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The circulators’ basic purpose is to heat the water to the desired temperature and keep it constant. In actual fact, these devices are small immersion pumps which, once positioned in a pan full of water, suck up the liquid and use their serpentine coils to heat it, before pouring it back into the container.
Key Specs
- Time taken to heat water bath (using a gallon of cold water to start): 22 minutes
- Time taken to heat water bath (using a gallon of room temperature water to start): 13 minutes
- Dimensions: 1.85 x 1.85 x 12.28 inches
- Connectivity: Bluetooth
- Wattage: 1100
- Compatible app: Yes
- Warranty: 1-year
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What we liked: The Anova Precision Cooker has an onboard display that allows you to operate it without having to use an app, meaning you can be up and running in seconds. Its really nice not having to rely on another device to operate your sous vide cooker. Still, if you like using integrated technology, the Anova can be connected via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It also comes with a paired app that works well and features plenty of recipes and cooking guides.
The Precision Cooker has accurate temperature control and operates quietly. It also has an adjustable clamp that makes it easy to fit into a number of vessels.
What we didnt like: The Precision Cooker is bigger and bulkier than the Joule. While this immersion circulator was as accurate as the Joule, it was much slower (60 minutes to heat a water bath versus the Joules 35 minutes). Unlike the Breville, the Anova app doesn’t track the start and completion time for preparing the water bath. though this may matter less to home cooks than it did for our precision tests.
Test 3: Cooking Eggs
Eggs are notoriously the most time- and temperature-sensitive food that gets cooked sous vide. Chicken breasts cooked sous vide will taste the same if theyre cooked for one hour or two hours. This is not the case with the chicken breasts precursors, eggs. Time and temperature can significantly change the final texture of an egg cooked sous vide. So we chose to cook soft-poached eggs to further test the accuracy and temperature recovery speed of our top four candidates.
We set up water baths the same way as in the prior two tests, set the target temperature to 167°F (75°C), and cooked the eggs for exactly 12 minutes. This yields soft-poached eggs in a much shorter amount of time than the famous “63-degree [Celsius] egg” that put sous vide eggs on the map. At 167°F, the shorter cooking time and sensitive ingredient make temperature recovery time—the amount of time it takes for a circulator to get back up to its target temp after cooler food has been added to the bath—more important.
The Nano performed the worst, running a full degree higher than the target temperature; it hit 167°F only momentarily during the recovery window, before going back to an undesirable 168°F (75.5°C). This resulted in the yolks of the eggs being slightly more set and fudgy.
The final straw for the Nano came when we tried setting up water baths using different vessels, an important consideration given the variety of pots and containers found in home kitchens. Home cooks will be setting up their immersion circulators in any number of vessel types and sizes depending on what they own, and the circulator should therefore work with the widest number of possibilities.
Besides the Cambro containers we used during testing, we also tried to secure the circulators to a five-and-a-half-quart Dutch oven and a 2-quart stockpot. The Joule Turbo, Anova Precision Cooker Pro, and Anova Precision Cooker were the easiest to secure. Joules ingenious magnetic base makes it a breeze to set up, while the adjustable clamps on both Anova models were sturdy and provided versatility.
Both the Accu Slim and the Nano have fixed clamps that are designed to be fitted to the side of a vessel. However, the placement of these clamps makes the Accu Slim much easier to set up than the Nano, which cant clamp onto a Dutch oven—the clamp is situated too high up on the device and cant reach the sides of the Dutch oven. Plus, because the base of the circulator is curved, it cant stand up on its own at the bottom of a pot. This means that you have to affix it to a larger vessel, and then fill that vessel with more water than you would for either of the other three circulators due to the positioning of its clamp in relation to its minimum and maximum fill lines.
As we discovered during testing, the Nano is also the slowest and most inaccurate at heating water of the five finalists. Having to use more water to operate it makes it all the more frustrating. For these reasons, we eliminated the Nano from contention.
The Best Sous Vide Machines/Immersion Circulators
FAQ
Can you cook sous vide without a circulator?
What is the point of sous vide cooking?
What can you do with an immersion circulator?
How do you cook with a sus vide circulator?
Sous Vide cooking with an immersion circulator is very simple. You’ll simply attach the device to your pot of water and set the time and temperature as needed. Place your piece of meat, fish, chicken, or raw egg in a sealable bag and clip it to the inside of the saucepan.
What is a sous vide circulator?
The sous vide circulator. This is the heart of the system, and there are a wide range of models available —even some equipped with Bluetooth. In theory, you could sous vide on the stovetop with a pot of water, using a candy thermometer to monitor the water temperature.
How does a water circulator work?
The circulator is essentially a stick you can place into any vessel of water to heat the water to the desired temperature. The device maintains that exact temperature, while also circulating the water around the vessel so that the food cooks evenly.
Does an immersion circulator make a slow cooker better?
An immersion circulator essentially turns any vessel into a slow cooker, with all of the conveniences that slow cookers boast—namely, the ability to start dinner and then walk away, knowing that there’s almost, almost, no risk of what’s inside overcooking. But everything a slow cooker can do, a sous vide machine can do better.