This Old House Reviews Team

A meat thermometer helps ensure that your meat is perfectly cooked to give you a flavorful and tender meal. While most meat thermometers are digital instead of analog, you can buy an instant-read device to measure fully cooked meat or a leave-in device that measures the temperature throughout the cooking process. To help you decide which type will work best for your needs, the This Old House Reviews team researched the best meat thermometers on Amazon. Here are our top picks.

 

Buying Guide

The most significant factor to consider when choosing a meat thermometer is the type of thermometer you want to use. However, there are a few additional features that you should also consider.

• Auto-off function: This factor is specific to digital thermometers because they use batteries to operate. An auto-off function will turn your meat thermometer to prevent battery drainage between uses.
• Temperature range: The best meat thermometers have an extensive temperature range, allowing you to cook various types of meat to the desired temperature. Some thermometers even measure up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Type: While there are seven types of tools that can read the temperature of your meat, we stuck to leave-in or instant-read digital meat thermometers in this review because of how easy they are to use.
  • Disposal pop-up: These are commonly used when cooking turkeys for holiday feasts and may or may not come with the turkey you purchase. They pop up when the turkey has reached the recommended temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Forks: These two-pronged devices are commonly used in grilling and give an instant temperature reading.
  • Instant-read analog: Instant-read thermometers don’t remain in the meat the entire time you’re cooking. Instead, you stick the probe into the thickest part of the meat to get an instant reading when you think the meat is close to being done.
  • Instant-read digital: This type of meat thermometer is like an instant-read analog thermometer, except the reading is given to you in a digital format so that you don’t have to figure out the temperature yourself.
  • Leave-in analog: These thermometers also use an analog dial, except they stay in the meat during cooking to give you a constant temperature reading.
  • Leave-in digital: Similar to a leave-in analog thermometer, this meat thermometer has a long cord connected to a base that stays in the meat the entire time it’s cooking.
  • Leave-in wireless digital: These are similar to leave-in digital meat thermometers, except they transmit wirelessly to a base unit instead of being connected with a cord.
• Water resistance: Your meat thermometer will be exposed to the moisture produced by the meat you’re cooking. This is especially true of instant-read models with short probes that come into closer contact with the meat. Because of this, you’ll want a thermometer that’s either water-resistant or waterproof.

 

Tips and Tricks to Cook Delicious, High-Quality Meats at Home

Purchasing a new meat thermometer is a great first step to meat-cooking perfection—knowing the exact internal temperature of your meat means you can cook it exactly how you like. To cook different types of meat perfectly, check out some of these pointers. 

 

Visit a Local Butcher

Knowing where your meat comes from is crucial if you want a five-star dining experience at home. Though supermarkets carry plenty of high-quality cuts, a local butcher may be able to provide better options. 

 

Don’t Go Directly From the Fridge to Cooking

Though it may sound like a recipe for food poisoning, allow your cut of meat some time to reach room temperature before you cook it. Letting it sit for a few minutes from the fridge to the pan or grill is better than going straight from the fridge to cooking. Doing so helps the meat cook more evenly, and it’ll be juicer and tastier. 

 

Season Simply

The more expensive your cut of meat, the less seasoning it typically requires. A high-quality steak usually only needs salt and pepper and nothing more. You can always finish your piece of meat with a side of herbed butter or additional seasonings that cater to your guests’ tastes. 

 

Rest Your Meat

Most cooked meat should rest for at least a few minutes before it’s served, as it’s still cooking even after removing it from a heat source. Letting your steak or chicken rest for a few minutes allows the juices to redistribute toward the middle of the cut, resulting in an overall juicer piece of meat. 

 

Don’t Overcook

How you like your meat cooked is ultimately a matter of preference—but remember, you can’t undo an overcooked piece of meat. With your new meat thermometer at the ready, you should be able to have your lamb, poultry, pork, beef, or other cuts of meat cooked but not overcooked. 

 

 

FAQs

 

• Should you calibrate a meat thermometer?

Yes. You should check your meat thermometer’s calibration yearly when you first get it and whenever you drop it. You can do this by:

• Dipping it in ice water and seeing if it reads around 32 degrees Fahrenheit
• Dipping it in boiling water and seeing if it reads around 212 degrees Fahrenheit

If the readings aren’t correct, follow the recalibration instructions in the owner’s manual. If the thermometer can’t be recalibrated, you may have to purchase a new one.

• Where should I stick my meat thermometer?

The placement of your meat thermometer depends on the type of meat you’re cooking. Here are a few common types of meat and where to place the probe for an accurate reading:

• Roasts, steaks, and thick chops: In the center at the thickest part, away from the bone, fat, and gristle
• Whole poultry, like turkey or chicken: In the inner thigh area near the breast but away from the bone
• Thin meat, like hamburger patties: Sideways
• Ground meat, like meatloaf: In the thickest area of the meat

• What happens if I don’t use a meat thermometer?

You won’t know if your meat is properly cooked without a meat thermometer. Undercooked meat could carry bacteria that could make you sick, and overcooked meat will be hard to chew.

 

Why Trust The This Old House Reviews Team

This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms. The This Old House Reviews Team focuses on creating in-depth product and service review content to help inform your purchasing decision for just about any item or resource that you might need for your home. The This Old House Reviews Team has written over 1,000 reviews on products in the home space, from cordless drills to kitchen trash cans, lawn mowers, and dining room decorations. 

We recommend products in each review using an intensive research process, spending hours combing through the best available models on Amazon. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Once we conclude the research phase, we craft a well-rounded, user-friendly article that includes our recommended products and additional information to help homeowners like you make the right purchase.

 

 

The This Old House Reviews Team provides overviews of select products that are top-selling on Amazon and/or popular in consumer searches. Our team evaluates the products based on industry research, consumer reviews, pricing data, hands-on testing in select cases, and other objective criteria unique to a given product line. Unless otherwise noted, these product reviews are intended to help inform buying decisions for DIY or other non-pro users only. Editor’s picks are made by members of the This Old House Reviews Team.