5 Best Boning Knives for 2024, According to Testing
Cut up your own meats and remove bones from chicken and pork with these sturdy, comfortable knives.
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A boning knife is handy if you like to portion larger cuts of meat or to process meat from hunting. We love using one to break down a bird for a healthy chicken dinner recipe. They're not always used as often as a chef knife, but that means it's more likely to be sharp when you need it for working with meat. So which are the best picks? Our experts put several to the test to find the top performers.
Our top picks:
In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we test a wide variety of knives, including Japanese knives, bread knives and paring knives. When we test boning knives, we remove the legs, breasts and wings from a whole chicken as well as separate the parts of the legs and wings. With the top-performing knives, we also score the tough skin on a pork shoulder and then remove the skin, fat and bone before cubing the meat. We also assess the comfort and cleanability of each knife.
Looking for more knives to tackle meat butchery at home? Check out our guides to butcher knives and electric knives.
Pros
- Nice rigidity for most tasks but with just the slightest bit of flexibility for versatility
- Handle is contoured for a comfortable grip
Cons
- Blade might be too short for some tasks
Wüsthof is our top pick for chef's knives, and we were similarly impressed with the brand's boning knife. It's mostly rigid and very sharp, so it slices easily through joints, even when in tight places. But it also has a slight bit of flexibility in the blade, which was helpful in removing the breast from the bird cleanly against the keel bone. We found the sharp blade also helped with removing the softer, stretchier fat from pork.
We appreciated this knife's handle. It has a pronounced bolster and a slight butt as well as a gentle contour, which keeps your hand safe and in place. The one caveat is that the 5-inch blade might be too small for some tasks; if you tend to work with large cuts often, you might prefer a 6- or 7-inch blade.
| Blade length | 5 in |
| Materials | Stainless steel, alloy steel |
| Weight | 7 oz |
Pros
- Nice level of flexibility
- Blade length is helpful for removing meat from bones
Cons
- Some might not like the smooth handle
Cangshan's L Series is our pick for best overall steak knife, earning praise for being sharp and comfortable, which is true of the brand's boning knife as well. It excelled in all of our tests, and we found it has the perfect level of flexibility to stay nimble around bones while sturdy enough to separate joints. We liked the 6-inch length for removing the breast meat on a chicken. It also did a great job of cleanly removing the skin from a pork shoulder. The performance and design make it a great value at just $40.
We appreciated the deep bolster, which protects your hand and keeps it snug for a high level of control, and the oblong shape of the handle, which helps improve the grip. While we found it comfortable to use, it is a smooth handle, which some might find less secure.
| Blade length | 6 in |
| Material | Alloy steel |
| Weight | 13.1 oz |
Victorinox Swiss Classic 6-Inch Boning Knife
Pros
- Flexible and nimble
- Comfortable, contoured handle
Cons
- Not full tang, so it could loosen from the handle over time
Victorinox's Classic boning knife was one of the most flexible in our test. It can work well in tight spaces and to remove flesh from along the bone, though we did find there was some maneuvering required to access the thigh joint without flexing the blade too much. But the knife ultimately cut cleanly and is very lightweight, which helps to prevent fatigue if you're working with large cuts or a lot of volume. We were also impressed with the way the thin tip helped us remove silverskin on pork.
The handle feels very secure: It's textured and contoured to improve your grip, and it has a generous bolster and a slight butt to help keep your hand protected and in place. We did note, however, that the blade is not full tang (meaning it doesn't run all the way through the handle), so it does run the risk of loosening from the handle over time.
| Blade length | 6 in |
| Materials | Stainless steel, thermoplastic rubber |
| Weight | 3.52 oz |
Shun Cutlery Classic Boning & Fillet Knife
Pros
- Very sharp
- Curved blade works well for long, smooth cuts
Cons
- Very rigid blade
- Expensive
Shun's gorgeous boning and fillet knife also made our list for best fillet knives. It's an extremely sharp and well-balanced knife that we found capable of very thin slices and of removing meat cleanly from the bone. The handle has no butt or bolster, but it's shaped like a rounded triangle, which helps with your grip, and we found it comfortable.
