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Sous vide is an innovative cooking process that got its start in the 1960s as a method of preserving food. Meals are vacuum-sealed in plastic and then submerged in boiling water for extended periods, allowing the ingredients to cook thoroughly without the flavors and juices escaping. Sous vide is super easy to set up, and since it’s a form of slow cooking, it’s great for setting and leaving while you do other things. You don’t even need a large unit to get started—a simple immersion unit to regulate the water temperature and keep it circulating will suffice. If you’re a food lover looking to try something new in the kitchen, you won’t want to pass this up.

Here are some of our favorite compact sous vide cookers currently available.

Amazon

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This cooker from Anova is Wi-Fi enabled and super easy to use thanks to its compatibility with Anova’s proprietary app, which allows you to control the cooker from your phone and choose from a range of precise temperatures to get your meal cooked exactly the way you want. It’s no more complicated than placing the cooker in your pot, adding water, and setting the temperature and time. The app includes recipes too, making it even easier to expand your personal list of dishes.

Amazon

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Breville’s Joule sous vide cooker is stylish and sleek, clocking in at just 11 inches tall and weighing just over one pound. Its versatile clip attaches to virtually every pot, and it’s finished with tough stainless steel to resist corrosion even under heavy use. In addition to being smaller than most other sous vide cookers in its class, it’s also compatible with Alexa, so you can set the temperature or extend cooking times without fumbling with your phone.

Amazon

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Anova’s Nano sous vide cooker is easy to set up and offers straightforward onboard controls for manual adjustment of cooking temperatures. It’s small enough to fit in a utensil drawer, yet robust enough to heat and circulate water at a constant rate over long periods of time—this unit can go for 3,000 continuous hours. The durable plastic finish is easy to clean, and just like its Wi-Fi enabled big brother, it’s compatible with the Anova app for recipe discovery and remote control.