Sous vide machines take the guesswork out of making medium-rare steaks or runny eggs to perfection, including all-in-one water ovens and immersion circulators.
These smaller appliances clamp onto the side of a container and use an impeller or pump to agitate water in it, with most also offering built-in interfaces and being compatible with apps.
1. SousVide Supreme Water Oven
This professional-grade appliance brings delicious sous vide cooking into home and small restaurant kitchens alike. Utilizing energy-efficient thermal technology to maintain water temperatures within 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit), it delivers instantaneous delicious results at just the touch of a button!
A sophisticated proportional-integral-derivative temperature controller keeps the water bath at your desired cooking level for hours or days, enabling you to craft dishes that are evenly cooked from edge to center while still retaining all their vitamins and flavors. Examples include steak done just right from edge to edge, vibrant vegetables, juicy tender chicken breasts and succulent ribs with meat that falls off the bone.
Only its high price and large size are its drawbacks, which require ample counter space when in use. Furthermore, its buttons are outdated and heating time takes longer than stick models – but these shouldn’t be issues for most people as everything you need for cooking comes included with it right out of the box – including bags and vacuum sealers!
2. Breville Joule Turbo
Sous vide cooking creates restaurant-quality results with consistent, foolproof results. Sous vide machines use hot and circulating water at precise temperatures to cook food slowly in sealed bags at a precise temperature for tender and succulent results.
Donna Currie has experienced first-hand how well this immersion circulator performs. It quickly heats water, is more compact than previous devices we tested, and works seamlessly with its companion app which includes guided recipes.
The Joule Turbo offers many useful features, including Visual Doneness for quickly assessing steak doneness level without opening the fridge and Prime Time that synchronizes when your dish is ready with your schedule, making dinnertime stress-free. It connects seamlessly with its app for tracking progress and receiving notifications – plus is compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice activation!
3. Instant Pot AccuSlim
The Accu Slim sous vide machine is an exceptional sous vide tool for creating gourmet-quality meals in your own kitchen. Easy to use and yielding astonishing results, I used it to craft soft boiled eggs (with results like those of an overeasy egg and hard-boiled egg coming together!), salmon, zucchini, apples and much more – its user-friendly touchscreen interface made setting temperature and timer settings with precision easy.
The unit is waterproof for added durability and safety, featuring a powerful heating element which quickly brings water up to temperature for fast cooking times.
The Accu Slim immersion circulator from Instant Pot is slightly smaller and lighter than its initial model, the SSV800. With a removable sleeve for easy cleaning and stainless steel components in contact with water, its main drawback lies with its relatively low power rating of 800 Watts which may take more time to heat the water than our top recommendations.
4. Greater Goods
Greater Goods smart scale is one of our go-to budget brands, ideal for users seeking an intuitive app that lets them track body composition effortlessly. It features top-of-the-line perceptive stainless steel sensors with an LCD display for ease of use, memory for up to 8 users, sync compatibility with fitness apps and automatically recognize users when they step on it, sending their weight and body composition metrics directly to their smartphones.
Khanh and Trey created Greater Goods to donate to three Austin charities they hold dear, such as Austin Pets Alive!, Central Texas Food Bank and Autism Society of Texas – that have special meaning to them both.
