Cooking sous vide is becoming more and more popular these days. This slow cooking process, which involves putting food inside a vacuum-sealed plastic bag and immersing it in a water bath that’s heated up by a sous vide machine, originated from France and is now practiced widely in America. Sous vide machines don’t overcook food because they regulate the heat and hold it at a certain temperature. Not only that, but they have now become “smart” enough to be left alone while you do other things and a great machine to help step up your meal-prep game.
A great sous vide machine is the Anova Nano Precision Cooker, which received a very good review from us in late 2018. This Bluetooth-connected immersion circulator is currently enjoying a 19% discount on Amazon. Get it for only $80
The Anova Nano Precision Cooker is compact but don’t underestimate what it can do in your kitchen. The Nano has a 750-watt motor inside it that heats up fast and has a temperature range of 32 degrees to 197 degrees Fahrenheit. It has a rounded bottom and an LCD screen on its flat circular top which displays the water temperature and the target temperature, which alternates with the cooking time. This sous vide machine also comes with a clamping mechanism which securely keeps it in place inside the pot.
The Nano is quieter compared to most sous vide machines and connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth for controlling it remotely. The app allows you to adjust and monitor what you’re cooking from any room in your house up to 30 feet away and sends you a notification once your food is ready. It also features more than 1,000 recipes that are regularly updated and has numerous guides that give you the perfect temperature and cooking time for different types of food. The app, unfortunately, isn’t that interactive. The recipes can be given a rating (one to five stars), but you can’t see how many users rated the recipe, nor read comments whether the recipe is good or not.
Amazon customers of the Anova Nano Precision Cooker are pretty happy, giving it a solid 4.4 out of 5 stars rating. They’ve commented how easy it is to use and how it cooks food perfectly every single time without fail. They also appreciate how it has an on-device control compared to other sous vide machines. A few users commented though that the Nano isn’t as fast at heating up water compared to its Wi-Fi enabled, 15-inch long, and 900-watt big brother, which is perfectly understandable since this is the smaller and cheaper version.
For more options check out the ChefSteps Joule, and this page for our best sous vide machines (which includes both the Nano and the Anova Wi-Fi Precision Cooker). If you’re looking for an affordable multicooker, check out at the Yedi 9-in-1 pressure cooker.