Tag: underscored-testing

Sous vide (the phrase means “under a vacuum”) is the process of cooking food that’s been sealed in a plastic bag slowly in a temperature-controlled water bath. First developed for institutional use, the method offers incredible precision, and over the past few decades it’s become more and more popular with ambitious home cooks interested in getting perfect results when preparing delicate and expensive proteins such as seafood or premium cuts of meat.

We tested ten of the most popular sous vide cookers, preparing a wide variety of proteins, vegetables and more over the course of several months to find the best sous vide immersion circulator for your money.

Honestly, when we began this process of evaluating sous vide devices, we expected that one of the bigger and more established brands would get top honors here, but as it turns out, the inexpensive Inkbird ISV-200W has the best combination of features, build quality, and functionality for the money.

The Inkbird has a 1000-watt heating element so it has quick water bath temperature recovery, an easy-to-use and read main control display, the manual touch button controls are simple to set target temperatures and timers, and the clamping mechanism for attaching to pots is straightforward, and ergonomically sensible.

You can manually set temperatures and timers with the Inkbird Smart App (available for iOS or Android) to support all its home automation and smart controller products. With it, you can create presets for frequently used temperatures and timings and pick/modify from 14 preconfigured recipes (such as “ultimate carrots”).

So what is not to like? Frankly, not much. It’s true that Anova and some of the others on this list that are more expensive are smaller, sleeker and have fancier displays, but from a basic functionality standpoint, they don’t actually cook any better, and most of them have lower-wattage heating elements, meaning slower heating.

Inkbird’s current model is the ISV-200W; it is nearly identical to the older ISV-100W save for a few minor changes. The 200W also has a slightly lower temperature range and a food burn protection function that shuts the unit down if the water completely evaporates in the cooking pot. For the time being, the ISV-100W is still available for around the same price and we think you’d be happy with either unit.

The sous vide cooking technique — in which you cook food by immersing it in a water bath that remains at a constant temperature rather than over a heat source — was developed in France during the early 1970s, and became popular when it was used in the first-class kitchens on the SNCF, the French national railway system, during the 1980s. Institutions and fine dining restaurants in Europe and the US adopted this efficient, tidy cooking style shortly thereafter.

The advantage of the process was that it could easily produce identical, precision-cooked meals for large numbers of people in institutional settings and restaurants, where there was a need to prep food hours before service was needed.

But home cooks who sampled food cooked using the method began finding ways to get the same results at home, first turning to commercial devices and ultimately taking advantage of smaller models designed for home use.

While circulators used to cost thousands of dollars (they were designed for institutional large-scale cooking setups), the price has come down as sous vide circulators meant for home use have proliferated. The method became broadly popular in the mid-2010s, and today miniaturized sous vide circulators — small wand-shaped appliances that attach to the side of a stock pot or large plastic container — are widely available.

Sous vide circulators may seem techy, but the process is quite simple. Whether you’re using a large device meant for commercial kitchens or a home wand circulator, all sous vide circulators work and cook the same way, and you’ll get identical results. The bigger, more expensive units may come up to temperature slightly more quickly and are more robust for professional kitchen dependability, but you’ll get identical results from any sous vide with a little practice.

Sous vide circulators work by cooking food that’s been sealed in a plastic bag (you can use traditional zipper-seal bags but most enthusiasts use a vacuum sealer to do this — the term “sous vide” translates as “under a vacuum” after all) slowly at a stable, controllable temperature giving you finer-grained control over doneness than you can get with other methods (you get much greater stability than you would by monitoring the temperature of a simmering stockpot with an instant-read meat thermometer, for instance.

To get this level of fine control, sous vide techniques take advantage of water’s capacity to hold heat. You immerse the circulator wand in a water bath along with the food to be cooked (typically a protein, though you can sous vide almost anything) sealed in a plastic bag; the device uses its heating element to bring the water bath to the desired temperature, circulates it with a pump, and maintains the temperature using a thermocouple sensor and PID (like in an espresso machine), all controlled by an onboard computer (that in turn may communicate with an app). There’s no pressure involved as in a pressure cooker — basically your food takes a very precisely controlled warm bath for as long as it takes to cook to a perfect doneness.

After cooking in the water bath at the desired temperatures and for the appropriate amount of time, your dish is ready to eat, or the protein (such as a steak or fish filet) can quickly be finished by searing in a pan (to create a crust) before serving.

The timing of sous vide immersion depends on the size, weight, type of food being cooked, and the desired level of doneness. A protein cannot “overcook” in sous vide in the traditional sense because its internal temperature cannot exceed the temperature of the bath itself. However, if you cook a protein for too long (for several hours exceeding the target doneness time), you’ll get food with a mushy texture.

First, take a piece of meat – like a beef filet or an individual steak – and place it in a waterproof bag, adding seasonings or marinades as desired. You can’t do anything with the ingredients once they are in the bag and in the bath, so this is the step in which you can add flavors.

Next, you’ll want to seal the bag so it can withstand the cooking process. Vacuum bags are perfect for sous vide cooking. Most of the bags we tested for our review of the best vacuum sealers can withstand 70°C (158°F) for up to 12 hours and at 80°C (176°F) for a maximum of 6 hours before a heat seal failure, making them very well suited to the sous vide process. You can also use zipper-lock style bags, though we recommend using freezer bags since they are more durable.

Preheat your water bath to your desired cooking temperature using the immersion circulator — you can even start with hot water from the tap without worries, since the water doesn’t actually touch the food (for any other sort of cooking you should use cold water since hot tap water can contain more dissolved metals). Immerse the sealed bag of food into the water bath, and set the device to circulate.

Once the bag is in the bath, you can adjust temperature as needed or the recipe requires, or let it remain at a stable temperature for the duration. From that point, sous vide cooking is very much a passive experience — more along the lines of using a slow cooker. Once your food is sealed in the bag (along with marinades, seasoning, and fats), the bag is placed into the circulating hot water, and you walk away until the timing of the cook is complete.

There are many recipes online, and most devices come with time and temperature guides on their apps or in provided instructions. But as an example, if you want a perfect medium rare steak, set it to 126 degrees Fahrenheit, along with the required time, such as 90 minutes, depending on the steak’s thickness. Doing so will ensure the meat reaches and stays at your desired doneness.

