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We Found the Best Sous Vide Cookers—Get Your Vacuum Bags Ready!

It's time to jump into the future of cuisine

Sous vide cookers we recommend on an orange patterned background

The Spruce Eats / Amelia Manley

What if we told you that the best way to cook a steak is to put it in a bag and let it bathe in hot water for hours or even days? First developed by innovative chefs using equipment designed for science labs, sous vide is a cooking method that yields tender meats, flavorful vegetables, and even perfectly cooked eggs and custards.

The name means "under vacuum" in French, and the technique involves sealing food in a bag and then slowly cooking it in water in which the temperature is maintained at a very specific level for a long time. It's virtually impossible to overcook dishes with sous vide, and it can achieve flavors and textures that you can't get any other way.

In the last few years, sous vide has caught on among amateur cooks, and there are now lots of choices out there for simple, affordable devices designed for home kitchen use. We rounded up a long list of top models and tested them to evaluate setup, ease of use, performance, and more.

Best Overall

Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker

Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Performance
    4/5
  • Ease of Use
    5/5
  • Setup
    4.3/5
What We Like
  • Precise temperature control

  • Adjustable clamp

  • Compact

  • Easy to clean

What We Don't Like
  • Wi-Fi is unreliable

  • Doesn't include bags

The Anova brand is pretty much the biggest name in sous vide, and its Precision Cooker is the industry standard for consumer-level home machines. It took slightly longer than average to heat to target temperature in testing (30 minutes versus 26), but it was able to maintain temperature with amazing accuracy. The water bath dropped by less than half a degree after the chicken went in, took less than a minute to recover, and stayed at almost exactly 165 degrees Fahrenheit the whole time. We achieved great results with steak and soft-boiled eggs, but chicken was the star—it came out the butteriest and tastiest of the whole test.

The Precision Cooker is as simple to set up as just plugging it in, and the adjustable clamp lets you attach it to just about any vessel, submerging the heating element at just the right depth. For the sous-vide beginner, Anova's app offers a wealth of assistance in the form of recipes and video tutorials, along with the ability to schedule and control cooking from afar using the Precision Cooker's Wi-Fi connection. That's a great option when you’re cooking a sous-vide meal that might take several days, but we found the controls a bit wonky, with the connection cutting in and out and interfering with using the app to control the cooker. Thankfully, it has its own onboard manual controls that work just fine, and the app's recipes and demos are still quite helpful.

The Precision Cooker doesn't come with its own bags for sealing food, but you can do that with a standard freezer bag or your own vacuum sealer. When it comes to retail price, this machine is fairly middle-of-the-road. However, it seems to go on sale pretty often; check a few retailers to see if any discounts are available.

(Note: Anova has recently released a 3.0 version of the Precision Cooker that adds 100 watts of power and upgrades the Wi-Fi connectivity and touchscreen. The version featured here is still available, but we will update this story with insights when we've finished testing the new model.)

Dimensions: 3.1 x 5.3 x 12.8 inches | Weight: 2.8 pounds | Power: 1,000 watts | Maximum Water Temperature: 197 degrees Fahrenheit | Accuracy: +/- 0.2 degrees

Runner-Up, Best Overall

Breville Joule Turbo Sous Vide

Breville Joule Turbo Sous Vide

Amazon

What We Like
  • Compact, attractive design

  • Powerful and fast heating

  • Turbo mode

What We Don't Like
  • Expensive

  • No manual controls

The Joule was first introduced by the ChefSteps brand in 2015, as a compact, app-controlled machine designed to make proper sous-vide simple for even beginner home cooks. We tested and loved the original Joule, whick performed beautifully in head-to-head home and Lab testing. The Joule's replacement, the Joule Turbo, came out after our Lab tests, but we tried it out at home and are equally in love.

This sous-vide cooker is loaded with great features and is one of the smallest on the market. At a foot tall and weighing merely a pound and a half, it'll fit easily into a kitchen drawer, but its 1,100 watts of power can also maintain more than 10 gallons of water at sous-vide temperatures. (On the other end of the scale, it can work with as little as an inch and a half of water in the cooking vessel.) It has a unique magnetic foot to hold it in place in the middle of a steel or iron pot, but it also comes with a clip on the side to attach to a container made of any material.

