The Best Digital Meat Thermometers of 2024

Written by
Lindsay D. Mattison, Professional chef, recipe developer, and product tester with years of experience in home and restaurant kitchens.
Danielle DeSiato, managing editor, professionally trained chef, and avid kitchen product tester

Updated April 13, 2024

If you love to cook or grill, but hate the guesswork of figuring out when your meat is done, you should seriously consider getting a meat thermometer. It’s the only way to know —not guess—when your chicken is cooked to the correct internal temperature, or your steak is cooked just the way you like it.

Once you start using a meat thermometer, you'll wonder why you didn't rely on it sooner. We reach for an instant-read digital meat thermometer every time we cook poultry, grill a burger, or roast salmon in the oven. Those items will come out juicier and more flavorful if you cook them to a precise temperature!

Some of the best instant-read thermometers come at a more substantial price tag—like our best overall pick, the Typhur InstaProbe (available at Amazon) —and we were curious if those thermometers performed that much better than the less expensive versions like our best value, the ThermoWorks ThermoPop (available at ThermoWorks). So, we put these necessary kitchen accessories through a series of tests to see how successful they were at temping meats, making candy, and measuring fryer oil. You can easily find your digital thermometer match below.

If you're into roasting and smoking larger cuts of meat or poultry, a probe thermometer should also be in your kitchen arsenal. Whether wired or wireless, they don't respond as quickly as instant-read thermometers, but they'll monitor your food so you don't have to and alert you when it's at your desired temperature.

Other Digital Meat Thermometers We Tested

OXO Good Grips Thermocouple Thermometer

If our best upgrade pick is out of stock, you won’t be disappointed with this OXO Good Grips thermometer. The OXO was quick and accurate, registering boiling water and cooked chicken in just three seconds. It has a very thin tip, too, so it didn’t poke large holes into the chicken when we used it, either.

Our two major complaints with this model were centered around aesthetics. For starters, its sleek design made it a little hard to hold over hot items, as the steam coated the smooth surface to make it slippery. We also didn’t like that the settings for changing Fahrenheit to Celsius were also hidden behind a battery panel, which required a Phillips head screwdriver for removal.

Pros

• Quick readings

• Accurate

Cons

• Difficult to hold

• Battery panel needs removal to access settings

$72.63 from Amazon

Lavatools PT12 Javelin

The Lavatools PT12 Javelin nearly made it as the top pick, but it was just a bit slower to register temperatures. While it was just as accurate, it averaged five seconds in its temperature readings—but the ThermoWorks and OXO models only took two to three seconds.

I love the minimalistic packaging and the super-compact size of the thermometer itself, and it has some really nice features like an auto on and off as you open the probe. The built-in magnet makes it easy to store on the fridge and the display is one of the largest of all the models we tested. Our only knock is this: The three-inch probe may not be long enough to hit the center of a large roast, and you have to remove the battery panel to change from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Pros

• Accurate readings

• Easy to read

• Useful bonus features

Cons

• Short probe

• Not incredibly fast

Buy now at Amazon

Kizen Waterproof Food Thermometer

The Kizen was a best seller on Amazon at the time of this review. We liked several features of this handheld thermometer, including large, easy-to-read numbers, a bright backlit display, and an auto on/off feature when you open it.

The soft buttons were easy to press, and there was a small guide for meat temperatures on the face that could be helpful for new cooks. That said, it wasn’t the most accurate, reading temperatures a few degrees higher than it should on boiling water and cooked chicken. It wasn’t the slowest in the test group, but it wasn’t the quickest, either.

Pros

• Includes auto on/off

• Bright backlit display

Cons

• Not the most accurate

Buy now at Amazon

Taylor 9306N Splash-Proof Dual Temperature Thermometer

The heavy-duty Taylor Infrared was the only thermometer we tested that had dual temperature functions. Use the foldaway probe to take the internal temperatures or click “scan” to take surface temperatures with the infrared sensor. While we liked the packaging, unfortunately, the results weren’t up to par. The display was small, and this thermometer was neither fast nor accurate. While it was super precise at low temperatures, it didn’t register the correct temperature of boiling water (missing the mark by more than 4 degrees).

