If you want to cook dinner in a hassle-free way while allowing the meat to cook in the marinade slowly, you can opt for a sous vide cooker. Lucky for you, this article presents the best sous vide reviews and how to use them for cooking delicious tender meat at your choice of doneness level.
All you need to do is to set the time, sit on the couch to sip your favorite coffee, and monitor the cooking process via the app. Sounds cool. Read along to learn more about the best sous vide cooker and the best vacuum sealer for sous vide.
Page Contents
- 1 The 5 Best Sous Vide Cookers for 2024 Reviews
- 1.1 1. Best Overall: Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker (1000W)
- 1.2 2. Runner-Up: Breville Joule Sous Vide, White Polycarbonate (1100W)
- 1.3 3. Best Budget: Inkbird WIFI Sous Vide Precision Cooker (1000W)
- 1.4 4. Best High-End: Anova Culinary | WiFi Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro (1200 W)
- 1.5 5. Best Compact: Anova Culinary Bluetooth Sous Vide Precision Cooker Nano (750W)
- 2 How to Use Sous Vide Cooker
- 3 Conclusion
The 5 Best Sous Vide Cookers for 2024 Reviews
Following are the top five sous vide cookers with positive reviews:
1. Best Overall: Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker (1000W)
The Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker is an efficient sous vide cooker that comes with a smartphone app allowing you to control and monitor the cooking on your smart device. You can also use the ultra-responsive touch buttons on the Anova cooker and read the settings on the digital screen.
Another exciting feature of the smartphone app is the availability of the best sous vide recipes with accurate cooking time and temperatures. If you are a beginner, it’s the best sous vide machine that allows you to familiarize yourself with the entire cooking process before you customize the cooking time.
The Anova sous vide cooker comes with a sturdy clamp so that you can attach it to the container sides. Moreover, it ensures a resistance-free rotation of the screw, allowing you to tightly secure the sous vide cooker in its place.
Unlike the Hamilton beach smokeless grill or the Blackstone griddle that requires an additional smoker thermometer to monitor the inside temperature of meat, the Anova sous vide machine is the best slow cooker with temperature control. It’s integrated with the latest technology, allowing you to slow cook remotely from anywhere in the home.
Furthermore, it creates a precise temperature throughout the water to ensure the doneness level of your choice. Lastly, you can try the sous vide bread proofing recipes in the Anova Precision cooker, making it a multi-purpose bread machine.
Pros:
- Comes with an app for remote monitoring
- Faster heat-up time
- Durable construction
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Louder vibrations
2. Runner-Up: Breville Joule Sous Vide, White Polycarbonate (1100W)
The Breville Joule Sous Vide, White Polycarbonate is undoubtedly the best sous vide machine, featuring a space-saving and sleek design. It comes with a heavy-duty magnetic base that keeps the cooker in place without any swinging on either side. Moreover, the clip allows you to connect it to any container.
Luckily, you can connect this high-tech sous vide machine to the Amazon Alexa, Android phone, or iPhone via Wifi or Bluetooth to set and monitor the cooking temperature and time. A distinct feature of this app is the Visual doneness feature that displays the photo of how the finished meet will look. This way, you have an idea before cooking of what exactly you want to cook.
The Breville Joule sous vide cooker can reach a maximum temperature of 206F degrees, courtesy of the powerful 1100 wattage. You can heat up to 10 gallons of water in a covered container while five gallons in a covered pot.
Alternatively, you can opt for the Breville CS10001 Joule Sous Vide, Stainless Steel (1100W). It has similar features as the Breville Joule Sous Vide CS20001 except for the stainless finish for the magnetic base and top button. Another difference between the two sous vide cookers is the price. Of course, polycarbonate is relatively cheaper than stainless steel.
Pros:
- The sleek design saves space
- Hyper-fast water heating
- Visual doneness level on the Joule app
- Affordable
- Supports both Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity
Cons:
- Absence of physical controls
- Clamp works with thin-rimmed containers only
3. Best Budget: Inkbird WIFI Sous Vide Precision Cooker (1000W)
The Inkbird WIFI Sous Vide Precision Cooker is a reliable sous vide machine ensuring noiseless operation and consistent temperature throughout the water container. You can heat up to 20 liters of water at 1000 W output with a minimal noise of 40 dB.
Furthermore, you can check and control the temperature and timer from anywhere in the home, courtesy of the 2.4 Wifi connection to the InkbirdPro app. If you want to preserve the moisture, marinade, and flavors of the meat while retaining the nutrient benefits of beef, you can consult the cooking recipes on the app.