In our Lab testing, the original Joule was one of the fastest to reach temperature, bringing the pot of water to 165 degrees Fahrenheit in 22 minutes. (It was one of the slowest to recover after we put the chicken into the water, taking almost 2 full minutes, but the results were perfect anyway.) Salmon and pork chops came out well, too. We've put the Turbo to the test with ribs, chicken, steak, and a beef roast—ranging in cooking times from less than 60 minutes to a full 12 hours—and have had nothing but success.

The Joule and Joule Turbo are nearly identical, and they operate almost exactly the same, except that the Turbo has a new function: turbo mode. This heats the water a little bit above the target temperature (no more than 10 degrees, in our tests) to get food to the exact right doneness a bit faster. This works especially well with smaller items: Breville says turbo mode can sous-vide a steak in half the time.

We love the look of the Joule Turbo: This minimalist cylinder might as well have been designed by Steve Jobs. It's a technological marvel, too, with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity and an app that has a variety of pre-set recipes with step-by-step instructions or lets you create custom cooking programs. The downside is that you can only set it with the app; there are no onboard controls at all. Another downside is the high price.

Dimensions: 1.9 x 1.9 x 12.3 inches | Weight: 1.5 pounds | Power: 1,100 watts | Maximum Water Temperature: 197 degrees Fahrenheit | Accuracy: N/A

Best Budget

Instant Accu Slim Sous Vide Immersion Circulator

Instant Accu Slim Sous Vide Immersion Circulator

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Performance
    3.6/5
  • Ease of Use
    4/5
  • Setup
    2.3/5
What We Like
  • Compact

  • Inexpensive

  • Accurate

What We Don't Like
  • Minimal control options

  • No app or Wi-Fi controls

  • Slow heating

From the kitchen appliance wizards behind the Instant Pot, this immersion circulator is super compact and one of the cheapest models out there. You can actually use your Instant Pot cooking pot if you have one, but it also clips to any pot, bowl, or other container large and heat-resistant enough for sous vide. It held a very accurate 165 degrees Fahrenheit in our testing, though its mere 800 watts of power did take a fairly long time to get there. It's a little slower in general than other models: After our 90-minute test cook, the chicken breast was fully cooked but had uneven texture and wasn't completely tender throughout yet. However, the Accu Slim was excellent at longer jobs, making beautiful crème fraîche (set it to 96 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours), crème brûlée in canning jars (the rich custard came out silky smooth), and even pickles.

The Accu Slim's low price does mean you lose a few features found in other models, such as Wi-Fi connectivity and remote control capabilities, and there's no included recipe booklet or app. In one longer cook, the water evaporated below the level of the unit's safety sensor and it shut off; make sure you have a large enough container to hold plenty of extra water. However, we found the interface was easy to read, the temperature accurate, and the slim size a bonus for those with limited storage space.

Dimensions: 2.6 x 2.6 x 13.5 inches | Weight: 1.9 pounds | Power: 800 watts | Maximum Water Temperature: 203 degrees Fahrenheit | Accuracy: +/- 0.1 degrees

Best Compact

Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano

Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Performance
    4/5
  • Ease of Use
    5/5
  • Setup
    5/5
What We Like
  • Precise temperature control

  • Easy app and Bluetooth controls

  • Easy to clean

What We Don't Like
  • Clamp isn’t adjustable

  • No Wi-Fi connectivity

  • Doesn’t include bags

The little brother of our top-rated Anova above, the sleek Nano wowed us with how evenly it cooked a wide range of meats—from steaks and pork tenderloin to chicken. It's significantly smaller, less powerful, and less expensive than the full-sized Precision Cooker but was still able to maintain sous-vide temperatures without much trouble. It was fairly slow to heat up, taking 35 minutes to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit in our test, but it brought the chicken breast back to temp quickly and cooked it thoroughly in 90 minutes. (We might have given the chicken a few more minutes for perfect tenderness, but that's really more of a personal preference thing.)

