What Is a Serrated Knife Used For?

Serrated knives are also known as bread knives and can be among the more useful tools in your kitchen. Compared to knives with slightly curved or straight blades, a serrated knife features a jagged blade capable of cutting through thicker surfaces. These include breads, meats, and other dishes or foods you prepare. Use this guide to learn all about these knives.

Serrated knife uses for cutting bread, meats, and tough foods

Explore Seido's Serrated Knives for Precise Slicing

What Is a Serrated Knife?

What is a serrated knife used for? The serrations on the blade are often pointed and deep, meaning the blade can cut through tough foods, such as thick crusts. You might hear people call the serrations teeth or notches, and bread knives and steak knives fall into the serrated category. All serrated knives work like saws, so pulling it back and forth across the food you want to cut gets the teeth to catch on the food's surface. The gradual cutting minimizes your effort when cutting meat, bread, and other materials that are dense and fibrous. The result is a clear cut that doesn't damage or squish delicate items or dishes. Serrated knives work well for straight, long cuts on larger food, but they're not a good choice for slicing, mincing, and peeling smaller foods and ingredients.

Best Uses for Serrated Knives

Is a serrated blade the best knife to cut cake? In some cases, yes, but there are plenty of other uses in both professional settings and at-home kitchens.

Slicing Bread

Of course, the first of many bread knife uses to mention is slicing bread. The jagged serrations are designed to easily get through tough crusts while avoiding compressing or crushing the softer interior. A serrated knife maintains the integrity of many baked goods, wraps, sandwiches, and paninis.

Food tips on how to slice bread cleanly with a sharp knife

Slicing Fruits & Veggies

Other serrated knife uses include fruits and vegetables, especially foods with notably tough outer skin. Pineapples and watermelons are easier to hold and cut with the long blades for leverage. Serrated knives might also be useful for slippery and squishy foods, including eggplant, lemons, strawberries, and tomatoes you don't want to crush.

Best way to cut a fruits into slices using a sharp knife

Cutting Meat

Our Serrated Steak Knife Set is perfect for cutting certain slices of meat. Steaks, pork chops, roasts, and raw chicken breast are the primary examples of when you can cut against dense tissue grain and come away with bite-sized pieces. You're accustomed to having serrated steak knives in many restaurants, so your home needs them, too.

Using Seido knife to slice ingredients on a cutting board

Cutting Baked Goods

Cutting baked goods is just one task you can accomplish with the Tengoku 8-Piece Chef Knife Set, Green. Spongy goods can crumble, and it's too easy to crush your favorite pastry if you use something else. Pecan and fruit pies are also much easier to manage with serrated knives giving you straight lines through the guts and crust.

Best serrated knife cutting baked goods

Cutting Frozen Foods

Serrated knives are useful for preparing frozen foods. Slice through frozen crusts and ice as you portion out cranberry torte, key lime pie, or ice cream sandwiches when giving everyone in your home, or just yourself, a sweet treat.

A guide on how to cut frozen goods efficiently with sharp knives

Benefits of Using a Serrated Knife

You won't see an obvious bottle opener in the Hanikamu VG10 Damascus Chef Knife Set, but you can open your next wine bottle even without having a corkscrew. Drive a serrated knife down through a wine bottle's cork until you can reach the handle. Twist, and then pull. It's unconventional, and you need to be careful, but it's a neat trick if your corkscrew is lost or in the dishwasher.

Serrated knife cutting through thick meat

How To Wash and Care for a Serrated Knife

Serrated knives can be sharpened with proper steel or a rounded-edge sharpening stone. Always rinse serrated knives immediately, and use mild soap for gentle cleaning. Be sure you clean the blade and handle to prevent bacterial accumulation. When cleaning, don't use abrasives that might scratch the knives, and dry each one immediately.

Maintaining Serrated knife with precision for durability and sharpness

Bonus: Serrated Knife Characteristics

What characteristics separate serrated versus non-serrated steak knives? The teeth are the primary difference. Deeper slots give you more grip, but the number of serrations also determines the quality of a good knife; fewer is actually better.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know a few serrated knife purposes, you'll either know what to do with the one in your kitchen or realize that you need to add this versatile blade to your collection. A good serrated knife is worth investing in, and it will help you make tricky cuts as clean as the professionals do.

Shop Knife Sets with Serrated Knives →

What is a Serrated Knife Used For?

What Is a Serrated Knife?