Features:

  • Smallest, sleekest sous vide tool available at just 11 inches tall and 1.1 pounds, with streamlined white body and finishes.
  • SAVES SPACE: Half the size of other sous vide machines, it’s small enough to slip into a top drawer.
  • HEATS UP FAST: 1100 watts of power for hyper-fast water heating. Operating Requirements: Frequency 50 to 60 Hz, single phase
  • PERFECT RESULTS: Visual Doneness (TM) feature in the Joule app displays exactly how food cooks. Dinner comes out predictably perfect, every time.
  • WIFI AND BLUETOOTH READY: Works with iPhone or Android—connect with Bluetooth alone, or cook from anywhere with WiFi.
  • Voltage warning: Works with 120 V outlets only. Due to our precise heating technology, voltage transformers and converters can damage your Joule, and use outside of North America voids the warranty.
Problems From the Start

Update 9/24/18: I was just a few days shy of their warranty. ChefSteps immediately got back with me and said what I was experiencing was not normal. I should have contacted them a long time ago. They didn't ask many questions, just shipped me a new one and generously gave me a gift certificate to an online steaks company to help make up for some of the lost meat due to bombed out cooks. I've confirmed the replacement works much better, and have upped my review back to 5 stars. GREAT customer service. I wanted to love the Joule, but after having to babysit it after X nights on long cooks, I'm through. The motor has always tended to bog down. Just doing a single vacuum sealed half brisket in a cambro, the motor has always made an up and down whining noise, always struggling. This is supposed to be more powerful than the Anova Wifi, but I never had these problems with the Anova. I've hobbled it along doing the cleaning routine with vinegar before every cook, and making sure it's free of anything that could be preventing the propeller from spinning freely. But the problem has just gotten progressively worse over the year that I've owned it. Now, with the new Joule software update, the software apparently now notices the problem, so it just stops multiple times during the night. I pray to God that I'll hear the app notification, otherwise I've ruined an expensive piece of meat that's been sitting in the danger zone all night. I may need to check out the new Anova.

Best Sous Vide Curently Available!

If this is your first time with Sous Vide this is a must have. I have been doing Sous Vide cooking for 5+ years, but find I do it more often with the Joule. It is much easier to use and more convenient. The other day I was on my way home from work, I was able to turn on Joule. Once the water was up to temp I callled my wife and she dropped in the steak. Because this is a higher watt unit it gets the water temperature up to temp much quicker than some of the other ones on the market. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but you don't want it to take 30 min to get up to temp and then another hour to cook.

This magic food stick is simply amazing. Really.

Think of this as: 1. A make-ahead meal appliance that doesn't suck. 2. The only way you'll want to reheat leftovers, from now on. 3. A new obsession where you'll try to figure out how to cook everything in your house with it. I hate leftover chicken. HATE it. it gets this funky undertaste that, apparently, only I can taste. Turkey is even worse. I made some amazing Jerk Chicken quarters on my smoker, and really wanted them the next day for dinner. Thought I'd reheat them with the magic food stick and, WOW!, they tasted better than they did right off the smoker. I'm trying the 48 hour bacon right now, it'll be done in a few hours and I'm anxious to see how amazing that is. Steak, amazing. Seafood, amazing. Leftovers, incredible. Just buy it. Use it. Revel in its glorious simplicity.

This is "the one!"

Did quite a bit of research regarding Sous Vide devices and was nervous purchasing any one of them - but I got a real winner with the Joule! The software app is a snap to work with and the unit has really delivered! So far I've cooked steak, chicken, pork and salmon with the Joule and everything has come out better than ever! Cooking salmon with the Joule is just the BEST - you'll never overcook fish again! We have been using the unit two to three times a week and look forward to expanding our cooking experience.

Simply superior food...and a great device, app and recipes...thanks Joule!

