Best Paring Knife List
- Best Overall: Letcase 3.5” Kitchen Paring Knife(Black G10 Handle)
- Best Japanese: Letcase 3.5″ Damascus Steel Paring Knives(Blue G10 Handle)
- Best Budget: Stainless Steel Paring Knives(Color Wood Handle)
- Upgrade Pick: 3.5” Japanese Damascus Paring Knife(Narcissus Flower Series)
There are different types of knives that serve different purposes. Paring knives are a good partner in your home to handle any detailed and delicate kitchen cutting, such as hulling strawberries, coring, and peeling apples, deveining shrimp, etc. If you like to make a salad or serve guests with fruit in the living room or dining room, then you need a paring knife to help you, you don’t want to take the chef’s knife to peel fruit in the front of your guests, right?
This article will cover: types of a paring knife, advantages of a paring knife, paring knives buying guide, and best paring knife list. Hope these will help you make the right choice.
The Advantages of a Paring Knife
First, we need to know why you need a paring knife? that is, what are the advantages of a paring knife that make you have to own it?
1. Complete Small Tasks Faster
When it comes to finishing quick work of small cutting tasks such as portioning citrus or mincing herbs, a small paring knife will do it more quickly. It’s easy to take, quickly start working and wash it.
2. Its delicate cutting is better for doing some decorating work requiring some finesse
The paring knife is small and sharp, makes it flexible to make precise, small cuts on fruits and vegetables. Thus, you can create beautiful decorating work depends on your imagination.
3. Portable for more occasions
The paring knife is small with a short blade, thus, you can take it anywhere, whatever take it in traveling or on a picnic. Furthermore, you can use it at working place for slicing up fruit in afternoon tea. It’s very convenient to take.
4. Inexpensive Price
Due to its small blade, it requires fewer steel materials, thus, it cost less, so, you can get one paring knife at an inexpensive price. It is the cheapest knife type. Your home bar needs one to cut tiny wedges and citrus peel for cocktails. Even though it breaks, you won’t lose so much.
Types of Paring Knife
1. Spear Point Paring Knife
Also called “spear tip”, “Western-style” spear point paring knife is the most classic paring knife in the world, and it is the one you encounter most frequently out in the knife store or kitchen. It is characterized by a smooth, short, outwardly curved blade that benefits from a slight rocking motion when mincing food items.
| Best suitable for: | Best suitable for: Peeling, hulling, and denucleating fruits and vegetables. |
| Advantages: | Versatile knife for most small tasks |
| Disadvantages: | Small cutting edge for slicing makes it not suitable for heavy-duty tasks |
2. Bird’s Beak Paring Knife
Due to the shape of the tip similar to a bird’s beak, that why it is called Bird’s beak paring knife. The unique curve makes it extremely easy to make precise cuts around fruits and core fruit. The perfect cutting angle with a great level of control makes the cutting experience improved much.
| Best suitable for: | Except for peeling and coring fruits and vegetables, it is especially good for delicate decorating work such as fluting mushrooms |
| Advantages: | The curved edge allows for a style of cut that reduces waste |
| Disadvantages: | It’s difficult to resharpen due to its shape |
3. Western-Style Japanese Paring Knife
Western-style Japanese knives have become a more and more popular and well-respected style. When it comes to Western-style Japanese paring knives, the shape of it is similar to that of a spear-point knife, but with a less-curved blade.
| Best suitable for: | More like a small carving knife for intricate cutting |
| Advantages: | Offer greater control and flexibility |
| Disadvantages: | It is too sharp to be a little perilous when cutting; It is expensive; It requires some pro skills to control it |
4. Sheep’s Foot Paring Knife
Sheep’s foot paring knife looks like a mini version of a Santoku knife, Its smooth, flat, straight-edge blade with a rounded tip design allows straight cuts, especially good for slicing and chopping small items, such as garlic, onions, ginger, and herbs.
| Best suitable for: | Except for traditional paring tasks, it can be used for cutting hard and soft cheese |
| Advantages: | It can stay sharp for longer |
| Disadvantages: | It is too sharp to be a little perilous when cutting; It is expensive; It requires some pro skills to control it |
After we know the benefits and type of paring knife, you may want to get the right one for yourself. We’ll offer a quick list about best paring knife 2021 and paring knife buying guide to help you.
Best Paring Knife Reviewed
1.Letcase 3.5” Kitchen Paring Knife(Black G10 Handle)
This 3.5” Kitchen Paring Knife earned praise from both home chefs and pro chefs due to its balance, grip, and sharpness out of the box.
According to the looking, you’ll find it the typically classic paring knife with spear point, made from super Japanese steel, is super sharp for fine detail work like hulling strawberries, peeling apples, etc.
The handle is the most popular black G10 handle, features a full tang for balance along with three tripled rivets for security and visual.
What’s more, the price is value for the money, if you are looking for a traditional classic paring knife, this one is a potentially good choice.
What We Like
- Full tang VG-10 Steel blade
- Very sharp out of the box
- Classic
- Cost-effective
- Ergonomically designed G10 handle
- Great balance and easy control
What We Don’t Like
- If you want to try something different, you may don’t like its tradition style
2. Letcase 3.5″ Damascus Steel Paring Knives(Blue G10 Handle)
This 3.5 Inch Damascus Steel Paring Knives is a Japanese-style knife and also made from Japanese steel. It is suitable for peeling and coring fruits and cutting small veggies such as tomatoes. It is liked by many people because of its unique looking and its color.
As you can see from the picture, The blade delivers a fishbone Damascus pattern, and the handle is in blue color. This colored paring knife can be used in the home, in the picnic basket, or in the RV to add aesthetic.
