It’s fair to say that a bread knife, even the best bread knife, is a fairly specialized tool. Bread knives aren’t nearly as versatile as chef’s knives—you won’t use them to chop, dice, or mince—but there are a few tasks you’d never want to use anything else for (which is why we consider them one of three pieces of kitchen cutlery you absolutely need in your knife block). There’s no better tool than a razor-sharp serrated knife for slicing bread, sandwiches, or tomatoes. If you don’t agree, just try cutting a fresh baguette without one.
The best bread knives
Not every bread knife is up to the task of slicing crusty bread or delicate produce without ripping apart the soft interior. The best serrated knives tend to have slightly flexible stainless steel blades and can slice neatly through just about anything with very little effort. Scroll down for more information on our top picks and which bread slicers didn’t make the cut.
When we put over a dozen popular serrated knives to the test, the Mac Professional bread knife impressed us the most. The Japanese brand also makes a chef’s knife and paring knife we love, and this bread knife has a number of well-designed features that set it apart. First, the length of the blade is 10.5 inches (that’s about half an inch longer than most), and that means we were able to slice more in a single stroke with much less effort—a big plus with wider loaves of bread like focaccia. The blade is also significantly thinner than many others, and it has a scalloped edge that makes clean slices through even the crustiest boules. While the thin blade makes the knife lighter, testers noted that the light weight doesn’t compromise the knife’s sturdiness. Bon Appétit food director Chris Morocco says the Mac Professional feels unbreakable and incredible to use: “Some bread knives feel about as refined as a buzz saw, but this one is like a bread scalpel. Does that sound weird? Well, it won’t when you slice through your what-are-they-trying-to-prove-to-the-world-with-this-crust sourdough.”
The gentle curve in the blade is perhaps the knife’s most notable detail. In testing, this curve gave a bit of extra leverage when dealing with tough patches on the bottom of crusty loaves of bread.
What we didn’t like about the Mac Professional Serrated Knife
The biggest drawback of this knife is its relatively hefty price tag. Unlike a chef’s knife, you don’t always sacrifice quality when you drop down in price. It also lacks a bolster—the bit of metal that connects the blade to the handle—which we would normally expect in a knife at this price. But because this one is pricier, we’d recommend getting it professionally sharpened so it will last you a long time (more on that below).
Knife length: 15.4”
Blade length: 10.5”
Weight: 6.6 ounces
While chef’s knives are often praised for their steel quality and appearance, bread knives are typically prized for their functionality. While you don’t need to spend as much on a bread knife to get top-tier performance, we really loved the total package from Shun’s Classic line bread knife. It’s made from Damascus steel with a VG-MAX core, which is a much higher-carbon content steel than most bread knives. This means that the serrated edge of the knife is less likely to dull over time—key for a knife that needs to be maintained professionally to keep sharp edges. In testing, it sliced tomatoes beautifully thin, and even the crustiest sourdough provided almost zero resistance. We also appreciated the height of the blade, which provided some extra heft and cutting force without adding extra weight. Finally, the Japanese wa-style handle was comfortable to grip when you needed a little extra leverage. Because there’s no palm swell or shape to the handle, it lets the user find the position that’s most comfortable for them. Shun’s bread knife might be pricier than our other top picks, but the price definitely matches the performance and knife quality. If you’re looking for a serrated knife that will stay sharper for longer, then this might be the right pick for you.
What we didn’t like about the Shun Classic Bread Knife:
The nine-inch blade was plenty long for most loaves of bread, but wider boules were tricky to cut all the way across without having to angle the knife. It’s hard to ignore how expensive this knife is. While it does have the highest quality fit and finish of our winners, its performance boost over our two budget picks might not quite be enough for some people. Still, if you’re picky about the details of knife construction and steel quality, this knife justifies its price point.
