Paring Knife

A paring knife is a small kitchen knife, typically 75mm to 100mm (3 to 4 inches), made for work you do in your hand rather than on a board. Peeling an apple, hulling strawberries, deveining shrimp, and taking the eyes out of a potato all go faster with a blade short enough to steer with your fingertips.

The design brief is simple: short enough for control, thin enough to follow a curve. That's why a paring knife sits in almost every kitchen alongside a larger blade rather than replacing one.

Three blade shapes handle different jobs, and choosing the wrong one is the usual reason a paring knife ends up unused at the back of a drawer.

Shop Paring Knives

Explore our paring knives for peeling, trimming, coring, hulling, and other detailed kitchen tasks. Compare different blade shapes, lengths, steels, and handle designs to find a knife suited to your prep style.

Browse the collection to find a paring knife that feels comfortable for precise in-hand work and smaller cutting-board tasks.

What Is a Paring Knife?

The paring knife's definition is straightforward: a short-bladed kitchen knife, usually 75–100mm, designed for detailed cutting held in the hand. "To pare" means to trim or peel away an outer layer, and the knife takes its name from that job. You'll also see it called a parer.

Most have thin stock, little or no bolster so the edge runs full length, and a handle sized for a firm grip close to the blade.

What Is a Paring Knife Used For?

A paring knife is used for small, precise tasks that a chef knife handles awkwardly. There are more uses for a paring knife than its size suggests, and they split between in-hand and board work. The purpose of a paring knife is control at close range.

In the hand:

• peeling apples, pears, potatoes, and ginger
• hulling strawberries and coring tomatoes
• removing potato eyes, bruises, and blemishes
• deveining shrimp and scoring citrus peel

On the board:

• slicing garlic, shallots, and chillies
• segmenting oranges and supreming citrus
• trimming silverskin from small cuts
• halving cherry tomatoes and mushrooms

Parer knife uses stop short of anything needing length or force. Dense squash, hard cheese rinds, and bone will damage the edge or your hand, because a short blade gives you no leverage and no safe distance from the cut.

Which Blade Shape Should You Choose?

Three shapes dominate, and each suits a different grip.

Spear point

A pointed tip with a gently curved edge and a straight spine. It handles both in-hand and board work, which makes it the sensible first paring knife.

Sheepsfoot

A straight edge with a spine that drops to a blunt tip. The flat edge keeps full contact with a board, so it's steadier for slicing garlic and less likely to pierce a palm during in-hand work.

Bird's beak

Also called a tourné knife, with an edge curving inward like a talon. That concave curve follows the surface of round produce, which suits peeling apples and cutting vegetables into the seven-sided tourné shape. It's a specialist, not a starter.

Some blades carry Granton dimples along the face to help slices release. On a knife this small, the effect is minor, so weigh shape and thinness first.

Paring Knife or Petty Knife?

Both are small knives, and the difference is reach.

• Paring knife: 75–100mm. Built almost entirely for in-hand work. More agile for peeling, too short for meaningful board slicing.

• Petty knife: 120–150mm. Works in the hand and on the board, covering more tasks but less nimble for peeling.

• Utility knife: the western mid-size knife, thicker and often serrated, built for sandwiches and general work.

If your kitchen already has a chef knife, a paring knife covers what the big blade can't reach. Cooks who prep a lot of shallots and herbs may get more from a petty.

Choosing a Paring Knife for Your Kitchen

Length

75mm feels precise for peeling small fruit. 90mm is the common middle. 100mm gives enough edge for light board work while staying controllable in the hand.

Thickness and flex

Thin stock follows curves and slices cleanly. A little flex helps when tracking the contour of an apple; a stiffer blade is better on a board. Very flexible blades belong in filleting, not paring.

Steel

Corrosion resistance matters here because a paring blade spends its life in acidic produce, so stainless is the low-effort default. High-carbon steel takes a finer edge at a narrower angle and sharpens in seconds on a fine stone, which suits cooks who enjoy maintaining an edge.

Handle and grip

Your hand sits close to the edge, so the handle decides how this knife feels more than the blade does. Look for a shape that fills your palm without pushing your fingers forward, a finger choil or short bolster to stop your hand sliding, and a surface that still grips when wet. What makes a good cook's paring knife is usually that handle.

Owning two

A spear point for general work and a second shape for peeling is a common pairing, and paring kitchen knives are inexpensive enough relative to a main knife that it's a realistic option.

Using a Paring Knife Safely

More kitchen cuts happen with paring knives than with chef knives, because the blade travels toward your hand with no board underneath it.

• Brace with your thumb, and cut past it. Keep your thumb on the far side of the cut, never in the blade's path.
• Rotate the food, not the knife. When peeling, hold the blade fairly still and turn the fruit against it.
• Sit down for long jobs. Peeling a bag of potatoes standing up is how attention slips.
• Never catch a falling knife. Step back and let it land.
• Keep the edge maintained. A dull knife can require more pressure and may slip during certain tasks. Sharpen it when cutting performance noticeably declines.

Care for a Short Blade

Sharpen the tip, not just the middle

On a 90mm blade, the working edge is barely three inches, and it's easy to lift the point clear of the stone without noticing. Keep the whole edge in contact, then touch up mid-prep on a ceramic rod, which takes seconds on a blade this size.

Check the edge against a tomato

Paring knives dull quietly because the tasks are light. If the blade won't start a cut in tomato skin under its own weight, it needs attention.

Give it a fixed home

Blade guards, a knife block slot, or an in-drawer tray all work. A paring knife loose among cutlery loses its tip within weeks, and a snapped tip on a 90mm blade costs you a meaningful share of the edge to grind back.