:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/faw-santoku-knives-primary-rkilgore-0191-1-267084372d45499a865505132096a294.jpeg?ssl=1 "The 7 Best Santoku Knives of 2026, Tested & Reviewed")
Essentially the Japanese version of the chef’s knife, the santoku is an all-purpose blade that should be the first one you reach for when you start any recipe. The light, sharp, and nimble santoku can make quick work of almost anything, from shredding cabbage for coleslaw to dicing dense root vegetables for cozy winter recipes.
If you’re used to a European-style chef’s knife, switching to a santoku can make your everyday kitchen prep just a little bit faster. There are lots of options out there, and I tested 15 models to find the best santoku knives.
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The deeply rounded belly on Zwilling’s rocking santoku blade looks quite different from others, but it works just the same. What impressed me most in testing was just how sharp this santoku is. It glided through everything and was the only knife that sliced all the way through a piece of steak in a single stroke. It chopped garlic efficiently into a paste and made peeling a sweet potato a breeze.
This is the heaviest santoku I tested by a full ounce, which gives it lots of power, but the perfect weight balance and substantial handle ensure good control, too. The rivets and joints are perfectly smooth, which is always a sign of quality construction.
As the name suggests, the Zwilling Pro Rocking Santoku is designed for chopping using a rocking motion. The rounded blade supposedly makes fine chopping more efficient, but I didn’t find the shape any better than a more traditional santoku — this knife’s high level of sharpness is its secret. I feel the same way about the angled tip. It doesn’t offer any finer control than the rounded tips of the other santokus I tested. From a purely aesthetic perspective, both features are striking, but neither makes much difference in performance.
My only real problem with this knife in my tests was how badly everything stuck to its surface. Despite the hollow-edge divots that are supposed to prevent this type of thing, I had to peel each slice of cheese off the blade with my fingers, and I had to keep sweeping all the garlic back onto the cutting board every few chops.
Blade length:Â 7 inches |Â Blade material:Â Stainless steel |Â Total length:Â 12.3 inches |Â Handle material:Â Plastic |Â Weight:Â 8.8 ounces
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We’re big fans of the Made In brand here at Food & Wine, especially its stainless steel and nonstick cookware. The brand’s Japanese Damascus Steel Knife Set has proven its value, too, taking a top spot in my nakiri tests as well as here.
This santoku is gorgeous, with a swirling Damascus pattern from 66 layers of steel. It proved up to every task in my testing, standing out especially well with sweet potato, which peeled like I was using a straight razor. It’s on the heavier side, which helped split the dense potato, yet I had plenty of control to cut both the potato and the steak into very even cubes. It was also a joy to crush garlic cloves with smooth, rapid chopping. I did have to put in some extra effort and sawing to get through the sticky mozzarella; the Made In wound up in the middle of the pack in that test, but at the top for all the rest.
The main negative of this knife is its price. It was the third most expensive santoku in my test. I say it’s worth every cent, but there are great options at a lower cost.
Blade length:Â 6.5 inches |Â Blade Material:Â Stainless steel |Â Total length:Â 11.75 inches |Â Handle material:Â Plastic |Â Weight:Â 7.2 ounces
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After the sub-$40 price, my second-favorite thing about Mercer’s Genesis santoku is its handle. The soft, rubbery Santoprene material has an almost sticky texture that’s incredibly secure to hold but rinses and washes off just like the smooth plastic of other models. The knife is heavy enough to feel substantial, but it’s still well-balanced. Combined with the grip, that makes this a very agile santoku.
Where you sacrifice to save cost with this knife is in sharpness. It did…okay in my tests, needing a lot of force to get through the sweet potato and making pretty uneven slices of mozzarella. It sliced the steak and chopped the garlic efficiently, though the ingredients didn’t stick to the blade as much as with other knives.
The truth is that you can get a better-performing santoku than this one — but you’ll have to pay at least three times as much. The Mercer’s low price makes it a truly amazing value.
