I Learned How to Chop Vegetables Thanks to This Sharp, Easy-to-Use Victorinox Chef’s Knife

About five years ago, I resolved to teach myself how to cook. One problem: I was intimidated by the prospect of using a chef’s knife. Still, I knew if I had any hope of ever becoming a proficient  home cook, I would need to conquer my fear of knives. And I wouldn’t have been able to do that without this Victorinox chef’s knife.

I learned to use the knife by teaching myself how to chop vegetables. I diced onions, sliced tomatoes, halved Brussels sprouts, and chopped carrots. This fundamental skill helped me master the chef’s knife, and now I use it almost everyday. After about five years of use, I’ve decided that it’s the best chef’s knife for beginning home cooks. Right now you can grab it for $40 — inexpensive compared to other high quality chef’s knives, which can be priced in the hundreds. 

To buy: Victorinox 10-inch Chef’s Knife, $40 (originally $65) at amazon.com 

The Victorinox 10-Inch Chef’s Knife has all of the qualities I needed as a beginner to feel comfortable using it. I never touched the sleek Masamoto VG Gyuto knife that my partner uses in the kitchen (and I still don’t), for fear of ruining the blade, or worse yet, slicing through my fingers. But the handle on the Victorinox knife doesn’t feel bulky or unwieldy. In fact, it’s comfortable to hold. This is important because it helped me feel in control of the knife, and if I’m in control of the knife, there’s less of a chance that I’ll accidentally cut myself. 

Overall, the knife is relatively lightweight. It’s bigger than a standard 8-inch chef’s knife, but I think the extra weight actually makes it easier to chop raw vegetables like carrots. I like that it's easy to maneuver, and it rarely, if ever slides out of my hand.

It’s also impressively durable. Whereas the more expensive Japanese knives in my kitchen need to be wiped clean and dry after every use, I have literally tossed the Victorinox knife in my sink and come back to wash it an hour or so later. In all of my time using it, it has never rusted, dented, or chipped. Frankly, it’s still in perfect condition. I’m not saying you should treat your knife badly, but rest assured that if you’re in a rush or just don’t have time to deal with the dishes immediately, this knife can handle it. 

The Victorinox knife maintains a sharp blade from four to six months depending how often you use it, and then it needs to be taken to be sharpened by a professional. This long lasting sharp edge is an important safety feature of the knife. People tend to apply more pressure when using a knife with a dull blade, increasing the chances that it will slip on the cutting board and end up cutting their hands. Though it's counterintuitive at first, a sharp knife actually prevents injuries. 

These days, I use my Victorinox knife to cut up the truly massive amount of fruit that my toddler can consume, from strawberries, to clementines, to kiwi. But it still comes out of the drawer for all my grown up cooking tasks too, like trimming the fat and gristle from whole cuts of meat, dicing onions for pasta sauce, and cutting up tofu and vegetables before they’re stir-fried or roasted. I love this knife, and I’m grateful that it has shown  me how approachable a chef’s knife can be to beginner home cooks. 

If you’ve just started your cooking journey, and you’re looking for a lightweight, easy-to-clean knife, trust me, you need the Victorinox chef’s knife. And now that it’s 40% off, it’s the perfect time to grab one.  

At the time of publishing, the price was $40.