Pros

• Takes both surface and internal temperatures

Cons

• Inaccurate readings

• Slow

$77.68 from Amazon

ThermoPro TP03A Instant-Read Thermometer

If you search "kitchen thermometer" on Amazon, the ThermoPro TP03A Instant Read will be one of the first on the list. At the time of this review, it had over 102,000 reviews with a positive rating, but it wasn’t our favorite from the group.

The foldaway probe locks into place so you need to press a button to release it, and it doesn’t have an auto-on function. The thin, cheap plastic construction is harder to hold than the others and it takes almost 15 seconds to reach its final resting temperature. It’s an inexpensive model, but other products on this list are certainly better tools.

Pros

• Affordable

Cons

• Probe locks when folded

• Slow

• Doesn't automatically turn on

Buy now at Amazon

Surround Point Talking Instant Read Thermometer

I have to admit, I started out annoyed with the Surround Point —it was the only product that didn’t come with batteries included! Once I found some spare AAAs, this one didn’t really wow me with results, either. The buttons are stiff and hard to push, and the probe is a little awkward to remove from its locked position. It was the slowest of all the products we tested, too. The only saving grace—it will speak out the temperature on display, making this product the best option for those who are visually impaired.

Pros

• Accessible for the visually impaired

Cons

• Doesn't come with AAA batteries

• Buttons can be stiff

• Slow to give a reading

Buy now at Amazon

How We Tested Digital Meat Thermometers

The Tester

Hi, I'm Lindsay Mattison, a trained professional chef. Throughout my career, I’ve found that precision and speed are critical in a fast-paced restaurant environment, but they're no less important at home. This is especially true when it comes to a digital instant-read meat thermometer. It can really make a difference if you want to cook up the best cuts of meat, candy, or fried foods. Since I'm pretty picky when it comes to my personal thermometer, I wanted to help you pick the perfect one!

The Tests

We chose 9 products to test—eight foldaway models and one long-probe model—and put them through a variety of tests designed to assess accuracy, speed, and overall feel.

We started with accuracy because a thermometer's main function is to display the correct temperature. A cup of ice water should read 32 degrees Fahrenheit and a pot of boiling water should register 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level. We also measured 350-degree Fahrenheit fryer oil to see if the thermometer had a versatile enough temperature range to make candy. To make sure they were able to take consistent temperatures, we repeated each test three times and averaged the results.

While speed might not seem like an important factor for a thermometer, just consider this: when you’re throwing a Thanksgiving dinner and trying to coordinate a million side dishes (and the personalities of all your guests, too), hovering your hand over the turkey for an extra 10 seconds can feel like an eternity. Some of the products only took two or three seconds to determine final temperatures, while others lagged behind at 15 to 20 seconds!

Finally, we looked at the device's overall feel. We cooked up some chicken thighs to assess the length and width of the probes. We also wanted to know if it was awkward to view the display or if it was comfortable to hold as we took the temperature of hot food.

How to Use a Meat Thermometer

There are several different types of cooking and kitchen thermometers. You'll want to use an oven thermometer, which you leave inside the oven door at all times, to ensure the cooking environment is accurate.

Then there are probe thermometers, digital thermometers designed to monitor real-time internal temperatures. They’re inserted into the thickest part of meat like whole chicken or a roast while it’s still raw, allowing you to pinpoint the exact moment your food reaches its ideal temperature.

Meat thermometers, on the other hand, are used are only necessary when you're ready to check the food’s temperature. We love the digital models because they’re quicker and easier to read than analog thermometers. The keys to your cooking success will be having the right tool that's accurate (usually to a tenth of a degree), easy to read, has a long battery life, and is simple to store while not in use.

To properly use a meat thermometer follow these five steps:

1. Know which temperature you're aiming for. For food safety reasons, it's recommended that red meat, pork and fish, be at 145℉; while poultry such as chicken and turkey start at 165℉.

2. Measure the thickest part of the food item.

3. Submerge the entire tip of the probe. It should be easy to determine the tip part of the thermometer, but if not, make sure at least a half-inch of the metal probe is submerged.

4. Measure multiple times. Check the temperature of the meat a minute or so before it should be done to see if you need to let it cooking longer than the recipe calls for. Then keep measuring every few minutes until it's reached the desired temperature. At that point, you can pull the item out of the oven, or off the grill.

5. Clean after each use. To ensure your thermometer remains safe to use again and remains accurate, clean after each use with hot water or wipe with a hot cloth.

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