavy steel cladding stuck to produce when slicing. 
• Cangshan TS Series 7-Inch Nakiri Knife: This chunky nakiri spliced instead of cleanly sliced, though it was sharp. The heavy knife thudded down when cutting, in part because the blade was much heavier than the handle.
• Made In Nakiri Knife: This tastefully branded knife had a comfortable handle, but the blade’s round belly made it feel a little too much like a Western-style mashup than a true nakiri. It was also one of the dullest knives I tested. 
• Zwilling Gourmet 6.5" Nakiri Knife: While similar to the Zwilling Pro, this knife wasn’t as sharp.
• JIKKO Mille-Feuille Nakiri Knife: A beautiful blade, but one that didn’t stand out in tests. It also felt a little duller than the winners. 
• Kai Wasabi 6.5" Nakiri Knife: Facing resistance in all the tests, this knife just couldn’t cut it (literally). 
• Togiharu Hammered Texture Damascus Nakiri: Nearly identical to the JIKKO, the Togiharu was less sharp and struggled to slice through tomato skin. 
• Masamoto Sohonten White #2 Kasumi Kuro-Nakiri: This looked (and performed) more like a cleaver than a nakiri. The blade was thick (a whopping four millimeters) and wedged into vegetables. 
• Mercer Culinary Genesis 7" Nakiri Vegetable Knife: No one likes cutting with a blunt blade. Unfortunately, this leaden nakiri was dull right out of the box. 

FAQs

What is a nakiri knife good for?

Nakiri are vegetable knives, though they can be used to slice meat and fish, too. While they can handle sturdy produce like sweet potatoes and honeynut squash, super thick-skinned produce (lookin’ at you, kabocha) is best avoided lest you chip the blade. 

Which size nakiri knife is best?

The blades I tested were between six-and-a-half and seven inches long, though I didn’t notice a difference with the half-inch either way. Instead, look for a blade that is sharp, nimble, and that has a handle that you find comfortable.

How do you sharpen a nakiri knife? 

We’ve long recommended using a whetstone to sharpen knives, and that advice holds with a nakiri. Knife expert Josh Donald suggests starting on a medium grit stone that’s in the 800 to 1200 grit range, then finishing on a stone that is between 3000 and 4000 for stainless steel knives or 4000 to 8000 for carbon steel knives. A honing rod can be used in between sharpenings to keep the blade’s edge aligned nicely, too. 

Can I use a nakiri knife for meat?

For sure! Nakiri are great at slicing boneless meats or fish. I’ve even used mine to break down a chicken (not cutting through bone, though). 

How do you use a nakiri knife?

Western-style knives often have rounded blades, which makes them apt for a rock-chop cutting motion. Nakiri, on the other hand, have straight-edged blades designed for push-cutting. This motion involves pushing the blade forward through whatever you’re cutting, then pulling it up and back. 

What is the difference between a nakiri knife and a santoku knife? 

Both are hard-steel blades with straight edges, but the shapes are quite different. A santoku has a sheep’s foot shape (the spine of the blade curves down toward the tip) while a nakiri is more rectangular. Both can be used to prep vegetables and cut boneless meats. 

What is the difference between a nakiri knife and an usuba knife? 

A nakiri has a double beveled edge, meaning both sides of the blade are sharpened at an angle; this makes them very versatile. An usuba knife only has a single bevel and is often used for carving garnishes for sushi, like tsuma (flossy daikon threads). If you want to buy an usuba, make sure the bevel is on the opposite side of the hand you’re using. For example, if you’re right-handed, the bevel should be on the left side of the blade. Single-bevel blades like an usuba take a little more practice and skill to use than double-bevel blades, like a nakiri.

What is the best nakiri knife under $160?

All of our favorite nakiri knives are under $160, though we'd point you directly to our favorite knife from Tojiro, which was sharp and exacting in our tests.

Why We’re the Experts

• Grace Kelly is a commerce editor at Serious Eats, where she’s been testing gear for more than two years. 
• She’s tested many blades for the site, including deba and petty knives, and Chinese cleavers.
• For this review, Grace tested 12 nakiri knives by using them to mince shallots, slice tomatoes, dice sweet potatoes, and core and cut bell peppers. She also tested the blades' sharpness before and after testing. 
• This piece was first written in 2022 by Ashlee Redger, who tested 13 blades. Unfortunately, our winner from that review was discontinued, so we tested 12 new knives and added our findings. 
• Ashlee interviewed Josh Donald, owner of Bernal Cutlery and author of Sharp, for the original review, and we repurposed some of his quotes in this current iteration.