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A reliable thermometer can help you cook with precision, whether you’re trying to make pulled pork that falls off the bone, a medium-rare steak with consistent rosy color, a roast chicken that is fully cooked yet still juicy, a loaf of bread with a deep crust and yielding crumb, or a silken flan that maintains its shape.
“The key to good barbecue is mastery of time and temperature,” says chef Keith Taylor of Zachary’s BBQ. “For me, an instant-read thermometer is all I ever use. We did over 1,400 covers with brisket and pork every weekend this season with nothing but salt, pepper, smoke, and, of course, perfect temps.” Meathead, the mononymous publisher of AmazingRibs.com, also finds thermometers essential: “Nothing will improve your cooking faster than a good thermometer. Thermometers not only tell you when the food has optimal moisture, texture, and flavor, but they are a safety device.”
As a chef, culinary-arts and science professor, and director of the Drexel Food Lab, I work with university students on recipe development and culinary-innovation projects. Accuracy is key to this work, and none of it is possible without a reliable thermometer. For this piece, I tested eight manual and digital thermometers and spoke with chefs, bakers, barbecue experts, and food writers and editors to learn more about their favorites and what they like about them.
What we’re looking for
Type
Various types of thermometers can achieve different goals. Instant-read thermometers, both analog and digital, provide data within seconds. They’re not designed to stay in the food as it cooks, but you can measure many things you’re cooking in quick succession. Leave-in thermometers can stay in the food as it cooks and transmit data via dial display, wire, or Bluetooth to a smartphone or other display (if you need to measure something else while it’s in use, you’ll need another thermometer). Some can even predict when the food will finish cooking. Infrared thermometers allow cooks to measure surface temperatures from a distance but can’t measure internal temperatures without a probe attachment.
Temperature range
Look for a thermometer that can work over as wide a temperature range as possible, from freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) through boiling (212 degrees) or above (for deep-frying, you’ll want up to 375 degrees). These days, most digital thermometers can handle freezing through over 500 degrees.
Display
A small display without lighting can be a safety hazard, especially for cooks who don’t have great vision. Look for large digital displays that can keep your squinting eyes (and the rest of your face) far from the heat.
Best overall
Type: Digital instant read | Temperature Range: -58 to 572°F | Display: 1” x 1.54” with intelligent backlight
I have been a devoted user of an older model Thermapen for decades in both professional and home settings. It is responsive, accurate, and reliable, and mine is only on its second set of batteries (the new model boasts a 2,000-hour battery life). I use it daily, for quick verification of doneness and more involved recipe testing — such as determining the optimal frying time and temperature for karaage chicken. The Thermapen One incorporates new features, including one-second readings (hence the name), automatic backlighting in dark environments (think autumn-evening grilling), and waterproofing.
The Thermapen was the overwhelming favorite among the experts I spoke to, and it’s a fixture of commercial kitchens, barbecue competitions, and catering venues. “I call it the Cadillac of thermometers because of its durability, design, and accuracy,” says Gill Boyd, chef-instructor of culinary arts at the Institute of Culinary Education. “The probe folds into the side for storage or putting into your pocket.” Patrick Doyle, founder of Humpty’s Dumplings, relies on a thermometer throughout the process of cooking and freezing dumplings. Doyle says that while they have used multiple thermometers over the years, the Thermapen is “hands down the best” owing to its “tough case and oiltight seal around the opening for the battery.”
Best (less expensive) instant-read thermometer
Type: Digital instant read | Temperature Range: -58 to 572°F | Display: 1” x 1.26” round with backlight
The ThermoPop is my everyday workhorse thermometer at the Drexel Food Lab. With nearly the speed (two to three seconds) and precision (±1 degree in most of the range) of the Thermapen One, the ThermoPop has advantages in affordability, durability, and pocket size, which allows you to easily clip it into a breast or sleeve pocket. Rachel Sherman, pastry chef and associate director of the Drexel Food Lab, has one for work and another for home use. “One year, I even bought them for all my culinary students,” she says. “It is affordable, accurate, easy to ready, and comfortable to hold, and it can withstand heavy usage. The variety of colors makes it easy to find and identify” (she has them in yellow and green). Sherman notes from experience that the ThermoPop can also withstand temporary submersion: “I have dropped mine in chocolate, water, and sugar syrup, and it is still surviving.”
