26+ Best Sous Vide Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Does meat get more tender the longer you sous vide? ›

Sous vide cooking allows us to hold tough, collagen-heavy cuts of meat at lower temperatures for longer periods of time and get the same tenderizing effect as braising.

Even if you just add salt to the sous vide bag, that is enough to get the flavor started. The reason sous vide steaks have so much flavor is because they're cooking in their own juices within the vacuum sealed bag. At the minimum, add a pinch of salt for each steak to help bring out the flavor of your beef.

The best steak to cook sous vide is one with great marbling (streaks of white fat within lean section of steak) and proper thickness (1 ½ inches or more). You can find beautiful pieces of meat with great marbling and thickness in cuts such as Ribeye, Strip, Porterhouse/T-bone and Filet Mignon.

While it's not easy to overcook meat when doing sous vide, it can happen, and that can lead to tough, unsatisfying meat, no matter what sort of cooking method you may be using.

These 5 things are a MUST to make with your new immersion circulator! A steak is 100% the #1 thing you need to make with the sous vide! I have not used anything else to cook a steak since! We like our steak medium rare and when using a sous vide, you ensure a perfectly even cook throughout the entire steak.

Food-safe zipper bags work great for sous vide. I'm known to go the cheap route whenever possible, so while learning to cook sous vide I used Ziploc bags instead of vacuum sealed bags. I have never had a problem with them.

Sous-Vide Egg Cooked to 165°F (73.9°C)

If hard-boiled is how you like your eggs, then a 165°F sous-vide egg should do you well. This is the ideal temperature for an egg salad that has distinct chunks of tender, non-rubbery egg. Loose white: Opaque and firm, but still tender.

Yes! Chicken breasts can be seasoned and sealed in bags, then frozen just as they are. To cook, pull them out of the freezer and drop them straight into the water bath, making sure to add an extra hour to the cooking time in order to allow the chicken to fully thaw and heat through to the center.

How Much Power Does a Sous Vide Machine Use? It all depends on the specific model, but sous vide machines usually use between 800 to 1200W on average.

Do you need to clean your sous vide? ›

Like most kitchen appliances, the sous vide immersion circulator does not require much routine maintenance. But if you use your circulator as often as I do, it's probably worth taking an hour every once in a while to give it some "TLC".

To avoid this texture, it's best to season and bag a steak immediately before cooking, or after cooking sous vide and before searing.

In general, it's better to season before you sous vide. This involves adding any of the types of seasoning outlined in the table above to the bag before you place it in the water bath to sous vide it.

When cooking sous vide, it is therefore generally better to add salt after the sous vide cooking phase, unless you're intentionally trying to create a cured texture. Salting a steak before cooking sous vide is only recommended when it'll be served immediately.

The sous-vide method of cooking emerged in the restaurant industry about 50 years ago. Since then, it has become a staple in modern cuisine and is used in high-end restaurants and fast-casual kitchens, including Starbucks and Panera, across the globe.

Here at Sous Vide Tools we often like to add a small amount of butter to the bag and find that for best results, flavoured butter works really well to add a little something extra during the cooking process. Our preference is to place butter into the bag itself, rather than on top of the product.

You can cook it by thickness, using a sous vide thickness ruler, just long enough to bring it up to temperature. You can also cook it for up to 8 hours because of the amount of fat in the steak. One of my favorite ways is to sous vide it for several hours then chill it in a 1/2 ice - 1/2 water bath.

You have to wait for the water to preheat. Or do you? There's no straight answer for if you can put food in the sous vide water bath while it's preheating. It matters less for longer cooking times and has more of an impact for shorter cooking times.

Sous Vide FAQs

Ribeye steak typically takes between 2-4 hours to sous vide. We recommend cooking in a precision cooker for two hours, but you can cook your steak longer if you'd like to cook it past medium-rare. Account for another 4-6 minutes to sear and 5-10 minutes to rest after cooking.

Yes – you can sous vide frozen steak! And you're going to love doing it! It's super easy to cook frozen steak sous vide style and get the same results as cooking fresh steak. This method is one of my favorite sous vide meal prep ideas.

