Why Do We Need Best Sous Vide Racks?
As a home cook, when I did my first sous vide, I just used whatever I had on hand – Ziploc bag with handle and a pot of water. To keep the bag in place, I used a barbecue stick placed on top of the pot.
It did work, but it wasn’t a safe way of doing it, and I realized that when I finally bought my own sous vide equipment. When I finally saw a sous vide rack on sale, I bought one, and it is more efficient, safer and easier to use.
Even if you don’t have proper sous vide equipment, I think you should still go ahead and invest on sous vide rack at the very least, and I will tell you why.
Clear benefits of sous vide racks
In a nutshell, when I didn’t have my sous vide rack yet, the bag would float up and not stay under water. This resulted in one side of the meat not evenly cooked.
With the sous vide rack, my bags stayed in place without the need for clips or heavy items, and because they are well organized, space is maximized, I can sous vide more steaks than usual easily and fast.
We highly recommend the best stainless steel racks for sous vide at home:
Lipavi Square Rack | Geesta Square Rack | Lipavi Round Rack |
|---|---|---|
 | |  |
Stainless steel | Stainless steel | Stainless steel |
Adjustable | Adjustable | Adjustable |
Collapsible | Collapsible | Collapsible |
[BEST RACK] | [Also Great] | [Best For Pots] |
Other reviews:
How To Pick The Best Rack For Sous Vide Cooking
The sous vide racks come in different brands, sizes, and even models. To choose the best one, we need to review the features, advantages, and disadvantages of each.
To even the review, we will use the following criteria:
SIZE. Consider both the size of your sous vide container and the size of your rack. It goes without saying, the rack should fit the container.
Lipavi, my favorite brand, comes in four different sizes. Personally, I would recommend mid-size. Too small and it would be limiting your capacity; too big and it may be just a waste of good money.
The size of your container will also depend on the size of your immersion circulator and the usual number of people you cook for. For instance, for Lipavi, the standard family size is the L10:
QUALITY. Best quality is made of stainless steel that will not rust or corrode over time. Once rusted or corroded, it would not be safe to use as it may break during use.
FLEXIBILITY. I would say get the rack with dividers that can be adjusted to accommodate different thickness of the bags. The dividers will tighten the bags to ensure they stay in place and don’t float up or around.
If the dividers cannot be moved, then we would need to fill the bag to the size that it would fit snugly between dividers.
STORAGE. I would recommend collapsible one so when not in use, it will be just flat, compact and easy to store.
Although if it is not collapsible, it is still okay as you can store it inside your sous vide container.
USABILITY. It has to be compatible with different brands of sous vide container like Rubbermaid, Lipavi, Everie, Camwear or whatever container you use for sous vide.
What Is The Best Sous Vide Racks For Home Cooks 2021?
Lipavi is a trusted company that has been manufacturing sous vide accessories for many years. They have containers, lids, racks and much more.
They are always researching and improving their products to optimize the sous vide cooking experience.
We are reviewing two best racks of Lipavi for sous vide plus another top product:
Which one do you choose?
That depends on your preferences and what you have.
Important note: please check the size of your water bath carefully before buying.
#1 Lipavi Sous Vide Rack [BEST CHOICE]
Our rating:
Features | Lipavi Rack (L10) |
|---|---|
Size | L 7.8 in x W 6.4 in x H 6.6 in., known as the family size, fit in 12-quart water bath, perfect for Lipavi containers |
Material | 316L Marine Grade stainless steel, rust-free |
Capacity | 6 steaks with adjustable dividers |
Base | Square shape |
Flexibility | Adjustable dividers, 7 pcs. including handles |
Storage | Collapsible when not in use |
Handles | The last dividers on each side are taller and can be safely used as handles |
Advantages
Disadvantages
Final thoughts
My favorite part of the Lipavi rack are the handles, which mostly are the last dividers that are taller than most. This design makes it easier and safer to pull up or put in the rack inside the water bath.
This is the original design of Lipari racks for sous vide, primarily made for their square containers but the L10 rack also fits perfectly with other 12-quart sous vide containers on the market:
Rubbermaid Container | Lipavi Container | Camwear Container |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
Some users complained that when the food in the bag is too light, or when it’s fatty, there is still the tendency for the bags to float up. If this happens, there are a few suggestions to solve it:
Overall, although there is still a need for further improvements, these racks of Lipavi are still the best choice because Lipavi has a variety of rack sizes to suit every user’s needs.
The best alternative to Lipavi racks
#2 Geesta Sous Vide Rack [Also great]
Our rating:
This is also a best sous vide rack for 12-quart containers. It provides a better ability to resist floating bags than Lipavi with a crossbar on the top. However, the limitation of this supplier is only available in one size.
The last position on my favorite list is
#3 Lipavi Round Rack [Best for pots]
Our rating:
Features | Price |
|---|---|
Size | Diameter of 8 in, H 6.6 in., perfect for round containers |
Material | 316L Marine Grade stainless steel, rust-free |
Capacity | 5 steaks with adjustable dividers |
Base | Round shape |
Flexibility | Adjustable dividers, 6 pcs |
Storage | Collapsible when not in use |
Handles | None |
Advantages
Disadvantages
Final thoughts
Since both are Lipavi, they are made of the same quality material, so that is not an issue. Both are collapsible, and the dividers are adjustable. The round has more dividers, but only by one.
However, the square one comes in more sizes even up to family + friends size, while the round one is limited to just one size.
It comes down to square vs. round. The round Lipavi rack is more flexible because it is compatible with more sous vide containers. Plus, for home cooks who do not have fancy equipment, we can still use this rack when we are using our ordinary pots for the water bath.
Although it is best to have proper sous vide containers and other sous vide gear like vacuum sealer, blowtorch, etc. these may require a bit more investment so we can make do with what we have.
However, even without the fancy sous vide container, I would still suggest getting this rack so our sous vide will be more orderly, more effective and definitely safer.
Conclusion
Before I got my sous vide racks, doing sous vide was topsy-turvy. I would clip my sous vide bags along the edges of the pot. I also tried using weights to weigh them down by putting spoons inside the bags.
A few times, there were risks in getting the bags out of the hot water bath. All these resulted in meat not evenly or thoroughly cooked; some even resulted in spoons blasting through and ripping the bag apart and wasting meat in the process.
As home cooks, our priority is to cook it right and to be safe while preparing.
Get the best sous vide rack to make cooking in batches easier than ever. The steaks will be evenly-cooked, and we can enjoy the process as well.
