This Smart Thermometer Is My Dummy-Proof Kitchen Essential

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As a pretty damn good home cook (read my bio and weep), one of my biggest kitchen fears is cutting into a piece of meat that’s undercooked, raw in the middle. On top of the self-esteem hit, whatever cooking I have to do to correct the error will frequently result in a dry piece of meat that’s lost half its flavor. Using a meat thermometer can help ensure I don’t take a steak out until its ready, but it can’t prevent me from overcooking—or under-resting—the cut of meat. This is where Meater swoops in to save my ass.

Whoever said a watched pot doesn’t boil hasn’t used the Meater 2 Plus. This smart thermometer is the ultimate grilling tool for pot watchers, perfectionists, and under-confident cooks alike. It works perfectly indoors, in the oven, where I’ve been using it. But as the last couple weeks of summer wane, it’s a great grilling gadget to carry you into the fall chill and tailgate season.

It’s the best way to get live temperature reads

What makes Meater’s smart thermometer work is its combination of brains and brawn. The minimal, multi-sensor probe is not only a work of design brilliance, it can withstand temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Meater 2 Plus is meant to be inserted into your roast, chop, or loin of choice as it cooks. Unlike thermometers of old, you don’t have to pull everything out of the oven (or try to squint to see through the door into the poorly lit roaster) every time you want to check the temp. All you need to do is open the Meater app on your phone.

The Meater 2 Plus provides up-to-the-minute updates on the internal temperature of your meat as it cooks. It knows how long your meat—be it pork, chicken, steak—needs to cook and it will recommend both a chef-recommended temperature and the USDA recommendation. For unconfident cooks, I say stick to the chef recs, unless you want your chicken dry or skirt steak well done and chewy. But grill masters can get as precise as they want.

Setting up the app does take a little time, even if you’re tech-savvy. Once you first remove the thermometer from its (gorgeous!) wood charging case, you have to reinsert it to let it charge for 15 minutes. After that, syncing to your phone can take a few attempts. However, once it did connect, the app seamlessly synced the Meater to my Apple Watch. Having the oven timer on my wrist became my favorite little convenience of the whole package—and there are many.

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It guarantees a perfect cook, every time

In my experience with the Meater 2 Plus, an attentive chef leads to a perfectly cooked piece of meat every time. The biggest accomplishment for me thus far was a perfectly cooked pork tenderloin. As it turns out, this tends to be one of the meats I overcook the most—I wouldn’t know it without Meater, though. After searing it off, I baked the tenderloin in the oven using the 2 Plus, and it turned out perfect—even the leftovers were succulent.

The 2 Plus is strengthened from the first edition Meater Plus to handle the heat from grills and deep fryers. It’s waterproof, making it viable when frying or using a sous vide machine. It also has a slightly larger range than the original Plus, so you don’t have to babysit your steak—go enjoy a cold one with the boys (or whoever) in the meantime.

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It’s changed me forever

I often write about how much the power of simplicity is lost on modern tech. A meat thermometer is one of the simplest and most inexpensive kitchen tools you can get, and yet the Meater 2 Plus has made it hard for me to consider cooking without it. That’s this whole story summed up in one sentence. It’s taken a simple old tool and made it better without overcomplicating it.

If you’re struggling to get the right cook on a sirloin, or you simply care about making the best food possible, start dropping hints about this smart thermometer in the family chat. It’s an investment, but the precision the Meater 2 Plus offers is worth every penny. I could go on forever, but I just got an alert that my beef Wellington is about to hit a perfect medium-rare.

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Photographs by Joe Lingeman. Prop styling by Heather Greene.