The Best Santoku Knife for the Most Delicate, Precise Knife Work

Before embarking on this product test, we feared that reviewing the best santoku knife and the best chef's knife would be redundant. Plus, Epicurious has gone on the record saying there are only a few kitchen knives a home cook really, truly needs: (a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife). But after a few conversations, we decided that the versatile santoku cannot be ignored. A style that originated in Japan, santokus are typically lightweight with a flat edge, and shorter than your average chef’s knife. This means they’re ideal for a wide range of uses (the name “santoku” translates to “three uses” or “three virtues” in Japanese). The best santoku knife should hold true to that multipurpose promise, light and comfortable enough to enable nimble knife work across a variety of ingredients. Read on for our top picks; for the specifics of how we tested and what to look for in a santoku knife, scroll to the bottom of the page.

Like the Mac chef's knife, Mac’s santoku knife is extremely sharp and well-priced at $72. While santoku knives have increased in popularity in the U.S. since the early 2000s, the Mac is one of the original versions on the market—and it's tough to beat. With a weight of 5.5 ounces, it's manageable and lightweight. The pakkawood handle is comfortable to grip and nicely balances the 6.5-inch blade, which is made of high-carbon steel and comes well-sharpened on both sides. The knife sliced through tough potatoes and minced delicate herbs with ease. It's no-fuss with a simple finish, lively and responsive in your hand, and great for people looking to buy their first santoku knife.

We have no real notes on this knife—it’s the one we found ourselves eager to reach for time and again, an overall joy to use. The one thing to be aware of is that the high amount of carbon in the steel blade makes this knife more prone to discoloration if you neglect to dry it properly. It’s a small aesthetic cost to pay for the durability and sharpness you get in return.

Weight: 5.5 ounces
Blade length: 6.5 inches
Handle length: 5 inches

The Misono UX10 santoku knife is an amazingly agile, light, and capable knife with an ultra-thin blade. This was the sharpest knife we tested, and it stayed sharp after rounds of copious slicing and dicing. The rounded edge at the front has a sharper point, which differentiates it from more standard santoku knives. The handle is slightly heavier than the Mac knife, but it tapers toward the front in a way that makes it easier to grip and choke up on, even if you have small hands. It comes with a notably higher price tag than the Mac at around $200, but the quality is evident in its high-end finish and agility. If you're an experienced cook looking to upgrade your knife set, we recommend this one.

This is a beautifully-crafted, super-sharp knife that will serve you for years to come if you treat it well—the only real downside is the price.

Weight: 5.6 ounces
Blade length: 7 inches
Handle length: 5 inches

Santoku translates to "three uses" or “three virtues” in Japanese, which refers to both the knife's superior ability to slice, dice, and mince, and its ability to handle meat, fish, and veggies with ease. In keeping with the Japanese style, santoku knives are lighter than most Western knives and have thinner blades. They're shorter than standard chef's knives (5-7 inches as opposed to 8-10 inches), and the end of the blade has a rounded curve, not a sharp point. Despite the rounded end, its cutting edge is flat, so the knife should always have a slicing motion rather than a rocking one. Similar to Western-style chef's knives, santoku knives tend to be sharpened on both sides (“double-bevel”), while Japanese-style chef's knives are usually only sharpened on one (“single-bevel” or “chisel grind”). For tips on using a whetstone and honing steel to maintain that razor-sharp edge, step right this way.

A santoku knife doesn't differ much from a chef's knife, but due to its rounded end, it combines the functions of a cleaver and a chef's knife in one. It's especially powerful for mincing delicate herbs and performing precise, ultra-thin knife work on vegetables. Because a chef's knife has a little more weight, power, and length behind it, you might find a santoku knife more manageable if you have small hands.

We tested the santoku knives on the same materials we used when testing chef's knives: tough sweet potatoes, delicate herbs, and raw onions. We looked at the knives' ability to cut through vegetables and do more precise work, like mincing. We observed the quality of the metal and sharpened edge, the feel of the handle, and the weight of the knife, noting whether the knives were comfortable to use over a period of time. In our original round of testing, former Senior Food Editor Anna Stockwell and test kitchen director Chris Morocco further tested the front-running knives and gave valuable feedback that informed our final decision.

We were definitely looking for something lightweight. To handle slicing, dicing, and mincing, the knife should be light in the hand and easy to slide back and forth.

We looked for a knife with a comfortable handle that wasn't too long or too heavy. A knife's responsiveness refers to how much you feel the blade react in your hand, which you can test by tapping the blade against the cutting board or counter (a responsive knife will vibrate back into your hand). We wanted a responsive knife because it gives you greater control while cutting.

