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Tasting Table's CES 2025 Innovation Awards

CES is a place where the kitchen and consumer tech of tomorrow gets its first chance to shine, and at CES 2025 Tasting Table found plenty to be excited about. Our team scoured the show, looking for kitchen and cooking products that combine innovation and creativity with real utility for consumers and home cooks. This isn't just about impressing us with flashy new features, it's about harnessing technology to actually make people's lives easier, and their food and drinks better. As much as we all love our old kitchen appliances, cooking has always been a technology-driven field, with both chefs and people cooking at home eagerly embracing innovations like sous-vide, or the Instant Pot, and finding new ways to make great meals.

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What's most exciting is that many of the companies featured at CES 2025 are not household names, yet, and they are challenging the big brands in the industry in interesting ways. Our first award goes to CHEF iQ, a rising brand that has already produced high-tech wireless thermometers and a highly-praised multi-cooker in the past few years, and is now adding a multi-purpose mini oven to its lineup. Dreo, a company that already offers and array of filtration systems like air purifiers and humidifiers, is now expanding its kitchen offerings with an impressive countertop water filter. Brisk It (get it?) unleashed and AI-powered pellet grill, leading the way in AI cooking, and OutIn is looking to make the perfect espresso anywhere you go with it's Nano Portable Espresso Machine. Every one of these items could transform some aspect of your kitchen, and that's why they each deserve our Tasting Table CES 2025 Innovation Award. 

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CHEF iQ Smart Kitchen MiniOven

The CHEF iQ MiniOven is the latest in the brand's Bluetooth and Wifi-connected smart appliances that offer high levels of control and customizability. It follows in the footsteps of CHEF iQ's thermometer and multi-cooker, which both allow the monitoring of food and device control via a wireless app. This comes in even more handy when applied to an oven — you can control how your food is cooking and monitor its progress not just from other rooms, but even on the go, making meals easier to fit into your schedule. It can even pair directly with CHEF iQ's digital thermometer for maximum control and precision.

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But it's not just the ease of control that makes the iQ MiniOven so appealing, it's the variety of tasks it can perform. While being able to do any job an oven or broiler can do, it can also be used as a toaster, dehydrator, and air fryer. That's the kind of versatility that actually makes your life easier, and lets you choose different methods of cooking for the best results with each individual recipe. It preheats 40% faster than competing air fryers, and features a top notch air connection system for perfect air flow, which means browning and wonderfully crispy finishes happen both faster, and more evenly. That's exactly the combination of usefulness, speed, and new features we are always looking for. Look for the CHEF iQ MiniOven starting in May of 2025.

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Brisk It Origin 580 A.I. Powered and WiFi Grill

With the advent of technology like pellet smokers, barbecuing has already gotten more precise, but you still need to be around to babysit your grill if it needs any changes. Well, you used to anyways. Now, Brisk It is combining real-time remote controls with AI-powered automated cooking for the easiest and most precise grilling experience ever.

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What does AI-automated cooking mean? It means you can ask your Brisk It grill anything about how to smoke and grill your food, and it's VERA AI will give you an answer on the spot. That means everything from simple questions about how long to smoke pork chops, to full recipes are at your command. VERA AI will also handle all the cooking once your food is on the grill. It knows exactly when to raise or lower temperatures, and even when to stop cooking if you aren't available to do it yourself. All the while it will monitor your food and send you alerts so you are on top of every development.

Even if you prefer a more hands-on approach, the Brisk It Origin is going to make your life easier. It can reach temperatures anywhere from 165 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and features a 22-pound pellet hopper that will last through even the longest smokes and largest cuts of meat. You can monitor and manage your grill remotely from the app, so you can safely leave your smoker going as you run errands or work. Anything that turns smoked ribs and brisket from a weekend project to an easy weeknight meal is a winner in our book. The Brisk It Origin 580 A.I. Powered and WiFi Grill is available now with free shipping across the continental U.S.

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Dreo RO Countertop Water Filter WF511

If you're like most Americans, you are probably concerned about the quality of your tap water, and that concern is justified. According to reporting from the Guardian and Consumer Reports, more than 35% of drinking water samples in the U.S. contain chemicals above the recommended maximum levels. That means a water filter is not only nice to have, but an essential kitchen tool. You also need one that is both powerful, and capable of handling large quantities of water through the year. And nothing will do that for you like the Dreo RO Countertop Water Filter.

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The WF511 Water Filter is a countertop water filtration system that utilizes a 7-layer filter to produce 99.99% contaminant-free water. It cleans out over 1,000 different potential impurities from your water, and even features a real-time monitor of your water purity, so you know you are getting clean water, and can see exactly when it's time to replace the filter.

What makes the Dreo WF511 so impressive though is just how much water it can filter, and how easy it is to do it. The two-filter system can clean up to 1,050 gallons of water, and stay in service for up to a year before needing to be replaced. That's a big upgrade over many water filters that need to be changed every few months. It also features a dual dispenser for filling both glasses and a pitcher, so you can grab a sip or have plenty of fresh water on hand for larger volume tasks. Available for $299.99 on Dreo's website, it has the long-term utility to justify the price.

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Outin Nano Portable Espresso Machine

Home coffee technology keeps jumping by leaps and bounds, and now the Outin Nano Portable Espresso Machine has turned that tech know-how into something you can take on the go. The winner of multiple other awards, including the 2024 World Coffee Innovation Award, the Outin Nano is a portable espresso machine that produces coffee shop-quality results in a lightweight, easy-to-use gadget.

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How does it manage to do that? Bar pressure is essential to creating the rich crema that is the sign of perfectly produced espresso, and Outin Nano produces up to 20 bars of pressure, on par with professional machines, but in a small, portable device with a built-in cup. It heats water to a perfect 198 degrees Fahrenheit, and does it in just three minutes. There is no fine-tuning or hassle. You can load either your favorite ground espresso beans or capsules into the machine, add water, press a button, and that's it. You have espresso anywhere you want. It even charges with a car charger or standard USB charger, so you don't have to worry about outlets or compatibility issues.

Being able to carry an espresso maker anywhere you go is already impressive, but when it makes something as good as any countertop machine, you have something special in your hands. It's the kind of product that won't just serve a specialized use — at $149.99 it could actually replace more expensive countertop espresso makers as well. And with no need to go to the coffee shop anymore, it will probably end up saving you money in the long run.

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