Best analog thermometer
Type: Analog instant read | Temperature Range: 50 to 550°F | Display: 1.75” round
While digital instant-read thermometers are preferred by most of the experts I spoke with (Meathead says, “If you still use a dial thermometer, put it in your driveway and back over it”), there is beauty in the simplicity of the analog thermometer many chefs used in culinary school. It is comparable in accuracy, easy to calibrate in ice water, inexpensive, and durable. While David McGuire, executive chef of Bar Yoshi and O Bar in Nantucket, says he has “seen a lot of thermometers come and go as trends seem to do,” he prefers the Comark five-inch: “This is light and easy to read and measures your temperatures fast and accurately.”
Best predictive thermometer
Type: Leave-in predictive | Temperature Range: up to 220°F | Display: 1.5” x 2.5”
Predictive thermometers are popular among barbecuers as they are safe to leave inside the meat throughout the cooking process. With multiple sensors along the probe from the surface of the meat to its core, the Combustion can calculate the curve of the heat transfer to estimate when the food will reach its desired temperature. An app or a separate display connects to the probe via Bluetooth. The can’t-miss-it alarm and constant monitoring reassure cooks that they won’t miss the optimal window to take a large item like a brisket or pork shoulder off the grill. I tested it with a large pork shoulder for barbecued pulled pork, and it took out all the guesswork for when it would finish (sadly for my guests, around 11 p.m.).
Best (less expensive) predictive thermometer
Type: Leave-in predictive | Temperature Range: up to 221°F | Display: Smartphone or tablet
Like the Combustion, the Meater 2 Plus can be left in the food as it cooks to predict the proper cooking time. It can also be submerged in a fryer (hello, perfectly cooked deep-fried turkey), slow cooker, or circulator. Unlike the Combustion, the Meater does not have its own display, relying instead on the cook’s smartphone or tablet. This has some advantages, to be sure — my phone is always with me, and the readability of the display is never an issue. But inevitably, after checking the cooking progress of my spatchcocked chicken on the grill, I wanted to scroll through the app, greasy fingers and all. The Meater also has fewer sensors than the Combustion, which is a drawback according to some equipment nerds, though I didn’t notice any difference when testing.
The Meater 2 Plus is accurate within ±0.5 degrees and charges quickly. Matt Groark, owner of Groark Boys’ BBQ, counts the Meater 2 Plus among his favorite thermometers. “I own several individual Meater probes as well as a Meater Block, which allows you to track four probes at once,” he says. Groark cooks primarily on a charcoal grill, which, unlike a gas grill, demands constant monitoring. “For those longer cooks like brisket, ribs, and pork butt where I don’t want to babysit the temps,” he says, “my wireless Meater allows me to watch the temperatures rise while sitting in the comfort of my living room.”
Best infrared
Type: Infrared | Temperature Range: -76 to 1022°F | Display: 1” square, backlit
For most cooking, an instant-read or leave-in probe will give you all the information you need for a tasty result. But for certain applications, such as measuring the surface temperature of a grill or pizza stone and making sure that frying oil is up to temperature or that boiling sugar has reached the above-boiling temperature needed for candy-making, the IRK-2 lets you shoot an infrared beam, along with a targeting laser, from a distance to safely and neatly provide those answers. The IRK-2 is the go-to thermometer for chef Henry Hill of Hill’s Research Kitchen, who says, “I like that it has the ability to plug in a probe as well. It also has a ton of setting options like setting minimum and maximum temperatures.”
Our experts
• Gill Boyd, chef-instructor of culinary arts, Institute of Culinary Education
• Patrick Doyle, founder, Humpty’s Dumplings
• Henry Hill, founder, Hill’s Research Kitchen
• David McGuire, executive chef, Bar Yoshi and O Bar
• Meathead, founder, AmazingRibs.com, and Barbecue Hall of Famer
• Rachel Sherman, associate director, Drexel Food Lab
• Keith Taylor, chef-owner, Zachary’s BBQ
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