I am not one who is easily impressed. While I admit a lifelong love for cooking, and the associated collection of kitchen tools, I can tell you I have sent a number of supposedly high-end items back because they did not live up to the hype. I got my Joule 3 weeks ago, and I am compelled to write this. On the day it arrived, and anxious to try the new toy, I scavenged the freezer and came up with a rather sad, most likely somewhat freezer-burnt pair of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I religiously buy meat fresh from the butcher, so these had been sitting there so long I did not remember when. They were in a ziplock, not vacuum sealed, so I did not expect much. What the heck I just want to experiment. I grabbed the 6qt stainless liner from my Instant Pot, filled it with hot tap water, clipped the Joule on the side and plugged it in. I had already loaded the app on my phone, so I followed the tutorial and got Joule renamed and running on my WiFi. It had me do a control test and heat some water from the phone, worked great and quite fast. I then selected the app’s Guide (their term for recipe) for chicken breast and followed the steps. I selected the “juicy” temp setting of 149°F, looking at the visual doneness videos to choose. I described the breast to the app as frozen and about 1.5 inches, and from that info the app chose the cooking time, and Joule began to heat the water. A few minutes later, my phone notified me the Joule pot was up to temp, and I could put the food in to cook. Since this was an experiment, I took one rock hard frozen breast, dropped it into a 1 gal Ziploc freezer bag, and dumped in some Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and olive oil. I then slid it into the pot, evacuating the air from the bag by submersion, and zipped it shut. I took the other breast, and left it to thaw, so I could try other things like pounding it to equal thickness, and trimming to shape before cooking. I then left the kitchen and Joule to hopefully do something impressive. My phone alerted me that Joule was done, and also that I could leave it for up to 2 more hours without over cooking. I got back to the kitchen and set my trusty cast iron skillet on to preheat for searing. I waited for my smoking hot pan, threw some olive oil in there, and opened the Ziploc, fresh out of the Joule. I patted the breast dry, seasoned, dusted with flour, and pressed it into the hot pan. I gave it about 2 minutes, and I had a great crisp brown crust. I transferred it to the cutting board and made a half-dozen bias slices. I noted almost no juice loss from cutting, but when I picked up a slice in my fingers, it was soft and a slight squeeze produced glistening juice. I popped it in my mouth and was treated to an exceptional mouthfeel of soft juicy chicken and crisp skin. Literally amazing…I enlisted 3 more family members to taste and they were all completely impressed at how perfectly this was prepared. My son put it best, he said, “I would be impressed if I tasted this at a fine dining restaurant, to taste it in our kitchen with you experimenting with a new toy you have no experience with…just crazy good.” Since then I have cooked probably 20 sous vide meals, my favorite was a dinner party for 4 using Chefsteps Filet Mignon guide with broccoli puree and radicchio salad stack. Plated with puree, then salad, and topped with the meat, cutting down through it all for one great bite is astounding! Puree is silky smooth, flavored with English cheddar, the shredded salad is balsamic, oil and dijon with fresh chives and blue cheese microplaned frozen into perfect flakes of flavor. The sous vide method IMO is the optimum method to do justice to a fine filet, finished with a roaring hot cast iron pan sear in butter and fresh herbs. My guests raved and I just can’t see the point of going to a spendy steakhouse when I can guarantee these repeatable results with sous vide. Probably the most impressive thing I have done so far is cook a 3lb, 2in. thick chuck steak for 48 hours sous vide. I finished it with a sear like the filet, and this cheap chunk of $5@lb meat had a mouthfeel like $45@lb tenderloin, plus a superior beefy taste tenderloin would never have. Understand, the chuck looked red and juicy, not grey like pot roast or beef stew. I may buy a second Joule just for long cooks like this… In conclusion, after 40 years of gourmet cooking, and an extensive knowledge of food chemistry and techniques, literally thousands spent on training, all manner of gadgets to major high-end appliances, I have found something that I am really excited about. I can legitimately say that cooking a protein by any other method will probably not be as good, and absolutely not as reliably consistent. I love the fact that instead of fretting over expensive meats using high heat methods, then having to let them rest, etc.; you can let Joule go past the done time by a couple of hours with no ill effects. It is just holding the meat at a consistent finished temp of say 129°F, waiting for you to finish by a quick sear and serve. Sous vide steak does not need to rest because it is already at temperature equilibrium, and its juices have not migrated…they have remained in place and keeping every morsel equally and perfectly juicy. You have to try this, the results speak for themselves. OK, I will go so far as to say if you are not cooking sous vide, you are not getting all the goodness you paid for in your food…and constantly putting your food at risk of cooking errors by traditional high heat methods. Plus, it is difficult if not impossible to duplicate the exquisite mouthfeel of sous vide. Remember this technique was invented in France in the 70s, initially to cook foie gras with less waste. It resulted in a 20% savings and a much higher profit for the restaurant, given the Rolls Royce pricing of foie gras. French cooking has always been about an obsession with perfection…sous vide cooking is exactly that. One other thing, I have read a number of comments with people concerned about cooking in plastic. My reaction is the sous vide results are so good, I would consider the risk for myself and my family mitigated. There is currently no documented hard corollary between cooking in BPA-free food safe plastic bags and direct health risks…UNLIKE the direct connection that charring food, especially meat, is carcinogenic. Now beyond government regulation, food purity and safety is always a personal choice…For me, I’ll chance my black grill marks and crisp corners…and I demand the thrill of eating sous vide.

An excellent way to cook! Love my Joule!

I received my Joule sous vide as a birthday gift and I couldn't be happier! I'm a very curious cook, and enjoy learning new methods of cooking. So far we've made hard boiled eggs (awesome! Cooked whites with gooey yolks, yummy!) and beef tenderloin (melt in your mouth tender!). The app is wonderful, with a lot of recipes (you can have access to more, as well as classes, for a one-time fee of $39) and videos that walk you through every step. The visual temp guide is great...want your steak to 'look like this'? Pick the temp and start, the Joule does the rest. I love that there's a magnet on the bottom so you can place in the pot and not necessary to clip to the side. You MUST have a smart phone and/or tablet to operate the Joule, no way to set the temp without the app. Lots of recipes on the app and the website. I've only had this for a few days but really excited to continue exploring it's uses...overnight bacon, whole chicken, winter squash...endless ideas!