Knife length: 14”
Blade length: 9”
Weight: 6.8 ounces
This German-made knife is another pricey blade, but it makes the list here because of its interesting and super-effective design. While this one has a 9-inch blade (an inch and a half shorter than the Mac Pro), it’s double serrated, which means it has mini teeth within the larger, scalloped serrations. All those extra sharp points give it better grip on waxy surfaces like the exterior of a tomato or watermelon and make for fast, easy slicing. It’s also a knife that asks very little of you—during testing, the double set of serrations cut through hard crust with very little exertion from the tester and produced such thin slices of tomato that we could see right through them. One final advantage of a double-serrated blade: because there are more of them, each individual serration will wear less, so the knife stays sharper for longer. Do note: though the double-serrated knife is part of the Wusthof Classic series (defined by the shape of the handle and the bolster, as well as the hardness of the steel), this is not the bread knife that you’ll get if you buy the Classic knife set. That one has a more typical, single-serrated design.
What we didn’t like about the Wusthof Double Serrated Knife
At nine inches, this knife’s blade was shorter than a few of our top picks. This made it tricky to cut wider loaves straight across, though it was an adequate length for most batards and pan loaves. And while this knife was a top performer, you’re definitely going to pay a premium for the knife’s quality. Budget-conscious buyers might want to consider our budget picks.
Knife length: 13.4”
Blade length: 9”
Weight: 6.4 ounces
The best budget bread knife: Mercer Culinary Millenia
Premium bread knives have their perks, but a good one doesn’t have to break the bank. The Mercer Culinary Millennia 10-inch bread knife is less than $25, and it’s the one we use most frequently in the Bon Appétit test kitchen. It has deep, wide serrations, also known as a wavy edge, as opposed to the pointy teeth you see on the Wusthof or Tojiro. Instead of a wooden handle, like the rest of this list, the ergonomic handle of the Mercer is made from a combination of rubber and plastic, and while this knife isn’t full-tang (no knife at this price is), it still feels stable and comfortable to hold. Our editors have used this knife for every slicing task you can imagine: crusty bread, pineapple, ripe tomatoes, over-stuffed BLTs—and it always gets the job done. This knife won’t slice through tough crust as easily as more expensive knives will, so it’s going to take a little more elbow grease on your part, but it’s a more than serviceable knife and our favorite inexpensive option. “One of these bread knives came in the kit bag I got in culinary school, and I am still using it today,” says Chris. “It won’t split atoms, but it is dependable, and for this price, you will love it all the more.”
What we didn’t like the Mercer Culinary Millenia:
This knife performed admirably for its price point, but it was the least sharp of all of our winning bread knives, requiring a bit more effort to cut crustier loaves. Some people also didn’t like the Mercer’s plastic handle, which wasn’t as comfortable as our other picks.
Knife length: 15.5
Blade length: 10”
Weight: 5.9 ounces
Tojiro’s knives have been gaining attention for their high performance and budget pricing, and their bread knife doesn’t disappoint. It’s incredibly lightweight at only 4.3 ounces, but it also sports the longest blade of any serrated knife we tested. While some people might find the knife’s almost shocking flexibility concerning, the thinner blade actually has an advantage over the competition: It requires less effort to saw through thicker loaves of bread. Its razor-sharp teeth cut quickly and cleanly, and with a thinner spine, even the crustiest bread provided almost zero resistance. It also sliced through juicy tomatoes like they were butter, and its light weight meant that it was easy to control the longer blade. This was one of the sharpest bread knives we tested, and because the blade itself is so long, it’s perfect for frequent bakers and large loaf lovers. We also appreciated its reasonable price, making it easy to replace when it starts to dull.
What we didn’t like about the Tojiro bread knife
While we were very impressed with this knife’s performance given its price point, it is worth mentioning that it’s not a full-tang knife, meaning the steel doesn’t run the entire length of the handle. The handle itself is also on the smaller side, so people with larger hands might find it tricker to wield.
