Best meat thermometers

If you ever fret at the thought of accidentally serving your friends and family undercooked meat, eliminate your worry by getting a great digital meat thermometer.

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. See which meat thermometers could take the heat after testers used them for grilling, smoking and baking. There are certain tools that, once you begin using them, you wonder how you managed without them. A meat thermometer is a perfect example: It helps you cook with precision and enhances flavors that can only be achieved through proper cooking temperatures.

Best meat thermometers

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. And thus began my fear of undercooked meat. It had to start somewhere! To be clear, I also fear overcooked meat, but in an epicurean—rather than a food-borne illness—sense. Technically, there are different types of thermometers that fall under the meat thermometer umbrella—including instant-read and leave-in probe thermometers. The first thing to decide is if you should buy an instant-read or leave-in probe thermometer. We also did tests with boiling and ice water. Our favorite thermometers had response times of two to four seconds, on average, and were pretty much dead accurate. Other thermometers were off two to three degrees and took up to 20 seconds to deliver readings. When we evaluated leave-in probe thermometers , our favorites were all accurate, but all slower than an instant-read thermometer. The FireBoard, on the other hand, needed 40 seconds. With instant-read thermometers, we looked for features like a large screen with clear numbers, an auto-rotating screen so you can read it at any orientation , and an auto backlight for easy reading in dark spaces, like cavernous ovens and grills.

What to know: The probe is quite long and could be an issue if your grill or smoker is small.

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. This simple tool is essential for getting perfectly cooked and tender meat every time. Jump to a Section. When grilling and roasting, knowledge of the exact temperature of your food prevents you from serving overcooked steaks, dry fish, or undercooked holiday turkey.

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. This simple tool is essential for getting perfectly cooked and tender meat every time. Jump to a Section. When grilling and roasting, knowledge of the exact temperature of your food prevents you from serving overcooked steaks, dry fish, or undercooked holiday turkey. This is where a meat thermometer can save face and your meal.

Best meat thermometers

If you ever fret at the thought of accidentally serving your friends and family undercooked meat, eliminate your worry by getting a great digital meat thermometer. After testing 37 digital instant-read and probe thermometers, we think the ThermoWorks ThermoPop 2 is the best instant-read thermometer and the ThermoWorks Dot is the best probe thermometer for a home kitchen. Both thermometers are fast, accurate, and reasonably priced, with clear, easy-to-read displays.

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While there are multiple buttons on this wire-connected thermometer, we found the instructions straightforward and intuitive, and the system is easy to set up and navigate. Begin the cooking process and monitor the process until you reach the desired temperature. Aside from the essential criteria outlined above, we also sought out a number of other features that we think good instant-read and probe thermometers should have. Thermapen ONE. My research builds on the work of former Wirecutter senior staff writer Kevin Purdy, who wrote the first version of this guide in The Weber is accurate and inexpensive, but you have to hold your hand directly over the heat to measure something like simmering water, melted sugar, or frying oil. But the thermometer body is larger, so when fully extended, it puts you a good These tend to be the most expensive option, but they are accurate and allow you to step away from your cook while still keeping an eye on it. It tells you when to remove the meat from the heat and how long to rest it. Always use a hot pad or an oven mitt when retrieving a probe thermometer from the oven or grill. This is a fast-acting digital thermometer that we found consistently accurate when testing beef, roast chicken thighs and a whole chicken. Can you leave a meat thermometer in the oven? You need to know where to place the probe to correctly measure the internal temperature of the meat—a challenge, particularly for beginner cooks. We utilized a few of the app's customizations including a reminder timer and a preset for a baked potato side dish.

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more. It is every dinner party host's worst nightmare: slicing into a piece of meat minutes before guests arrive and finding it underdone at the center.

This thermometer has a 4. It turns on the moment you unfold it, and the tapered probe easily pierces thin and thick meats to deliver accurate results in one second. Best Budget:. Its drawbacks lie in the unintuitive controls, which may be more than the average user needs. To evaluate long-term performance, we continued using the thermometers in everyday cooking, checking in after two and six months to note any issues. Back to Recipes High-protein vegan High-protein lunch recipes High-protein snacks High protein bowl recipes. Joe Morales is a seasoned Senior Commerce Editor with over a decade of experience in both print and digital publishing. These sort of thermometers are built similarly long probe, heat-resistant cable , but, ideally, allow you to monitor food remotely for low-and-slow barbecuing. Unlike our other picks, the ChefAlarm thermometer comes with a case to hold the probe and the digital unit. Between its accuracy and functionality, the TP20 is "well worth the price tag. The included color-coded probe rings make it easy to see which probe belongs to each temperature reading on the base. Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since One thing to note is there is a learning curve when attempting to set customized temperatures, but monitoring the time and temperature is a snap once set.