Blade length:Â 7 inches |Â Blade material:Â Carbon steel |Â Total length:Â 12.25 inches |Â Handle material:Â Santoprene |Â Weight:Â 7.3 ounces
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The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Misono was how light it feels. The blade and handle are both pretty standard in size and shape, but this knife weighs 2 to 3 ounces less than competitors’ knives. Yet it’s still well-balanced, which makes it incredibly agile. Santokus can be on the bulky side, but Misono’s model is mobile enough to peel and detail like a paring knife or prep bowls of heavy-duty veggies.
The Misono santoku is also really sharp. It chopped onion and garlic quickly and handled the butternut squash without issue despite its light weight. I didn’t have to press on the spine to get through the hard squash, something I often had to do even with heavier models. The only thing that puts this knife behind the Zwilling Pro in performance is that it requires a second stroke to fully separate meat slices.
The other problem with the Misono is its price. This is a rare combination of sharpness and agility, and you have to pay a good bit for it. But if you can afford it and prefer a lightweight knife, this is a perfect santoku.
Blade length:Â 7 inches |Â Blade material:Â Stainless steel |Â Total length:Â 12 inches |Â Handle material:Â Wood composite |Â Weight:Â 5.5 ounces
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Where the Made In santoku stood out, cutting through a hard sweet potato, the Miyabi Kaizen one impressed me most with how it handled softer ingredients. It went through steak like a scalpel and was able to make paper-thin slices of cheese that didn’t stick to the blade in the least. (On the other hand, it didn’t perform so well with the sweet potato, needing a lot of extra weight to chop through the dense flesh.)
It’s on the heavy side, but this model felt notably light in my hand, a testament to its excellent design. The blade is a standard 7 inches, but the whole knife is longer than normal, thanks to an extended bolster. This leaves lots of room to accommodate different grip styles and cutting techniques. The smooth oval handle has no corners to dig into your palm, but won’t spin around even in greasy hands because it’s not completely circular.
The Kaizen series is the middle-of-the-road line from the high-end Miyabi brand, which puts this santoku’s price a bit above average. If you like the rounded handle style, it’s a great choice, though it’s a little less sharp than my other winners.
Blade length:Â 7 inches |Â Blade material:Â Stainless steel |Â Total length:Â 12.5 inches |Â Handle material:Â Micarta |Â Weight:Â 7.6 ounces
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The artisanal knives from Wyoming-based New West are works of art, each with a one-of-a-kind design. This lightweight santoku features a unique engraved outline of the Teton Mountain Range serving as both an anti-stick Granton edge and an homage to the brand’s home. There are eight colorful ombré handle designs (plus a plain black) made from ultra-durable G10 epoxy, with perfectly flush, smooth rivets. The construction of this knife is absolutely impeccable. It looks great and feels incredible to hold, secure, and superbly balanced.
Unfortunately, the astronomically expensive Teton Edge Santoku delivered average cutting performance in my tests. It struggled a bit with steak, requiring some back-and-forth sawing to slice through the fatty sections. It did a fine job with slicing and chopping all the veggies, but didn’t really stand out. Overall, it’s a good everyday knife that looks — and is priced — like a collector’s item.
Blade length:Â 7 inches |Â Blade material:Â Stainless steel |Â Total length:Â 13 inches |Â Handle material:Â G10 composite |Â Weight:Â 7.4 ounces
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The Victorinox santoku was a pleasant surprise in testing, with an extremely sharp blade that performed much better than I expected, given the light weight and plain wooden handle. It chopped garlic thoroughly and quickly, and it sliced meat into accurate, even cubes without much sawing.
The handle is this knife’s main weakness. It’s uncomfortably narrow, the rivet joints aren’t smooth, and the wood has a slightly rough texture. It’s also shorter than normal.
In short, the Victorinox santoku is a cheap knife that feels cheap but cuts well. It would be my pick for best value if the even-cheaper Mercer above didn’t have such a comfortable grip.