Knife length: 14.75 inches
Blade length: 11”
Weight: 4.3 ounces
How we chose the best bread knives
We tested 17 bread knives on crusty sourdough bread and winter vine tomatoes in head-to-head slice-offs. We primarily focused on assessing the following factors:
How effectively it cuts
As we’ve mentioned, we sliced through bread and tomatoes to judge if each knife could cut cleanly and with minimal downward pressure. Thinner knives typically did the best.
Weight
Your knife should have enough heft cut through anything with a firm exterior and delicate interior, but shouldn’t be so heavy that it’s cumbersome to wield.
Shape of the teeth
This is what defines a serrated knife, and there’s actually some variety among designs here. A serrated knife can have rounded scalloped teeth, pointy teeth, and even double serrations that feature a combination of the two.
How it feels to hold
We considered the knife as a whole—from the tip of its blade to the end of the handle. We look for knives that are balanced in weight, with ergonomic handles and long blades.
The ones we picked above were the most stable and comfortable to hold, the easiest to work with, and they made the cleanest cuts. We also chatted with some of our Test Kitchen editors to hear about their favorite bread knives and the blades that have lasted them throughout their careers.
Other bread knives we tested
Zwilling Pro 9-Inch Bread Knife with Z15 Serration
What we think about the Zwilling Bread Knife with Z15 Serration
Zwilling’s double serrated knife is a good slicer, and its double-serrated edge is similar to the Wüsthof model we recommend. It performed well in testing, yielding thinly sliced tomatoes and perfectly straight slices of bread, but ultimately this knife’s overall weight kept it from being a winner. A bit heavier than much of the competition, Zwilling’s bread knife was trickier to wield comfortably, and its longer handle made it hard to find a good balance point.
Hedley & Bennett Bread Knife
What we think of the Hedley & Bennett Bread Knife
Senior test kitchen editor (and Bon Appétit’s resident baking expert) Shilpa Uskokovic loves this bread knife from Hedley & Bennett, because it’s sleek and deceptively light. While it has a humble 8.5-inch blade, the shortest blade on this list, its angled, serrated edge becomes more pointed at the tip, making it easier to maneuver and offering heightened precision for more fragile slicing tasks. It’s relatively affordable at $85 at the time of writing, and comes in a variety of colors. However, for all those positives it doesn’t offer quite the force you get from a longer blade.
Made In 9-Inch Bread Knife
What we think of the Made In Bread Knife
This bread knife from Made In was beautiful to look at, but wow was it heavy. The knife’s thick spine made it tricky to maneuver. It struggled to cut neat slices of tomato, and it’s scalloped teeth weren’t sharp enough to avoid snagging on thicker sourdough crust. Add in a hefty, premium price tag, and this knife fails to make the cut.
Misen serrated knife
What we think of the Misen Bread Knife
Misen’s bread knife was a mid-tier performer in our tests, cleanly cutting through tomatoes and bread without any notable issues. We also thought the handle was comfortable, and its overall build quality was high. The blade’s taller heel also meant it performed well slicing through tall sourdough loaves. However, its performance didn’t quite match our top picks, and our two budget models performed better at half the cost. We recommend either spending a little more for a nicer bread knife, or saving a bit of cash instead.
Opinel Intempora 8-Inch Bread Knife
What we think of the Opinel Intempora Bread Knife
The Opinel Intempora fell short (literally) in a few areas. Its 8-inch blade was shorter than we’d like, which made it hard to cut through sourdough boules without changing the slicing angle. Its teeth weren’t quite as sharp as we’d like either. It didn’t mangle the tomatoes, but we had difficulty keeping the blade straight—the Opinel bread knife typically snagged on the core, creating wobbling, inconsistent tomato slices. We did like the round polyurethane handle and the high-quality high-carbon stainless steel, but for this price the knife lacked performance.
Lamson 8-Inch Bread Knife
What we think about the Lamson Bread Knife
Lamson’s bread knife is beautiful, but its teeth weren’t sharp enough. It snagged on crusty sourdough boules and required a lot of force to make cuts. Its 8-inch blade was also too short to cut through entire loaves, and it snagged slightly on tomato skin, as well. Lamson does offer complementary sharpening for life, but for this price ($90 at the time of writing), we feel the bread knife should be sharper out of the box.
