What Is Nakiri Knife Used For? Nakiri Knife Use

What Is Nakiri Knife Used For?

Nakiri knives are Japanese double bevel knives made for day-to-day use in the kitchen. They are often confused with cleavers, which are heavier and have entirely different uses.

Nakiri knives are not very popular utensils, and you probably have never heard about them before now. But once you get to know about them and try them out, you will be surprised by how effective they can be.

Nakiri knives have a sharp edge; their tip can be used just like other tipped knives. Nakiri knives may seem very intimidating, and you feel hesitant about using them at first, but they are relatively safe to use.

Here we will discuss the possible uses and other facts about nakiri knives.

Can a Nakiri Knife Cut Vegetables?

Japanese vegetable nakiri knife is the best option for cutting vegetables. They are especially effective for root vegetables. They are effortless to use because they are sharp, and vegetables will get the desired cut shape.

They can pretty much cut every vegetable, but here is a list of the vegetables that are indeed most suitable for nakiri knives.

Onions
Potatoes
Carrots
Radishes
Tomatoes
Cucumbers

The texture and perfect shape obtained for onions with vegetable knife are just unreal. If you desire elegant looks in your salads but don’t have the experience or technique, nakiri knives can help you achieve that with far less effort.

Can a Nakiri Knife Cut Fruits?

Just like vegetables, fruits can also be cut with great elegance if you use nakiri knives. Usually, when you use regular kitchen knives for the fruits, they are not sharp enough and mess up the texture of your fruits. On the other hand, if you use heavier knives, they can squish the juice out of your fruits. In both cases, your fruit experience is going to suffer.

The one-stop solution to that problem is nakiri knives. They have just the right weight, have sharp edges, and their natural motion cuts the fruits in perfect shape.

Apples
Kiwis
Melons
Watermelons
Guavas

Nakiri knives can deal with these fruits just right.

How To Use Nakiri Knife For Chopping?

Nakiri knives have a sharp-edged square shape that is good for chopping and mincing fruits and vegetables. Nakiri knives can chop without squishing the contents. This is a unique quality for a kitchen knife cause they generally are not that sharp. With excellent efficiency, onions can be chopped quickly without bringing one tear to your eyes.

What’s so good about nakiri knives is that you don’t even have to be an expert, you just have to repeat up and down movement of the wrist, and they will do the rest. Within a few days of using it, it will become natural to you, and you will be cutting shapes you never thought were even possible.

Can Nakiri Knife Be Used To Slice Meat?

Nakiri knives resemble cleavers in their looks, but they can’t be used to chop or even cut meat. Nakiri knives are made to use for vegetables and fruits. Meat has a very different texture, and they require different kinds of knives. If you try to use a nakiri knife to cut meat, you can damage the bevel of your knife.

You can slice your meat pieces into smaller pieces; this will not affect the knife. Soft bones also can’t be cut using nakiri knives as their hard surface can damage nakiri knives.

Is a Nakiri Knife And Cleaver the Same?

Most people claim that they have used a nakiri knife to cut meat. This is a common misconception that the fancy name for cleavers is nakiri knife. But in reality, they are entirely different tools and have different functions.

Cleavers are much bigger and heavier, while nakiri knives are sharp and lighter. The reason behind this misconception is the shape of both tools. Both are square and have similar handles. Cleavers can never cut vegetables with the efficiency of nakiri knives.

What Is The Size And Shape Of the Nakiri Knife?

Nakiri knives are about 150g heavy. Their lighter weight is responsible for the smooth up and down the action, making it easy to cut things.

They have a 160mm long cutting edge, which is just a moderate size for cutting vegetables. They are 50mm tall, which is slightly taller than the regular kitchen knife.

Can A Nakiri Knife Be Used For Nuts?

Nakiri knives can’t be used to cut or mince any kind of nuts. Nuts have a very hard structure, which should only be minced with a grinder. Even the smaller nuts like almonds and peanuts or the seemingly soft nuts like coconut should not be cut with nakiri knives.

Things Not To Do With Nakiri Knife

Though the nakiri chef knife is a very sharp-edged tool and can cut anything, they are pretty sensitive and can be easily damaged if you try to cut something inappropriate. Nakiri knives should not be used to cut, mince, or chop the meat as we have described.

Nakiri knives should also not be used for other hard stuff used in the kitchen. Even all vegetables can’t be cut with nakiri knives. More thick vegetables can be challenging to cut through, and nakiri knives are not suitable.

The reason behind all the suggested care is the price of the nakiri chef knives. You should not ruin it because you won’t want to spend the money on it again and end up never buying it. If you are confused about whether to use a nakiri knife for something or not, it is better if you just use the regular kitchen knife and keep nakiri knives for veggies and fruits.

Conclusion

Nakiri knives are multi-purpose knives that can cut fruits and vegetables in an exquisite shape. They can give your toppings and salads the looks that you find in big restaurants. Chopping vegetables, like onions, is also very easy with nakiri knives. Nakiri knives can’t be used to cut meat and other tough things.