Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano 3.0 Review

For those unable or uninterested in paying top dollar for an over-engineered sous vide machine, the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano 3.0 is a practical choice that performs remarkably well, especially for its price. It's the smaller, less powerful, and less expensive version of the full-size Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0, but it retains many of the same outstanding features, such as the intuitive interface and the useful Anova smartphone app.

Temperature

When cooking, you need to trust your sous vide's ability to accurately reach and maintain whatever temperature is called for in a given recipe, and you'll want to know how long the cooking process will take so you can start prepping dinner at the right time. To measure these qualities, we examined the temperature accuracy of the Anova Nano with a super thermometer and timed how long it took the device to heat a 9.5-quart container of water.

The Anova Nano doesn't have the strongest heating element on the market, with just 850 watts of operating power, though that is a 100-watt improvement over its previous version. As a result, it took a bit of time to heat our bucket of water from 52.5 degrees to 147 degrees — 47 minutes, to be specific, or two degrees per minute, which is slower than average for the group.

However, once the water was up to temp, the machine showed good accuracy. In a separate test, we heated the water to 135 degrees, measured the temperature at six different times during a water bath, and compared our readings to the temperature we had previously set the device to. The resulting average discrepancy was less than a 10th of a degree — nearly nothing. So, while the Anova Nano may take a little while to heat up the water bath at the start, it certainly can maintain an accurate temperature throughout the course of an entire cook.

Circulation

When using a sous vide, the appliance's ability to circulate water is nearly as important as how well it heats the water when it comes to cooking. With proper circulation, a sous vide can heat the food in a balanced and gentle manner across its entire surface area. One might assume that the lower wattage and smaller size of the Anova Nano would greatly affect the circulation performance, but that's not necessarily the case.

We made a tool from an aquarium hose and a syringe and used it to inject 10 milliliters of high-contrast food dye into the bottom left corner of a water bath container. Then, we turned on the Anova Nano and timed how long it took for the machine to swirl around the water and dye until the color was completely homogenized. This process took 15 seconds with the Nano, which was impressively fast, especially considering its power specs. Despite its size, it effectively circulates the water, creating even heat distribution throughout the bath for the food you cook.

Ease of Use

When considering how easy it is to use a sous vide machine, we look at two specific features: the interface and the attachment style. These are the bits you directly interact with when operating the device. We consider the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano 3.0 a beginner-friendly sous vide because you can start cooking with it right away, and it doesn't have much of a learning curve. Lesely, our lead tester, said that she “didn't need to use the instructions to get the machine going” because it was that simple to use.

Regarding the interface, we took a look at both the manual on-device controls and the companion smartphone app. The device's screen clearly displays the temperature and timer. Around the edges of the screen are +/- buttons, a play/pause button, a timer button, and a thermometer button. On the device itself, you can set your chosen temperature to the nearest half degree, and on the app, you can dial it down to a 10th of a degree. The app is also home to many other great features — it can notify you when the water is heated and when the timer is done, so you don't have to stand in the kitchen and wait by the device, and it contains a smorgasbord of different recipes to try.

We were less impressed with the attachment style. The Anova Nano has a fixed twist-style clamp, and we found the knob a bit difficult to turn. You can't slide the clamp up and down for different heights, and there is only a .89-inch gap, which limits the containers you can attach it to. Accessories are available to purchase that work around this restriction — for instance, there's a flat base that connects to the bottom of the sous vide so that it can stand freely in a cooking container without needing to use the clamp, but it costs extra.

Cooking

To give our data context and see how the machine performs in a real-world scenario, we put the Anova Nano to the test by cooking an egg with it. The results of the data in our previous temperature and circulation test suggest that the Nano should have an accurate temperature and provide a balanced, holistic cook. We wanted to see if that held true when cooking some actual food.

For this test, we cooked an egg with the Anova Nano for one hour with the device set to 144.5 degrees, which should result in an egg with a set white and a runny, though slightly thickened (almost jammy) yolk. When using a sous vide, you're essentially poaching the egg, but you can think of this as similar in texture and consistency to an over-medium egg.

After the hour was up, we quickly transfered the egg to a waiting ice bath so it could cool. Then, we cracked it open on a plate and cut into it to examine its texture and consistency. The Anova Nano produced an egg that matched the expectations outlined above, meaning the temperature was accurate, and the circulation never faltered. We were elated with the result.

Should You Buy the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano 3.0?

The Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano 3.0 is a terrific entry-level sous vide and a fine choice for those who don't want to splurge on a top-of-the-line model. Since its accuracy is on point and the circulation is strong, this appliance is more than capable of being your home kitchen's primary sous vide machine, as long as you have extra time beforehand to allow the water to heat. Plus, the app is practical and informative — it's something you'll be comfortable using daily, and the wealth of recipes may get you to try new things. It's also fairly compact, making it easier to store in numerous ways when it's not in use. But if you want a fast sous vide, you should look for a more powerful model.

What Other Sous Vides Should You Consider?

While we think the Anova Nano is great for its price, there are sous vide machines out there with better performance and features; however, they cost more. If you like what you've read about the Nano but want a faster and more versatile machine, consider the full-size Anova Culinary Precision Cooker 3.0 — this model is only slightly larger, but it packs more of a punch and has a much better attachment that's fully adjustable and more practical. However, if a small and lightweight design is more your cup of tea, but you still desire faster heating and cooking times, the Breville Joule Turbo is where you want to set your sights.