Zwilling Gourmet 8-Inch Bread Knife
What we think of the Zwilling Gourmet Bread Knife
Zwilling’s entry-level Gourmet series struggled to cut cleanly. While it sliced tomatoes just fine, its teeth often caught on crusty sourdough loaves, interrupting the sawing motion and requiring more force to power through. Its handle scales were clunky, making the knife awkward to hold and even more awkward to wield, and it failed to perform as well as our two budget picks—both of which are significantly less expensive.
Miyabi Kaizen 9.5-Inch Bread Knife
What we think of the Miyabi Kaizen Bread Knife
As one of the most expensive bread knives we tested, we were hoping for better performance out of the Miyabi Kaizen 9.5-inch Bread Knife. Instead, it crushed most slices of bread instead of cutting them, and it snagged on tomato cores instead of slicing through them.
Shun Classic Master Serrated Knife
What we think of the Shun Classic Master Serrated Knife
The Shun Classic Master Serrated Knife has a unique wavy edge, adding to the overall serration pattern. It excelled at slicing paper thin tomatoes and was comfortable to hold, but its edge shape didn’t consistently cut through bread well. Its blade was also on the shorter side, making this knife less well-suited for large loaves of bread.
Shun Ultimate Utility Knife
What we think of the Shun Ultimate Utility Knife
Shun’s Ultimate Utiliy knife has a unique shape—it looks almost like a toy shark—and we loved how sharp its rounded teeth were. This knife has a lot going for it: its flat sides and rounded tip mean that this knife is able to both slice your sandwich toppings and spread mayo on a piece of soft bread. It also sliced tomatoes perfectly and slid right through the crust of the sourdough boules. But its tiny 6-inch blade, sized more like a santoku than a typical bread knife, just made it hard to cut even slices. And when you factor in the price ($140 at the time of writing), we just can’t recommend it.
Victorinox Swiss Army 8-Inch Bread Knife
What we think of the Victorinox Swiss Army Bread Knife
The Victorinox Swiss Army 8-Inch model sliced bread okay and required more effort than most other models; worse, it crushed tomatoes. It was also too lightweight to maneuver comfortably.
Bob Kramer Essential Bread Knife by Zwilling
What we think of the Bob Kramer Essential Bread Knife
Bob Kramer is a legendary knife maker, but the Bob Kramer Essential Bread Knife by Zwilling felt like overkill for a serrated knife. It’s $300+ price point is excessive for a tool with such a narrow set of uses (no matter how often you bake homemade bread), and being made from carbon steel this knife will be prone to corrosion and rust. It was one of the better tomato knives we used, but for this price you could find a high-end chef’s knife that slices just as neatly but is way more versatile.
How do I keep my bread knife in prime slicing condition?
Like all kitchen knives, you should only hand wash your bread knives—even if a knife is advertised as dishwasher safe, the dishwasher can warp or damage the blades. But in better news, good bread knives stay sharp for much longer than paring knives and chef’s knives. Most of them will continue to slice effectively even after several years of regular use. When your bread knife does eventually become dull, you’ve got two options: replace it, or take it to a professional sharpening service. We really, really don’t recommend home cooks try to sharpen serrated knives themselves. As Chris says, “while bread knives can be sharpened, you need a special knife sharpener that most of us don’t have at home.” If you try to use a regular knife sharpener on a serrated blade, you’ll wreck it.
We don’t love the idea that a knife is “disposable,” but if you went the budget route you’ll be better off replacing it than servicing it. Sharpening may cost just as much as a brand-new blade. But if you’ve invested in a more expensive, premium option, like the Mac Professional or the Wusthof, you’ll want to send it to a specialist to get professionally sharpened. If you don’t have someone near you that you trust, consider a mail-away service like Knife Aid.
Get out that bread knife make some tomato toast already:
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