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

FAQs

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

Between 140 and 145°F (60 and 63°C) is my preferred temperature range for chicken served hot (and I generally aim for the hotter end of that scale).

Again, the chicken is cooked, so internal temperature isn't crucial to food safety, but you'll probably want to check the internal temperature just to make sure it's not too cold. Anywhere from 125ºF and up is fine, but you don't want to overcook it and go past 145ºF.

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. Pro-tip: if you have a range of thicknesses while batch cooking, err on the side of the thicker pieces. Chicken breast texture holds for up to 4 hours in the cooking bath!

With sous vide you can cook chicken at a lower temperature and it'll still be just as safe to eat. So instead of 165°F you can cook it at 140°F… in beef terms, that's going from a well-done steak to a medium-rare steak, they are barely the same meal!

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.

While many will tell you that it's impossible to overcook with sous vide (and this isn't far from the truth), do bear in mind though that if you leave the food in the water bath for an extended period of time it won't 'overcook', but it could start to take on a mushy texture, so don't forget about it!

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.

Foods cooked sous vide and refrigerated in the sealed bags they were cooked in have a longer shelf life than foods that were cooked and transferred to a different container. You can refrigerate cooked, properly cooled foods in their unopened sous vide bags up to 10 days.

Can you use Ziploc bags for sous vide? ›

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cooking tips

chicken breast at 350°F (177˚C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature is 165˚F (74˚C).

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.