Sous Vide Chicken Breast Recipe in Creamy Spinach Ricotta Sauce (2024)

FAQs

What is the best temperature for sous vide chicken breast? ›

That's why the optimal temperature for cooking chicken sous vide is 145ºF for at least 1 hour. Now before you start thinking “that can't be safe!” let's talk about why this is actually perfectly safe. Killing bacteria is a function of heat and time. At 165ºF, the bacteria is dead in 3 seconds.

Yet sous vide–style precision cooking often takes place well below the 140°F mark, in excess of four hours, and my own recommendation for cooking chicken falls in the 145–150°F (63–66°C) range, well below the 165°F target we've all learned.

Chicken needs to be cooked until it is safe to eat. This can be done by heating it to 165°F and held for 1 second, or to 140°F and held for 30 minutes. The timing in my sous vide recipes are designed to ensure your food is cooked long enough to be pasteurized, and more time and temperature options are provided below.

We call for 1½ hours in the sous vide bath, but you can leave the chicken in the bath for as long as 4 hours. Because the water stays at a steady temperature of 150°F, you won't risk overcooking your chicken with additional time.

Drop into the heated bath and set timer for: 1 hour for 1"/2.5cm or less thickness, 2 hours for 2"/5cm thickness.

Overcooking sous vide chicken breast is the main reason why it turns out rubbery. The long cooking time makes the protein fibers less elastic. As a result, the chicken breast becomes too chewy.

Ziplock and Glad brand bags are made from polyethylene plastic, and are free of BPAs and dioxins. A good rule of thumb is that when a bag is rated as microwave safe (which requires FDA approval) you can use it for sous vide. Even Dr. Schaffner agrees.

At its most fundamental level, sous vide cooking is the process of sealing food in an airtight container—usually a vacuum sealed bag—and then cooking that food in temperature-controlled water. In French, the term translates to "under vacuum," which makes sense.

What happens if you sous vide chicken too long? ›

So yes, you can overcook sous vide chicken breasts, it's just in a different way than with traditional cooking. This process does take a while though, so if your chicken is done after 2 hours it'll still be fine for another 2 or 3, and then it'll slowly get more and more tender.

It's best to season the chicken before sous vide cooking to allow the flavors to penetrate the meat. Season the chicken with your desired spices and herbs, then vacuum seal it before placing it in the sous vide water bath.

For most sous vided food searing does matter. It's also best to sear after sous viding to maximize the flavor. (You can read more about whether to sear before sous vide if you like.) Searing accomplishes a few things.

It's important to season the chicken well, or you'll have bland meat. Fold the sous vide rim over to add the chicken, to keep the seal from getting contaminated. Place the chicken, oil and seasoning at the bottom of the bag before vacuum sealing.

I love a sous vide chicken breast, they are so tender and juicy. I cook them at 140°F(60°C) until pasteurized, but they are safe as low as 136°F (57.8°C), and some people go as high as 150°F(65.5°C).

My preferred sous vide chicken temperature is 140°F (60.0°C) for white meat and 148°F (64°C) for dark meat like sous vide chicken thighs. Some people prefer their white meat as low as 135°F (57°C) or as high as 150°F (65.6°C). Regardless of which time of meat you cook, it is usually best to pasteurize your chicken.

Chicken breast is typically cooked sous vide anywhere from 140° F to 165° F, depending on your preferred doneness. For a juicy and tender result, 145° F the sweet spot for me as opposed to the higher and lower temperatures.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) instructs us to cook meat to a safe internal temperature: namely, 165 degrees for poultry and 145 for beef and pork.