How long should I sous vide steak? ›

How Long Does It Take to Sous Vide Steak? Generally speaking, a 1-2 inch thick portion of steak will reach the desired internal temperature in about 1 hour. The steak can sit in the sous vide container for up to 4 total hours, fully submerged, before any detrimental effects take place.

Season steaks generously with salt and pepper. Place in sous vide bags along with herbs, garlic, and shallots (if using) and distribute evenly. Seal bags and place in water bath for desired time according to charts.

In the culinary world today, very few professional chefs do not use sous vide in their cooking, although most choose to keep their lips sealed about it (pun intended). Professional chefs swear by sous vide for its ability to make quality control that much easier.

To sous vide steaks from frozen, preheat a water bath to your desired temperature with an immersion circulator and cook for 2-4 hours. You are adding an hour to the minimum cook time (1 hour) when cooking from frozen. If your steak is really thick (more than 2 inches), go for a minimum time of 2.5 hours.

With sous vide cooking, it's absolutely vital that your bags stay submerged and that trapped air bubbles are pushed to the top of the bag and away from the food. This is the only way to guarantee that your food is heating properly, which is important for both food safety and quality.

Sous vide bacon is cooked overnight and up to 24 hours and will give you the best bacon you have ever eaten. Cooking bacon with the sous vide method will allow the bacon maintain all the flavor, meatiness and juiciness that we love in bacon.

Go to the "Ask Karen" section of the USDA's Food Safety Education site to chat with a food safety specialist.) "To kill salmonella you have to cook eggs to 160 degrees Fahrenheit," she wrote. "At that temperature they are no longer runny."

How to perfectly soft boil and peel eggs with a sous vide ... - YouTube

It means that you have overcooked the chicken breast. This has caused the protein fibers to lose their elasticity, resulting in a rubbery texture.

Searing is by far the most important step in cooking sous vide. If want your food to look like it is Michelin star quality, you are going to have to get a rich sear on it. Failing to do so will make your dinner guests wonder why they let you cook again.

Can you sous vide vegetables? ›

Vegetables are prime candidates for sous vide cookery.

The precisely heated water bath allows you to cook green vegetables until they are crisp-tender but still a vibrant hue. It also allows you to cook root vegetables to their tender ideal from end to end.

For some recipes (like short ribs or brisket), you can leave your sous vide running for 48 hours. This is usually for cases when you want to slow cook a protein to get that succulent meat falling off the bone.

Combine equal parts water and distilled white vinegar in a small pot. Use your sous vide circulator to bring vinegar solution to 140°F/60°C. Once the bath reaches that temperature, the cleaning is complete. This cleaning method also helps remove mineral buildup inside the circulator.

Even if the water isn't completely clean it's not a big deal because the food is always sealed in a sous vide bag. How long you feel comfortable going between cooks is up to you, but I generally just replace my water every 10 to 15 days. Of course, if a bag leaks you need to take that into account.

Removing scale buildup

You can use this vinegar bath to clean any form of sous vide equipment. All you have to do is put equal parts of white vinegar and water in a pot. Then put the circulator in the pot, turn it on, and set the temperature to 140°F. When the machine reaches this temperature, the cleaning is complete.

Make sure it is fully submerged. Cook for 1 hour for a 1-inch steak. (It takes 1.5 hours for 1.5 inches, and 2 hours for 2 inches.) Sear the steak: When your steak is cooked in the sous vide machine, remove the bag from the water bath and transfer it to the fridge or an ice bath.

A good rule of thumb for cooking multiple sous vide steaks at once is to cook one steak (approximately 1 inch thick or less) for each gallon of water your sous vide container can hold. What is this? So if your container can hold 3 gallons of water, you can easily cook 3 steaks in it.

While you can't overcook your food with sous vide, leaving it in the water bath for too long can result in changes in the texture. What is this? After a while, it can turn out soft and mushy. Also, with fish and eggs, it can make the fish too dry and the eggs too firm.

If you cook a steak sous vide to eat right away, it depends on the thickness of the steak and how long you want to sear it, whether some chilling can be helpful. For a thin steak of 2 cm (3/4 inch) or less: chill the steak for at least 10 minutes in cold tap water before doing a long sear (1 minute per side).

Does thickness matter for sous vide? ›

There are two ways to cook sous vide, one is based on the thickness of the food and the other is based on the desired tenderness. A thicker steak takes longer than a thin steak, so when cooking based on the thickness of the food it is helpful to have a reference guide to fall back on.

