Sous vide chicken breast means perfectly cooked chicken every time. Follow our step-by-step tutorial of how to make juicy sous vide chicken.
The sous vide is the new, hot kitchen gadget and guess what? Team Fit Foodie has totally bought into the perfectly cooked protein goodness that the sous vide produces.
We Love the Sous Vide
Perfect. Meat. Every. Time. Have you checked out our Mongolian Beef in the Sous Vide? It’s tender, flavorful, and perfectly cooked because of the Sous Vide. Or our perfectly cooked Sous Vide Steak or Salmon?
And it’s not just meat, you can make so many other delicious things in the sous vide, like Our Cheesy Sous Vide Egg Cups! They are light and fluffy and also my new favorite savory snack!
Before I go too crazy about my favorite sous vide recipes, let’s break down what a sous vide even is. From there, you will better understand the whole, perfect meat every time thing.
What is a Sous Vide?
A sous vide machine is a device that heats a container of water with a heated metal coil. Sous vide cooking is a technique where you use precise water temperature to cook food in a vacuum-sealed bag (we like to call it a french slow cooker or a meat hot tub)!
The sous vide machine heats the water to your desired temperature and then whatever is cooking in the sous vide cooks gradually and in a controlled environment. It is foolproof. Each time you have perfectly cooked protein however you like it! If you’re looking for a sous vide to buy, we recommend this $99 one from Anova Culinary. It’s the one we use in our kitchen!
Sous Vide Chicken Basics
There are so many ways to prepare a chicken breast and we love trying every single way. We love sous vide chicken when we need to cook a lot of chicken at one time or if we want very flavorful chicken! No matter when or how you like your sous vide chicken breast, we’ve put a list together of some sous vide chicken essentials that will help make sous vide chicken a breeze!
What You Need
A Ziploc bag would work just fine when you sous vide chicken, however, when you have the right tools for the job it makes life easier. If you love sous vide, get yourself a vacuum sealer and everything else below to make sous vide cooking a breeze!
Sous Vide Chicken Tips + Tricks
How do you like your chicken? Sous vide chicken temperature is set at can range from 140º-165ºF depending on how you like your chicken breasts. For juicier chicken set sous vide to 140ºF and for firm chicken breast set sous vide to 165ºF.
Marinade or Dry Rub? Sometimes using a marinade or sauces in your plastic bag can get a bit tricky if you are using a vacuum sealer. If you are going to use a liquid or sauce make sure it stays at the bottom of your bag or that the sauce is as far from the opening of the bag as possible. You don’t want the vacuum sealer to suck up your liquid!
Otherwise, dry rubs easy to whip up and are #1 preference when it comes to making sous vide chicken breasts! Try our fav chicken dry rub HERE.
Get Creative! Don’t be afraid to get creative by adding chopped fruits or veggies to your chicken breasts. It enhances flavor and gives you a simple side to go with your chicken breast. Try throwing asparagus or bell peppers into the freezer bag with your chicken breast.
How to prepare chicken breast There are so many ways you can prepare your chicken breast after cooking it in your sous vide. Check out our basic sous vide chicken breast recipe below for an easy weeknight dinner. You can also meal prep a bunch of chicken breasts and shred your chicken to make FFF’s Healthy Buffalo Chicken or make one of our favorite chicken salad recipes! The options are endless!
Sous Vide Chicken Q&A
How long does it take to sous vide chicken breast? The sweet spot for sous vide chicken is between 1 1/2-2 hours. The beauty is that you can cook the chicken even longer than this (if you forget) and it won’t overcook your chicken breast!
The only thing to look out for is if you do decide to sear your chicken breast, sous vide your chicken at a lower temperature because you don’t want to overcook your chicken breast when you sear it. Only sear for about a minute on each side for tasty crunchy flavor!
Can you eat chicken at 150º degrees? Yes! Anywhere between 145º-165ºF is safe for chicken. Your chicken breast will be juicy and tender if you sous vide your chicken breast at 145ºF and a bit more firm if you cook it at 150ºF. It is all about personal preference!
Can you use Ziploc bags for sous vide? Yes, you can use Ziploc bags for sous vide. You just have to make sure you squeeze out all of the air from the Ziploc bag. You also want to make sure that the chicken is always submerged in the water. It helps to use clips to keep the bag in place!
Flavor Combinations
The sky is the limit when you are flavoring your sous vide chicken breast. Play around and get creative! Personally, we love a basic lemon herb chicken or a smoky dry rub when we make our sous vide chicken breast. Here are some tasty flavor combinations to try:
- Lemon Rosemary
- Cilantro Lime
- Herb Butter
- Cajun Seasoning
- Honey Mustard
- Fajita Seasoning
- Taco Seasoning
- Orange Tamari
- Moroccan Seasoning
Check it out!
Guide to Sous Vide Cooking
Want to learn more about sous vide cooking? Check out our Guide to Sous Vide where we’re sharing everything we know about precision cooking!
Sous Vide Chicken Breast Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Fill a large stock pot (or larger) with water, attach your sous vide to the pot and set your sous vide to 145ºF. You want to make sure you can fully submerge your chicken breast in the water.
- Then, season chicken breast with salt and pepper and place into a vacuum seal bag. A Ziplock will work fine too!
- Add lemon slices, olive oil, and rosemary to the bag and make sure chicken breast is covered in oil and spices.
