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The 5 best meat thermometers for 2024 won’t let you overcook your steaks
ThermoWorks, Meater
One of the trickiest things about outdoor grilling: Getting the heat right without overcooking — especially when you’re working with pricey steaks. Unless you’re using a smart grill that maintains temperature for you, we recommend investing an in meat thermometer. It’ll give you greater accuracy than the thermometer built into many traditional grills.
Beyond just using a meat thermometer to boost your outdoor grilling game, we suggest investing in one of the newer charcoal, propane, natural gas or wood pellet grills; all are designed to better maintain heat levels and even cooking temperatures.
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What is the best meat thermometer in 2024?
Whether you’re looking for a meat thermometer that works with your smartphone; a device that you can leave in your meet while it’s cooking; or a model that offers highly accurate instant temperature readings, there are plenty of meat thermometer options to choose from. We’ve carefully curated this roundup of the best five options available now. Whatever your needs or budget, you’ll find the ideal meat thermometer here.
Best meat thermometer overall: ThermoWorks Dot
ThermoWorks
It may not offer all of the fancy features of our premium meat thermometer pick, but we chose the ThermoWorks Dot because it’s well made and extremely simple to use. All you need to do is insert the probe into the meat, select the desired temperature and then let this thermometer track the cooking progress for you.
As soon as the meat reaches your desired temperature or doneness level, the Dot generates an alarm. We also like that this meat thermometer comes in your choice of nine colors and that the built-in display is large and easy to read.
The Dot is IP65 rated for water resistance, so it’s easy to clean. Plus, it has a magnetic backing that holds it in place on most outdoor grills. The probe is 4.5 inches long and reads temperatures up to 582 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you want a slightly more feature-packed option, check out the ThermoWorks Square Dot meat thermometer ($69) that’s also ideal for smokers and ovens. That model has a larger display that showcases more information, like the temperature of your meat and the temperatures in the surrounding cooking environment.
Best smart meat thermometer: Meater 2 Plus
Meater
This new and improved model of the Meater Plus (aptly called the Meater 2 Plus), is a wireless, smart meat thermometer that measures temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit with extreme accuracy. The probe is 100% waterproof and works nicely within a BBQ, grill, oven or air fryer.
Because this is a smart gadget, it comes with a phone app that allows you to monitor the thermometer remotely and receive alerts on your phone. From your smartphone, you can set your own custom alerts based on internal and ambient temperatures (or based on time) to fully tailor your own cooking experience.
The Meater 2 Plus uses multiple sensors to monitor temperatures and can estimate cook time, plus let you know exactly when it’s time to eat.
Best budget meat thermometer: Kizen digital meat thermometer
Kizen
There’s no need to spend a fortune to measure cooking temperature. The Kizen digital meat thermometer offers the core functionality you need and is priced below $13. It works nicely in a grill, oven or BBQ and it comes in your choice of three colors.
This Kizen meat thermometer is waterproof and offers a backlit display that’s easy to read (even at night). This is a pre-calibrated, instant-read thermometer that takes temperatures in as little as three seconds. When you’re done using the thermometer, simply wash the probe and body of the food thermometer using running water. (The device is not dishwasher safe.)
One feature we particularly like is that it conserves battery power by turning itself off after 10 minutes of idle time. It works with any type of meat, as well as frying oil or liquid. It offers accuracy of plus or minus one degree.
Best instant-read meat thermometer: ThermoPro TP19
ThermoPro
Available in your choice of two colors, the ThermoPro TP19 meat thermometer works with a BBQ, grill, smoker or oil fryer. It features an easy-to-read backlit display and is powered using a single AAA battery.
You’ll enjoy an ultra-fast, two- to three-second response time with a temperature reading that’s highly accurate (to plus or minus 0.9 degrees). The device features a 4.3-inch, stainless steel probe that’s suitable for measuring any type of food.
The ThermoPro TP19 should be hand-washed after use, since it’s not dishwasher safe. Its magnetic back allows you to easily attach the device to a refrigerator or any metal surface. There’s also a handy hang hole for your kitchen hooks or a lanyard.
The TP19 accurately measures temperatures up to 572 degrees Fahrenheit. After 90 seconds of non-use, it automatically turns itself off, but wakes up as soon as you pick it up again.