Once your ingredients are done, you have the option of finishing with other methods. For example, while steaks emerge from the bath perfectly and uniformly done, they’ll lack the char or crust that marks a perfect traditionally prepared steak. All you have to do before serving is give it a quick sear (with cooking oil or butter) to brown the outside.

While sous vide devices became popular for cooking meats, you can use a circulator for cooking anything that you might have poached in the past with less mess and effort.

Salmon or other fish filets can be cooked perfectly medium rare and served hot from the circulator with their juices or chilled for a lovely brunch dish.

Do you want to jump on the ”jammy egg” trend? Eggs don’t even need to be removed from their shells or placed in a plastic bag. Just follow restaurateur and cookbook author J. Kenji López-Alt’s tutorial on this subject; he has already done all the experimentation to get perfect eggs — whatever doneness is perfect for you.

Turkey works great sous vide. This past Thanksgiving we cooked boneless breast sous vide at 150° F for 3 hours. All we did was season it lightly. After it had chilled, we opened the vacuum bag, sliced off the turkey breast, removed the excess juices to contribute to the gravy, and resealed the turkey slices. On Thanksgiving itself, all we had to do was reheat it again with the immersion circulator, and it was the most tender and juicy white meat we’ve ever had.

Vegetables are amazing cooked sous vide. Just add a tiny dash of salt, and a teaspoon of butter when sealing your prepped veggies. Only the smallest amount of fat is needed because when it melts; there is no air in the bag to get in the way of it surrounding the vegetables.

Do you love grilled chicken wings but want to cut down on the fat? Season and vacuum seal your prepared raw wings. A good tip is to make extra divided into meal-size portions, each in its own sous vide bag. Cook the wing bags in a sous vide water bath to 160°F for several hours. Chill in an ice bath when they are done. Now, when you want chicken wings for dinner, you only need to open a bag and grill them to crisp the skin. If you want them coated, toss the crisp wings in sauce and put back on the grill to caramelize. You might notice a lot of juices inside the bag. Drain that off, but save it! This is a delicious, concentrated broth that will gel hard when cold.

You can even use your sous vide circulator for tasks beyond food. For example, mixologists are using immersion circulators to extract flavors into alcohols for custom liqueurs, and you can infuse olive oil with herbs using sous vide as well.

All of the sous vide immersion circulators we tested performed well, and gave us identical results. This is great, because it means that you can choose based on features, and it’s great for the technique because it means that the tools have matured to the point where they are basically a commodity. Everything we looked at had plenty of power and plenty of pump capacity to tackle the recipes a home cook is likely to attempt.

The cookers we tested differed primarily in design, build quality, and food service grade certifications (an important consideration in commercial-grade units), as well as total heating element power output, circulator pump variable flow rate (again, more of a consideration for commercial units) and also the sophistication of their smartphone apps,

The heating element’s wattage rating determines how quickly the water bath can be brought up to the desired cooking temperature — this is important because when you add cold food to the hot water cooking medium, the water temperature may drop – especially if you add a large chunk of refrigerated meat. A unit with a higher wattage heating element (we think a 1,000 watt unit is fine for home use) will recover temperature more quickly.

Apps are not typically required for operation on most units (the Breville Joule is an exception in our test group; it only works via an app) but can make things easier for beginners. We preferred to have the option of an onboard display and manual controls. Sous vide apps will usually incorporate remote monitoring and manual control (view current bath temperature, set timers, and set temperature) and also the ability to pick food cooking programs from a list, such as a medium-rare strip steak, or a salmon filet, to ensure foolproof cooking for novices.

Most of the immersion circulators we tested have a large, hinged, clothespin-like clamp (secured by a tension spring); we preferred them for ease of use and ergonomics. Anova uses an older design, an adjustable screw mechanism, which we found harder to use and felt might be more difficult for anyone with dexterity issues..

We dedicated an area of our home kitchen to test these devices, immersing in 8 and 16-quart stock pots filled with water to the top fill indicator of each unit, with a variety of manufacturer vacuum sealers, vacuum bags, and test proteins, including beef, chicken, and pork.

First and foremost, we wanted to see how well each product performed in cooking our test proteins. Every sous vide device we looked at could cook our test proteins within the allotted time periods with no interruption.

We looked carefully at the materials each unit and its accessories were built with, and how well designed and constructed each device was, assessed how easy each circulator was to set up and to operate, and looked at ergonomic considerations as we tested. We also looked at warranty coverage, and assessed how easy it was to contact the manufacturer with questions or concerns.

Anova is the most well-known brand in home sous vide cookery, and its Precision Cooker was important in popularizing the technique in 2014 and there’s still quite a lot to like about the device. With 1000 watts of power, it can handle just about every immersion cooking task that a typical home cook can throw at it; and it has an excellent industrial design, featuring a bright, white, circular LED with large numbers that make it very easy to read. It’s also a product with excellent build quality and feels very durable.

So why didn’t it top our list when it sits at the top of so many competing product evaluations at other outlets? It’s now expensive for what it is, given that other products on the market now effectively do the same thing for less. We also don’t like the screw-style clamps on their circulators that potentially present issues for people with dexterity issues (such as the elderly or disabled); it’s the only product right now in the segment that uses them, and they’ve used the same design for years.

Anova’s Precision Cooker Pro is a slightly larger, more powerful model, and an excellent product with a somewhat larger rectangular white-on-black LED display, but it is probably overkill for most home cooks and if you’re interested in Anova, the smaller model should work just as well.

The Nano is the smallest in the Anova Precision Cooker lineup, with a maximum heating element power of 750W. It’s an app-controllable device, but only with Bluetooth, so it you can’t keep an eye on things if you leave the house. The display and control layout is similar to the Precision cooker, but it uses a lower-cost LCD component that isn’t as bright.

At this price we think the Inkbird or Instant Brands units (which support Wi-Fi) are more useful and a better deal.

