Air fryers are awesome, right? I use mine to make easy low-fat fries, roast vegetables, and crisp up frozen foods. But meat and poultry are always a challenge. I’m no stranger to air fryers overcooking them.
Over the years, and through testing many excellent air fryers, I’ve served overcooked, falling-apart chicken, steaks whose medium-rare promise is long in the rearview mirror and would now make a fine pair of shoes, and homemade beef burgers that could double as hockey pucks.
That’s why I decided to test out a smart meat thermometer. The model I tried is the brand new Pro XL from Meater. You can buy it from Meater in the UK for £329 and from Meater in the US for $349.95.
However, both sites, as well as the Meater store on Amazon UK and Amazon US, have much cheaper options, starting at £79/$79.95. Just be sure to check that the model you choose can handle the high heat of an air fryer.
The Pro XL Smart Meat Thermometer promised to put an end to my days of turning meat into leather. Its monitoring app meant I could check on food without opening the drawer to see (and losing heat), as well as set the exact level of doneness.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
I’ve tried meat thermometers before, but usually in a pan or in my oven, and often for large cuts of meat. Typically, there’s a display that has to be read by squinting through the glass door, opening the oven to check, or that’s connected to the probe via a wire. However, a growing number of models now tie into an app, like the Meater Pro XL and previous versions of Meater.
The Meater Pro XL looks similar to the previous Meater Block, but with a few differences. Notably, it can be recharged via a cable instead of batteries, and its four wireless probes are capable of withstanding high-temperature cooking and open flames: up to 550°C/1,000°F, meaning it’s safe to put in an air fryer.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
It also has unlimited range when connected via Meater Cloud, so there’s no need to be nearby to monitor cooking – during testing I was able to walk around my house well away from the kitchen.
Even better, I was able to put the probes in the dishwasher after cooking, so no matter how greasy they were, they came out perfectly clean and I didn’t have to scrub anything.
Air Fryer Cooking + Meat Probe
I decided to cook a whole chicken, a steak, and a pack of lamb chops. I started with what seemed like the hardest part: the lamb chops. I prefer my lamb to be a little pink, which can be tricky to achieve, especially when cooking in an air fryer.
I liked that the Meater Pro XL came with four probes, one for each cut, which saved me having to run the air fryer twice. However, the probes are thick compared to some meat thermometers (5mm in diameter), which means it’s not easy to insert one into a small lamb chop. The app does, however, provide instructions on how to insert the probes into different types and cuts of meat.
Each probe is also numbered, so when you’re cooking four identical pieces, you can see in the app or on the display screen when the thinner cuts of meat are done before their thicker counterparts. However, once they were in the air fryer, it was hard to see which probe was which: I had to lift them with tongs to check before removing them.
Another thing that came in handy in the cooking setup is that the air fryer is an option in addition to grills, deep fryers, smokers, and ovens. The doneness levels are also helpful: for the chops, I had the choice of rare or well done. I chose medium and the broil/roast setting on my air fryer (190°C/375°F).
Once the chops were in the air fryer, I noticed that the probes took a while to give me an exact cooking time remaining. It wasn’t until after a few minutes that I had an idea of how long they would take to cook and therefore prepare the other elements of a meal.
The app gave me a five-minute warning before the chicken was done, giving me time to finish certain parts of a roast, like vegetables, and added resting time.
Interestingly, the thickest chop took almost twice as long as the others, although as it cooked it fell apart more quickly, meaning they were all cooked at roughly the same time.
I liked that the app tells me the ambient temperature of each cut of meat, which is often much higher than the air fryer’s setting. This helps keep an eye on whether the probe isn’t quite in the right spot (as do its four internal sensors, which also make it great for smaller cuts of meat).
One by one, the chops should be removed from the heat to rest. Each probe displays its cooking progress in graphic form, for those who like to reproduce successful grilling.
Once cut open, the lamb wasn’t particularly pink inside – in hindsight, medium-rare would have been more appropriate – but each piece was juicy and, importantly, not overcooked.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
I switched to cooking a small whole chicken. It was easier to insert a single probe, although the instructions were still helpful. I liked that the options for cooking the chicken were plentiful and also included ground chicken or hamburgers.
I chose well done for the whole chicken – there is also a medium rare if you prefer a firmer result. I again chose 190°C/375°F in the air fryer.
It took several minutes for the Meater app to give me an estimate of how much time was left to cook, but when it did, it was less time than I would have guessed if I hadn’t used the meat thermometer. This time was re-evaluated several times during cooking, but it only varied by a few minutes at the end.
I liked that the app gave me a five-minute warning before the chicken was done, giving me time to finish off parts of a roast, like vegetables, and it added a resting time. The chicken was perfectly cooked through, with no hint of pink.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Finally, I cooked a steak. There are many different options in the app for this, ranging from New York Strip to Tomahawk, so carnivores are well catered for. I chose medium-rare, my favorite, and 200°C/390°F in the air fryer.
As before, it took a few minutes to figure out how much cooking time was left, and again, it was shorter than I could have imagined. The finished steak was perfect: juicy, with plenty of pink inside, but far from raw.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
As a kitchen accessory, the Meater Pro XL is expensive: it costs more than a high-end air fryer and a meat basket. However, my experience using it has demonstrated a whole range of benefits when cooking in an air fryer.
Every piece of meat or poultry was cooked perfectly – so no dry bits or unsatisfying dishes – and, just as importantly, nothing was undercooked.
While its ability to help you cook more economically will likely never match its initial cost, the benefits of tastier food and reduced waiting might be enough to justify the purchase.
Is the Meater XL Pro a good buy for you?
If you regularly eat meat or poultry and cook for multiple people, the Meater Pro XL Smart Meat Thermometer could be a great buy. I was impressed with how easy it was to use, how I could monitor multiple cookings at once, and how I could make sure the meat was cooked exactly to my liking.
The only downsides I found were the size of the probes—it’s difficult to get each one in the right spot for thinner cuts of meat—and while the probes are numbered, they’re hard to see in an air fryer drawer: color-coding would be my preference for at-a-glance identification when cooking multiple similar cuts of meat.
You can buy the XL Pro from Meater UK (£329) and Meater US ($349.95) or browse all Meater devices on Amazon UK and Amazon US.
If it’s time to upgrade your air fryer, check out our roundups of the best air fryers, best Ninja air fryers, and best air fryer ovens for our top recommendations.