The Nano can connect to your phone via Bluetooth, but it doesn't have Wi-Fi capability, so you have to be within about 30 feet of the machine to control it with the Anova app. There's also an onboard manual control panel that's very simple to use. The major negative we found in testing is that the clamp on the Nano's side is fixed, which limits the size of pot you can use for cooking as well as the level where the device sits. (The original Precision Cooker has an adjustable clamp that's a big bonus.)

(Note: Anova has recently released a 3.0 version of the Nano that adds Wi-Fi connectivity and an improved touchscreen. The version featured here is still available, and we will update this story with insights when we've finished testing the new model.)

Dimensions: 2.2 x 4.1 x 12.8 inches | Weight: 1.7 pounds | Power: 750 watts | Maximum Water Temperature: 197 degrees Fahrenheit | Accuracy: +/- 0.2 degrees

Best Splurge

Breville HydroPro Sous Vide

Breville HydroPro Sous Vide Immersion Circulator

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Performance
    4/5
  • Ease of Use
    4/5
  • Setup
    4.3/5
What We Like
  • Three water circulation settings

  • Powerful and accurate

  • Calculates custom cook settings automatically

What We Don't Like
  • Very expensive

  • No Bluetooth or Wi-Fi controls

The PolyScience brand has been making precision heating equipment for laboratories and the chemical-processing industry for more than 50 years, and when pioneering chefs started to develop the sous-vide technique, they adapted PolyScience equipment for kitchen use.

The HydroPro is a collaboration between PolyScience and popular consumer brand Breville, with incredible accuracy and power in a unit specifically made to cook food sous vide. It's built to the high standards required for commercial use but is available to anybody. Its circulation pump has three different speeds for optimal heating of different sizes of container (up to a whopping 45 liters), and its 1,450 watts of power heat up quickly. It got the water to 165 degrees Fahrenheit in just 18 minutes in our test, with beautifully fall-off-the-bone chicken ready at the end of the 90-minute cook. We also tested it making 72-hour short ribs at 144 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature gauge did not budge from 144 exactly (except when adding more water to the vessel).

The control panel on the HydroPro looks like a small cell phone, and it offers a matching level of functionality. You can manually set temperature and time as with most other machines, and there's the built-in Sous Vide Toolbox, a program that will calculate the perfect settings based on super-customized factors such as whether your food is fresh or frozen, how thick it is, how tough or tender it is, what shape it is, and what doneness is preferred. Besides meats, vegetables, and eggs, there are also settings for custards and yogurt. Sadly, it doesn't have Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity, so it's manual only.

Like other immersion circulators, this model has an adjustable clamp to attach to any container. It's very easy to clean and yielded fantastic results with every recipe we tested—but, for this price, it pretty much had to make this list.

Dimensions: 3.8 x 6.8 x 14.6 inches | Capacity: 47.5 quarts | Weight: 4.2 pounds | Power: 1,450 watts | Maximum Water Temperature: 194 degrees Fahrenheit | Accuracy: +/- 0.1 degrees

Final Verdict

The Anova Precision Cooker is our top pick for its solid performance every time, particularly when it comes to meats, as well as its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi controls. For a lovely budget pick, we recommend the Instant Pot Accu Slim Sous Vide Immersion Circulator, whose performance belies its low price.

How We Tested Sous Vide Cookers

We chose 16 sous vide cookers to compare side-by-side in our Lab. We've also home-tested many of the models multiple times, making a wide variety of dishes and incorporating them into our daily cooking routines. The results of both Lab and home testing contributed to our top picks.

We Observed

  • Setup: We unboxed and readied each sous vide cooker for operation, following the included directions and noting any difficulties. This included any issues with physical assembly, as well as technological problems with phone apps and wireless connections needed to control and monitor cooking.
  • Temperature control: As a test of the cookers' power and accuracy, we set up identical 5.5-quart water baths at 72 degrees Fahrenheit and timed how long the machines took to get the water to 165. Once they reached the target, we let them run for 5 minutes and checked the temperature again to make sure it was still at exactly 165.
  • Cooking performance: We made an identical recipe with each machine, vacuum-sealing a bone-in chicken breast with salt, pepper, and butter, and cooking at 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 90 minutes. We rested the chicken for 5 minutes after it came out of the water to account for carry-over cooking and then checked the internal temperature. (If any of the chicken was not at 165 at that point, we let it stand for another 5 minutes to finish cooking.) Next, we sliced the chicken against the grain into half-inch pieces for taste and texture evaluation.