Best premium meat thermometer: ThermoWorks Thermapen One
ThermoWorks
For the seasoned grill master who demands the very best, we suggest this ThermoWorks Thermapen One meat thermometer. It provides accurate temperature readings in about one second. It also comes in your choice of 10 colors.
This version of the Thermapen One offers improved accuracy, plus or minus 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The display has a brighter backlight than previous models, making it easier to read. Other key features include an auto-rotating display and motion-sensing sleep and wake mode. The unit is waterproof (IP67 rated).
The built in probe is 4.3 inches long and the entire unit measures 6.1 x 1.7 x 0.74 inches. It comes with a five-year warranty.
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U.S. stocks plummeted in one of their worst days of the year after the Federal Reserve forecast Wednesday it may deliver fewer shots of adrenaline for the economy in 2025 than it had earlier projected.
The S&P 500 fell 178 points, or 3%, pulling it further from its all-time high set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,123 points, or 2.6%, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 3.6%.
The Fed said Wednesday it’s cutting its benchmark interest rate for a third time this year, continuing the sharp turnaround begun in September when it started lowering rates from a two-decade high to support the job market. Wall Street loves lower interest rates, but the Dec. 18 cut had been widely expected by Wall Street.
Why is the stock market down today?
Investors were unsettled by the Fed’s forecast for fewer cuts in 2025, even though many economists had already been paring their expectations given sticky inflation.
“Markets have a really bad of habit of overreacting to Fed policy moves,” Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, said in an analyst note. “The Fed didn’t do or say anything that deviated from what the market expected—this seems more like, I’m leaving for Christmas break, so I’ll sell and start up next year.”
The bigger question centers on how much more the Fed could cut next year. A lot is riding on it, particularly after expectations for a series of cuts in 2025 helped the U.S. stock market set an all-time high 57 times so far in 2024.
Fed officials released projections on Wednesday showing the median expectation among them is for two more cuts to the federal funds rate in 2025, or half a percentage point’s worth. That’s down from the four cuts they had expected just three months ago.
“We are in a new phase of the process,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. The central bank has already quickly eased its main interest rate by a full percentage point, to a range of 4.25% to 4.50%, since September.
What happened to the stock market today?
Asked why Fed officials are looking to slow their pace of cuts, Powell pointed to how the job market looks to be performing well overall and how recent inflation readings have picked up. He also cited uncertainties that will require policy makers to react to upcoming, to-be-determined changes in the economy.
While lower rates can goose the economy by making it cheaper to borrow and boosting prices for investments, they can also offer more fuel for inflation.
Powell said some Fed officials, but not all, are also already trying to incorporate uncertainties inherent in a new administration coming into the White House. Worries are rising on Wall Street that President-elect Donald Trump’s preference for tariffs and other policies could further juice inflation, along with economic growth.
“When the path is uncertain, you go a little slower,” Powell said. It’s “not unlike driving on a foggy night or walking into a dark room full of furniture. You just slow down.”
One official, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, thought the central bank should not have even cut rates this time around. She was the lone vote against Wednesday’s rate cut.
Wall Street’s worst performers
The reduced expectations for 2025 rate cuts sent Treasury yields rising in the bond market, squeezing the stock market.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.51% from 4.40% late Tuesday, which is a notable move for the bond market. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, climbed to 4.35% from 4.25%.
On Wall Street, stocks of companies that can feel the most pressure from higher interest rates fell to some of the worst losses.
Stocks of smaller companies did particularly poorly, for example. Many need to borrow to fuel their growth, meaning they can feel more pain when having to pay higher interest rates for loans. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks tumbled 4.4%.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, General Mills dropped 3.1% despite reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. The maker of Progresso soups and Cheerios said it will increase its investments in brands to help them grow, which pushed it to cut its forecast for profit this fiscal year.
Nvidia, the superstar stock responsible for a chunk of Wall Street’s rally to records in recent years, fell 1.1% to extend its weekslong funk. It has dropped more than 13% from its record set last month and fallen in nine of the last 10 days as its big momentum slows.
“As we wrote in our 2025 outlook a couple of weeks ago, stretched positioning and sentiment left stocks vulnerable to a sell-off,” Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial said in a note about today’s market sell-off. “The big jump in inflation expectations and related bond sell-off was a convenient excuse. Once support from tech evaporated, no other groups were able to step in to fill that gaping hole.”
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