The 6 Best Carving Boards of 2025, Tested & Reviewed

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The functional design of top performers helped keep messes under control and kitchen knives sharper longer.

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Food & Wine

What’s the difference between a carving board and a cutting board, you ask? They’re pretty similar, but with one key difference: Carving boards have a handy drain channel running around the perimeter. This groove collects all the drippings and juices that emerge while carving poultry, slicing steak, or chopping a bunch of tomatoes. You can think of a carving board as a cutting board that helps keep messes contained.

Thanks to its natural antimicrobial properties, wood is a popular choice for carving boards. Wood tends to be gentler on knives, too, which helps keep blades sharper. We tested dozens of carving boards by slicing baguettes and carving entire chickens, and we found the best of the bunch.

We favored the Teakhaus Professional Carving Board thanks to its large size, deep juice well, and timeless good looks.

This versatile reversible board is one of the largest we tested.

It's heavy and pretty expensive.

The Teakhaus board is gorgeous thanks to its material, and it's highly functional due to its reversible surface. You can use it as a flat cutting board or flip it over to take advantage of the grooved side for carving. The heavy-duty construction and deep juice canal blew us away during testing. Nothing spilled, and there was more than ample room for a 4-pound chicken; we're confident this could handle a turkey of any size.

The varied nature of teak's grain means knife marks will be well-hidden on this board, and, with proper care, it will last a lifetime. It's heavy at 12 pounds, but that's to be expected given the size and solid wood construction. The Teakhaus is also on the pricey side, though it's cheaper than other boards of the same size and heft.

Material: Teak | Dimensions: 24 x 15 x 1.5 inches | Weight: 12 pounds | Dishwasher-safe: No

This is a lightweight, sturdy, dishwasher-safe carving board for an amazing price.

It’s a bit small for carving large pieces of meat.

The Joseph Joseph Cut and Carve board is dishwasher-safe and versatile for everything from vegetables to pork tenderloin. This board is great for general prep work as well as carving thanks to its durable rubber-like surface. It's essentially all juice groove, with a ridge around the entire outside of the board that can hold lots of liquid. We also appreciate the grippy "fingers" in the middle that help hold your bird or roast in place (and the flat surface on the opposite side for regular chopping).

We found the Joseph Joseph board to be on the small side during our baguette test. A whole chicken took up most of the board. While this may not be an ideal carving board for your Thanksgiving turkey, it's an inexpensive option that will serve double duty as a daily-use cutting surface.

Materials: Polypropylene, stainless steel |Dimensions: 16.1 x 11.4 x 1 inches | Weight: 1.8 pounds | Dishwasher-safe: Yes

This substantial carving board is functional and gorgeous.

It’s heavy and expensive for its size.

Made In’s Butcher Block is the real deal. Weighing in at eight pounds with a deep juice groove, this beechwood carving board is ultra-sturdy and ready to handle just about anything you’ll be tempted to slice atop its well-oiled surface. It's durable, resistant to scratches, and has enough space for a whole chicken. The size and weight of the carving board kept it steady on the counter when we sliced the baguette, and the grooves helped catch crumbs. And its Instagram-ready look doesn't hurt, either.

The stability of the Made In board is due to its weight, which does make it a little tricky to maneuver — you might not want to carry this from the kitchen to the table with a heavy bird balanced on top. It might also be a pain to wash if your sink is too small to hold it. It's one of the more expensive boards we tested, especially for its size, but it's an investment piece that’ll last for years to come. The Made In Butcher Block looks and feels like a high-quality carving board. The functional juice wells, handles on the outer edges for an easier grip, and solid wood structure make it a great pick.

Material: Beech | Size: 17.75 x 11.75 x 1.6 inches | Weight: 8 pounds | Dishwasher-safe: No

An ultra-grippy surface ensures food won’t slide around during carving on this extra-large board.

The grid design takes some getting used to.