We Rated

  • Ease of use: We noted how simple or complicated it was to set cooking options (using onboard controls or via app), as well as how many different temperatures and programs are available. We also considered whether we had any trouble getting the machines securely connected to the cooking vessels with the water at the correct level.
  • Features and functions: In home testing, we tried out a variety of temperature settings and programs, cooking large and small items for just a few minutes or as long as all day. We noted if any of the models did an especially good or bad job with specific items, and we also paid attention to safety features like low-water-level alarms and machines that can turn back on and continue running after a brownout or other brief power loss.
  • Value: After all of our other tests were complete, we revealed the retail prices for each model to compare to each other. The 16 Lab-tested models range in cost from $60 to $500, with an average of $179.

About Our Testers

  • Our Lab team has spent collective decades working in professional kitchens, developing recipes, and testing kitchen gear.
  • Lindsay Boyers is a functional nutritionist, recipe developer, and author of more than a dozen books and cookbooks. She tested the Anova and Anova Nano at home.
  • Donnie Currie is a longtime The Spruce Eats contributor and author of the cookbook "Make Ahead Bread." She was our home tester for the Instant Pot Accu Slim, Breville Joule Turbo, and Breville HydroPro.

What to Look for in a Sous Vide Cooker

Stick vs. Water Oven

There are two main styles of sous-vide setup. All-in-one machines, often called "water ovens," include their own built-in water tank, heating element, and controls in a single unit. This is convenient and heat-efficient, but the machines tend to be more expensive and take up a lot of space.

Stick-shaped sous-vide devices (aka "immersion circulators") incorporate a heating element and water pump into a small unit that attaches to your own container, whether a large pot, bowl, or plastic tub. That makes for lots of flexibility for cooking large or oddly shaped items, but you need more power to accomplish the same task. If there's not enough wattage to maintain the correct temperature, you could end up with undercooked foods and potentially the opportunity for nasty bugs to grow that could make you sick.

Cooking Programs

At the most basic, any sous-vide cooker will have controls for heat and time, letting you set your desired temperature and length of time to hold it. But sous vide is complicated, with different ideal settings for different foods and situations. Most machines offer some extra functionality beyond just temperature and time, whether that's just a handful of presets or a fully automated program that lets you specify exactly what you're making and exactly how you want it.

Remote Control

Many sous vide machines can connect to your phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, which lets you set, control, and monitor cooking from anywhere. This is often done via an app that includes not only basic controls but also tips, recipes, and automated programs. This convenient functionality generally comes with a slightly higher price, however, and might not be necessary for a more experienced sous-vide fan who's already mastered the technique.

Sous vide chicken breast cooking

The Spruce Eats / J. Kenji López

FAQs

What is sous vide? 

Sous vide is French for “under vacuum," but it refers to a cooking technique that seals food in a bag and cooks it slowly in water that's kept at a very precise temperature. Where cooking on a pan or grill uses very high temperature to heat ingredients from one side at a time, sous vide brings everything to the same temperature all at once. That lets you get perfectly even doneness every time, while also retaining fats and juices that would cook out of the food with other techniques.

How do you use a sous vide cooker? 

Besides food sealed in a bag, all you need for sous-vide cooking is a container of water. Some machines include their own vessel, but an immersion circulator clips to any pot, bowl, or tub. The first step is to fill the container, attach the machine (your user manual will explain exactly how and where), and turn it on. You can add the food immediately or let the water preheat first, but you generally shouldn't start the cooking timer until after the water reaches the target temperature. You want to use a lot of water compared to the size of the food to keep the temperature stable, but keep in mind that there's a limit on how much water a given cooker can hold at a certain temperature. (Check your manual for your machine's maximum capacity.)

Sous vide seems a little intimidating at first, but there are plenty of books, websites, apps, and social media groups that can help you figure out the best way to deal with almost any food. Many items are ready straight out of the water, but meats like steaks, chicken, or fish can benefit from a quick, high-temperature sear in a pan at the end to add color and charred flavor, and to crisp up skin.

What can you sous vide? 