- Remove as much air as possible from vacuum seal bag or Ziplock. We do this so that the chicken will sink to the bottom of the pot. Then fully submerge in water.
- Cook chicken breast at 145ºF for 1.5 - 2 hours.
- Once the timer goes off, remove the bag from the water bath and the remove chicken breast from the vacuum bag. Prepare your favorite chicken recipe or see step #7 for a seared chicken breast.
- Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium-sized pan. When olive oil is fragrant, place chicken breast into the pan. Sear for 1-2 minutes on each side. Enjoy!
Watch It
Nutrition facts
Similar recipes:
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18 Sous Vide Chicken Recipes
- Sous Vide Chicken Breast by All Recipes
- Sous Vide Chicken Chicken and Asparagus in Brown Butter by Everyday Good Thinking
- Sous Vide Honey Garlic Chicken Wings by Premeditated Left Overs
- Sous Vide Chicken Breast and Asparagus by Street Smart Chicken
- Sous Vide Korean BBQ Chicken by Simply Recipes
- Sous Vide Whole Chicken by Street Smart Kitchen
- Sous Vide Fried Chicken by The Bearded Hiker
- Sous Vide Chicken Breast Cordon Bleu by Medium
- Sous Vide Sesame Chicken by Simply Recipes
- Sous Vide Tikka Masala by Food for Net
- Sous Vide Chicken Breast with Chicken and Herbs by Up State Ramblings
- Sous Vide Chicken Cesar Salad by Salt Pepper Skillet
- Chicken Marsala Sous Vide by That Other Cooking Blog
- Sous Vide Chicken Breast with Garlic Lemon and Herbs by Food That Says Yum
- Sous Vide Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps by Life She Lives
- Chicken with Sun Dried Tomato Vinegarette by Food That Says Yum
- Basic Sous Vide Chicken Breast by Sous Vide Tools
- Sous Vide Chicken and Asparagus with Brown Butter by Everyday Good Thinking
This recipe is simply amazing! The flavors are perfectly balanced and it’s incredibly easy to prepare.
Delicious and Easy to make chicken recipe ever
So I started this recipe and then once the sous vide finished and I decided to make the chicken into little bite size nuggets! The chicken was super moist and delicious. After I had a full tummy I decided to go play pop a shot and set another record!
Damn! It’s looks so delicious and yummy recipe. This was a great post. what you said is really helpful to me and it was really interesting as well.
At one point in this recipe you twice state 140* as the lowest temp, at another point you twice state 145* as the lowest… Consistency! LOL
Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe. I enjoy the firecracker chicken and having just attempted this for the first time, I have to say it tastes 99% the same! Would have never been able to figure out how to make it myself!
So happy you liked it!
You are going to get someone hurt. The safe cook temp for chicken is now and has always been 165F. You may eat it at 150F ONLY after it has first reached 165F internal temp.
Someone doesn’t understand how pasteurization works…
Thanks for such an informative article and an excellent selection of sous vide recipes, Linley! They all look great to me and I plan to try them all in the near future. And I especially liked the recipe for Sous Vide Tikka Masala by Food for Net. Perhaps I’ll prepare this for the next weekend.
I love all of the information about sou vide cooking, but all poultry needs to be cooked to 165. Check out FoodSafety.gov or ServeSafe for correct cooking temps.
Here’s a web page that explains why it’s safe to cook sous vide at lower temps than 165 for poultry.
https://www.amazingfoodmadeeasy.com/info/sous-vide-safety/more/sous-vide-safety-salmonella-and-bacteria
Here’s a link to a really helpful guideline, provided by the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service, regarding both beef and poultry safe cooking times. Keep in mind that this isn’t the total cookk time, but the amount of time that the coldest spot should dwell at that temperature. https://www.canr.msu.edu/smprv/uploads/files/RTE_Poultry_Tables1.pdf
This is by far one of the best recipes I’ve tried. Very easy, very tasty and my family loved it. I’m about to use it again today in fact! All 5 thumbs up on this one!
I make my soft boiled eggs just like you except I leave my water boiling and do 6-7 minutes. They always turn out perfectly. I think it’s easier than poaching, but I will poach my eggs for eggs benedict. 🙂
This was my first ever sous vide recipe and it turned out amazing!
What about bone in chicken breasts? What adjustments need to be made
Can’t print the recipe. “Print recipe” link goes to comment page. Not thrilled
Hi CJ! It’s working for us. Here’s the link: https://fitfoodiefinds.com/18-sous-vide-chicken-breast-recipes/print/68145/
Thanks so much for including my Sous Vide Chicken Caesar recipe in your little roundup.
Reminds me I want to make some more sous vide chicken. 🙂
This recipe seems nice to me. I want to make it for about 8 people, so are there any tips and techniques for the increased quantity? Like will there be an increased temperature or timings? Secondly, if I want to use frozen chicken breasts, should they be thawed first or can be cooked right away?
You do not need to increase time or temperature. Just start counting down once the temp reaches 145ºF. I’m sure it would work using frozen chicken breasts, but I have not tried!
@Corrie. I frequently sous vide frozen chicken breasts. Chef Steps recommendation for sous vide frozen breasts is to add 1/2 the time back to original time. For example if you sous vide fresh breast for 1 1/2 hours for frozen you would add 45 minutes arriving at a minimum time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. Hope that helps!