Sear After Cooling the Sous Vide Food on Kitchen Counter

I take it out of the sous vide machine, dry it off really well, and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes before I go onto the searing process. This allows me to increase those 2 to 3 minutes sear time up to 4 to 5 minutes.

How to Get a Great Sear After Sous Vide - YouTube

Garlic Time and Temperature

Through lots of R&D, we've found that cooking garlic sous vide at 88C/190F for one and a half hours is the perfect combo. This time and temperature give garlic the perfect confit texture and taste that you are seeking.

If you use strong acid or alcohol-based marinade, the meat needs to be removed from the marinade before sous vide cooking, as they will create a strong flavor overpowering the steak. If you use tender cuts like ribeye or filet mignon steak, it's better to remove the meat from the marinade before sous vide cooking.

The reason the fat has a rubbery texture is all in the temperature. While protein in beef becomes tender at a lower cooking temperature the fat does not render until it is exposed to high heat. Without a good hot sear the fat can stay un-rendered and not help to improve the taste of the meat.

Sous Vide Chemistry:How to Cook Tender Meat Every Time - YouTube

Raw meat is generally squishy, chewy, and full of moisture. At 120°F (48.9°C) meat slowly begins to tenderize as the protein myosin begins to coagulate and the connective tissue in the meat begins to break down. This also causes the meat to firm up as the protein contracts.

160°F/70°C -- Connective tissue collagen begins to dissolve to gelatin. Melting of collagen starts to accelerate at 160F and continues rapidly up to 180F. Well Done Slow Cooked Meats: Falling apart tenderness collagen turns to gelatin at 160/70.

When cooking sous vide, it is therefore generally better to add salt after the sous vide cooking phase, unless you're intentionally trying to create a cured texture. Salting a steak before cooking sous vide is only recommended when it'll be served immediately.

What happens if you leave steak in sous vide too long? ›

So long as you're cooking at above 130°F, there are no real health risks associated with prolonged sous vide cooking. You will, however, eventually notice a difference in texture. For best results, I don't recommend cooking any longer than the maximum recommended time for each cut and temperature range.

A good rule of thumb for cooking multiple sous vide steaks at once is to cook one steak (approximately 1 inch thick or less) for each gallon of water your sous vide container can hold. What is this? So if your container can hold 3 gallons of water, you can easily cook 3 steaks in it.

Here at Sous Vide Tools we often like to add a small amount of butter to the bag and find that for best results, flavoured butter works really well to add a little something extra during the cooking process. Our preference is to place butter into the bag itself, rather than on top of the product.

Place steaks in the skillet with fresh herbs or garlic or herbs/garlic from the sous vide bag. Sear for one minute per side. Use a spoon to spoon the butter/oil drippings from the pan over the steak (infusing with garlic herb flavor). Note, additional searing time will risk overcooking your steak.

Make sure it is fully submerged. Cook for 1 hour for a 1-inch steak. (It takes 1.5 hours for 1.5 inches, and 2 hours for 2 inches.) Sear the steak: When your steak is cooked in the sous vide machine, remove the bag from the water bath and transfer it to the fridge or an ice bath.

160 to 180 Degrees Fahrenheit

Collagen starts to dissolve at 160 degrees and is fully dissolved at 180 degrees, with fall-off-the-bone tenderness. At this point, the meat is dryer, from losing a lot of moisture, but is as tender as meat can get.

Insight into the cruelty behind veal begins with an understanding of its terminology: veal is broadly classified as meat from baby cows who are under a year old, while meat from cattle who are over a year old falls into the category of beef.

Meat muscle, which is what we eat, is made of fibres , bound together with connective tissue, that are mainly linked to other groups of muscles or directly to the animal's bone structure. Muscle contains 60% to 70% moisture, 10% to 20% protein, 2% to 22% fat, and 1% ash, depending on type and species.

Sous Vide Science

Moisture loss and shrinkage can be reduced to as little as 5%, compared to traditional cooking methods of 30% or more.

What temp does fat break down? ›

130-140°F - Fats begin to melt and render (liquefy). This is a slow process and can take hours. Note: this is 55-60 C. The speed of the process will increase with temperature.