Chef’s Knife versus a Vegetable Knife – Which do I choose?

Chef’s knife

This knife is a must in the well-equipped kitchen. It has a triangular shape, instead of squared, allowing you to cut into meat as well as chop and slice ingredients. These knives generally measure between 8 to 10 inches and can be used for all kinds of prepping like julienning carrots, splitting open a chicken, dicing and slicing onions, chopping nuts, preparing herbs and so much more. Its curved blade allows for a rocking motion ideal for mincing. While you can chop, slice and dice vegetables with it, it is not as effective in doing specialized cuts or precision cutting. It is best used for general tasks.

Vegetable Knife
Also known as a Nakiri* knife, this is a Japanese-style square-tip knife whose main purpose is to work with vegetables. The flat edge of the blade is designed to chop and slice through vegetables of all sizes with precision and ease. This goes for dicing as well. The specialized purpose of this knife makes it very handy for big prep jobs. The knife’s wide blade is also ideal for moving ingredients from the chopping board to the pan.

*“Nakiri bocho” is Japanese and translates to “knife for cutting greens”

Asian Chef’s Knife
This is a chef’s knife that is just slightly squared off at the tip, but at more of an angle. Great for cutting meat, poultry, fish and vegetables. It may be used in the same way as both of the above and is very versatile as well.