Serrated Knives: The Best Picks & When to Use Them
A serrated knife does one thing no other blade can: it bites into foods that are too hard or too squishy for a straight edge to grip. Here is when to reach for one, and which to buy.
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When to use a serrated knife
- Crusty bread saws through the crust without crushing the crumb.
- Tomatoes & soft fruit the teeth grip the skin instead of sliding off and squashing it.
- Tough-skinned produce watermelon, pineapple, winter squash, citrus.
- Layer cakes clean, level slices with no drag.
For meat, a serrated knife is not your slicer, use a chef knife for breaking down cuts, but it is unbeatable on that crusty loaf next to dinner.
Our pick: Mercer Culinary Millennia 10″ Wavy Edge
The Mercer Millennia 10-inch has been a test-kitchen favorite for years, around $20, well balanced, and it glides through crusty sourdough without shattering the crust or squashing soft bread.
Also great: Victorinox Serrated Bread Knife
The Victorinox serrated knife is one of the most consistent performers around, cleanly through crusty bread and squishy tomatoes alike, at a friendly price.
FAQ
Can you sharpen a serrated knife?
Yes, but rarely needed. Each scallop can be honed with a tapered rod, though most affordable serrated knives are cheap enough to simply replace after many years.
Why cut tomatoes with a serrated knife?
A tomato skin is slick and taut; a straight edge slides and crushes it. The serrations grab and slice cleanly, so you get neat slices instead of squished ones.
Do I need a serrated knife if I have a chef knife?
They do different jobs. A chef knife handles the vast majority of prep and meat work; a serrated knife is the specialist for bread, tomatoes, and tough-skinned produce.
What a serrated knife is for
A serrated knife, with its scalloped, toothed edge, is designed to cut through foods that have a tough exterior and a soft interior, where a straight blade would slip or crush. The classic example is bread, whose crust defeats a smooth edge but yields to the sawing action of serrations, but the same principle applies to tomatoes, citrus, cakes, and other delicate or slick-skinned foods. The teeth grip and pierce the surface so the knife saws through cleanly without squashing what is underneath, which is something no straight edge does as well.
How serrations work
The genius of a serrated edge is that its pointed teeth concentrate force on small points, piercing a tough surface, while the recessed scallops between them do the slicing as you draw the blade back and forth. This sawing action means the knife does not need to be pushed straight down through a food, so it does not crush soft interiors or slide off slick skins. It also means a serrated knife stays effective longer than a straight edge between sharpenings, since the protected points inside the scallops dull more slowly.
Bread knives and beyond
The most familiar serrated knife is the bread knife, a long blade for slicing loaves cleanly without tearing or compressing them. But serrated edges appear on other useful knives too: serrated paring and utility knives excel at tomatoes and citrus, and some steak knives are serrated to cut through cooked meat and its crust without a sharp straight edge. A long serrated slicer is also handy for cakes and large soft items. For the kitchen, a good bread knife plus perhaps a small serrated utility knife covers most needs.
Choosing a serrated knife
When selecting one, look at length, tooth pattern, and quality. A bread knife of eight to ten inches handles most loaves, and a longer blade suits large sourdoughs. Tooth patterns vary: pointed, aggressive serrations saw through hard crusts, while smaller, rounded scallops give cleaner cuts on softer items. As with any knife, a comfortable handle and solid construction matter. Because serrated edges are hard to sharpen at home, a reasonably priced quality knife that holds up well is often the sensible choice.
Why serrated knives stay sharp
One advantage of serrated knives is that they seem to stay sharp far longer than straight-edged knives. This is because the cutting is done mostly by the recessed scallops, while the pointed tips, which contact the board and food surface, protect the sharp inner edges from wear. So even as the tips dull, the knife keeps sawing effectively. This longevity is convenient, but it also means that when a serrated knife finally does dull, restoring it is more involved than honing a straight edge.
Sharpening a serrated knife
Serrated knives cannot be honed on a steel or sharpened on a flat stone the way straight edges can, because of their toothed profile. Each scallop must be sharpened individually, usually with a tapered rod or a specialized serrated sharpener that fits into the grooves, working the beveled side of each tooth. This is fiddly, and many people choose to have serrated knives professionally sharpened or simply replace inexpensive ones. The good news is that their slow dulling means sharpening is needed only rarely.
Caring for a serrated knife
Serrated knives need the same basic care as any blade: hand wash and dry rather than using the dishwasher, store them protected so the teeth are not damaged and so they do not damage other tools, and cut on wood or plastic rather than hard surfaces. Because the teeth are the working part, avoid anything that chips them. With this simple care and their naturally slow dulling, a good serrated knife lasts a long time with very little maintenance.
A knife every kitchen needs
While the chef knife handles most cutting, there are jobs it simply cannot do well, and that is where the serrated knife is indispensable. Slicing a crusty loaf, cutting ripe tomatoes into clean slices, or portioning a delicate cake all call for serrations. A good bread knife is the one serrated blade nearly every kitchen should own, and it is inexpensive relative to how often it proves the only tool for the job. Rounding out a kit of chef and paring knives, it completes the core set for home cooking.