Really anything can be cooked sous vide. Meats are a favorite for the method, as the gentle heat can bring them to the perfect level of doneness with almost no chance of overcooking. Many vegetables also do well with sous vide, albeit at higher temperatures than meat. Root veggies like carrots or potatoes are an excellent choice, as is corn on the cob. A popular technique is to add butter or oil with herbs and spices to the bag to infuse ingredients with deep flavor and richness over their long cook.

Custard and other egg-based desserts can be cooked in canning jars, and slow-cooking grains like polenta or oats also do well. And that's just the start of the list, which is always growing as chefs and home cooks experiment with the possibilities.

Do you need a vacuum sealer for sous vide?

Not necessarily. Sous vide doesn't require a true vacuum seal to work, but it's important that the food is in a securely closed bag that won't pop open mid-cooking. If you're using a zip-top bag, try to squeeze out as much air as possible before closing, and be careful the opening seals all the way from end to end. You can also use glass canning jars for sous vide, but make sure to use airtight lids and screw them on tightly.

With that said, a vacuum sealer may be preferable if you plan to really get into the technique. It removes more air from around the food and can create a custom-sized heat-sealed bag to fit any item perfectly. There are also vacuum sealer attachments for jars that are ideal for sous-vide custards and other egg dishes.

Can you sous vide frozen meat? 

Yes! To help meat thaw thoroughly before the outside reaches cooking temperatures, it's best to start with cold water or even water with some ice in it. The circulation helps thaw foods more quickly—you could even use a sous-vide cooker set at low temperature to thaw meat or leftovers that you're planning to cook using a different method. When starting from frozen, cooking will take longer, but the rest of the process is pretty much the same.

What are the benefits of sous vide? 

One of the main benefits is complete control of the finished temperature, along with edge-to-edge cooking at exactly the same doneness. For cooks who aren’t good at cooking a steak to the right temperature, sous vide makes it easy, with just a sear at the end to get a good crust.

Another benefit is the ability to cook tough meats in a new way. Meat that was previously destined for stew can be turned into a tender medium-rare roast with a few hours at 145 degrees Fahrenheit or so. Any food that can benefit from precise temperature control, like yogurt or custard, can be cooked perfectly every time, without the risk of overcooking. Another benefit is that once the food is in the water the cooking is completely hands-off—plus, a little extra cooking time won’t cause a disaster, so the food can stay warm when guests are late. While sous vide often takes longer to cook than traditional methods, it can be more convenient.

How long does sous vide take?

When cooking using sous vide, the temperature controls doneness, but time controls tenderness. There’s always a little wiggle room with the time since the food won’t overcook the way it can in an oven. Shrimp might cook in 15 minutes to an hour, and steak might cook in one to four hours. But with larger, tougher cuts, it might cook for 24 hours, 72 hours, or even longer for ultimate tenderness.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

Donna Currie is a writer and product tester for The Spruce Eats. She's used a stick-style sous-vide maker for years, so she knows what features to look for in a sous-vide device—such as precise temperature control. This was one of the reasons she was eventually sold on the decidedly non-stick-style SousVide Supreme Water Oven, which she reviewed for us, in addition to the Instant Pot Accu Slim Sous Vide Immersion Circulator.

This roundup was updated by Katya Weiss-Andersson, a professional chef and small kitchen appliance editor for The Spruce Eats; Sharon Lehman, a home cook and registered dietitian nutritionist; and Jason Horn, a The Spruce Eats commerce writer who's been writing about food for more than 15 years.

Additional reporting by
Jason Horn,
Jason Horn
Jason Horn has been writing about food and drinks for more than 15 years and is a Commerce Writer for The Spruce Eats. He once convinced Matthew McConaughey that a hot dog is indeed a sandwich.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Katya Weiss-Andersson,
Katya Weiss-Andersson
Katya Weiss-Andersson is a commerce editor for The Spruce Eats. With eight years of experience as a professional chef cooking in cramped kitchens and developing recipes with limited space and equipment, Katya has become an expert on how to make life easier in the kitchen.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
and
Sharon Lehman, RDN
Sharon Lehman
Sharon Lehman is a freelance writer and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist specializing in food, health, and wellness topics. She is the Small Appliance Expert for The Spruce Eats.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
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