The Joule brand was, like the Anova, a key device in the popularization of home sous vide cooking. And there’s a lot to like about the current Joule, now a Breville product: it’s small, at 1.3lbs (20.8oz) with an ultra-sleek design; and has excellent power output for its diminutive size — a whopping 1100W, putting it in the same category as the Anova Precision Pro. It’s also probably got the best smartphone app in the industry, with a wide array of recipes and guidance.

But at $245, it’s expensive, and the only way you can operate it is with the app: it’s completely headless with no manual controls. That’s something you need to be comfortable with as a home cook — on all of the other circulators we tested, app control is an extra rather than a requirement. Would it have been a big deal for Breville to integrate a simple control head on the Joule? Perhaps even a removable one? At this price point, it should have.

If you are the type of home cook who has professional aspirations, find yourself preparing large cuts of meat on a regular basis, or just want the best, then look no further than the Polyscience HydroPro, which is a commercial-quality sous vide circulator designed for restaurant or catering use.

From an industrial design perspective, the HydroPro is impressive. In terms of materials alone, you know you are working with something designed for a professional kitchen environment, as it weighs 67.2 oz and is made almost entirely of stainless steel, with an IPX7 water resistance rating, an NSF Food Equipment Certification and cUL commercial ratings for use in professional environments. The large, full color TFT display unit is covered with impact-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass (the stuff used on high-end smartphones), and the device can even be completely disassembled without tools for extended cleaning. The clamp is extremely heavy-duty with a very strong spring, so you’ll never need to worry about it slipping and requiring adjusting. It also has a professional carrying case made of padded black nylon.

The heating element boasts a whopping 1450W of power so you can throw the most demanding cooking loads at it, with very little concern for temperature recovery time and water bath heat stability. It also has three selectable circulation speeds, up to 17L per minute, and a companion mobile application called “Sous Vide Toolbox” provides recipes tailored to the thermal conductivity of the food, with choices for animal proteins, eggs, vegetables, fruits, legumes, custard, and yogurt.

Vesta Precision, a Seattle-based company known for its sous vide and vacuum sealer kits, has taken a different approach to immersion circulation cookery than the rest of the vendors on our list, with a focus on food safety. All of their sous vide units require the user to start the timer when the water bath reaches temperature manually.

For example, if you set your bath to 165F, with a two-hour cooking time, the timer will not actually start once the target temperature is reached (which was the case with the other units we tested). Instead, it notifies the user by beeping at the device and notification via the app that the target temp has been reached.

We asked their customer service about this because at first we thought this was a fault in the device. But Vesta reasons that they feel having the timer start automatically means it is more likely a user would put the food into the water bath during the pre-heat stage, which could potentially be a safety issue.

Feature-wise, the Vesta Imersa is middle-of-the-road, with a 900W heating element, Weighing in at 40 ounces, it is about the same size as the Inkbird, and looks much like the Anova Precision or Instant Brands units, with a bright white-on-black LED display, prominent controls and a large and easy to use tension clamp. The app allows for both manual programming and picking from recipe lists and is fairly straightforward.

Vesta thoughtfully supplies a quality set of laminated sous vide temperature guides organized by type of food that are held together by a metal ring, which is nice to have to keep in a drawer if you want a quick reference guide to cooking temperatures for proteins. We wish Vesta sold this for anyone to purchase, not just as a freebie with its products.

The Imersa Elite is a bit of an odd duck, as it eschews the wand-style design of all the other units on this list with a squared-off upside-down u-shaped design that eschews the clamp – the display half of the unit is oriented so it faces outward from the stockpot on a swivel mechanism as the circulator half is immersed into your water bath.

It uses the same app as the Imersa Precision, and as with that unit it prompts the user to start the main cooking timer when the bath reaches the target temperature instead of doing it automatically. It even has the same 900W heating element as the wand version. The main reason why we aren’t recommending it is that we felt that it was especially sensitive to overfill, and we ended up tripping the error sensor when we had it filled just to the max line and rotated the pot to see the display, causing vigorous water movement in the pot.

Instant Brands Accu Slim Sous Vide Precision V2

The Accu Slim V2, from Instant Brands (famous for the Instant Pot pressure cooker and the Vortex air fryer) is as uncomplicated as sous vide circulators get, with clean lines, simple touch button controls, and a bright white-on-black LED display with large numbers for easy readability. It’s considerably smaller and lighter than the Inkbird (it weighs 29 oz. versus. the Inkbird’s 40 oz.) but is slightly less powerful at 800 watts, so it’s a better choice for somebody preparing smaller portions in a smaller stockpot — say two chicken breasts or fish filets at a time rather than a whole roast.

The Accu Slim is not Wifi or Bluetooth-controlled, so there’s no app to worry about– just set it from the onboard controls and walk away; it’s as easy to deal with as these devices get. The large tension clamp is easy to attach to any pot you choose, the water fill line on the heating element/circulator pipe is prominently marked, and we had no issues with overflow that could cause the device to enter an error state. We used it during Thanksgiving to reheat a large vac-sealed bone-in turkey breast that was precooked to target temperature at a relative’s house in a 12-quart stockpot, and it worked like a champ.

Vacuum sealers — devices that suck the air out of a plastic bag and then heat-seal it for storage in the refrigerator or freezer — are great for prepare food to freeze for later use, or to save money by purchasing meat in bulk and processing it into smaller portions. Long a favorite tool of hunters, outdoorspeople and serious gardeners, they’re also great for preparing food for use with an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking at home.

To find the very best vacuum sealers for your kitchen, we looked at 11 top-rated models, bagging and sealing dozens of cuts of meat, fish and seafood along with a variety of starches and vegetables, and refrigerating and sous vide cooking the results. In the end we came up with four great units that should fit any need and budget.

FoodSaver is the 800-pound gorilla among home vacuum sealers — the company is the longest established manufacturer of these products, with its first sealer released in 1987. FoodSaver has a large lineup of models, but the FoodSaver VS3150 offers the best combination of features and utility for the money of all of the vacuum sealers we tested. It’s easy to understand and use, easy to clean, works with a wide selection of bags and containers, and gave us solid results in our testing.