How nice is the steel? How are the transitions between blade and handle—are they smooth and beautiful? How does the handle look? Is it well-made?

We didn't want blades that would catch on the potato's interior—we wanted clean, easy slicing. We then sliced and diced onions to determine the knives' precision. Certain knives made it easier to get consistently thin and even slices. Finally, we wanted a knife that could slice through piles of herbs without crushing, muddling, or mushing them.

We previously recommended the Victorinox as a budget pick, but the price has since jumped from under $40 to somewhere around $60, making it comparable in cost to our winning Mac. This knife is nowhere near luxurious but it's sharp out of the box and easy to sharpen in the long run. The plastic handle version of the knife is just 4.6 ounces, making it even lighter than the Mac, and is easy to grip. It handled our tests with precision and ease. We still like this knife and find it performs well, but unless you’re dead-set on a knife you can that you can put in the dishwasher (technically you can do that with this one), we’d recommend you shell out the extra $10 for the Mac.

In our 2019 update, we had high hopes for the Tojiro santoku knife as it was a favorite at other review sites. It was a good knife, and it's just slightly cheaper than the winning Mac knife. However, we found it too heavy and large—especially when lightness and agility are key features to look for in a santoku knife. While that knife was only slightly heavier than the winning Mac, it made a difference when it came to delicate knife work.

The Misen knife was massively heavy—heavy enough to feel like Western-style chef's knives, in fact. This kept it from beating out our top-selected Japanese-style knives.

This knife has since been discontinued, but we had similar issues with it as we did the Misen—namely, it was too heavy for the task at hand.

We found the Miyabi Artisan santoku knife sharp, lightweight, and comfortable to hold. There wasn't much not to like, but we don't think the price tag (close to $180 at the time of publishing) justifies buying it over the Mac knife. Both had equal performances, and we’d only opt for this knife over the Mac based on looks.

Like the Artisan, this knife from Miyabi is also visually stunning and beautifully crafted, with its Damascus stainless steel blade and black pakkawood handle. It performed well across our tests, effortlessly slicing through tough sweet potatoes and delicately mincing herbs. In the end, we preferred the handle shape of both the Mac and the Misono because they were more comfortable to grip and shorter in length, allowing for more control. That said, if you have larger hands or prefer to grip something more rounded, and you’re drawn to the knife’s elevated design, this Miyabi will serve you well.

We liked the Shun knife, another aesthetically pleasing option with a great sharpness to its Damascus steel blade. But as is characteristic of Shun, the knife was a little too heavy and long for our taste.

The Kramer by Zwilling santoku is made of high-quality steel and was sharp out of the box, but we found it to be too bulky in the handle and less agile than we wanted. Plus, it costs $250!

This budget-friendly option from Mercer performed well in our tests, but it was noticeably heavier than most other knives we tried, and the bulky plastic handle was uncomfortable to grip.

This knife was unlike any other we tested because of its unique shape: Rather than the flat edge typical of a santoku, it has a curved blade meant to give you the ability to use the sort of rocking motion you might expect from a German or western-style chef’s knife. We liked the way this knife was able to rock back and forth over herbs, but found that it didn’t fit with what we were looking for in our quest for the best santoku knife—for tasks like slicing through sweet potatoes, we preferred the flat edge of our other options. We also didn’t love the comparably thinner shape of the handle.

We recommend the Classic Chef’s Knife from Global as a runner-up in its category, so it comes as no surprise that we liked their santoku version as well. The Global knife is a tad weightier than the Mac, but the ergonomic handle is hollow and filled with sand to perfectly balance the blade. The handle’s thinner, more rounded shape may also be preferable for some users to grip—and we found the subtle, seamless indentation between the handle and the blade to be a comfortable place for our thumbs. This knife is a solid option, but at upwards of $115 at the time of publishing, we didn’t find it outperformed the Mac.

This knife from Zwilling was sharp out of the box and performed well, but we ultimately felt the balance between the weight of the handle and that of the blade felt off, and the handle was bulkier than we’d have liked.

This entry from Wüsthof was in the running for our luxe recommendation: Its super sharp blade—made of high-carbon German steel—enabled us to make ultra-precise cuts no matter what we put it up against, and the full tang, triple-riveted design of the handle felt sturdy and well-made without being at all bulky. In the end, we preferred the look, feel, and construction of the Misono enough to justify the extra $25, but the Wüsthof would still make a great choice —especially if you fancy the idea of a lavender-hued addition to your knife set (the polypropylene handle comes in 7 colors!)

For a santoku knife that is both a high performer and an economical choice, go for the Mac Knife Superior. For an expensive next-level knife with great finishes and unbeatable agility, opt for the Misono UX10.

Want more product recommendations delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the Well-Equipped newsletter.