The Inkbird sous vide cooker comes with a protection alarm that stops the cooker from working if the water level is below a certain minimum. Moreover, the ergonomic design allows you to operate the cooker single-handedly.
Lastly, the 12-month warranty makes this best sous vide cooker a safe investment.
Pros:
- Ensure homogeneous temperature
- Includes additional calibration function
- Comes with a thermal alarm
- 12-month warranty
- The app includes recipes
Cons:
- Not entirely a waterproof unit
4. Best High-End: Anova Culinary | WiFi Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro (1200 W)
The Anova Culinary | WiFi Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro is one of the most robust sous vide cookers, operating at 1200 watts. This way, it ensures a flow rate of 12 liters per minute, which is exceptional.
Another great feature about this heavy-duty sous vide cooker is its ability to heat 100 liters of water and can continuously run for 10,000 hours without getting overheated or shutting down.
You can adjust the detachable clamp to set up the sous vide cooker in a stable, vertical position. Furthermore, it comes with a removable skirt that covers the heater to ensure a consistent temperature in the water container.
You can use the ultra-responsive touch screen to customize the temperature and time. Later, you’ll hear a clear sound to confirm the desired settings. On the other hand, you can simply adjust the settings on the Anova app.
Pros:
- Durable construction
- Can heat up to 100 liters of water
- Made of stainless steel
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Pricey
5. Best Compact: Anova Culinary Bluetooth Sous Vide Precision Cooker Nano (750W)
Launched in 2018, the Anova Culinary Bluetooth Sous Vide Precision Cooker Nano is one of the best sous vide cookers, offering 12.7 inches in length and 2.2 inches in diameter. In addition, this sleek sous vide cooker comes in a sleek design compared to other Anova precision cookers.
The Anova Nano features a stylish and sturdy clamp allowing you to tighten the cooker in any type of container.
Furthermore, it comes with a clear touch screen display on which you can read the numbers from a fair distance. The touch buttons are pretty responsive, allowing you to set the time and temperature. Alternatively, you can adjust the settings on the app via Bluetooth connectivity from a distance of up to 30 square feet.
The Anova Nano cooker features a maximum temperature of 197F degrees with 99 hours of non-stop heating. In addition, it offers a faster heating time of 22 minutes, courtesy of the 750 wattage heating power.
Pros:
- Sleek design
- Made of durable plastic
- Good value
- Easy to use
- Ultra-responsive touch buttons
Cons:
- Non-adjustable clip
- Only Bluetooth connectivity
How to Use Sous Vide Cooker
Sous vide cooker is different from portable grills, pellet grills, or outdoor gas griddles as it doesn’t burn the meat from outside. Instead, it offers the same tender doneness consistency throughout the brisket, one of the best cuts of beef.
Sous vide is a unique cooking method in which you must place the food in a sealed container and place it in a hot water bath for several hours. Sous vide cooker is responsible for heating the water and circulating it around the food to ensure even cooking.
It also serves as a rice cooker, allowing you to cook perfect rice in less than 30 minutes for two to three people.
Unlike cooking on a smokeless indoor grill or gas grill, the sous vide method is essentially a low-slow cooking method in which you cook the meat in its juice or marinade without adding any oil to enjoy tender and moist meat.
Steps to Cook in Sous Vide Cooker
After reading the above sous vide reviews, it’s time to learn this unique cooking style by following these steps:
- First, you must select the temperature for the desired doneness level. For instance, you can choose the temperature between 125F to 130F degrees for the medium or medium-rare steak.
- You should heat the water to the desired temperature before placing the sealed food in the water.
- You can place the marinated meat in a vacuum bag and seal it to prevent water from seeping inside.
- After heating the water, you can place the meat bag in the container.
- It depends on you how long to cook the food. You can either heat the food, tenderize the meat, and slow cook as you do in the Cosori air fryer toaster oven combo, which is the best air fryer toaster oven combo.
- The rule of thumb to cook the meat using a sous vide cooker is to reach the water’s temperature.
- A one-inch thick piece of meat takes more than an hour to cook. Moreover, a two inches thick piece of meat takes around three or more hours to cook thoroughly.
- The best thing about using a sous vide cooker is that the outer layer of meat doesn’t burn, unlike traditional cooking in a cast iron skillet, deep fryer, or flat top grills.
Conclusion
Sous vide means “Under vacuum” and is one of the oldest and easiest cooking techniques. However, you can master it only if you use an efficient cooker.
A sous vide cooker is no longer exclusive to the experts and chefs; instead, you can cook delicious meals for your family by following the recipes included in the apps that come with the best sous vide machines reviewed above.
