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The best smart and wireless meat thermometers for easy cooking
Say goodbye to guesswork
Tested by Blossom BoothroydHomes Testing Manager
The best meat thermometer can make a huge difference to your cooking. Not just for reassurance that you’re not going to make anyone ill, but also because you know everything will be cooked to perfection without being chewy and ridiculously dry.
And with BBQ season underway, being able to achieve chargrilled meat that’s still juicy and tender is even more important – no one wants burnt sausages after all.
Read more: Best gas BBQs | Best electric BBQs | Big Green Egg review
Ninja ProChef Wireless Meat Thermometer Probe
Read review
Luckily, here at the Good Housekeeping Institute, we like to make cooking and entertaining as painless as possible, so we’ve put the market-leading meat thermometers to the test to find the ones that take away the guesswork.
But these aren’t just any meat thermometers. We reviewed the best smart and wireless options that simplify the process even further, delivering notifications to your phone when your dish is cooked to perfection (so you don’t have to stand over the grill like a hawk).
Check out our experts' picks at a glance but read on for our in-depth reviews.
How does a smart meat thermometer work?
These leave-in thermometers are Bluetooth-enabled and pair with your phone to help make the cooking process as simple as possible. Most smart thermometers are wireless and have a probe that you insert into the meat to get a temperature reading.
You then set the cooking method and desired level of ‘done’ in the app and track the rising internal and ambient temperatures (the temperature inside the meat vs. the temperature of the air inside the oven, or even air fryer).
What are the benefits of smart meat thermometers?
If you’re still not sure if you need a smart thermometer, let us explain why they’re one of the most useful kitchen gadgets around.
Flexibility
Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or just don’t want to miss a second of your favourite show, smart thermometers have you covered. The Bluetooth connectivity lets you check on your dish’s progress from your phone, telling you the current temperature and remaining cooking time. So, you can enjoy time with your guests or catching up on the latest drama, only spending time in the kitchen when you actually need to.
Food safety
No one wants to give their guests food poisoning. Having a smart meat thermometer means you can confidently cook meat to the right level of ‘done’, without any guesswork.
For dishes like steak, preferences vary, so a thermometer can help you nail the right temperature and make sure the meat is removed from the heat at the perfect moment to keep it beautifully juicy.
Lid-closed cooking
Speaking of juicy, the best way to lock in all that moisture is to cook with a pot lid or oven door closed. Constantly opening the door or lifting the lid disrupts the temperature inside, so opting for a wireless or smart thermometer with a probe that can remain in the meat throughout cooking lets you safely monitor your food without ruining the flavour.
How we test smart meat thermometers
To find the best smart meat thermometer, our experts begin by checking the accuracy of both hot and cold temperature readings. They bring water to a boil and insert the probe five times to check for consistency. Then they measure cold temperatures by filling a glass with ice and water, letting it sit for three minutes, and again inserting the probe five times.
Then, it's time for the cooking tests. First up, we cook a whole roast chicken, noting how long it takes to cook (if its quicker than stated on the packaging but you cook it for the full time, the meat could end up dry) and how well cooked it is, as well as what alerts the app gives along the way.
Next on the menu are pork chops and duck breast – both meats that are commonly overcooked at home. Our experts set the temperature and cook as guided, recording whether the meat is cooked once alerted and whether it's tender and moist.
Finally, it’s grilling time. Our testers cook steaks to medium rare and assess the level of ‘done’ once the app sends a notification. They also check the texture of the meat to see if it’s moist enough.
Throughout, our experts also assess the instructions and ease of use, focusing on the app and whether the notifications given are clear and easy to understand. All this is then combined into a final score.
These are the ones we'll be relying on for BBQ season.
Pros
- Probes are easy to clean with just a quick wipe
- App is simple to set up
Cons
- Pork required a few extra minutes on the heat than the thermometer said to reach the required internal temperature
- Took three and a half hours to recharge
Score: 92/100
Are you a BBQ king or queen? If so, this smart meat thermometer is specifically designed for ruling the grill. The probes are wired to a small digital hub but have Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity so you can monitor your meat from afar on your smartphone.
Testers found the app easy to navigate, quickly selecting the type of meat they wanted to cook. They liked the accompanying temperature graph too. Inserting the probe was simple and it tracked the progress of our chicken well, notifying us after an hour and 17 minutes that it was done – the juices ran clear, and the meat was beautifully tender.
When aiming for a medium-rare steak, the thermometer instructed our testers to remove the meat at 52C and rest until 55C. This left us with a lovely pink centre but a few spots of dryness. Come summer, though we can see this getting a lot of use.
