As an equipment tester at Bon Appétit, I have an admittedly ridiculous number of knives in my collection. And while I love my classic chef’s knives and nimble paring knives, the one I reach for most often is a santoku.
Our top picks
The santoku is a style of kitchen knife that originated in Japan. The name translates to “three uses” or “three virtues” in Japanese, which might refer to meat, fish, and vegetables or to chopping, slicing, and dicing, depending on who you talk to. Shorter than a typical chef’s knife and made with a relatively flat-edged blade, santokus are reliable all-arounders designed for everyday use across a wide range of kitchen tasks.
The best santoku knives allow you to dice vegetables, break down chickens, mince herbs, and slice onions with ease—and might just replace your current chef’s knife as your go-to blade. Read on for our top picks, along with the 13 other knives that didn’t quite make the cut.
The best santoku knife overall: Mac Knife Superior Santoku Knife
If you’re familiar with our other knife reviews, it should come as no surprise that our favorite santoku comes from Mac (we think its chef’s knife, bread knife, and paring knife are all best buys).
Like the other knives in the brand’s lineup, Mac’s santoku strikes the right balance between performance and price. At $75 at the time of writing, it really can’t be beat. It’s razor sharp out of the box, and has a comfortable pakkawood handle and lightweight, well-balanced feel that make it easy to maneuver.
In our testing, the high-carbon steel blade was equally adept at slicing through hearty sweet potatoes as it was delicate herbs. And after using this particular knife at home for the better part of two years, I can vouch for its excellent edge retention. When it does come time to sharpen, the Mac’s blade easily comes back to life after several passes on a whetstone (or through a high-quality electric knife sharpener)
The only downside I’ve noticed with this knife is aesthetic: Because of the high carbon content of the blade’s steel, it’s prone to discoloration if you don’t dry it properly after washing. Other than that, it’s a wonderful knife that has become my go-to in the two years I’ve owned it.
Weight: 5.5 ounces
Blade length: 6.5 inches
Handle length: 5 inches
The best luxe santoku knife: Misono UX10 Santoku
If you’re serious about santokus and looking for a high-quality upgrade pick, the Misono UX10 is one of the best that money can buy.
We’re big fans of this family-run Japanese brand’s knives across the board for their superior agility, precision, and edge retention (their chef’s knife is also one of our top picks). The UX10 santoku has an ultra-thin blade that not only offers an insanely sharp edge out of the box, but also retains that sharpness even after prolonged use. And because it’s made of stain resistant Swedish steel, it’s not as prone to discoloration as the high-carbon steel blade of the Mac. We also love that its handle tapers as it gets towards the blade, which makes it very comfortable to hold—no hand cramps here.
Besides the price (around $200 at the time of writing), the one major thing to note about the Misono is that its 70/30 asymmetrical bevel. That doesn’t make it a lesser knife, but it does make it more difficult to sharpen at home. It also means you’ll need to change the orientation of the bevels after purchasing it if you’re left-handed. That’s because the two sides of the blade are sharpened to different angles, one shallower and one more acute.
Weight: 5.6 ounces
Blade length: 7 inches
Handle length: 5 inches
How we chose the best santoku knives
We tested santoku knives similarly to how we tested chef’s knives: That is, by cutting up a lot of produce. We put them to work on sweet potatoes, raw onions, and herbs to see how they fared with both tough and delicate ingredients.
We also spent time examining each knife for build quality and overall design, and took note of how each one felt to hold and use for long periods of time.
We evaluated each knife according to the following criteria:
How does the knife feel to hold and use? How heavy is it, how comfortable is the handle, and how responsive is the blade?
Santokus are meant to be agile and versatile, so we were looking for a lightweight knife that was comfortable to hold, but still felt study enough to handle tougher tasks. We also paid attention to the knives’ responsiveness, which refers to how much you feel the blade react in your hand. The more responsive the knife, the more control you’ll feel over it.
How is the finish quality?
We looked at how well-made each knife was, paying close attention to the finishes, the transition between the blade and handle, and any unique design features.
How sharp is the knife? How does it fare in our tests?
