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Breville Joule 1100W Review

This is a sleek and stylish app-controlled sous vide that heats up quickly
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Breville Joule 1100W Review
Price:  $200 List
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Manufacturer:   Breville
By Michelle Powell and David Wise  ⋅  Feb 14, 2022
77
OVERALL
SCORE
  • Temperature - 40% 7.6
  • Circulation - 30% 8.0
  • Ease of Use - 30% 7.6

Our Verdict

The Breville Joule is one of the best sous vide machines and did well across most of our tests. It has a powerful heater that can get your water up to temperature much faster than many other models. This product has a sleek and stylish design that will look fantastic in most kitchens, and it is quite accurate and stable when it comes to maintaining temperature. It has a handy smartphone companion app to set the time and duration for different recipes and is overall user-friendly and easy to use.
REASONS TO BUY
Heats very quickly
Tons of circulation
Can be used in very little water
REASONS TO AVOID
No display
Can only be controlled through the app

Our Analysis and Test Results

Performance Comparison


breville joule 1100w - the breville joule is a sleek and stylish sous vide.
The Breville Joule is a sleek and stylish sous vide.
Credit: Laura Casner

Temperature


Temperature is our most significant testing metric; as such, it's responsible for 40% of our overall score. We based scores on how accurate each sous vide is and how it compared to a lab-grade thermometer, how stable it was at maintaining a temperature over an hour, how long it took to heat a container of cold tap water to 147°F, and how quickly it recovered temperature after cold food was added to the bath.


We used 12-quart containers for each of these tests, filled with 9.5 quarts of water. The Joule is one of the fastest models to heat water, only taking 36 minutes to heat up 48°F to 147°F. It also recovers quickly when food is added, taking a mere two minutes to regain its set temperature after three frozen hamburger patties in a vacuum-sealed bag were added. This was measured using iButton temperature loggers sealed in sous vide bags.

breville joule 1100w - the joule did a solid job in our temperature accuracy assessments.
The Joule did a solid job in our temperature accuracy assessments.
Credit: Laura Casner

It also did very well in our stability test, only wavering from its steady-state temperature for 10% or six minutes of the hour-long assessment. Even then, it was only an average of 0.09°F off of the stable temperature. Finally, we compared the temperature shown on the Joule's app to our calibrated lab-grade thermometer. The Joule displayed an average temperature variance of 0.45°F above the set temperature of 135°F. This average error decreased to only 0.33°F above the desired setpoint when the Joule was set for 147°F. The temperature was measured at multiple points throughout the bath.

breville joule 1100w - the joule has a surprisingly powerful circulator.
The Joule has a surprisingly powerful circulator.
Credit: Michelle Powell

Circulation


Next, we scored the circulating abilities of each of these immersion circulators, which is responsible for 30% of the final score for the Joule. To compare this side-by-side, we used a custom testing apparatus to inject 15 mL of food dye into the furthest corner of the container from the Joule, then timed how long it took for the color to become uniform. The Joule has one of the most powerful circulators of the group.


The Joule only took 21 seconds to completely incorporate the blue dye, just a bit slower than the 14 seconds or so of the fastest time and considerably quicker than the 3+ minutes of the slowest.

breville joule 1100w - the mobile app is great but we did occasionally miss having controls...
The mobile app is great but we did occasionally miss having controls right on the machine.
Credit: Laura Casner

Ease of Use


Our third metric — ease of use — accounts for the remaining 30% of the final score for each product. We compared and scored each product on how user-friendly the interface of each machine is, how easy it is to attach to various containers if there is a companion smartphone app, and how the display looks. The Joule finished with a strong showing.


This product is intuitive and simple to use through the app, which offers an entire library of presets to choose from, as well as a full history of your uses. You can start and stop the Joule remotely, but we occasionally had some connectivity issues where we had to reset the WiFi on our phones or restart the app.

breville joule 1100w - smart sous vides can be more convenient to use but it isn't a...
Smart sous vides can be more convenient to use but it isn't a crucial feature.
Credit: Laura Casner

We did find it mildly irritating to only control the sous vide through a smart device. It has a clip to attach the side of a vessel or a magnetic base to keep it upright in metal containers.

breville joule 1100w - the clip makes it quick and easy to attach the joule to the side of...
The clip makes it quick and easy to attach the Joule to the side of a container if you aren't using the magnetic base.
Credit: Laura Casner

Should You Buy the Breville Joule?


The Breville Joule is an all-around top-tier sous vide but might not be the best option for everyone due to its reliance on smart devices. It has a powerful heater and circulator, but we would like to see a bit more accuracy to match the performance of the top-tier products. It is one of our top recommendations if you prioritize appearance and don't mind paying for it. While the interface through the app is very convenient and easy to use, we found it was a bit disappointing that there aren't controls on the Joule itself. This can be a bit of a hassle if multiple people use the Joule and don't have the app installed or the registered account login info, or if you don't feel like pulling out your phone to set the temperature or add more time. Unfortunately, the Breville Joule isn't necessarily the best value option for most kitchens. It is one of the more expensive models, and there are significantly less expensive models that can serve you almost as well.

What Other Sous Vide Machine Should You Consider?


If you are unsure about only having controls via your cell phone, but like the app-enabled idea, the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker Nano and the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker AN500-US00 are high-ranking options that provide online connection to recipes and controls. We like the idea of making this kind of cooking easier for newbies.

Michelle Powell and David Wise