At first glance, this Lipper International carving board — with its grid-like center patch and wavy juice wells — looks more than a little unconventional. But we loved how efficiently this board held everything in place, from baguettes to chickens to fresh produce.

The gripper grid in the middle made carving a roast chicken easy. The sturdy acacia board ensured no mess was left on the countertop, and despite reservations that the grippy center might be tricky to clean, we were pleasantly surprised to find the board rinsed clean with no issues. Like other carving boards, this one is large and can make for awkward maneuvering in the sink, but we feel it’s worth the purchase. It might take some time to adapt to the grid pattern, but it's a net positive.

Material: Acacia | Dimensions: 20 x 15 x 1 inches | Weight: 4.7 pounds | Dishwasher-safe: No

This board has deep juice wells and a unique indentation for carving chicken, duck, and turkey.

It doesn't have a completely flat side for standard slicing and chopping.

You can probably see right away what makes the JK Adams board unique: There's an oval indentation in the middle designed to hold your roast chicken, duck, goose, turkey, or any other bird in place while you carve it. The center cavity did indeed keep our chicken stable while we carved it, but it also makes the JK Adams a bit less versatile. The maple board is reversible, but the other side also has juice wells, which might interfere with non-carving tasks.

This might not be a board for everyday prep work, but it is an ideal serving piece for poultry of all kinds. If you're apt to roast a chicken at the drop of a hat, this board makes it look all the more impressive, whether you're serving two people or ten.

Material: Maple | Dimensions: 20 x 14 x 1.25 inches | Weight: 7 pounds | Dishwasher-safe: No

This plastic carving board is inexpensive, lightweight, and easy to clean.

It's not as aesthetically pleasing as wooden carving boards.

In a lineup of head-turning wooden carving boards, OXO’s plastic contender may not look like much, but don’t discredit this one just yet. Despite its lightweight, slim profile, the OXO carving board comes through with non-slip feet to keep everything in place while slicing.

This board didn’t move an inch while we sliced a baguette, and though the juice well is shallow, the board’s generous overall size kept mess to a minimum, with plenty of space for drippings to distribute. We found that a 3-pound chicken fits nicely on the board, with plenty of space to break it down and have room to spare.

As with most products in the OXO Good Grips line, functionality comes first. Yes, you can pop it in the dishwasher; yes, it also holds up well to sharp chef knives without gouging. This is a great carving board for the budget-conscious or anyone working in a small space.

Material: Plastic | Dimensions: 21 x 14.5 x 0.7 inches | Weight: 3.4 pounds | Dishwasher-safe: Yes

We tested 22 carving boards for this story, all equipped with a juice well and made explicitly for carving meat. We examined each board straight out of the package, making notes on size, materials, stability on the counter, and any unique features. We then put each through the same set of tests.

After completing our tests, we revealed the retail prices of the carving boards to compare their value for money. At the time of testing, they ranged from $20 to $287, with an average of $98.

Food & Wine

Carving boards are generally made of wood, a wood composite, or plastic. All can hold food while you slice it, but wood boards tend to be the most naturally skid-proof thanks to their heavy weight, which can be essential when carving a large, unwieldy bird or roast. Boards with a natural wood grain also look lovely, though they're also more expensive. A plastic or wood-composite board will be a lot less expensive, lighter in weight, and easier to clean — many are dishwasher-safe, while natural wood boards generally are not.

Carving boards tend to be bigger than general-purpose cutting boards. You need something that will accommodate the largest item you plan to carve on it, including plenty of extra room to maneuver. If you're only going to cook and carve chickens, pork tenderloins, lamb racks, and other relatively small items, you can get away with a smaller board — 10 by 15 inches or so. But for turkeys, spiral-cut hams, and prime rib roasts, you'll want an extra-large carving board — the longer side should be at least 20 inches. On the downside, larger boards are heavier, need more storage space, and cost more money.

