What type of cutting board is best for meat

With so many available sizes, sets, and materials from which to choose, how do you know the most significant criteria? In this guide are things to consider when selecting the best cutting boards for meat and poultry.

Keep in mind several important factors as you shop for the best cutting board for meat or poultry. Read on to learn more about each of these considerations as you search for the best cutting board for you. You have to wash a wooden cutting board by hand and be sure to use an adequately diluted ammonia-based solution. Plastic cutting boards have the handy advantage of being dishwasher safe, which makes for easy sanitation.

However, the aesthetics of wooden cutting boards are considered to be significantly superior to plastic. Bamboo cutting boards are generally more rigid and less porous than other hardwoods. Bamboo absorbs little moisture and resists scoring from knives, making it naturally more resistant to bacterial growth than other woods. An appropriate conditioning oil can ensure any type of wooden board will last longer and look better.

Avoid choosing a cutting board made of ceramic or glass, as these materials will quickly wear down your knives. A rectangle is the most common shape for a cutting board. As opposed to a disk, the straight edges of a rectangular board make it much easier to grip and transport. Straight edges can also be useful for sliding meats or vegetables off the board and into a pot or pan. Board sizes vary, but standard cutting boards are 18 inches by 12 inches, while professional chefs generally use larger cutting boards that are 24 inches by 18 inches.

For example, frequent meals for one person will likely only require a small board. Owning the best kitchen knives is essential to having a well-functioning kitchen and preparing the best possible meals. Keeping those knives as sharp and well-maintained as possible is just as essential. A cutting board works hand-in-glove, so to speak, with your knives, so they play a significant role in the success of your meal preparation. If your cutting board is too soft, there is danger of scoring or cutting permanent grooves into the material.

These grooves then become a prime location for raw meat particles to become lodged or uncooked juices to become trapped. In either case, a board used for raw meat or poultry preparation can then be a source of bacterial growth. This contamination usually results in an offensive smell on the board or, in a worst-case scenario, a possible source of food poisoning.

On the other hand, if the cutting board is made with a material that is too hard, like glass, marble, or ceramic, then your knife blades will quickly become dull or even damaged. OXO cutting boards have been our favorite for years. We love how they grip to the counter and can be used for a variety of foods, from raw meat to fresh veggies.

They're sold individually , or in a set, as pictured here, with one medium sized board and a smaller one for prep. During our tests, this bamboo cutting board did not move around one bit. While thick, it was still lightweight and able to be moved around easily for washing. We liked that it was relatively soft and smooth, right out of the packaging, thanks to pre-oiling, and stayed that way after several washes.

The grips come in three different colors so you can choose your favorite or buy several for different purposes. We also really liked the 15" x 21" hardwood cutting board from Farberware. It was large enough to carve a turkey, and light enough to move around and clean.

This mixed wood cutting board from Sabatier is pretty to look at and practical. It can be used for cutting and serving. We liked that it stayed put during cutting when a damp paper towel was placed underneath it and that it felt sturdy thanks to its thickness. Washing by hand was easy, but we recommend keeping a food-grade seasoning oil on hand to rub it down often to keep it smooth and crack-free.

This large 15" x 20" cutting board is approved by the National Sanitation Foundation for being non-porous and non-absorbent. That means, that after washing, it can be used for both meat and veggies.

We love its large size and well for collecting juice. Best part is, it's dishwasher safe, a huge pro when you're dealing with meat.

The board is reversible; it can be flipped and used as a pastry board. Use it for mixing or rolling out dough, an advantage of its large size and non-absorbent surface. Sometimes cute, small things seem too good to be true, but this foldable cutting board is an exception.

It lays flat for chopping, then the sides fold up so you can transfer your food to the pot without spilling. It moved around a little during our tests, but we liked the textured cutting surface and its innovative design. It was also very easy to clean and is dishwasher safe.

We had a hard time picking our favorite J. Adams cutting board out of the seven we tested. Overall, they were our top wooden boards in terms of design, portability and ease of cleaning.

