Right Knife for the Job: Meet the Serrated Utility Knife

Serrated Utility Knife

What makes the Serrated Utility Knife unique?

Smaller than a chef’s knife and larger than a paring knife, the serrated utility knife is a standout both for its multipurpose size and its sharp, single row of serrations along the blade’s edge. Think of this handy blade as a slightly longer, just-as-versatile paring knife with the added functionality of a mini breadknife. The perfectly weighted blade acts as an extension of your hand and features a tapered tip that easily maneuvers around intricate corners. The serrated edge glides gracefully through ingredients without pulling or tearing, so you can relax into your meal prep and reroute your senses to the most joyful aspects of cooking, like the smell of shallots caramelizing or the sound of a sharp blade slicing back and forth through warm, crusty sourdough rolls. This is a good knife to grab if you’d like to prepare a variety of small to medium-sized ingredients without breaking out a bigger chef’s knife, or to cut more delicate foods that might otherwise be crushed by a non-serrated blade. It can tackle smaller, more meticulous tasks — such as peeling and slicing garlic — as well as it can handle ingredients like juicy stone fruits, hard or thick-skinned foods like apples and dense rye breads, or the everyday slicing and dicing of your favorite fruits and vegetables. And thanks to that fine, serrated edge, you can rest assured that your ingredients won’t be stressed as you whip up your recipe.

What is a Serrated Utility Knife used for?

WÜSTHOF’s serrated utility knife is unmatched when it comes to any foods you might find at a picnic or on a decked-out cheese and charcuterie board. It’s excellent for slicing ciabatta loaves, soft dinner rolls, and golden-brown baguettes; cured sausages and country pâté; hard and soft cheeses like aged cheddar or chèvre; roasted chicken breasts, grilled pork chops, or seared steak; and any type of fruit or vegetable you can fit in a big cereal bowl, such as peaches, pears, cucumbers, fennel, and citrus of every shape and size. This knife is also great for ripe tomatoes, due to the sharp row of serrations along the blade’s edge.

How do you care for this knife?

Like all WÜSTHOF blades, this knife is crafted from premium materials and designed to last a lifetime with proper care. The serrated utility knife must be hand-washed with mild soap and water and immediately dried with a soft kitchen towel. Since this blade is designed to stay sharp for longer, it does not require frequent honing or resharpening — but if your serrations could use a touch up, you may use a sharpening steel, a whetstone, or a professional sharpening service to get the job done. Please do not use handheld sharpeners, since these tools cannot isolate the individual serrations.

What’s a fun fact about this knife?

Medium-sized serrated knives like this one have been used for millennia, dating all the way back to 500,000 B.C.E when such blades were crafted from stone materials like flint. Knives found in ancient Egypt are clear precursors to the tools we still use today, with their cutting edges chiseled into an even row of notches for slicing through wood, bone, and reeds.