What happened to the Anova Precision Oven?

After Electrolux bought the brand in 2017 for $250 million, Anova returned in 2020 with a countertop oven inspired by the sous vide method. At $600, the Anova Precision Oven is a fun and fancy tool for home chefs who really want to geek out, but it isn’t a food-recognizing smart oven like the June intelligent Oven.

If you want something different, try steaming your steak. However, don’t steam steaks as you would a vegetable on the stove. Simply placing the steak in the steamer basket will result in a gray, rubbery piece of meat with very little flavor. To retain flavor and avoid chewy steaks, steam the steak in foil on the grill.

Can this oven replace my microwave oven? Welcome! The Anova Precision Oven does not microwave, but MANY users have fully replaced theirs with the APO due to the superior reheating results with steam! It takes a few minutes longer, what takes 2 min in a microwave might take 6-8 in the APO.

The Anova’s Sous Vide Cooker is a standalone immersion circulator that heats water and circulates it around the pot to maintain precise temperatures evenly. Immersion circulators are an affordable and easy-to-use sous vide machine option.

What to cook: From steaming to roasting, air frying, crisping, and cooking sous vide style meals without the use of a bag, the Anova Precision Oven can do it all.

The Bottom Line. The Anova Precision Oven lets you bake, roast, slow cook, sous vide, and steam food to perfection, making it one the smartest countertop ovens you can buy. PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing

This is a low temperature setting that still incorporates steam and allows for gentle cooking of food (still in vacuum sealed bags, as that is a signature of sous vide cooking). However, steam oven temperature control is not as precise as sous vide cooking.

With steam you’ll get faster cooking than a traditional oven (though slower than a microwave), standout taste and texture and a more even heating method. This more even heat leads to less probability of overcooking and therefore better retention of nutrients in many cases.

From the Oven handle, you can activate or deactivate Sous Vide Mode by touching the Temperature Mode button. When Sous Vide Mode is active, you’ll see the corresponding label light up beside it. Using the Anova Oven App, you can toggle Sous Vide Mode on or off when setting a cooking stage.

Steam ovens keep more nutrients in your food, keep its color better, and eliminate the need for oil. Steaming also prevents cross-flavoring, so you can cook a salmon and chocolate torte at the same time without getting a fishy dessert. A combi-steam oven may be your favorite appliance at holiday time and year round.