How to sous vide with an Instant Pot

“Instant” is not a word you’d use to describe the slow-and-low sous vide technique. But get this: Instant Pot not only makes a sous-vide-capable cooking contraption, they also sell a sous vide immersion circulator that turns almost any cooking container into a sous vide machine.

First, a quick word about sous vide, for the curious: Sous vide, translated literally, means “under vacuum” in French. Foods are vacuum-sealed into a packet, then cooked in a heated water bath.

The water is held at a relatively low temperature in order to keep the food moist as it cooks. Ideally, meats come out fork-tender and juicy, and veggies stay crisp and flavorful.

Sound delicious? It is. Home cooks used to have to buy a whole separate setup to try it out, but now there’s a new generation of sous vide devices on the market. Here are the sous vide offerings from the ever-popular Instant Pot brand:

Aura Pro 11-in-1 8-quart Multicooker, $149.99

Sous vide is but one cook setting on this handy Instant Pot. The little guy is loaded with functions, from rice-cooking to roasting. One thing that’s missing is a classic pressure-cooker mode, but that’s OK — the interior stainless steel pot and lid are dishwasher safe, which is enough for me.

Accu SV800 Sous Vide Immersion Circulator, $79.99

This is a nifty idea: The Accu SV800 simply clips to the side of a pot to heat and hold water at the correct temperature for sous vide preparation. A digital touchscreen display easily sets the temp and cooking time. Best of all, you don’t need to use it with an Instant Pot — the circulator works with any brand of cookware.

The final step, of course, is finding a recipe to use! Instant Pot has more than a dozen sous vide recipes on their website, including steaks, pulled pork, perfectly poached eggs and even spicy tempeh.

That’s just a starting point — sous vide recipes abound elsewhere, too. It’s so cool that you can now use this restaurant-kitchen technique at home!