We looked for blades that were razor sharp out of the box, able to cut through anything we threw at them with ease and precision. Given that santokus are designed for versatility, we wanted a knife that could cleanly cube sweet potatoes, cut onions into even, thin slices, and produce a pile of finely chopped (not crushed) herbs.
Other santoku knives we’ve tested and liked
Victorinox Swiss Classic Santoku Knife
The Victorinox Swiss Classic was our previous budget pick. It’s incredibly lightweight at just 4.6 ounces, very sharp out of the box, has a granton edge (those are the divots you see on lots of santokus) meant to discourage food from sticking to the blade, and impressed us throughout all of our testing. Its plastic handle makes it feel quite cheap, which we didn’t mind when it was under $40. Now that it’s close to $60, we’d recommend you spend the extra $15 to spring for the Mac.
Wüsthof Classic 7-Inch Hollow Edge Santoku
We liked this well-made knife from German brand Wüsthof for its super sharp high-carbon steel blade, full tang construction, triple-riveted handle, and excellent performance across all of our tests. While we considered it for our luxe recommendation, we ultimately preferred the Misono. That said, this would still be a great choice—plus we love that it comes in an array of fun colors.
Miyabi Artisan Santoku Knife
The Miyabi Artisan is a beautiful knife, with a rosewood pakkawood handle and shiny hammered steel blade. It was very sharp and comfortable to hold, but we didn’t feel it was worth the $225 price tag considering it performed similarly to the Mac. That said, if you’re drawn to it for aesthetic reasons and willing to splurge, you can trust it will serve you well.
Miyabi Kaizen II Santoku Knife
This is another stunning Miyabi knife that features a Damascus steel blade and black pakkawood handle. It performed well in testing, we just found the shorter, easier to grip handles of the Mac and Misono preferable to the longer, rounded handle of the Miyabi.
Shun Classic 7 Inch Santoku Knife
The Shun knife is another solid option for those drawn to the look of Damascus steel blades. It was very sharp, but we found it a bit heavy and long for our liking.
Global Classic 7 Inch Santoku
Lots of people love Global knives are beloved by many for their middle of the road price and balanced, lightweight feel. They’ve historically fared well in our tests, and the 7-inch santoku was no exception. Our testers found the handle’s slim, ergonomic shape and seamless transition into the blade comfortable to grip, but users with larger hands may prefer a handle with a bit more bulk to it. If you’re a Global stan we’re confident you’ll love this knife, but at nearly $115 at the time of writing, we didn’t feel it was worth springing for over the Mac.
Santoku knives we’ve tested and don’t recommend
The Tojiro is a solid, well-priced and well-made knife. That said, it felt too heavy and large for our liking, and is currently more expensive than the Mac.
Mercer Culinary Genesis 7-Inch Santoku Knife
This budget-friendly knife will get the job done if you’re in the market for a knife under $40, but it was too heavy and uncomfortable to grip for us to recommend it.
This knife from Misen was far too heavy to grant us the agility and precision we were looking for in a santoku.
Henckels Classic Precision Hollow Edge Rocking Santoku Knife
This knife has an odd shape for a santoku: a curved blade shape reminiscent of Western-style chef’s knives (rather than the flat edge more typical of a santoku) meant to encourage a rocking motion on the cutting board. It was very effective for chopping herbs, but we preferred a flatter edge for other tasks like slicing through sweet potatoes and onions.
Zwilling Twin Signature Hollow Edge Santoku Knife
Zwilling makes good knives, but we thought the balance between the handle and the blade felt off, and that the handle was too bulky.
We also tested the Bob Kramer Essential Collection 7 Inch Santoku and the Brigade Santoku Knife, both of which have since been discontinued.
Other knives we recommend
- No home cook’s knife collection is complete without a basic chef’s knife
- These are our favorite paring knives precise cuts and small jobs
- For slicing crusty boules and juicy tomatoes, nothing beats a serrated bread knife.
- If you’re looking to level up your veggie-slicing game, it’s time to buy a nakiri knife.
- While we typically don’t recommend knife sets, these ones won our seal of approval.
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