This pick is quite pricey, but it's a good choice for cooks who work with both meat and fish frequently. It's also very rigid, which is less common with fillet knives but helped when slicing through joints. We also found that the curved blade enabled long, smooth cuts, which is helpful when removing meat cleanly from the bone, particularly with large or delicate foods. And it excelled at cubing pork in our tests.
| Blade length | 6 in |
| Materials | Damascus steel, pakkawood |
| Weight | 7 oz |
Zwilling Flexible Boning Knife
Pros
- Fine tip makes it easy to slice skin and remove fat
- Did a good job removing chicken breast meat
Cons
- Shape of bolster can impede some longer strokes
Those who prefer a flexible knife for intricate deboning will be pleased with Zwilling's 5.5-inch boning knife. It performed well in our pork test: It provided enough dexterity to get around the bone, and the fine tip was great at removing skin and fat from the meat. It was also helpful when removing the breast meat from a whole chicken.
This knife has a unique bolster shape. It allows space for a comfortable grip, but we found that, because it's long and pointy, it can impede the angle available for long slicing strokes.
| Blade length | 5.5 in |
| Material | Stainless steel |
| Weight | 8 oz |
How we test the best boning knives
The experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab regularly test all kinds of knives, including butcher knives, chef knives, bread knives and paring knives.
When we test boning knives, we remove the legs, breasts and wings from a whole chicken as well as separate the parts of the legs and wings and cut through the spine. These tests are used to evaluate the ability to slice through joints as well as to maneuver around different shapes.
With the knives that excel in the chicken test, we score the tough skin on a pork shoulder and then remove the skin, fat and bone before cubing the meat. This allows us to assess how the blade works with large cuts and different textures.
We also assess the comfort and cleanability of each knife. We note whether the handle is contoured or textured and whether food washes off easily, which is particularly important to avoid cross-contamination. We also note whether the blade is flexible or rigid and straight or curved; these factors relate to performance as well as preference for many cooks.
What to look for when shopping for a boning knife
✔️ Handle: A lot of personal preference goes into choosing a knife handle, so it's ideal if you have the opportunity to hold the knife in person. But, regardless, know that boning meat can be slippery work, so you want a comfortable, secure grip. Handles that have texture and/or contouring can give you a feeling of control, but we have found comfort with smooth handles as well. A pronounced bolster (where the blade meets the handle) and butt (the end of the knife) can also be helpful for some cooks.
✔️ Blade length: Most boning knives are between 5 and 7 inches. We found we liked the 6- to 7-inch range, as smaller blades can fall short when moving larger pieces of flesh from the bone.
✔️ Curved or straight: If you're more often separating large portions of meat from the bone, you might prefer a curved blade: It effectively increases the length of the blade and enables long, smooth cuts. But for detailed work removing bones or cutting through joints, a straight blade can work better. It is sturdy and easy to maneuver.
✔️ Flexibility: This is a bit of a Goldilocks scenario: We liked knives with a little bit of flexibility. Rigid knives made it harder to work around bones in tight spaces, but knives that were very flexible can make it difficult to align the blade over joints in some cases.
Is a flexible or stiff boning knife better?
The key takeaway from our tests was that very flexible boning knives can be a little harder to work with in tight spaces (say, when removing a chicken leg and butting up against the bird's rib cage). Some people prefer a rigid blade, as it's strong and sturdy and can provide a lot of control.
We liked somewhat flexible blades: They allowed the most maneuverability while enabling precision cuts when you find the best position for cutting through a joint or removing meat. They also worked well to remove meat cleanly from curved areas, such as when removing breast meat from a chicken.
What's the difference between a boning knife and a fillet knife?
Boning knives and fillet knives can be similar — some companies even sell combo knives. But they generally have a few differences. Fillet knives can be longer (up to 9 inches), more flexible (ideal for working with gentle bones and flesh) and narrower (in terms of both the blade itself and the tip of the knife).
Boning knives can be a bit thicker to be sturdier for larger cuts of meat, and while they do come to a point, they may taper less than fillet knives.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Sarah Wharton is a deputy editor with the Good Housekeeping Institute, and she tests a variety of products for the Kitchen Appliances Lab. She's a trained cook with seven years of experience in professional kitchens. She's a former food editor and recipe developer. She developed the methodology for this test as well as the test of fish fillet knives.
Sarah (she/her) is a deputy editor in the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she tests products and covers the best picks across kitchen, tech, health and food. She has been cooking professionally since 2017 and has tested kitchen appliances and gear for Family Circle as well as developed recipes and food content for Simply Recipes, Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Oxo and Food52. She holds a certificate in professional culinary arts from the International Culinary Center (now the Institute of Culinary Education).
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