It is big enough to comfortably cut up a chicken or skin a salmon fillet, but not much more. The drip well holds about an ounce of liquid and is deep enough to contain it nicely, and the other side of this reversible board is completely flat. The board does get points for coming in 20 different color combinations, so there's something for every kitchen decor scheme, and for the fact that it's lightweight and dishwasher safe.

BergHOFF's Ron cutting board has a clever premise: This two-piece unit has a plastic side and a bamboo side, and the two pieces fit together.

When used on the bamboo side, wide slots cut into the surface and allow crumbs or drips to fall through, where they're collected in the underside of the plastic piece. We like this board more for serving; you can slice crusty bread on the bamboo side, then turn it over and arrange cheeses for charcuterie on the black plastic board. At 15 by 8. It lacks a juice well, but the raised rim of the plastic cutting board will prevent a small amount of juice from spilling out onto the counter.

We found that the plastic surface was easily scarred with knife cuts. Another downside: The company recommends hand-washing the entire cutting board. Norpro's Professional Cutting Board, made of NSF-approved plastic, is an inexpensive, durable, and utilitarian cutting board, the ideal option for outfitting a first kitchen.

It's sturdily designed of one piece of plastic with no added grips or trim, and has a handle cutout of one side. The drip well capacity is deep enough to hold about 1. We tested the smallest size, just a little bigger than a sheet of paper, but there are four larger sizes available ranging all the way up to 24 by 18 inches. This small size is great for slicing small cuts of meat like a chicken breast or a steak, but wouldn't be able to handle even carving a roast chicken.

The slightly textured plastic does not show knife marks or stains. Its biggest drawback? It slips and slides on a countertop. This massive board is a work of art: a hefty slab of polished acacia wood, with a center grid of pyramid-shaped spikes designed to hold a piece of meat in place while carving.

Deep juice wells act as a moat around the spikes, and serpentine around the perimeter of the board. It's gorgeous in design, and while it's ideal for slicing a large roast or carving a turkey and pretty enough to bring said turkey to the table right on the board , the deeply carved features make it awkward to use the board for anything else, even cutting up raw meat.

Luckily, the board can be reversed to use the other side for other slicing and prep work. This board is hand-washable. After rounding up top-rated cutting boards across a variety of types and price points, Allrecipes product tester Jessica Harlan put each one through a series of testing.

Each cutting board was tested on its ability to cut both raw meat and cooked meat. To test the cutting boards' ability to handle raw meats, Jessica cut a whole chicken into pieces and sliced raw beef on each board. For cooked meat, Jessica used each board to slice steak into thin strips for these Grilled Steak Fajitas , and to carve a whole, roasted chicken for this Juicy Roasted Chicken recipe.

Jessica paid special attention to the following metrics:. By Jessica Harlan and Melanie Fincher. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. Best for Serving. Gorilla Grip Cutting Board. Norpro Professional Cutting Board.

Best Cutting Boards for Meat at a Glance. Juice Groove. Non-Slip Edge. Let's get into our picks for the best cutting boards for meat. With more than 1, five-star Amazon ratings, this popular board is designed to resist deep scratches and scarring, so you won't have to worry about bacteria developing over time.

Plus, the double-sided board has a single handle for easy lifting and has non-slip feet to allow for added safety. This cutting board also has two juice groves to catch any juices from your meats and make clean-up that much easier. According to one reviewer: "This is an excellent cutting board for the price. I use this cutting board for cutting meat and it's easy to clean. It's thin, so it's easy to store against the wall and keep out of the way.

Highly recommended if you're looking for a non-wood cutting board for cutting meat. Like the option above, this plastic cutting board by Neoflam is made from a dishwasher-safe, durable, and non-porous material.

The difference is that this one is made with Microban antibacterial protection — but it's a little bit pricier. This one also boasts a double-sided design to ward off cross-contamination, nonslip edges for safe cutting, and a groove to catch excess liquid.