Besides, this paring knife comes with a frosted knife sheath to keep the knives safe for travel or storage and avoid damaging the blade or injuring the people who take the paring knife. The smooth and small blade makes it easy to wash and clean.
What We Like
- Includes blade sheaths
- Unique blue color and real Damascus pattern
- Made from Japanese VG10 steel to offer high sharpness
- Durable and requires less sharpening
What We Don’t Like
- So attractive, your friends may take them
- A little expensive
3. Stainless Steel Paring Knives(Color Wood Handle)
This stainless steel paring knife made from ultra-premium high carbon steel with with 56-58 rockwell hardness, the hand-polishing 14-16 degrees per side makes the fruit knife razor sharp.
With the ergonomic design, the color wood handles have a comfortable grip, perfect balance to reduce wrist tension when you often use the paring knife. The blade features a laser-etched distinctive Damascus pattern that makes it more beautiful.
This multi-purpose stainless steel paring knife great for garnishing, mincing, peeling, slicing and dicing.
What We Like
- Forged from high carbon stainless steel
- Lightweight full tang design
- Ergonomic color pakka handle
- Long lasting cutting performance
- Imitation of Damascus pattern
- Well worth the price
What We Don’t Like
- Require more sharpening
- Not suitable for heavy-duty tasks
- Knives should never go in the dishwasher
4. 3.5” Japanese Damascus Paring Knife(Narcissus Flower Series)
This Damascus paring knife is a typical bird’s beak paring knife, specially built for cutting performance.
You can use it to peel an apple for a snack or slicing a lemon for a garnish. Due to its sharpness(60±2 HRC)，it can easily cut things along the direction you cut. it is a good knife for decorative work.if you want to make a fruit art ,this one is good for you.
The handle is specially handled,thus ,it is non-slip even when your hands are wet.
This paring knife comes with a black gift box makes it a good gift idea for its charming looking.
What We Like
- 66 layers of SUS410 stainless steel to ensure strength and durability and long edge retention
- Super-sharp blade, Japanese AUS-10 steel core to offer great performance
- Military grade G10 handle in twisted octagonal shape, highly impervious to heat, cold, and moisture.
- Full-tang, durable
- Gotta love its unique “Narcissus” pattern on the blade, Looks so cool.
- You don’t need to sharpen the knife in 3-5 years
What We Don’t Like
- Expensive Price
- It’s not easy to sharpen the curved edge
Paring Knife Buying Guide
If you decide to invest in a kitchen knife set, ensure a paring knife included. Here’s some advice on how to choose a paring knife.
1. The blade should be sharp
A sharp blade is essential for handling precise tasks like making small cuts. A sharp-pointed tip is perfect for hulling grape and deveining shrimp.
2. A good weight and balance ratio
Unlike chef’s knife, the paring knife should be lightweight for better control when in-hand cutting. And it can reduce fatigue when make carving for a long time.
Refers to how the weight is distributed in a paring knife, the handle should be slightly heavier than the blade to make sure offer the better control of the knife.
3. Comfortable grip
If a knife isn’t comfortable to handle, you won’t use it frequently.
Comfort and ease of grip are two factors you have to evaluate. So, you need pay attention the handle materials and shape. Ergonomically shaped handle will be easier to grip onto. As for appearance, colors pf handle is your personal preference choice.
4. A good paring knife should be full-tang
A full tang blade has a blade that extends the entire length of the handle, offer a better-controlled knife with sturdier construction that will potentially more durable than other options. Instead, a half tang knife tends to break more easily, but with a more affordable price.
5. Blade material
Generally, a ceramic paring knife can stay sharp for longer but are more brittle, a high-carbon stainless steel paring knife can offer the best cutting experience but are more expensive, a stainless steel paring knife is affordable but need more sharpening.
6. Price
Even though the best paring knife is not the most expensive one, you don’t want to have one that’s brittle or has a blade that’s prone to detaching from the handle, right? So, find some cost-effective choice.
What Other Things You Should Know About Paring Knives
1. What is a paring knife?
A paring knife is a short chef knife, also called a “peeling knife”, which is versatile in small works and delicate detail work such as slicing, coring, and peeling.
2. What is the paring knife used for?
Generally, a Paring knife is a multi-functional knife, too. Let’s see what it can be used for:
First, chopping, slicing, deseeding, and peeling small, soft fruits such as pomegranate and citrus fruits, as well as vegetables, like herbs & garlic
Second, chopping herbs, deveining prawns, and scraping seeds
Third, shucking oysters, trimming fat from meat and filleting small fish etc.
3. What tasks are not suitable for paring knives?
The paring knife is not suitable for: slicing meat, including carving & deboning; handling larger and tougher vegetables, such as pumpkin or other squash; cutting bread.
4. How do you use a paring knife?
The first way, you can use it on a chopping board for small vegetables. Another way, you can use it in the air, off the board for peeling the fruit, as they offer more control in this way.
5. Paring knife VS Utility knife
The biggest difference between a paring knife and a utility knife is the length of the blade. As we know, the blades of paring knives range from 3 and 5 inches long. A paring knife is always in 3.5-inch, instead, a utility knife is always in 5-inch. So, which one to buy is depends on your needs at your home. For delicate work such as peeling grapes, apples, avocado, and more, a 3.5″ paring knife is enough.
But if you want to chop small vegetables with a cutting board, a 5″ utility knife will be better.
Conclusion
Buying a paring knife for your kitchen is a worthy investment, which can bring plenty of conveniences for you. Hope this page can help you find the best paring knife you want.
Finally, don’t forget to tell us which one you like best in the comment.