The FoodSaver has a modern, clean clamshell design, with bag storage and the vacuum chamber integrated into the bottom shell and a bag cutter and main controls on the top lid. On the right side of the bottom shell, you’ll find the locking clamp; this provided a tight seal throughout our time with the device. A handheld sealer attachment fits into a storage compartment in the top lid.

We found ourselves using the handheld quite a bit. It’s great for marinating (using FoodSaver’s nicely designed storage containers) and the reclosable bags and containers are convenient to use if you want to keep items like cheese and cold cuts in the refrigerator where they’ll be frequently accessed, but you still want to take advantage of vacuum sealing to keep them fresh as long as possible. The handheld attachment also doubles as an accessory port for sealing Mason jars when the Mason jar attachment (purchased separately) is connected.

In a nod to one of our favorite uses for a vacuum sealer — preparing food for sous vide cooking in a water bath — in addition to the usual dry, moist and pulse vacuum modes, the FoodSaver features a “Sous Vide” mode which “stutters” the vacuum automatically, presumably for optimizing the seal for juicier food items — we didn’t find this made much of a difference with sous vide bags versus the “moist” setting and it felt like a bit of a gimmick to us.

An important reason we put the FoodSaver VS3150 on the top of our list is that, like other FoodSaver models, it has a completely removable vacuum chamber with an integrated drip tray, which makes thorough cleanup easy, even if you want to do it after each bag. We don’t know why others, like Anova, do not, as residue poses a potential food safety concern, especially when dealing with raw proteins in sous vide applications. Meat juices and marinades can easily be sucked into the chamber, causing potential contamination. Whatever vacuum sealer you choose, the vacuum chamber should be inspected after each use and cleaned thoroughly if exposed to any raw meat products — the FoodSaver just made it easier to do this effectively than the other models we tested.

As you’re shopping, you may find several similar models from FoodSaver with slightly different model numbers. There are several 3000-series devices in different finishes, but we had a similar experience across the lineup and expect you should, too.

If you don’t think you’ll be using a vacuum sealer all the time and just want a basic model that won’t break the bank, the Geryon should suit your kitchen.

At 2.6 pounds and 14 inches across, it’s one of the smallest and lightest units we looked at, so it’s easy to tuck away in a cabinet when you aren’t using it. It doesn’t have internal bag storage (though if you don’t need to keep it at the ready all the time, this likely won’t matter to you).

The Geryon seals just fine; it has toggleable “moist” and “dry” settings that work well to deal with juicy foods. We had no issues with the bags we used it on, and it can accommodate the same 8-inch and 11-inch standard bags that the bigger and more expensive models use. It even has an accessory port to seal foods in containers (with a dedicated “canister” button).

Understandably given the low cost, it’s a little more finicky to use than our top pick — it uses a simple snap attachment for the upper and lower pieces and not a locking clamp like the much more expensive FoodSavers or Anova units.

As with the FoodSaver models, a big benefit of the Geryon is that it’s easy to clean. The base of the unit is completely removable from the top lid/clamshell containing all of the electronics and the motor/heat strip so that it can be cleaned thoroughly (even completely immersed under soapy water) after operation. Frankly, we wish all basic sealers were designed like the Geryon.

While we think the FoodSaver 3150 will fit the needs of just about any home kitchen, the FoodSaver 4840 is a step up because it includes all the features of the 3000 series, along with a mode that combines auto-vacuum with auto-seal, so you don’t actually have to touch any controls to start the vacuum seal process, making it ideal for folks who are handling raw ingredients and helping to minimize user error. If you typically buy large cuts of meat and process them into smaller portions to keep in the freezer to cook later, the VS4840’s for you.

The main advantage of this model is the automatic vacuum and seal function — you don’t need to fiddle with the lid or line the bag perfectly up to the vacuum chamber; just guide the opening of the bag towards the chamber with the lid closed and the device will automatically draw it in (using a motorized roller mechanism) and begin the vacuum and sealing process. It’s a neat feature that really simplifies things and makes for less of a mess if you are the kind of cook who typically buys large cuts of meat and processes them into smaller portions to keep in the freezer to use later.

As with the VS3150, the VS4840 has a built-in handheld tool, and integrated storage for it on the left side of the unit — simply retract it from its compartment, and a spring-loaded mechanism allows it to furl back into its spool when needed. In our opinion, this is a significant improvement over the 3000 series because while that model also has a permanently attached handheld, it isn’t on a spring-loaded retractable spool; the tubing just coils behind the unit, so it’s a cleaner design.

The unit also features a lighted progress bar, which gives you slightly more insight into how long the vacuum process is going than some of the other models we tested. As with the 3000 series, the 4840 has a removable easy-to-clean vacuum chamber in the event juices and other liquids get pulled out of the food and into the chamber during the vacuum process.

The best handheld vacuum sealer: FoodSaver Multi-Use Handheld Vacuum Sealer and Marinator FS2160

Along with the full-featured sealers we tested that included a handheld extension, we tested a couple of handheld-only sealers. These devices work only with reusable bags and containers that have a compatible valve; typically you are tied into the company you purchased from to find compatible bags and containers. Used with their corresponding bags, they work well to seal and store food.

The FoodSaver FS2160 edged out the Zwilling for a couple of reasons. It had a more convenient charging base, which was intuitive to use and doubled as a storage solution. The Foodsaver FS2160 also offers a useful marination function, which automatically turns the vacuum on and off over the course of 10 minutes when attached to a container. This function, which most of company’s countertop versions also have, periodically releases and increases vacuum pressure to force the marination juices into the meat — we did this with some chicken wings that we grilled, compared with some that were simply just bag marinated and we definitely tasted a difference in the intensity of the marinade.

Part of the benefit of the FoodSaver system is the quality of its vacuum containers and resealable bag as they are essential to the use of the handheld unit, which is optimized for quick use, marination and food preservation. We really like the 10-cup container that was sent to us for evaluation, which is strongly constructed out of a high-impact plastic and has a very tight vacuum seal, a marination setting that corresponds with the unit’s marination mode, and a prominent pressure release knob — although it does require a few days of use to break it in for smooth operation as it initially requires quite a bit of force to open. You can get these bags individually or in kits pairing a 10-cup and 3-cup container for $35.

