REASONS TO BUY
Intuitive
Fast heating
Strong circulation
Temperature accuracy
Useful app
REASONS TO AVOID
Timer automatically starts when temp is reached
Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 Review
A precise and powerful sous vide with intuitive controls and a helpful smartphone app
The Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 is our Editor's Choice and favorite sous vide.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
By Lesley Robinson ⋅ Senior Review Analyst ⋅ December 4, 2024
Contributions From: Arthur McMahon
RELATED: The Best Sous Vide of 2025
Our Verdict
With fast and accurate heating, powerful circulation, and user-friendly controls, the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 is a do-it-all sous vide machine. This device impressed us with great results in every test category. It proved to be a reliable sous vide you can trust to cook food evenly and accurately. Even better is that it's also easy to use — the on-device buttons and smartphone app are both well-designed, making for a seamless user experience. Plus, the app is loaded with informative recipes and cooking ideas. While some of the other sous vide cookers we tested have unique features that make them stand out, the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 is our clear favorite.
Our Analysis and Test Results
This top-tier sous vide ticks all the boxes, crushing the competition in all of our tests. The metrics speak for themselves, but to sum it up, we love how easy this machine is to use and how accurately it cooks. It's an all-around excellent kitchen appliance.
The Anova 3.0 is a well-made sous vide machine that'll complement any home kitchen.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Temperature
When we tested how fast the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 could heat water and how precisely it kept the water at the temperature we requested, this device did well.
The Anova heated our 9.5-quart of 50-degree tap water to 147 degrees in a quick 36 minutes — far faster than the average sous vide. This means less time you have to wait before putting food into the water bath. It also means the Anova Precision Cooker will reheat the water back to temperature quickly after you add cold food to the bath.
This 1100-watt sous vide has the power to heat a water bath faster than most.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
In our temperature accuracy tests, the Anova 3.0 again scored remarkably well with only a .06-degree average discrepancy. This type of incredible accuracy is ideal when you want to cook food that is highly temperature-sensitive.
Accurate temperature readings with minimal oscillation is what you want to see in a sous vide.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Circulation
We performed a dye test to see how long it took for Anova to circulate water, which it accomplished in a mere 10 seconds.
The sous vide's circulation was astounding in its performance, so much so that our lead tester Lesley noted, “The powerful circulation could be too strong if you are doing many eggs at once.” However, as you'll see in our cooking test below, we did cook an egg, and it survived the strong circulation unscathed.
A bright screen and simple interface make this sous vide easy to work with.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Ease of Use
The Anova Precision Cooker has a straightforward on-device interface with buttons for controlling the timer and temperature and a play/pause button for activating the machine. We like that the buttons are quickly identifiable and easy to press. The screen also displays the time and temperature clearly and can be read from a distance.
Similarly, the smartphone app is very user-friendly. You can set the cooking temperature to the nearest half-degree on the device itself, but on the app, you can set it with a 10th of a degree of precision for fine-tuning a cook. The app is also home to a ton of recipes and helpful cooking ideas to inspire you. Navigating the app is as easy as can be, but we did experience one hiccup: the device timer automatically starts when the set temperature is reached. We wish we could turn this feature off in the app because, otherwise, you have to reset the timer once you put food in the water, making that automatic timer essentially useless.
This clamp is wide enough to fit just about any pot or cooking container.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Among the highlights of the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 is the adjustable attachment clamp. Not all sous vides have adjustable clamps, which is a shame because it ensures you will be able to attach the device to just about any container you want to use. The Anova has a twist-style clamp with a wide 1.4-inch gap. The knob spins easily, and the clamp locks on securely.
Our egg cooking test puts all of the Anova's abilities and metrics on the examination table at once.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Cooking
We cooked an egg with the Anova 3.0 at 144.5 degrees for 60 minutes and evaluated its texture and consistency against preset expectations — we were looking for a jammy or dippy egg.
The Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 produced results very close to what we were expecting, and we believe it is a sous vide you can rely on to cook to the exact specifications and expectations of any appropriate recipe.
The Anova scored well in our egg cooking test.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Should You Buy the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0?
The Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 is easily the sous vide we most highly recommend. Our testing proved it to be fast and accurate when heating, excellent at circulating water, and exceptionally user-friendly. Plus, our cooking test showed that these results translate to an excellent real-world application; you can depend upon the device to cook food exactly how you want it and get the results you expect. If you desire a sous vide that will perform well in all aspects, this is the one to get.
The Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 isn't the smallest sous vide machine, but it's not oversized either.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
What Other Sous Vides Should You Consider?
Recommending any sous vide other than the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 is a tough task. However, if you like what you've learned about the Anova here but would prefer a less expensive and smaller device, consider the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano 3.0. Another more compact sous vide is the Breville Joule Turbo, which actually costs more but is able to cook a number of turbo recipes in less time than a conventional model.
The Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 is one of our favorites, but more compact sous vides may appeal some.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Side-by-Side Comparison
Compare Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 versus top competing products:
—Lesley Robinson, Arthur McMahon
You Might Also Like
