The Best Electric Knives Do More Than Carve Holiday Turkey, Ham, and Prime Rib

Our Takeaway

Beyond carving meat, the BLACK+DECKER Comfort Grip Electric Knife neatly slices bread,  cake, vegetables, and more. For a full kit with a thicker blade and a small cutting board to use while slicing vegetables, I like the Cuisinart Electric Knife Set with Cutting Board. If you’ll primarily be filleting fish rather than cutting poultry and beef, the Rapala Heavy-Duty Electric Fillet Knife is your best choice.

How to Pick the Right Electric Knife

Corded vs. Cordless

Electric knives that run off wall power tend to be lighter, slimmer, and less expensive than cordless models that operate from a rechargeable battery. Long power cords give you plenty of room to maneuver, but they can drag and tangle. Cordless models do away with this concern and let you use the knife anywhere. The batteries in many cordless electric knives allow more than an hour of continuous run time, but they may take twice as long to recharge—something that’s never a concern with a corded model.

Handles

The control and function of an electric knife happen in the handle; the two-part blades simply lock into it. Some handles accept and release a blade more easily than others, and because every electric knife blade has sharp, deeply serrated teeth, minimal fumbling is a big plus.

You start most electric knives with the press or pull of a trigger and then keep the pressure constant until you want to stop the knife. Many models include a safety lock to prevent accidental operation—but not all. Some keep the blade unlocked throughout the entire carving session, but others re-lock automatically every time you release the trigger and stop the blade motion.

Blades

An electric knife blade comes in two pieces that lock together near the tip and then slot into the handle to operate as a single unit. They then slide back and forth against each other when you press the knife’s trigger: simply apply even downward pressure and let the knife do the work for you.

For many models, the two-piece blade is straight all the way to the rounded tip, but variations exist. A fillet knife blade curves gently along its length and comes to a fine, upward point; it also tends to be more flexible so that it can slide neatly along a fish backbone and under the skin. Some electric knives have a thick blade that more closely resembles a santoku knife, providing more leverage, or a sharper tip.

Determining the blade length can be confusing. Some manufacturers measure from the point where the offset blades lock into the handle, below the blade guard, whereas others measure just the serrated portion that actually carves and slices.

Care

Many electric knife blades can be safely placed in a dishwasher’s top rack, but like all sharp kitchen tools, they’ll last longer if you carefully wash them by hand with hot water and dish soap. Separate the blade pieces to clean them, paying special attention to the rivet that locks them together, and let them air dry completely before you reconnect them. If the knife didn’t come with a case, blade guards are a good idea for storage

An electric knife handle is usually vented to minimize overheating, so it should never be immersed in water. Instead, wipe down the handle and cord with a damp cloth or sponge. Let it air dry fully before you pack it away.

About Our Tests

We put several top-rated electric knives through two rounds of tests to see how they performed. In our first round, Allrecipes product tester Samantha Lande used each to carve a rotisserie chicken, slice through a baguette, and slice through beef tenderloin or brisket. Then, in my home kitchen, I tested the fillet knife on different types of fish and all of the picks on bread, cake, cookies, vegetables, and more.

During testing, we paid special attention to the following metrics:

• Ease of Use: Does the knife cause your hand to vibrate too much while in use? Does the knife require a lot of pressure or time to cut through? Does the cord get in the way?
• Noise: Is it too loud?
• Efficiency: Does it slice cleanly without shredding or tearing?
• Storage and Cleaning: Is it easy to clean? Are the blades dishwasher safe? Does it store easily in a drawer, or does it need more space?
• Overall Value: Is it worth the money?

The Leftovers: Other Electric Knives We Tested

Although the NutriChef Portable Electrical Food Knife cut well, the button on the top was difficult to push and the vibration was almost too much to handle. "It felt like the jolt of starting a lawn mower," says Samantha. We did like that the wooden storage board locked on the blades, but it didn't make up for the knife itself.

