7 Best Paring Knives, According to Our Good Housekeeping Institute Lab Testing

This unsuspecting paring knife from Victorinox surprised us during testing. We found ourselves continuously reaching for it since it felt so comfortable to hold. It's thin and lightweight with a plastic handle that offers a comfortable grip. It also rings in at a competitive price point.

Its 3.25-inch blade feels long and sharp. It's slightly flexible, too, which made it great at peeling apples and potatoes, though our apple peels were a little thicker than the Shun knives we tested. We also liked using it to core our ingredients and even remove the eyes from potatoes since we weren't worried about breaking it by any chance. It peeled garlic nicely, too, and made good cuts.

If you're looking for a knife you can simply throw in your drawer or take on-the-go, this one from Kuhn Rikon is a strong option. It offers a good price point and comes with a plastic sheath that secures well to protect the blade — and your fingers — when it's being stored. It has a plastic handle that's comfortable to hold. The bottom of the handle is angled, which offers a good spot to rest your pinky when you're cutting.

In our tests, it offered good, wide cuts on apples and potatoes. It also was easy to use to peel and slice garlic as well as core and quarter tomatoes. One of the most fun parts is that it comes in many different colors and patterns, and it's often sold in a set so you can have more than just one for not too much money.

Not only was this Shun paring knife one of the sharpest in our test, we really liked the length of the blade as well. It's four inches long, which is on the longer side for paring knives. It's also relatively narrow but it's balanced by the thinner, round, signature Classic collection handle. It's lightweight and comfortable to hold.

In our tests, it did a particularly good job at coring plum tomatoes with its super sharp and pointy tip. It sliced right through them, too, when we quartered them to make sauce. The long, upper part of the blade also made it possible to make some of the thinnest cuts of garlic.

This paring knife did a great job at peeling apples and potatoes; the peels were very thin. One unique factor: A large portion of the blade was exposed when we peeled apples and potatoes since it's long and we mostly used the base of the blade; it made us feel more aware of the blade and in control of peeling and cutting the ingredients in our hands.

The Shun Classic 8-inch knife is also rated our best overall Japanese knife and we love the bread knife as well.

Not only is this paring knife from Shun's Premier collection a stunner, it works incredibly well. It's made from Shun's proprietary steel and has a hammered, glossy finish. It's incredibly sharp and did an excellent job at peeling apples and potatoes. It has a wide base, which made wider cuts and made the job quicker and neater. It also did a great job and peeling and slicing garlic.

We love the thick handle on this collection of Shun knives. They make them so comfortable to hold and use. They're also easy to clean. They're great for both new cooks and professionals though the blade itself chips easily so we recommend taking extra care of them.

Material makes gorgeous knives that work — and they come in an assortment of muted colors. While you can buy this knife on its own, it comes as part of the brand's iconic three-piece knife set we tested recently that includes a chef's knife, serrated knife and slim magnetic knife stand. The paring knife feels like a table knife and has a thin, round handle that allows for easy chopping as well as peeling. The blade is sturdy, too.

In our tests, it did a good job of coring tomatoes and quartering them. It peeled apples and potatoes well too, although the peels turned out a little thick.

The Made In paring knife is sturdy and durable. It's amongst the heavier ones we tested and feels balanced in the hand. The shape of the handle is rectangular, but rounded, which encourages it to rest on its side, comfortably in your hand. It also has an angled bolster (where the blade meets the handle) so you can get a good grip on it.

In our tests, it cored tomatoes well with its pointy tip and was easy to cut with in our hands. It also peeled apples and potatoes well and was great to chop with. It feels strong like a chef's knife, but small enough for small tasks.

We love how durable and sharp Misen's knives are. It's a combo that was pretty rare until recently when more German-style knives started taking on characteristics of Japanese-style knives and vice versa. (German-style knives are known to be sturdy and durable with thicker blades while Japanese-style knives are known to be more delicate with thinner, sharper blades.) Misen's knives, including this paring knife, are made of strong steel and sharpened to 15 degrees, where German-style knives are usually sharpened to around 23 degrees. They're strong and offer good heft.

The handles are rigid, but offer a good grip. The paring knife is hefty but offers thin cuts with its sharp blade and pointy tip. One thing to note, it should be dried as soon as it's washed because it can develop rust spots.