We Love the Breville Joule Sous Vide, but Is the New Joule Turbo Worth It?

#1: Turbo Mode

One of the major selling points for this sous vide cooker is its turbo mode. Using one of the recipes in the app, foods can be cooked faster than when using typical sous vide recipes. Instead of using water that’s the exact desired temperature of the food, turbo mode is a bit like traditional cooking, where the cooking temperature is higher than the desired end temperature. A few temperature checks during turbo cooking showed that the water temperature reached 10 or more degrees above the finishing temperature. The recipes, coupled with thickness and weight measurements, compensate for the higher temperature by shortening the cooking time.

Turbo mode offers preset temperatures for each cook. When I cooked a chicken breast, the temperature was limited to 162 to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. New York strip steak and other beef recipes offered 122, 131, 140, 149, or 158 degrees. Pork chops could be set for 145 degrees, while pork tenderloin could be set for 145 or 153 degrees.

While I was happy with the steaks, I thought the chicken breast was a bit overcooked for my taste, particularly in the thinner areas, but it was acceptable. Considering the quicker cook time, it’s something I’d be happy to do again for steaks. When I cooked a chicken breast that I had pounded flat, the result was better, thanks to the consistent thickness.

#2: Traditional Sous Vide Performance

While the turbo feature is a selling point, it’s limited to tender meats that don’t need a long cooking time. And that makes sense! With sous vide cooking, the temperature determines the doneness, and the time determines the tenderness.

Fortunately, this device can be used for my tried-and-true sous vide cooking recipes, and it does a great job. I used it for pork ribs, which I typically cook for 12 hours, and it performed like a champ. It also worked well when I cooked steaks, chicken, and a beef roast without using turbo mode.

#3: Design

Thanks to its slim profile, this sous vide takes a bit less space in the cooking vessel than some other units I’ve used. That means there’s more space for food, which is always a good thing. Perhaps it’s that slim because there are no controls or displays on the device itself—this is controlled entirely from the app.

The clip that holds the sous vide onto the cooking container is fixed, with no way to adjust it higher or lower on the stick, but was at a good height for the different containers I used. Even better, a magnetic base means that it can stand upright on its own in stainless steel pots. To make it easier to measure food thickness for turbo cooking, a small stainless steel ruler is included.

One final note…

One thing I discovered late in testing was that this does not turn on again after a power outage. People who live in areas with frequent brownouts or glitchy power should keep that in mind during long cooks.