The Cuisinart CEK-30 Electric Knife offered far less than its other Cuisinart counterpart. There is no safety lock on this version, and not only did it vibrate quite a bit, but it also got hot very quickly.

Common Questions

How do you carve a turkey with an electric knife?

Let the just-cooked meat rest for 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the turkey’s size, before you power up an electric knife. Remove the legs first, letting the blade’s sawing motion cut cleanly through the skin and then the cartilage between the body and the thigh joint. Next, cut through the cartilage that connects the wings to the breast, detaching each wing on both sides. Then, find the central breast bone and slice down alongside the ribcage to remove the meat. As you slice down to and around the bones, take care not to cut through them, which can damage the electric blades.

After separating all the meat, set the carcass aside for turkey soup. Use the electric knife to slice the breast meat against the grain. Finally, separate the drumsticks from the thighs, cutting through the joint’s cartilage. If desired, remove all bones and cartilage from the thighs and drumsticks and then slice the dark meat with the skin side up.

Can you sharpen electric knife blades?

The stainless steel, deeply serrated blades of electric knives should stay sharp through years of use. They are not meant to be sharpened, and attempting to do so at home can actually damage them and negate the knife’s warranty. To keep electric knife blades from becoming dull, be sure you are not using them to slice through bone or, if using a fillet knife, cutting straight through fish scales or the rib cage. If the blades do become dull or damaged, they should be replaced for safety.

What can you use an electric knife for besides meat?

My tests made it clear that electric knives have lots of uses beyond carving meat and filleting fish. I used all knives in this roundup to cut tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and potatoes. I sliced dense sourdough boules, rye loaves, brioche, and bagels. I used these knives to portion logs of cookie dough and biscotti. They cut zucchini cake, lentil loaf, sushi rolls, and sashimi with ease. 

For some of these foods, an electric knife might outperform a traditional one—especially if you rarely break out sharpening stones and honing tools for your everyday knives. If you’re not cutting all the way through a vegetable to, say, prep a grilled onion blossom or Hasselback potatoes, an electric knife creates even, vertical slits without striking the cutting board. My bread loaf slices turned out equally thick and straight using an electric blade. If you’re cutting a lot of cake, an electric knife works quickly and creates hardly any crumbs. Beyond food, an electric knife neatly carves foam for craft projects and shapes replacements for motorcycle, RV, or sailboat seat cushions.

What should you avoid cutting with an electric knife?

I had hoped that an electric knife would quickly cut extra-large blocks of Cheddar and Swiss cheese into smaller portions for smoking and carve the waxy rind off a Parmesan wedge. Instead, I learned that electric knives are less than ideal for cutting food with lots of downward pressure. They slice cheese off the end of a block far more efficiently than they divide it down the dense center. 

In the same vein, you could damage an electric knife by cutting into a whole squash or pumpkin. My mother-in-law destroyed her first-ever electric knife by trying to cut slabs of ice cream, and Hamilton Beach’s user guide specifically says its electric knife should not be used to cut through any frozen food or through bones. 

If you use an electric knife to cut straight down, keep in mind that it could gouge a cutting board or benchtop more deeply than a traditional blade. Slicing most of the way through and then rotating the food to carefully complete the cut can keep the blade from ever touching your favorite cutting board.

Why Take Our Word For It?

Samantha Lande is the former associate editor of Eater Chicago. She has experience in product testing and reviewing kitchen tools, and has also developed content for leading food brands. 

Julie Laing has been a writer and editor for 25-plus years, focusing on original recipes, kitchen tools, and the stories around them. She is the author of “The Complete Guide to Pickling,” the Flathead Beacon food columnist, and a reviewer and recipe developer for numerous other publications. For this article, she tested five electric knives on homegrown vegetables, a range of sourdough breads, home-baked desserts, and more. During her testing weeks, she set aside her traditional knives in favor of the electric ones for dinners ranging from sushi and baked whole snapper to Panzanella salad and lentil loaf.