A vacuum sealer is a device used to remove the air from a specialized plastic bag or a food container, creating a vacuum. This removes the oxygen, inhibiting bacterial growth, which helps preserve the food inside, allowing sealed items to last weeks or even months longer in the refrigerator or freezer. Vacuum sealers are often used for packaging cooked and raw proteins and vegetables for storage, preparing marinades, and sealing food in bags for immersion circulation with sous vide cooking.

A vacuum pump is the heart of a vacuum sealer; it moves air out of the vacuum chamber (either the slot into which the top of the vacuum bag is inserted or a handheld attachment or hose). Vacuum pumps can typically be run in several modes to suit various food preparation needs:

Vacuum sealers work by making a tight seal; first you clamp the bag into the vacuum chamber, which is surrounded by a rubber gasket. Some models have vacuum chambers with removable drip trays so they can be easily cleaned; you’ll want to look for a model with such trays because they make cleaning much easier, meaning you get a better seal and don’t run the risk of nasty buildup in the device.

Once the bag is locked in place and the air has been removed, you trigger the sealing process itself. A sealing strip —  typically PTFE (Teflon) fiber tape with a nonstick surface, with a heating element under it — runs along the edge of the chamber.. This is placed at the entrance of the vacuum chamber and is heated with an element, typically a wire running underneath the tape, to create the heat seal for the vacuum bag.

The vacuum bags themselves are typically made of food-grade polyamide and polyethylene for oxygen impermeability, ease of secure sealing and use in the refrigerator, freezer or in sous vide cooking. While sous vide immersion tolerances vary between products, typically, they can withstand 70° C (158° F) for up to 12 hours and at 80° C (176° F) for a maximum 6 hours before a heat seal failure. Many bags can be re-cut, re-sealed, and washed several times before discarding.

Bag brands are generally interchangeable between vacuum sealer units and come either pre-cut in two sizes or uncut spools, depending on the manufacturer and application. On countertop units you’ll find a bag holder, and you can use the built-in bag cutter to trim to your desired length.

Bags meant for handheld sealers generally use a proprietary valve specifically designed for the handheld device for which it was made. We have had some success using those from one manufacturer with another’s device (i.e., using a Zwilling resealable bag with a FoodSaver handheld and vice versa.) but we can’t promise compatibility. These bags open and close with a zipper-style seal.

All of the countertop models we looked at in this article are edge sealers — you fill a plastic bag with food, insert the open end of the bag into the vacuum sealer’s vacuum chamber, the vacuum process starts, and once the air’s been sucked out of the bag it finishes the process with a heat seal along the edge of the bag.

Regardless of price point and exterior dimensions, all of the edge sealing units we tested accommodate both 8-inch-wide and 11-inch-wide bags. Given the overall uniformity of sealer designs, we also experienced consistent sealing performance across all brands we looked at — none did a better or worse job creating a vacuum or seal than any of the other competing products. This also indicates to us that the actual pump component used by most of these products is fairly standardized.

Handheld sealers

Some countertop edge sealers include handheld attachments and you can also find standalone handheld models. These are designed to use with containers or jars, or with proprietary resealable bags for short-term storage of things like cheese, cold cuts and resealable containers.

A chamber sealer differs from an edge sealer in that it pumps all of the air out of a large chamber that an entire bag is placed in rather than out of the bag itself. This means you can seal moist or wet food items that would be impossible with an edge sealer, though models made for use at home may limit you to smaller portions of food due to the size of the chamber.

You’ll mostly find chamber sealers primarily for professional use in the food service industry; these models are much larger than what you’ll find for home use and are very expensive. Only recently have lower-cost, and smaller chamber devices made it into the consumer space, such as the Anova Precision Chamber unit. Due to limited product availability and for the purposes of publishing the first version of this article, we did not look at chamber sealers.

We dedicated an area of our home kitchen to test these devices, using a variety of manufacturer bags along with several different sous vide circulator units (which were used to test bag integrity).

With each sealer, we checked to see how easy it was to prep and seal bags for use, and once prepped, how well each product performed in removing the air from the bag and creating the heat seal. We were pleased to find that every edge sealer we tested made a satisfactory seal.

We paid attention to the materials used in the construction of each device, and to the overall build quality, as well as investigating whether each sealer employed any tech or design elements to make it more functional than the competition.

Since food safety is an important consideration, we paid careful attention to how simple it was to clean each sealer and how easy it was to reset between uses when sealing multiple bags.

We also checked on warranty coverage and how easy it was to contact customer service for each brand we assessed.

While the Anova is sleek and attractive, with excellent build quality, and features a “Sous Vide” sealing mode, we eliminated this device because the chamber is not removable for cleaning. It has ample bag roll storage with an integrated cutter and a clamping mechanism, but the FoodSaver 3000 series is better designed, and the Geryon is a better device for those on a budget.

This unit is very similar to the 3000 series except that it lacks a built-in handheld; instead, it has an accessory port for attaching one if you buy it separately. As with other FoodSaver units, the vacuum chamber with its drip tray can be removed for easy cleaning.

Similar to the Anova, with integrated bag roll storage and cutter, and a better clamping mechanism than the less expensive units, it also does not have a removable vacuum chamber, so it was eliminated, especially as it’s more expensive than the Anova.

We dismissed this as the vacuum chamber isn’t removable, and the heat tape is located on the lid, which makes it more prone to burning yourself when lifting the lid when the heat is on. You are much better served by the Geryon, which offers a superior design for only a few dollars more.

Nearly identical to the NutriChef internally and externally (and so far as we can tell electronically and mechanically), we dismissed this inexpensive unit for the same reasons — it’s difficult to clean and easy to burn yourself on the lid-mounted heat tape. Go for the Geryon at this price.

The Vesta, with its elegant and sleek design, seems better than the really cheap ones we looked at primarily because the vacuum chamber can be removed for cleaning. Still, for the price, and considering it doesn’t have a clamping mechanism like the Anova or FoodSaver VS2150, we’d say give this one a pass.