Since the main difference between a carving board and a plain old cutting board is the channel for capturing juices, you will want to be sure that it can hold all the juices a cut of meat will generate. If the juice wells are too narrow or too shallow, you'll wind up spilling all over the counter, which defeats the purpose of using a carving board in the first place. Look for substantial grooves, especially if you're a fan of voluminously juicy turkeys and prime rib. Deep grooves can get in the way of regular slicing and chopping, so if you plan to use your carving board as a cutting board, too, look for a reversible model. These usually have a juice well on one side and a perfectly flat surface on the other.

Other design elements to look for include anything that helps stabilize the board and its contents. Rubbery "feet" or a sticky-textured base will keep the board from sliding around while you use it, and many models also feature a textured surface to hold meat in place as you carve it.

Wooden boards are rarely dishwasher-safe, and since you'll be using them with a lot of meat juices, it's important to keep them clean and sanitized. It's best to wash a wooden carving board with hot water and dish soap soon after using it, before anything can dry on and stick in place. When you wash a wooden cutting board of any kind, you should always get both sides soaking wet, even if only one side is dirty: The wood is more apt to warp or crack if it dries unevenly. To keep a wooden cutting board looking its best for the longest, you should rub it down with a food-safe board cream or mineral oil every few months. This keeps the wood fibers soft to prevent cracking and splitting.

With a composite or plastic carving board, cleaning is a lot easier: You can often just throw the board in the dishwasher. You must keep an eye out for scratches and gouges. If the board gets so damaged that bits of it end up in your food, you should replace it.

Food & Wine

According to Anthony Contrino, Emmy-awarded culinary producer and food stylist, and the host of Today Show segment Saucy, cutting boards and carving boards share many of the same key purposes — chopping and slicing — and can often be used interchangeably. However, carving boards have a well or "moat" around the edge to catch any juices when slicing meat. Carving boards are often bigger than cutting boards, to accommodate large roasts and whole poultry, and they can also be more decorative, intended for use as a serving platter at the table in addition to in the kitchen.

Contrino suggests that an everyday carving board be at least 12 by 18 inches. If you host larger gatherings (as in Thanksgiving), you may want to consider 15 by 20, or even larger than that — you can find carving boards as big as 24 by 36.

The cleaning approach is similar to how you'd clean any wooden cutting board. For lighter messes, a gentle scrub with hot water and mild dish soap will work just fine, says Contrino. For a deeper clean, sprinkle some coarse sea salt over the board and scrub it with a half a lemon, flesh side down. This will remove stubborn debris and help neutralize odors. Always clean both sides of your board and let it dry leaning on its edge to prevent warping. Always make sure the board is completely dry before you put it away to prevent any bacteria from growing.

Shun Hinoki Cutting & Carving Board with Well ($131 at Williams Sonoma)

This board didn't blow us away, but we were satisfied with its overall performance. It was easy to clean, and it's a good size, but it's too expensive.

Virginia Boys Kitchens Extra Large Walnut Wood Cutting Board ($204 at Amazon)

This board is enormous, but its shallow juice groove was disappointing. The size also made it difficult to clean, as we could barely fit it in a farmhouse sink.

Sonder Los Angeles Large End Grain Walnut Wood Cutting Board ($160 at Amazon)

We liked this model as a serving board, but we felt it was a bit too delicate for carving. It took on a lot of scratches from standard knife work during our tests.

John Boos Maple Classic Reversible Wood Chopping Block ($296 at Amazon)

John Boos makes some of our favorite wooden cutting boards, and many of its high-end models are worth their high prices. However, we found this one too heavy to move around and tough to clean, just not worth its astronomical price.

Epicurean BBQ Cutting & Carving Board ($92 at Amazon)

This carving board is even big enough to fit an extra-large turkey, but that made it difficult to clean. We also found it to be pretty prone to scratches.

The main problem we had with carving boards we didn't choose as winners was a lack of durability. Anything that wound up with deep scratches after our baguette test or permanent stains after our chicken test just couldn't make the cut. Others were too small, either in general or for their price. Brands we tested include Material, Totally Bamboo, and Farberware.