Yummly – Smart Meat Thermometer – Graphite

I was really looking forward to trying out this digital thermometer to see if the convenience of being able to walk away from the item being cooked was worth the investment and effort.
The product arrived in a very nice case which serves as the Bluetooth cradle for charging and connecting. There are very few instructions in the box as it is managed completely through the app.
Note that the website clearly states that it is only intended for use with certain cuts of meat.
Initial impressions are that the product is made of high-quality materials and the thermometer itself should last a long time.
The app setup was easy and intuitive and the connection only took two tries, not bad for any IoT device. The device claims connection up to 150 feet away but that it not going to be the case anywhere near walls, so maybe grilling in a park you might be able to connect at that distance. I tried it indoors and found it to connect as far away as the next room.
In addition to the device connection, the app features a lot of recipes, a space for your shopping list, the ability to scan food items using your camera (not sure why), and is actually a “freemium” strategy to get you to sign up for their “Pro” subscription which features an expanded recipe book and diet support.
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The first item I tried to cook was a hamburger in a skillet. I opened the app, followed the instructions for pairing, “Set Up Cook,” “Beef” and Other (hamburger is not on the list for a good reason, as I will explain). The instructions tell you to “Fully insert the thermometer…into the thickest part…all the way to the black cap.”. Also note the dock must remain 5 feet away from the thermometer, meaning near the grill if you are grilling. Next you select the level of doneness and begin cooking, with the option to have it tell you when to turn the meat. You can change your mind regarding the level of doneness as you are cooking.
I also tried cooking a steak on the grill and a roast in the oven.
CONCLUSION: this thermometer is definitely made for cooking large, thick cuts of meat such as a whole turkey, chicken, or roast. I do not recommend it for cooking hamburgers or steaks unless they are over 2 inches thick. The reason for this is that the product only functions as designed when inserted all the way through. As the meat cooks and shrinks, the thermometer would start to slip out or through the thinner cuts, requiring me to remove it. There I encountered another problem – the extractor that is supplied is designed to fit into the bottom of the charging dock but not really designed to work as a lever to extract anything. If the thermometer slips as you extract it, it can possibly fall through the grates on a grill. The temptation is to grab it by hand but it gets very hot. I would prefer to see an extractor with a scissor action to provide a surer grip.
Overall, it is not a very practical device for everyday cooking. – a regular steel-cased thermometer will do as well for telling to when your meat is done, albeit without doing it at a distance.
The primary benefit of the convenience of being able to walk a short distance away from the cooking surface and be notified when the meal is done may be worth it to some, but the trouble of going through the motions of charging, pairing every time. carefully cleaning, etc. for only a few select cuts of meat that I may cook once a month may make this an excellent choice for a caterer or restaurateur, but for the homeowner is little more than a hook into a recipe subscription service, the exception being for the homeowners who have the connected appliances which will also be able to communicate with the thermometer in the future.

I normally use a digital thermometer for all of my grilling temperature checks. I got this Yummly – Smart Meat Thermometer to review and I guess it’s everything I thought it would be.
But that doesn’t mean it’s everything I was hoping for.
Let’s break down the components: A temperature probe, dock, dock cover, probe puller and batteries.
Regular AAA batteries power the dock, which charges the probe; the probe is thick – just shy of the thickness of a #2 pencil.
The App is a recipe App, which threw me for a loop. But, after not setting any else from Yummly for thermometers and the like, I installed it and found the menu option for “connected kitchen” — where you can access your smart cooking devices. Yummly need to be more clear that the Recipe App is what you need.
Initial setup was fine, firmware updates and some instructions.
In using the App to cook, you can go manual mode (you know you like things cooked more/less than “normal), or with some preset foods and their ‘known temp setting’ – Beef/Pork / Medium, Rare, etc.
You can also have it prompt you to flip the food over, if you so wish.
I used it to cook chicken and found that one end – even though it said it was ready to go, was a bit undercooked for my liking. Moving forward on chicken, I did use my old thermometer to double check the part where the probe doesn’t reach.
Now including a probe puller is a necessity. Even though I KNEW the probe was 400+ degrees – as I was removing the probe with the puller, I pushed down with my thumb to have it fit more snug into the puller and subsequently – yep, burned my thumb a bit. Idiot.
For the next food, I used it on a Pork loin in the oven – and that was FANTASTIC. I guess I usually overcook pork, but now – I will not!
Not long ago, before the Yummly, I got a nice filet. Thought I knew the temp for a filet and proceeded to overcook the living daylights out of it.
After getting this new thermometer, I got another piece but this time, it was a better cut. I like it medium … not rare and not medium well. So this was the test for me.
I used the App and picked Medium for “beef.” I told it to alert me to flip it and went on my way. I followed the instruction and it even prompted me to remove it early, because it would cook a bit more as it sat. This was awesome. Best steak.
So, overall – if you have ONE thing to cook – this is a good device. If you have a bunch of randomly sized pieces – you can use it for the thickest piece and use your old methods to check the other pieces.
Some things to note …
You can’t tell if the probe is charging. You can see the off-dock battery percentage of the probe – but there are no lights / indicators that it’s charging.
Over the course of using it, I did find it to be slow to acquire connection to the charging dock, get through “retrieving data” – and be ready to cook.
So, do I recommend it? Sure. But perhaps as a specialty thermometer for your specialty single-sized foods.

We love grilling a good steak on a charcoal grill but sometimes it’s a challenge to hit the right doneness every time due to outside temperature, wind or even coals size. Well, not anymore! This thermometer is a great addition to our tool kit!
Thermometer is super easy to use and has simple instructions in the app. Make sure to familiarize yourself with an app before your first session as thermometer may need a software update.
There are total of 3 pieces – thermometer probe, dock and a probe removal tool (tool sits at the bottom of a dock). Dock is the only piece you put batteries in, probe will charge it’s internal battery when docked so do that before the 1st grilling session. Full probe charge is achieved in about 30 minutes.
To start cooking – open up Yumly app on your phone and take the probe out of a dock, follow in-app instructions to select the kind of meat you cooking and desired doneness, insert the probe into steak and put it on a grill! Few caveats – probe is about 1/4″ thick and 3″ long so one of your steaks will have a quarter inch hole thru it… Dock is the piece that will be talking to your phone and a probe itself so make sure to have dock sitting outside by your grill. I’ve found that I get the best signal if I put dock on one of the grill handles. Dock has magnets at the bottom so you can attach it to anything magnetic (and not hot).
Probe will report current meat temperature in pretty much real time as soon as you stay within about 50′ from the dock. There is a “let me know when to turn the food over” feature, but I did not like it a lot as it told me to turn the food over way after it needed to be. I typically grill 5 minutes on each side over direct heat and then about 2-3 minutes on each side on indirect.
When you steak is almost ready (130F in my case, target was set to 135F) – you will get a notification on your phone to remove steaks from the grill and leave to rest. Steak will come up to the proper temperature while resting as heat will travel from the outside to the inside of a steak. And.. viola – perfectly cooked piece of meat, enjoy!
Cleanup was pretty easy – wipe probe with a paper towel and carefully hand wash the metal part with dish soap, plastic part is not submersible.
So besides the laggy “turn the food over” feature and limited Bluetooth connectivity (I really wish that dock would be WiFi, even if that means AC power is needed for the dock) – it’s a great helper. Amazing results!

Item continually loses itself requiring repairing while cooking. Sometimes the item does not find itself causing you to estimate when you think your food will be finished cooking. Top portion of thermometer fell off into pan in grill while cooking.