This thing is Awsome!

I have been Sous Vide cooking for a while using a Paragon. While it worked just as well as this one it required a lot of space to store. This new Joule is smaller than I imagined and it really gets the water to temp quick. I purchased the LIPAVI container and tailored lid...they fit like a glove! I like Sous Vide since it only takes 5 minutes to set up and 5 minutes to clean up everything when done...does not disrupt my workflow and I eat better...win win! Just dropped in a Flat Iron steak...mouth watering already. Update: Just purchased a second one so I can do steaks at two different temps...these things ROCK!

By FAR the best consumer Sous Vide machine out there.

I am a high tech guy, so I can't help but appreciate all the tech that went into this device. I was going to get the Anova since its cheaper and how complicated does a device need to be just to heat water and keep it at temp? Not that complicated really... However, the Joule does that and just so much more. Some of the key things that convinced me to get this instead of the cheaper offerings. 1.) The app, and seeing the videos of the food cooked at each temp so you know exactly what texture/doneness to expect. It's awesome. 2.) The ease of cleaning, it has no coils to clean like the Anova, just a tube and a impeller. Super fast and easy to clean, by design wont get as dirty as the others as less parts exposed. 3.) The big one for me, voice control w/ Amazon Echo/Alexa. Sure you can't turn dials and use this device without a phone/tablet like you can its manual setup cousins. But I almost never have to break out a phone or tablet to use this. I set it up for voice control and that is by far the best! So easy to turn it off/on while my hands are dirty in the kitchen, its convenient, its cool, and who doesn't like to show off to friends/family? :) 4.) Power, as in heat power. This little guy has more heating power than the larger Anova, that means water up to temp faster, and it means it can handle larger vessels of water with less trouble. I just cooked a 14lbs brisket for 24 hours @ 155f in a 5 gallon bucket. Handled it like a champ. 5.) Company backing, the cool YouTube videos, constant firmware updates, there is a lot of ingenuity and love put into this product. 6.) The small form factor. Often I am just cooking a couple of steaks, the Joule is small enough I can use a regular kitchen pot and cook dinner, where the larger competitor devices would have required me to get a dedicated container out and taking up counter space just to do the same cook. The only negative I have is the clamp is not as versatile as the Anova, but I have never needed it to be. Most of the time I am using the magnetic bottom that the others do not have, and the few times I use a very large container like a 5 gallon bucket, it clips to that perfectly. I started to use a metal grate at the bottom of my big plastic containers so water can get under the food, and it attaches to that perfect. When I cook with pots/pans they are already metal. It just works so well and wins the #1 spot for best kitchen gadget/appliance I have purchased ever as it has brought entirety new levels of great food to the table. None of my friends knew about this device or much about Sous Vide, after eating at my house each and every one of them now have this on there to get list.

This is amazing and so is the food it cooks

I LOVE my Joule and cooking sous vide It’s soooooo crazy easy and tidy. The Joule is beautifully designed. Compact ( easily stored in a drawer), lightweight and attractive Better than all that it works great. Heats up the water fast, holds the temp, only needs 1.5 inches of water, is slim enough that it doesn’t dominate the pan and the app is awesome. Connecting was quick and easy. The app has not only written directions but mini videos including videos of how the specific food like a steak will turn out at given temps. I cooked a steak at 129 degrees for 1.5 hours and it was a perfect medium/rare all the way through. You can leave it in longer if you aren’t ready to eat yet, you are busy getting the rest of the meal ready or someone is late arriving. In this case it says it could stay in for up to an additional 2 hours - it doesn’t cook more so you won’t end up with well done - how awesome is that ! You can also put meats in straight from the freezer so consider freezing in vac sealed bags/ziploc with air out, add oil and seasoning and then just pull them out and drop them in the water. I used a saucepan but now use my instant pot inner pot with a silicone lid I cut a section out of to fit the Joule Highly recommend!

I think this is The One

We have been using this for about a month now - I held off on a review to see if the bloom came off the rose. So far so good. I chose this particular cooker based on "professional" reviews and the specs. It really does check all the boxes - high wattage, quiet, easy to use, and both wifi and Bluetooth. I'm not really a gadget freak - I'm more of a pragmatist and I like having options. This cooker delivers on all its promises in terms of setup, maintenance, and reliability. It's been used perhaps a dozen times in the last 30 days without issue so I'm totally satisfied. FWIW, I also bought the less expensive Anova Bluetooth model to see if the extra expense of the ChefSteps unit was worth it. I honestly can't tell. The Anova unit sort of seems more convenient with its buttons and display, but how often do you need buttons or a display? You set the temp & timer and walk away... whether you do it with a smart device or buttons is ultimately immaterial I think. Performance of them is comparable in every reasonable way, though I do think this ChefSteps cooker is a bit quieter. In the end, I opted to keep the ChefSteps cooker entirely based on its wifi capability - it's nice to be able to be at the other end of the house and check in, which you cannot do with Bluetooth unless you live in a pretty small apartment. I ended up gifting the Anova to my parents so we'll see how they each age.

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