Blade length:Â 7 inches |Â Blade material:Â Stainless steel |Â Total length:Â 11 inches |Â Handle material:Â Rosewood |Â Weight:Â 4.6 ounces
How I Tested Santoku Knives
Food & Wine
I’ve tried 15 different santoku knives across two rounds, testing most twice. Beginning with overall design, handle comfort, and weight balance, I rated the blades across a range of characteristics as I ran a series of identical tests.
- Onion test: As an overall general performance test, I used the santoku knives to dice an onion. I noted how easily the knife sliced through the flesh and judged agility by whether I was able to cut evenly sized pieces.
- Hard produce test: I used each santoku to halve, peel, and chop a sweet potato or butternut squash into cubes. Cutting through dense flesh was a good way to judge each knife’s power and precision with heavy items, and peeling helped assess the knife’s sharpness.
- Mozzarella test: To measure performance with soft, sticky ingredients, I used each knife to slice a small ball of mozzarella. I noted how much effort and back-and-forth sawing it took to get through the cheese, how easily I could get thin, even slices, and how much the slices stuck to the side of the knife.
- Garlic test: To rate chopping performance, I used each santoku to chop three peeled garlic cloves thoroughly. I noted how efficiently each knife cut through the garlic and how much time and effort I needed to reduce it to a fully minced texture.
- Steak test: I used each santoku to cut 3 ounces of steak into cubes, noting whether any blades had trouble slicing through the meat and how easily they produced even pieces.
- Cleaning: Between tests, I hand-washed each knife, noting those that needed extra scrubbing on the blade or handle, and any that were especially slippery when wet.
Food & Wine / Jason Horn
Only after completing all my other tests did I reveal the retail prices of the santokus to consider value for money. At the time of testing, the santokus ranged from $38 to $369, with an average of $155.
What I Looked For in the Best Santoku Knives
Blade Material and Design
Steel — a mix of carbon and iron — is by far the most common material used for knives of all kinds. Japanese knives, in particular, are often made from carbon steel, which contains more carbon, making it harder than standard steel and able to hold a finer edge for longer. The disadvantage of carbon steel is that it’s more brittle and more susceptible to rust. Stainless steel is made with added chromium, which makes it shiny and rust-resistant, but softer and less sharpenable. There are many “recipes” for steel, each with different combinations of properties, and some knives also layer multiple steels to achieve different effects.
With the santoku in particular, the exact shape of the blade is important. The knife’s edge should be rounded for a rocking cut, but different models have different curves that work best with different knife techniques. A santoku’s broad blade gives it power and is useful for things like crushing garlic cloves, but the shape typically makes it heavy for its size — and each santoku is a little different in height, length, and weight.
Another design aspect to look for is a Granton edge. This is a series of divots carved into the blade that create air pockets so food doesn’t stick. It’s especially helpful if you plan to slice a lot of meat, cheese, or other wet or sticky ingredients.
Handle Material and Design
It doesn’t matter how sharp the blade is; if a knife is painful to hold or slips out of your hand, it’s not a good knife. There are many handle shapes available, and I find that the best ones are neither perfectly round nor perfectly square. Sharp corners are secure in the hand, but they’re not particularly comfortable. Circular handles feel nice, but they’re slippery, especially when wet. Round-cornered rectangles or ovals can both be very effective, with your favorite depending on how you hold your knife.
In terms of handle material, wood and plastic are very common, along with composites like Micarta and Pakkawood, which are layers of wood and other materials bonded together in a plastic resin. Regardless of the material, you should look at the texture, which can range from perfectly smooth (easy to clean but potentially slippery) to rough and sandpapery (good for grip but can hold onto bits of food). Another handle design aspect to pay attention to is the rivets connecting the handle and blade: ideally, they should feel perfectly smooth, with no gaps where corrosion can begin to form.
Food & Wine
Weight and Balance
The santokus I tested had a fairly large weight range, from 3.5 to 8.8 ounces, making for a noticeable difference in feel between models. A heavier knife doesn’t offer as much control, but the weight helps cut through tough or dense foods with less effort. Lighter knives are more agile but less powerful, and you do want at least some amount of weight to hold the blade securely in your hand.