Zwilling Fresh & Save Vacuum Sealer Machine 6-Piece Starter Set

$80 at Amazon, for the sealer, storage container and four reusable sous vide bags

The Zwilling is a solid performer, though we prefer the FoodSaver FS2160 overall because of its charging base that’s simpler to use. Zwilling’s reusable bags are very well designed, with a solid valve attachment and a circular liquid barrier insert that makes sous vide use easier, and the company offers a wider variety of plastic and glass vacuum containers.

The good news is that FoodSaver resealable bags and containers and Zwilling bags and containers are relatively compatible between the devices, so it doesn’t matter really which of the devices you own if you want to use the bag and container accessories from the other — we thoroughly tested both types of bags and containers with both units, and they worked fine in our testing with either machine, manufacturer claims aside.

You might only have a transactional relationship with the squat rectangle on your counter or above your fridge. Warm burrito. Melt butter. But if you’re in need of a new one, know that you can expect more from the device that nukes your chicken noodle soup because today’s models have plenty of options besides ‘add 30 seconds.’ The latest microwaves have sensors to determine just how long a potato needs to be cooked, plus they integrate with your smart home setup you can control via mobile apps. . And they’re available in sizes to fit any counter and style, from retro-inspired compact devices to capacious ovens big enough to handle dinner for a large family..

We tested nine different microwaves by heating frozen burritos, popping popcorn, warming canned soup, cooking potatoes, and intentionally heating sticks of butter until they exploded (and then cleaning it up) to discover which microwave deserves a spot in your kitchen.

Microwaves are like supporting actors, you want them to be there to do the job without having to think about how hard they’re working. The understated Toshiba EM131A5C-BS Countertop Microwave, with even heating and solid performance that equalled that of pricier models, is a strong candidate to join the cast of your kitchen appliances.

The Toshiba’s rounded, sedate design keeps it from looking too boxy or flashy. The tapered handle feels sturdy and is plated to match the face (it’s available in stainless steel or black stainless steel) of the microwave. At 1.2 cubic feet and 1,100 watts, it was right in the middle of all of the models we tested for size and power. And it offers you the option to turn off the display when you’re not using the microwave or mute the beeps when you are cooking.

The microwave has six pre-programmed settings (popcorn, potato, rice, veggie, frozen pizza, and frozen entree), two defrost settings, and sensor cooking. There’s a button to soften or melt chocolate or butter, as well as a keypad for express cooking (pressing ‘1’ starts the microwave for 1 minute.).

The interior light was best in class, clearly illuminating a bowl of soup well enough for us to judge that it was warm enough for kids at 1 minute and ready for the rest of us 15 seconds later. The settings were reasonably accurate as well, thoroughly cooking a half-pound potato in slightly under 7 minutes and evenly popping popcorn with only a dozen unpopped kernels left in the bowl.

We only had minor complaints about the Toshiba’s performance. It’s a bit louder than the quietest models we tested — you can still easily have a conversation while it’s running; but you’ll know that someone is making popcorn. And it took 3 minutes for the frozen burrito to get hot — more in line with the smaller microwaves in the 900 watt range — and we lost some beans being lost out the sides in the process.

The interior and door were easy to wipe down after our exploding butter test, and the turntable has a small lip that kept butter from pooling underneath. Got more room in your kitchen? The Toshiba microwave is also available as a 1.3 cubic feet smart model that works with Alexa as well as in a 1.6 cubic feet inverter model if you really need a lot of space.

The GE Smart Countertop Microwave is a neat little choice if you’re looking for a smaller microwave oven with practical touches. It’s got a clearly laid out interface and sensible design. And it is one of the smallest and least expensive microwaves available with truly smart features, perhaps the smartest among them is that it alerts you to your mistake if you try to start it before you’ve placed your food inside.

The smart features make setup simple. We were using the microwave via a downloadable app in under 10 minutes. One up and running, the GE Smart can scan barcodes for many packaged foods (although likely not for everything in your freezer) to set cooking time and power accordingly, and recognize voice commands from Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa.

But more importantly, the GE Smart was a goodperformer even when used without the smart features.. Six program buttons give you quick access to common settings from warming a plate of food to cooking vegetables, along with reheating and defrosting settings. Analog users will find program instructions at the top of the frame inside the door. The door slides open by a push button, which gives it a lower profile; but is less effective than a handle.

Rated at 900 watts, this smart microwave is less powerful than some of the larger models available for around the same price. That meant warming soup and heating a frozen burrito did take nearly a minute longer than models with more wattage; but the soup was heated evenly and our frozen burritos didn’t burst even with the additional time. And this smaller microwave evenly cooked a spud that could be mashed or eaten as a baked potato with a fat pat of butter.

The interior – at 0.9 cubic feet – is snug; but we were still able to fit a bag of microwave popcorn on the 10½ inch turntable. The interior light was bright, which let us know that the bag needed an additional 15 seconds to pop all but 10 of the kernels.

While no microwave is really portable, it was easier to lift the 28-pound model on and off the counter than some of the large models we tested that can weigh in at close to 40 pounds. The GE microwave was loud at the start; but got quieter once it was running. And there’s an option to silence the beeps, if you’re trying to eat popcorn after your kids’ bedtime. The small interior was quick and easy to clean of butter spatter. The brushed stainless front only took a few wipes, but the black border at the top did show fingerprints.

	The best microwave overall	The best compact microwave
What we loved about it	This mid-size microwave with an easy-to-grip handle delivers steady performance without taking up too much counter space. It’s quick to clean and has a bright interior light to keep an eye on popcorn.	It’s a smart appliance at a much lower price than other smart models that performs well whether you’re using the keypad or your smartphone. It’s got an intuitive interface and simple styling that means it can fit in a lot of different kitchens.
What we didn’t like about it	The Toshiba is a bit loud while running and didn’t heat a frozen burrito as quickly or evenly as the other models we tested.	As a compact microwave it has a smaller interior and turntable, as well as lower wattage than larger models. It also has a push button, rather than a handle, and you’ll pay a slight premium for smart features.
Measurements	20.5” wide x 17.1” deep x 12.9” tall / 34.6 pounds	19” wide x 14.5” deep x 11.5” tall / 28 pounds
Wattage	1,100 watts	900 watts
Price	$149.99	$119

There are three main types of microwaves. Many newer homes will have one of two types of built-in models, installed either in a cabinet below the counter or above the stove in place of a range hood, and generally incorporating an exhaust fan. In either case, these models are larger and more expensive, and your choice is likely limited by your current kitchen design (or by your renovation budget).

