The 7 Best Sous Vide Cookers in 2021

What to Look for in a Sous Vide Cooker

Remote Control

Some sous vide appliances can be controlled from your phone so you can check the process while you’re out of the kitchen. Others are designed for hands-on operation with no remote functions. Sous vide doesn’t need a lot of adjustments or monitoring, so remote operation is more about personal preference.

Tank vs. Stick

The tank-style sous vide machines offer an all-in-one solution. There’s no need for a separate container and they have a lid that keeps heat inside, but they're much larger overall. Stick-style sous vide machines can be used in pots of all sizes—plus, they allow you to cook large or oddly-shaped items that might not fit well in one of the tank models.

Time and Temperature Options

With sous vide cooking, a wider range of times and temperatures gives you more versatility, but it also depends on what you plan to make. If you’re using your cooker for steaks and chops, a smaller time and temperature range isn’t going to matter. If you want to experiment, a wider range is better.

FAQs

What is sous vide? 

Sous vide translates as “under vacuum” but the current meaning is a little different. When people talk about sous vide cooking, they’re talking about cooking food at a very precise temperature, typically a lower temperature than other methods, and usually in a bag or container.

For today’s sous vide cooking, the food may be in a vacuum-sealed bag, but it may also be in a zip-close bag with the air squeezed out as best as possible, or it could be in a sealed canning jar. 

With the introduction of the Anova Combi Oven with sous vide mode, food can also be cooked in that oven with 100 percent humidity to get results almost identical to sous vide, but without the tub of water or plastic bag. Other new ovens feature “air sous vide” with precise temperature control without steam. In those ovens, food is sealed in a plastic bag to maintain the moist cooking environment.

How do you use a sous vide cooker? 

Most sous vide cooking starts with food in a sealed plastic bag. That bag is placed in a container of water with the temperature controlled by the sous vide device. For meats, the cooking temperature is usually set at the temperature desired for the finished product. Cooking time affects the final tenderness, so tender meats require less cooking time than tough cuts. 

It may sound a little intimidating at first, but there are plenty of books, websites, apps, and Facebook groups with times and temperatures for almost any food. When the food is done, there may be a finishing step, like searing a steak or smoking a brisket, while other foods are ready when they come out of the water.

What can you sous vide? 

The list of possible foods is quite large, and growing larger as chefs and home cooks experiment with the possibilities. Meats are typical, including everything from beef to lamb to pork. Seafood can be cooked gently using sous vide with no chance of overcooking. Some vegetables also do well with sous vide cooking, albeit at a higher temperature than meats. Custard can be cooked in small canning jars, and foods like polenta also do well. And that’s just the beginning of the list.

Can you sous vide frozen meat? 

Yes, and there are two options. Food can be started in cold water, perhaps with ice in the water, and with the heat turned off. The food thaws faster with circulation than with other thawing methods, while it keeps the food out of the danger zone for bacterial growth. This method is useful even if the food won’t be cooked using sous vide, and can also be used for thawing leftovers that were frozen.

Food can also be cooked directly from its frozen state using sous vide. Time should be added to the cooking time, based on how thick the food is.

Is sous vide safe? 

Done right, sous vide cooking is extremely safe. Pasteurization is not always about heating to a high temperature. Instead, foods can be cooked for a longer time at a lower temperature to achieve pasteurization. Burgers can be cooked rare with no worries by using sous vide to cook the burgers through, then finishing the burgers on the grill. While a longer time at a lower temperature is safe, there is a point where the temperature is too low. Cooking meat at less than 130 degrees, particularly for more than two hours, is considered unsafe. This factors in some wiggle room for possible temperature fluctuation.

Do you need a vacuum sealer to sous vide? 

A vacuum sealer isn’t necessary, but it’s handy. Sturdy zip-top bags, leakproof silicone bags, and canning jars can all be used for sous vide, depending on what food is being cooked.

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 pot roast can be turned into a tender medium-rare roast. 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, and 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’s often 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 from 15 minutes to an hour, steak might cook from 1-4 hours—or even longer, depending on the thickness of the meat as well as the cut. Very tough meats might cook for 24 to 72 hours, and sometimes longer.

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 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 Sharon Lehman, a home cook who happens to be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She happily makes space for any gadget that makes cooking faster and easier and specializes in small kitchen appliance testing and reviews for The Spruce Eats.