Beginner
What Is a Utility Knife Used For?
A kitchen utility knife handles sandwiches, cheese, produce, citrus and smaller cuts of meat. See its jobs, its limits and the sizes to look for.
Search for a utility knife and many of the results are retractable box cutters. The kitchen version is a different tool: a slim, straight-edged knife that sits between a chef’s knife and a paring knife. Its appeal is range. One blade covers most small and mid-sized jobs, which makes it the knife cooks pick up when a chef’s knife feels like too much and a paring knife too little.
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A kitchen utility knife is not a box cutter
Two tools share the name. The pocket kind has a blade that slides in and out and belongs to campsites and workshops. The kitchen kind looks like a conventional knife: mid-sized, multipurpose, with a straight or serrated edge, and much thinner than a chef’s knife. Most run from about 4.5 to 6 inches.
That thin, mid-length blade is the whole idea. It is sharp enough for precise work and short enough to stay controlled on a small board, so a single utility knife can stand in for several single-purpose knives. For a home cook with room for only one new knife, that range counts for more than any specialty.
For models across that size span, such as the Mercer Culinary Genesis 5 Inch Utility Knife and the Henckels Solution 6-inch Utility Knife, see our recommendations on which utility knife kitchen to buy.
Seven jobs a utility knife does well
These are the everyday tasks where the mid-sized blade earns its place, from a packed lunch to a cheese board.
- Sandwiches: cuts the soft tops of sandwich bread and most thick rolls, whatever the filling.
- Cheese: sharp and precise enough for hard and soft types without crushing the soft ones.
- Fruit and vegetables: handles mid-sized produce best, such as apples, bell peppers and softer-skinned squash.
- Citrus: makes clean cuts through the rind, removes pith, and halves ripe fruit without squashing it.
- Meat and fish: slices cooked steak and cured meats, cuts up raw chicken, deveins shrimp and takes skin off fish.
- Onions, shallots and garlic: dices and minces well with a good technique, though it is not the ideal tool.
- Nuts: chops shelled walnuts or pistachios for a recipe, with less curve and weight than a chef’s knife offers.
Where a utility knife runs out of reach
A utility knife trades power for control. Mid-sized produce is its comfort zone; the firm rind of a large watermelon or a big holiday roast calls for a bigger blade, and a serrated bread knife still does better on a whole hard-crusted loaf. Very thin slices are not its strength either, and without the curve and weight of a chef’s knife, chopping takes a little more effort.
At the other end, small peeling, trimming and garnish work often suits a shorter blade. The split between this knife and a shorter one is set out in utility knife vs paring knife.