For this review, however, we looked at countertop microwave ovens: smaller, less expensive and very capable models suited for renters, apartment dwellers, those with smaller homes, or anyone who needs a compact, flexible cooking appliance.  — those best.

Even if you’re looking at countertop microwaves, you’ll want to decide first where it’s going to live in your kitchen. We suggest measuring your counter or pantry shelves to determine exactly how much space you have for a microwave.

While exterior finishes range from hard plastic to stainless steel, and you will want something that works with your decor, you’ll also want to focus your attention on the controls and features. Handles make it easier to close and open doors, whereas push buttons give a microwave a lower profile. If you’re an occasional microwave user, presets (pre-programmed functions designed to cook certain foods for a set amount of time at a set power level) likely won’t matter; but if you’re cooking a baked potato once a week, it’s nice to hit a few buttons and walk away.

While microwaves are available in very compact sizes, with many compact models measuring around 700 watts, with about 0.7 cubic feet of cooking space, we looked primarily at mid-size units from 900 watts up to to 1,250 watts. More wattage typically speeds up the time it takes to cook, reheat, or defrost a given amount of food. Typically the more powerful models have larger interiors. Keep in mind that mid-size models, ranging from 1.1 to 1.4 cubic feet, are big enough to fit a 12-inch dinner plate. Compact models typically can’t fit a full-size dinner plate because of smaller turntables (around 10 inches) and narrower interiors, though they have smaller footprints for tight kitchens and within their space limitations are often as capable as bigger models, just slower.

Nowadays, you’ll come across many “inverter” microwaves, which can vary their power output, allowing them to cook continuously at whatever power level you set. Traditional transformer-powered microwaves can only be “on” or “off”, so when you set your old microwave to 50% power the magnetron is actually alternating between cooking at 100% and not doing anything at all. full power and no power. The idea is that inverters can provide more efficiency and more even cooking, and handle tasks like defrosting meat without accidentally cooking it on the outside or gently melting chocolate or butter. That said, in our testing, microwaves with inverters performed well (bowls of soup were cooler to the touch, for instance); but overall had results consistent with transformer models, which may speak to overall improved design.

As for smart microwaves, we didn’t find that they provided much benefit. For us, scanning a barcode on a package or using voice commands wasn’t any faster than just typing in a few numbers or turning a dial, and you still have to place the food in the microwave. That said, they may offer additional accessibility benefits for some users, and plenty of folks just want to use their phones as their home’s nerve center, but beyond that we think these haven’t quite found their niche.

For this review, we didn’t test convection microwave ovens or other combination devices. These are becoming more common (part of the new wave of multi-purpose countertop cooking appliances) and there are, of course, even air fryer microwave combos available nowadays. These ovens not only function as defrosters or food warmers but have an additional heating element and fan that circulates hot air, so you can bake or cook in them as you would in a toaster oven. While we didn’t consider convection models in this review, it’s something we might revisit in the future.

Over the course of a month, we popped bags of popcorn, heated canned soup, cooked half-pound potatoes, and warmed frozen bean burritos.

With the popcorn, we kept an eye out for burned pieces and the number of unpopped kernels. We looked at how evenly chicken noodle soup heated in a ceramic bowl and whether or not that bowl could be handled without an oven mitt after a turn in the microwave. The potatoes allowed us to check the accuracy of a pre-programmed setting or manufacturer recommendation. Frozen burritos were a test of how uniformly each microwave could defrost and heat; if the tortilla warmed too quickly it tended to split, spilling the fillings, and we were able to check whether the interior was heated through.

We considered how heavy a microwave was to lift on and off the counter, even though we know most microwaves will stay in place until it’s time for them to be replaced. We looked at the design and functionality of each microwave: the interface, handle, button placement, and interior light. We also assessed if it was easy to use the programs or add seconds to cooking time once the microwave was in operation.

We let butter splatter to see how much effort it was to wipe down the interior. After cooking and cleaning, we then weighed the performance of each model against each other and factored in the cost to help make a decision on which microwaves we would recommend.

The sleek Galanz ExpressWave offers minimalist style with a pair of stainless steel bands that frame the modern black front; within it is oversized, with a spacious interior (2.2 cubic feet) and lots of power at 1,250 watts.

The Galanz relies on a dial, rather than a number key, for adjusting the cooking time or inputting the weight of meat you’re defrosting. It also has four sensor cook pre-sets, as well as 8 reheating programs from frozen pizza to rice.

This inverter microwave was fast, which earned it points for convenience; but not always points for performance. On the plus side, a bowl of canned soup was ready to eat in 90 seconds and a frozen burrito was evenly warmed right at 2 minutes.

But after 1 minute and 50 seconds, the popcorn was a bit overdone with 20 unpopped kernels still in the bag. The potato preset nuked a half-pound potato for six minutes. While it was cooked through on the sides; it needed another minute to soften up the center.

The push button to open the door of the biggest model we tested did take a bit of, well, pushing. Even with more space to clean, the interior was easy to wipe down. The front remained streak free, while the duller top showed smudges.

The Breville offers high-end design, with a soft-close door and brushed stainless exterior (not just a stainless steel face) as well as the usual Breville convenience features, but models less than half the price perform just as well. Though it is an inverter model, we didn’t see a gain in cooking or defrosting performance that justified the price tag.

With a whimsical greeting chime, a finishing beep that would be at home on a game show, and adorable menu icons inside the right door frame, the Breville has some softer touches that were delightful. The 1.2 cubic foot microwave also offers lots of possibilities for adjusting how long you cook or reheat your dinner. You can stop the turntable from spinning (useful if you’ve got a larger dish that might bump against the sides) and add ‘a bit more’ cooking time (as found on other Breville products such as Breville’s 4-slice toaster).

