Paring vs Utility Knife - Features - Pros/Cons

Paring and utility are commonly used knives. And in this article we are going to describe the difference between a paring knife vs utility knife. By using these knives you can make the perfect slice on your adventure trip.

The utility knife has 4 to 7 inches blade length like you can say that it’s an all rounder knife that is perfect for almost all kinds of kitchen tasks. On the other hand, The paring knife has 3 to 4 inches blade’s length and is ideal for complex tasks such as peeling, de-veining and deseeding as well as cutting herbs and vegetables.

What is a Paring Knife

Paring knife is a special type of knife which gets its name on the behalf of its role. The word paring is largely used to cut off the end or any external surface. It is a short and strong kitchen tool having length of 3 to 4 inches.

The paring knife has a unique design, ergonomic handle, allows complex and precise cutting, accurate cutting, peeling and dicing tasks. You can also use it for removing the seeds and shrimps and other similar works. It is necessary for handling fruit, vegetables, herbs, fish and even small pieces of meat.

How to Use a Paring Knife

The main use of a paring knife is peeling of vegetables, fruits but you can also use it for slicing, deseeding, coring, deveining and other similar tasks. Here we define some points about how to use a paring knife.

Let your forefinger touch the paring knife blade for good control.
Place your thumb over the fruit, vegetable or any ingredient you want to use the knife on.
Start with a sharp paring knife and grab it around the blade with your fingers.
Make the knife’s direction toward yourself and grab the vegetable with your hand for cutting.
To peel, press the blade of the knife against the fruit/vegetable and push the blade towards you as you peel.
For removing the shrimp, first of all make a flat cut on the shrimp so you can expose the vein and then remove it easily with a knife knob.

Pros and Cons

It is an amazing knife to handle complex cuts and precise tasks. It comes with a compact design that’s why it can go even through tight corners.
It is not good for bigger tasks such as handling meat and hard fruits and vegetables.
Uncomfortable in hand due to small size.

What is a Utility Knife?

The utility knife is the mixture of chef’s knife, boning knife and paring knife. Its length goes from 4 to 7 inches. All of us know that chef’s knives are used for handling large ingredients while paring knives exist for handling small ones. But no one’s care about medium sized ingredients so a utility knife is invented to manage medium size things.

Sometimes the chef’s knife looks too large to handle various elements but here the utility knife comes to save your time and make work easy for you. Many chefs prefer to use it as compared to other knives. It is an all rounder kitchen knife that can slice almost all constituents like vegetables, fruit, meat and other things.

How to Use a Utility Knife

First of all need to hold a utility knife with your dominant hand
Now place a thing on the cutting board that you want to cut.
And start slicing, cutting and dicing as per requirement.

Some other uses of utility knife

Splitting off vegetables and fruits
Cutting the poultry and meat
Slicing of bread, cake and buns etc
Can also be used for working steak, cheese and sandwiches.

Pros and Cons

If you don’t have a large number of different knives for working in the kitchen for several tasks then a utility knife will be best for you.
A utility knife can’t handle the larger ingredients that a chef’s knife can.
It is the best knife for cutting and slicing small size ingredients.

Comparison Table

Feature	Paring knife	Utility knife
Blade length	3-4 inches	4-7 inches
Blade profile	Short and narrow blade	Medium length, narrow blade
Size	Smaller than a paring knife	Bigger than a paring knife and smaller than a chef’s knife
Handle	ErgonomicFlat or straight	ErgonomicFlat or straightSerrated or straight edge
Usage	Precise cutting tasks, de-seeding, deveining, slicing and peeling	General kitchen tasks
Best for	Fruits and vegetables	Fruit, vegetables and meat
Variations	Standard, Bird’s Beak, Sheep’s Foot	Straight-edged or serrated

Which Knife Should You Buy?

In this article, we have explained the difference between a utility and a paring knife and now hopefully you can make a decision which one you should buy. Utility knife ? Paring knife ? or both.

If you are looking for a minimalist kitchen right now, you should buy a utility knife. Because we know that a utility knife can do all tasks in the kitchen.The paring knife can handle other tasks like peeling and coring etc.

If you buy both knives then it will be easy for you to manage your kitchen. As you will know which knife you should buy for completing a task. Plus, paring knives will get you where no other knife can take you! Our recommendation to our audience is to buy both utility knives and paring knives, this way your work accomplishment becomes easy.

Now we are aspecting that you can make the best selection of knives for yourself.