Key specifications
| Wireless | No |
|---|---|
| Claimed battery life | 20 hours |
| Recharge time | Three and a half hours |
Pros
- App saves each meal, so you can use the same settings again
- Alerts you when to flip food, when there are five minutes left, and when to remove from heat to rest
Cons
- Took a while to provide an estimated cooking time
- Expensive
Score: 91/100
Scoring full marks for accuracy in our hot and cold temperature tests, this smart meat thermometer proved itself a reliable buy. The app was user-friendly and offered plenty of options for different meats and cooking methods.
It helped our testers cook a moist, tender roast chicken by alerting them when it was nearing, and then at, the right temperature with a notification 44 minutes earlier than the package guidelines suggested. Testers achieved similar moist results with their duck breast, too.
With steak, we inserted the probe into the thickest part of the meat. This took longer to reach the correct temperature than thinner sections, which were then overcooked. The app sometimes lost Bluetooth connection during cooking too, but it reconnected quickly without intervention, so shouldn’t impact results.
Key specifications
| Wireless | Yes |
|---|---|
| Claimed battery life | 48 hours |
| Recharge time | Two hours |
Cosori Smart Wireless Meat Thermometer Probe
Pros
- Easy to clean
- Stable app connectivity throughout cooking
Cons
- Tricky to locate app on the app store as it doesn’t include the brand name
- Probe is quite thick, leaving a visible hole in the meat
Score: 88/100
Nailing steak can be tricky but this smart meat thermometer made everything easy. The app was simple to set up thanks to the clear instructions and it told testers to rest their medium-rare steak in good time to reach the ideal temperature – cutting into it revealed a perfectly pink middle.
It stuck at one degree instead of zero on our cold temperature test, suggesting it wasn’t properly calibrated; however, this didn’t seem to be an issue throughout our cooking tests, where each piece of meat came out juicy and tender.
Key specifications
| Wireless | Yes |
|---|---|
| Claimed battery life | 72 hours |
| Recharge time | Two hours |
Pros
- Easy to see the battery life on the app
- Magnetic base slots easily into the charger
Cons
- Some meat was on the rarer side, even after the app told us it was done cooking
- Left holes in the meat due to a thick probe
Score: 76/100
Appliance brand, Ninja, has topped our list of the best air fryers and best multicookers, so we were almost surprised that its meat thermometer didn’t come out on top, too. Testers liked that it pairs with other Ninja appliances, though, letting you select relevant cooking modes in the app. It was straightforward to use, but testers struggled to connect at times and would have liked a temperature graph.
There’s still a live temperature reading though, which we found responsive, so you can easily add a few extra minutes onto the cooking time if the meat isn’t quite the right temperature. It helped us cook a delicious pork chop, which was tender and fully cooked.
Key specifications
| Wireless | Yes |
|---|---|
| Claimed battery life | 30 hours |
| Recharge time | Two hours |
The verdict on smart meat thermometers
If you’re considering buying a smart meat thermometer, we recommend the Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub. It’s specially designed for BBQs though, so if you’re after one to help cook your roast dinners to perfection, the Meater Pro is a good option.
Why you should trust the Good Housekeeping Institute
We've been testing products for 100 years and we've put all that experience and knowledge into creating rigorous protocols for our smart meat thermometer tests.
Our homes testing manager, Blossom Boothroyd, oversees the review process in our lab before passing the results to our homes writer, Megan Geall. She's reviewed hundreds of cooking gadgets, so knows what to look for in a smart kitchen helper.
28 April 2025: This article was updated to reflect the latest prices and stock levels. We also added links to other relevant Good Housekeeping content and amended the copy to make it more relevant to BBQ season.
Megan is the Good Housekeeping Institute’s senior homes and lifestyle writer. She loves diving into the latest product releases to find the very best buys on the market and has written hundreds of product reviews on everything from the best vacuum cleaners and coffee machines to the best ice cream makers and robot window cleaners.
When she’s not writing about the newest gadgets and gizmos for your home and garden, you’ll find her running every distance from 5km to 100km or relaxing at home with her cat – there really is no in between.
Megan has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously written for Stylist, Glamour, Women's Health, TimeOut, SquareMeal, and YOU magazine. You can find Megan on Instagram @meganlouisegeall.
Blossom is passionate about finding the best home products and appliances for GH readers. As head of the homes testing team, she has led reviews across multiple categories, from pizza ovens, and smart plugs to portable fans and hobs. She enjoys delving into the intricacies of products and refining testing protocols to ensure we’re testing them against their claims. Her aim is to find the top-performing products on the market, to help take the hard work out of housework. Blossom’s most notable accomplishment in the lab has been toasting 528 slices of bread in her quest to find the best toasters money can buy. In her free time, she openly admits to being a music geek and indulges her creative side through crocheting, baking, singing and writing.
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