Looking to let the inverter microwave do the work? There’s smart cook, defrost, and reheat buttons, which sense the steam released by the food in the microwave and adjust the power as needed. There’s 15 different presets that cover everything from melting chocolate to making oatmeal. A pair of dials start and stop the cooking process.

The 1,250-watt microwave heated food evenly, although we did find ourselves often adding a bit more time (pun intended) to the programmed options. Our baked potato needed an additional minute; but was fluffy without the uncooked spots that showed up with less powerful models. The frozen burrito and canned soup were both hot within two minutes. A bag of popcorn, required a few seconds over three minutes, to pop the last kernels.

Butter came off the interior with a quick wipe of a damp cloth and the brushed stainless hid fingerprints well.

The Faberware was a solid performer, but needs to learn how to use its indoor voice. It effectively popped popcorn; but you wouldn’t want to try and watch a movie while it was running.

In its favor, at 1.1 cubic feet, it has enough room to fit a dinner plate or a small casserole dish without being a counter hog. The 1,000-watt microwave was within 30 seconds of the fastest times in warming the middle of a frozen burrito and heating a bowl of canned soup.

The LED-lit interface is intuitive with useful options up front like the ability to defrost by time or weight. It has six presets from warming beverages to cooking a potato (our half-pound test came in right under eight minutes) and a start button that can also add 30 seconds of cooking time.

While no microwave was quiet, the Farberware was louder than other models and the door opened and closed with a clunk of the handle. The interior was quick to clean; but the exterior tended to show smudges.

With rounded corners and a window reminiscent of a tube television, the Galanz Retro certainly lives up to its name. Chrome accents and a quartet of available colors (our tester was a pleasing mint green) were nice stylish touches on the microwave that easily fits on a counter even in an apartment’s galley kitchen.

A compact exterior leaves less room for cooking and a 10.5-inch turntable means you can only fit an 11-inch dinner plate. Yet, at 900 watts, it still had enough power to bake a potato and warm up a frozen burrito. Heating; however, proved uneven as our first bag of microwave popcorn came out burnt (a second bag was a bit overdone; but not charred).

The curved handle was easy to grip and the door swung open and shut with a resounding thunk. A dial at the bottom is the key control feature: you can adjust the time and input the weight of what you’re trying to defrost or cook and work your way through 7 preset cooking options and 10 reheating settings. You can also add 30 seconds by simply pressing the center button on the dial.

The exterior and interior were easy to wipe down, although a lip at the top of the door trapped some of the splattered butter. It’s available in smaller (0.7 cubic feet) and larger (1.1 cubic feet) sizes if you’re searching for a microwave to complete the vintage look of your kitchen.

If you’re nostalgic for the microwave you had in college, the Black + Decker will take you back to your dorm room. The smaller dimensions (a little over 19 inches wide and under 12 inches tall) makes this a good fit for apartment or galley kitchens.

While you gain counter space, you do sacrifice some power (it’s 900 watts) and room to cook. A bag of popped microwave popcorn – with about two dozen unpopped kernels – had only a bit of clearance on each side and took up most of the 10-inch turntable, which could (unsurprisingly) fit only a 10-inch dinner plate.

The compact microwave has the same set-up as the Farberware (this is a good thing), so you’ll know what to do even before you read the instruction manual. Soup took a bit over 2 minutes to warm, and our burrito needed about 3 minutes for the middle to get hot, which meant the filling started to escape the sides by the end.

The smaller interior wasn’t hard to clean, although a bit of butter did get trapped in the push button opening when we touched it with greasy fingers. There is a smaller model (0.7 cubic feet and 700 watts); but this is already a relatively affordable option well suited to warm up your mug of morning coffee or a bowl of soup.

Daily microwave users will be drawn to the well-appointed Panasonic NN-SN67KS. The inverter microwave has 1,200 watts and just as in Spinal Tap, the power levels go to 11.

The sensor cook function did well, baking a potato (one of 15 pre-programmed options) in eight minutes, and the inverter appeared to do its job on our bowl of chicken soup: It heated evenly and the ceramic bowl was less hot to the touch once the cycle was completed than with other models. Our frozen burrito was hot in 2 minutes, though heating wasn’t completely even: it lost some filling as steam pressure on the warmer burrito edges pushed beans out the ends of the tortilla. Our popcorn – there are three presets for bags of different sizes – only had 15 kernels in the bottom of the bowl. There is also a keep warm feature, which can run for up to 30 minutes, that did indeed keep our soup warm.

The push button opens the door with less effort than other models. The interface is a snap to navigate, even with a lot of choices. Beyond the standard ‘add 30 seconds’ option, the timer and clock buttons double as ‘more’ and ‘less’ buttons, adding or subtracting 10 seconds respectively.

The Panasonic did take a bit more effort to clean, as condensation and butter got trapped between the door and the bottom frame. The 1.2 cubic foot microwave comes in four colors, as well as a 1.4 cubic foot model that syncs with Amazon’s Alexa. While it was priced higher than other testers, the microwave comes with a five-year warranty on the magnetron tube parts (and a 1-year warranty covering labor).

The black stainless steel Samsung is shiny like a sports car (you can also opt for stainless steel) with the soul of a minivan. It’s roomier than you expect inside, yet you wish it had a bit more giddyup.

While roughly the same exterior size as the Panasonic and Toshiba models we tested, the Samsung has more interior room (1.4 cubic feet) and a larger turnable (14.2 inches). It does however, have less power, at 1,000 watts.

The front panel provides a button for each of the 9 sensor programs, as well as a number pad for you to punch in cooking times or select further options from the program menu. The microwave was effective, but the results weren’t competitive with our favorite models. The potatoes were cooked through; but a bit rubbery. It easily reheated soup and warmed a burrito and effectively popped popcorn (we had 15 unpopped kernels).

All in all, this microwave functioned reasonably well; but the misses on the small details added up. The buttons needed a slightly firmer feel. The interior light was a bit too dim (ironically it has an eco mode that turns off the display when not in use). And it was a bit louder than the quieter models when running (although you can mute the beeps).

On the bright side, the ceramic enamel interior made this the easiest model to clean and this microwave comes with a 10-year warranty on the magnetron.