Just as important as overall weight is weight balance. Ideally, the handle and blade offset each other perfectly, which makes the knife as stable as possible and gives you the most control while you hold it. But if a knife is a bit unbalanced, it’s better if it’s weighted toward the blade than toward the handle. A heftier blade can feel like it’s pulling itself through food, while a knife that’s balanced toward the handle wants to pull the blade backward out of the food.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a santoku knife?
A santoku is an all-purpose knife that handles most everyday kitchen ingredients. It has a design similar to a European-style chef’s knife, but the blade is typically slightly shorter and lighter, with a slight curve on the bottom that allows a rocking, up-and-down chopping motion. The santoku combines design elements of three Japanese knife styles: the nakiri, designed for vegetables; the gyuto, made for slicing meat; and the deba, intended for filleting fish.
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What can a santoku knife be used for?
Just about anything. The name means “three virtues” or “three uses” in Japanese, referring to its versatility. (Depending on which source you ask, those three uses could be meat, fish, and vegetables, or slicing, dicing, and chopping.) You can use a santoku just about anywhere you’d use a chef’s knife.
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How do you sharpen a santoku?
You can sharpen most santokus the same way you’d sharpen any kitchen knife. Any whetstone, manual sharpener, or electric sharpener should be able to handle the blade shape.
But some santokus are single-bevel, meaning that they’re only sharpened from one side of the blade. (Most knives are double-bevel and sharpened equally from both sides.) It’s possible to sharpen a single-bevel santoku at home, but it requires more advanced techniques. You’re probably best getting a single-bevel knife sharpened professionally.
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What should a santoku knife not be used for?
You can use a santoku and only a santoku to make the majority of meals, but there are some tasks it’s not perfect for. As a fairly lightweight blade, a santoku isn’t the right choice for breaking down large cuts of meat or anything that requires hacking through bones. For that, you want a thick meat cleaver or hefty butcher knife instead. For making thin, accurate slices of crusty bread and delicate raw tomatoes, a serrated bread knife is best. For detailed, delicate work like cutting garnishes or sculpting a centerpiece, a small paring knife may be the right choice.
Other Santoku Knives I Tested
Strong Contenders
Cangshan Kuro 7-Inch Santoku Knife ($140 at Crate & Barrel)
I quite liked the handle of this knife, which is a secure, comfortable oval in profile, with an angled butt end that provides extra room for large hands. Its hefty weight adds power, but the edge just isn’t terribly sharp. If it had a bargain price, it would be more appealing, but this one is right at the average.
MAC Knife Professional Series 6.5-Inch Santoku ($129 at Amazon)
MAC’s short, lightweight santoku did a good job at a good price. It’s a bit cheaper than average, and it did about average in testing. Its agility was helpful for peeling sweet potatoes, but it lacked the power to chop through the whole tuber and needed quite a bit of sawing to slice beef.
Masamoto HC Japanese Santoku ($219 at Amazon)
I felt complete control over this knife, and it performed beautifully in my tests. The reason it’s not on my list of winners is that it discolored quite badly after a single rinse and wash. I washed all the test santokus the same way, and the Masamoto was the only one with this issue, so it’s much less forgiving than competitors when it comes to care. (Notably, a different Masamoto nakiri I tested did not discolor; the problem seems to be specific to the HC line.)
Food & Wine / Jason Horn
What Didn’t Make the List
None of the santokus in my test stood out as an especially bad performer; the models not included above just fell behind the rest in either performance or value. Most come from brands that we trust and that have produced winners in other knife category tests.
Our Expertise
Food & Wine senior writer Jason Horn tested all 15 santokus for this roundup at home. With a master’s in journalism and a culinary degree, he’s been writing about food and drinks for 20 years, including at Liquor.com, Playboy, and Serious Eats. Our resident knife-testing expert has also tested and reviewed butcher knives, meat cleavers, oyster knives, and brisket slicers.
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