The 7 Best Sous Vide Cookers of 2020

Appliances these days are getting smarter and more connected, and this sous vide cooker is a prime example. It connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, so you can set, change, and monitor your cooking from afar, which is great when you’re cooking a sous vide meal that might take several days.

But that’s not the end of the smart cooking. You can delay the start of the cooking time and use ice in the water bath to keep the food cold until it’s time to start heating. If the water temperature rises above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the Anova sous vide will start cooking so the food is never held at an unsafe temperature.

You can set push notifications on your smart phone so you always know what’s going on with the cooker, and you can control the time and temperature from your phone without having to push buttons on the cooker.

The app comes with recipes and suggested cooking times, or you can set your own time and temperature.

The Joule was first introduced in 2016 by ChefSteps, a company that has since been acquired by Breville. This sous vide cooker comes with great features: It's one of the smallest on the market at just 11 inches tall, so it will fit into a kitchen drawer for storage. It has a magnetic base and a side clip, so it can be used in a wide variety of containers, with as little as 1 1/2 inches of water in the pot. On the other end of the scale, it can handle up to 10 gallons of water.

This is controlled by a mobile app, so you’ll need an Android or Apple device to set and control it. It also works with Amazon Alexa for voice control and feedback. The downside is that you’ll need a phone (or other device) with the app loaded to control the Joule.

The same brand that brought us the well-known pressure cooker also developed an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking. It can be used with an Instant Pot or no and boasts a small size and an even smaller price tag. Its affordability does mean you lose features found in other models, such as remote control and recipes. However, our tester found the interface easy to read, the temperature accurate, and the slim size a serious bonus for those with limited storage space.

Okay, so most of the options on this list are pretty compact, but the smaller version of our "Best Overall" pick is extremely sleek, at 12.8 inches tall and 2.2 inches in diameter. It also costs less, but you'll lose Wi-Fi capability and some power. The Nano boasts 750 watts instead of the original's 900; that might be deal breaker for those looking for a fast-working circulator. You'll still have Bluetooth connection, though, so you can connect to your phone and access the brand's app as with the other Anova.

This sous vide “water oven” holds about three gallons of water and has buttons on the front of the unit to set the cooking temperature and time. The unit has a lid that minimizes evaporation, which can be a problem with cooking foods for extremely long periods of time. It includes a pouch rack to help keep bags of food separate during cooking for even heating.

This doesn’t have a pump that circulates the water. Instead, a perforated rack on the bottom of the tank creates thermal convection that keeps the water heated evenly from bottom to top. Because there’s no pump, it’s quieter that other units. However, compared to the stick-style sous vide devices, this will take up a lot more storage space, and comes with a heftier price tag.

A no-frills approach to sous vide, this Sansaire stick model doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but it does exactly what you need it to do. It heats the water to the precise temperature you set, and circulates it for even heating, It holds the temperature where you set it until you turn the device off, whether it’s an hour or a day later.

The digital readout is bright enough to read from a distance, even in dim light, and the temperature control is easy—just a simple dial. Since there’s no timer, you’ll need to watch the clock or set a timer to let you know when cooking is done. This was also a successful Kickstarter project that has become incredibly popular. You will have to provide your own plastic bags, but many reviewers report simply using Ziploc bags. Just be sure they are BPA-free.

The all-in-one design and user-friendly digital controls make this easy to set up and operate every time, and the precise temperature controls let you use any sous vide recipe you want. While some sous vide setups look like they just stepped out of a lab, this looks like a normal countertop kitchen appliance. The clear cooking carafe lets you watch the food as it cooks, and it’s removable for easy filling, emptying, and cleaning.

This has a 1,000-watt circulation system that heats the water quickly and keeps it to within 0.1 degrees of your desired temperature. The removable rack lets you separate small packets of food, or take it out to cook larger amounts.

The timer on this shows the elapsed cooking time, but it does not shut off automatically.