The 8 Very Best Serrated Knives
Serrated knives aren’t used as frequently as a chef’s knife or paring knife, but that doesn’t make them any less essential. There is simply no substitute for a long and hefty bread knife when cutting bread. And a shorter blade that’s reliably sharp is always nice to have for delicate prep tasks.
Summary of items we will discuss in this buying guide :
Kai PRO Bread Knife 9”
Henckels Dynamic 8-inch Bread Knife
Zwilling Gourmet 5.5-inch Serrated Prep Knife
Shun Cutlery Premier 9” Bread Knife
Victorinox 6.7832 Swiss Classic Tomato and Table Knife
Zwilling Pro 9-inch Bread Knife Z15 Serration
Wüsthof Classic Bread Knife
Our top picks :
Kai PRO Bread Knife 9”
This is the sharpest bread knife you can buy for under $100, let alone $50. Its scallop-edged, high-carbon Japanese stainless-steel blade is sharpened to a 16-degree angle (much steeper than the typical 10-degree edge on a German-style blade), which helps it glide effortlessly through delicate tomato skins. The tall, rounded teeth need a bit of a push to take that first bite out of a stale bread crust, but once it’s going, it slices cleanly and smoothly through every nook and cranny. Its cylindrical handle shape isn’t the grippiest, however, and it’s a bit lightweight relative to the heft of the blade. But it is NSF-certified for use in commercial kitchens and dishwashers (although I recommend hand-washing if you want it to stay sharp). In the end, it was a close call between this and the Hedley & Bennett for the best overall bread knife — you really can’t go wrong with either, but I think most home cooks would appreciate the Hedley & Bennett’s balanced handling and slightly better bread performance compared to the KAI’s sharpness advantage.
Henckels Dynamic 8-inch Bread Knife
When I asked our experts how much one should spend on a decent bread knife, most said they wouldn’t trust a knife under $50 because it was unlikely to have a full tang (meaning that the blade steel extends through the full length of the handle) and that you should ideally pay closer to $100. That’s why I was shocked when the Henckels Dynamic not only met all my requirements but also tested comparably to knives costing three times as much or more. My only complaint is that its eight-inch blade struggled to cut a whole slice of bread in just one stroke. The stamped stainless-steel blade won’t stay as sharp over time compared to the high-carbon German and Japanese stainless steel found on higher-priced knives. But for less than $20, it’s a great value for unfussy cooks and for sharing with roommates.
Zwilling Gourmet 5.5-inch Serrated Prep Knife
This medium-size serrated knife is always ready to go for all the classic serrated tasks: cutting tomatoes of all sizes and peeling and supreming citrus. But it’s also big enough to halve a sandwich, peel a melon, or prep a pineapple. And it’s “the one that I’m most happy to own,” says Chaey. The blade’s serration alternates between round and pointy teeth, which is smooth enough to maintain the integrity of delicate tomato skins while still having enough bite to peel a butternut squash.
Shun Cutlery Premier 9” Bread Knife
This is Leo’s favorite bread knife, and it was easy to see why after I tested it against other top competitors. Its scalloped, premium Japanese steel blade sliced through even the toughest, stalest loaves in a single stroke, like a hot knife through butter. It sliced so smoothly and cleanly that I would have no qualms recommending it as a slicing knife for anything short of sashimi (and even then, my concerns would be aesthetic not performance related). At one point, I wanted to see just how thin of a slice of bread I could get without compromising any part of the crust or crumb — I even brought out my calipers to measure the results. The answer? Two millimeters. I have no doubt that I could have gone thinner, but confidence in my own ability to avoid cutting my knuckles was the limiting factor.
Victorinox 6.7832 Swiss Classic Tomato and Table Knife
The Victorinox knife is a classic commercial-kitchen workhorse for good reason. The 4.3-inch Swiss steel blade isn’t long enough for halving sandwiches or slicing bread of any sort, but it’s the perfect size for doing the two most commonly cited tasks for a serrated utility knife: slicing tomatoes and prepping citrus. And because it’s so cheap, you don’t have to think twice about maintaining it or tossing it in the dishwasher. That’s why it’s a favorite of Garcia’s. “They’re fairly inexpensive; you can find them anywhere,” he says. “At any given time in my toolbox, I have a stack of about ten of them.” To be clear, Garcia keeps spares because they can dull quickly in a restaurant kitchen, but a home cook can expect to get many years of use out of a single blade.
Zwilling Pro 9-inch Bread Knife Z15 Serration
This knife is a very good option for anyone looking to complete their set of German-style knives. The updated semi-scalloped-edge profile combines the smooth slicing of rounded teeth with the bite and grip of triangular teeth. After comparing it head-to-head against the Zwilling Pro Bread Knife with regular serration recommended by Chaey, I’m confident that it’s worth the extra $20. Both knives cut confidently through fresh and stale crusty bread, but the Z15 did a better job of keeping the crumb intact on thinner slices and had better grip on the stale crust. It also cuts more smoothly through tomato skin. While it was no match for the Shun on the thinnest slices, it outperformed all other blades, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who prefers German-style knives.
Wüsthof Classic Bread Knife
When it comes to splitting a cake into layers, every inch matters. Even a nine-inch blade might not cut it, when “it” is a nine-inch round cake. That’s why Monroe prefers the Wusthof Classic bread knife for this purpose. This German knife may look chunky, but, as Monroe says, “having a slightly heavier knife really helps when you’re cutting through something lighter weight” because it provides stability as you slice.
