App, Dial or All-in-One? How to Pick the Best Sous Vide

Sous vide sounds like restaurant equipment, but the home version is a stick heater that clips to a pot. It warms a water bath to an exact temperature and keeps it there, so a vacuum-sealed piece of meat cooks to the same doneness from edge to center. For a Mexican kitchen that means pork shoulder held low for hours before it is crisped for carnitas-style tacos, or a thick cut of beef brought to an even pink before a fast, hard sear for carne asada.

The circulators themselves have become simple and fairly alike, which makes the small differences matter: whether you want an app, how big a bath you need, how the clamp fits your pots and how accurate the unit is out of the box. This guide compares eight options using makers’ specifications, the Amazon listings and the sous vide review from America’s Test Kitchen, and adds a note on all-in-one units that hold their own water.

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Quick verdict: which sous vide to buy

ATK’s top pick, the Breville Joule Turbo, and Anova’s small Nano 3.0 were not reliably in stock on Amazon when we checked, so they are discussed below rather than recommended.

Five sous vide cookers side by side

Our five standout picks, one for each kind of cook, with the power, controls and capacity each maker or listing states. All eight are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Power, capacity and features are as stated by each maker or listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best sous vide

These eight cover the ways home cooks use sous vide: a dependable all-rounder, an app-free dial model, a high-power unit for big baths, budget and compact circulators, a quiet brushless model, a Wi-Fi option with calibration, and a multicooker that holds its own water. Each pick says who it suits and gives one honest reason to skip it.

How to choose a sous vide circulator for meat, eggs and more

Start with how much you cook at once and whether you want your phone involved.

1. Accuracy comes first

America’s Test Kitchen puts it plainly: accuracy is everything in sous vide cooking, because the whole point is holding a precise temperature. ATK’s red flags were inaccurate readings, clamps that do not fit common pots or hold the unit at an angle, confusing button sequences, displays that mix time and temperature, and apps that disconnect. A built-in calibration setting, like the ones on the Greater Goods and Inkbird, lets you correct a unit that reads off.

2. Power and bath size

ATK lists at least 1,000 watts as a nice-to-have, and more power heats water faster and circulates it more evenly. Match the circulator to your container: most home models list 15 to 20 liters, enough for a couple of pounds of carne asada or two pork shoulder pieces, while the Anova Pro is rated for up to 100 liters covered. Filling with hot tap water shortens the warm-up on any model.

3. App or onboard controls

An app lets you check a 24-hour cook from the couch, and ATK counts a good app as a plus. But apps are also where ATK found the most trouble, from lost connections to missing alerts. If you want to set it and walk away without a phone, the Greater Goods, Monoprice, Wancle and KitchenBoss all work by hand.

4. How it attaches

ATK preferred clip-style clamps over screw brackets and wants a circulator that fits many vessels. Check the minimum water depth too: a short pot may not reach the circulator’s minimum line. A lidded plastic container sized for sous vide keeps heat and water in on long cooks.

5. Bags, sealing and the sear

Food goes into a sealed bag (or a jar, for eggs and custards) so the water can reach it evenly. A vacuum sealer gives the tightest seal for long cooks; our guide to the best vacuum sealer compares them. Use bags their maker says are suitable for sous vide cooking. Meat comes out of the bath evenly cooked but pale, so finish it in a very hot pan; our guide to the best cast iron skillet for steak covers the pan for that last step.

6. Time, temperature and food safety

Sous vide often cooks at lower temperatures than a stove, so the numbers matter. North Carolina State Extension advises never cooking below 131°F, because that is not hot enough to kill pathogens, and says the proper time and temperature combinations are essential for safe sous vide cooking. It recommends following instructions tested with research-based methods by a reputable university, chef or company. It also notes that sous vide chicken can look and feel undercooked even when it has been cooked safely, so trust a tested recipe and a thermometer rather than the color. Our guide to the best meat thermometer helps with that check.

How we chose these eight sous vide cookers

We started from America’s Test Kitchen’s review of home immersion circulators, which names the Breville Joule Turbo its winner and the Yedi Houseware Infinity its Best Buy, rates the Anova Precision Cooker 3.0 and a Monoprice Strata Home model Recommended, and puts the Inkbird ISV-100W and Instant Pot Accu Slim in Recommended with Reservations. We then checked each model on Amazon with the listing data for power, range, capacity and controls, and kept only those in stock. Where a listing was silent we wrote “Not stated.” For the all-in-one pick we also used ATK’s separate multicooker review.

Several well-known models are not here for that reason. The Breville Joule Turbo and Anova’s earlier Precision Cooker 2.0 and Nano 2.0 were listed as not yet available, the Anova Nano 3.0 showed only limited stock, and we could not find the Instant Pot Accu Slim or the Yedi Infinity in stock on Amazon. Several unbranded circulators with thin listings were left out. We searched the CPSC recall database for every brand here and for sous vide cookers in general and found no recall covering these circulators; the only Cosori recall we found covers its air fryers, not its pressure cookers. We have not used these cookers ourselves, and we did not read Wirecutter, Serious Eats or The New York Times for this guide, so we do not quote them.

Sous vide questions, answered

What sous vide does America’s Test Kitchen recommend?

ATK’s current winner is the Breville Joule Turbo, which it found fast, accurate and compact with an easy app, though it has no display and needs a phone. Its Best Buy is the Yedi Houseware Infinity. The Anova Precision Cooker 3.0, Monoprice Strata Home and Dash Digital Chef Series are rated Recommended.

What are the top sous vide brands?

Anova and Breville make the best-known home circulators; Anova’s range runs from the small Nano to the 1,200-watt Pro. Greater Goods, Inkbird, Monoprice, Wancle and KitchenBoss make simpler or lower-cost models, and some multicookers, such as the Cosori, add a sous vide program. Accuracy, power and controls matter more than the name.

Is a circulator or an all-in-one sous vide better for home use?

A circulator is more flexible: it clips to any pot or container, so the bath can be as small or large as the job. An all-in-one unit or a multicooker with a sous vide setting keeps everything in one pot and saves finding a container, but it limits how much you can cook at once. Most home cooks are better served by a circulator.

Can I sous vide pork for carnitas or beef for barbacoa?

Yes; tough cuts held at a steady temperature for many hours become tender, and you finish them in a hot pan for color. Follow a tested recipe for time and temperature. To understand the dish itself, read what barbacoa is and how it is made.

Do I need a vacuum sealer for sous vide?

Not always. Zipper-top bags with the air pressed out work for shorter cooks, and the Inkbird listing notes that glass jars work too. A vacuum sealer makes a tighter, more reliable seal for long cooks and for freezing portions ahead.

Our final pick for sous vide at home

Buy the Anova Precision Cooker 3.0 if you want one accurate, well-supported circulator that works with or without an app. Choose the Greater Goods for the simplest controls, the Anova Pro for big batches, the Monoprice to start cheaply, the Inkbird for phone control on a budget, the Wancle or KitchenBoss for compact or quiet running, and the Cosori multicooker if you would rather have one pot that does sous vide among many jobs.

More countertop cookers we’ve covered: slow cookers, pressure cookers, rice cookers, air fryers, deep fryers, electric skillets.

Shopping on a budget? See our guide to the best value sous vide cookers.

Related guide: Sous vide alternative.

Related guide: Sous vide vs slow cooker.

For the finishing sear, see our cast iron skillet guide, and for checking doneness, the best meat thermometer. And if you would rather someone else spent the hours, see our menu or call to order.