How to Sous Vide Chicken

I recently got a new Sous Vide (it's a fun kitchen gadget) that I have been having so much fun with, and so today I wanted to show you how to sous vide chicken.  Sous Vide chicken breast is a great way to prepare chicken for any meal including my Homemade Chicken Pot Pie recipe or my Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, or you can simple sear the chicken when it is done cooking and serve it on its own!  This sous vide chicken breast recipe is the most hands-off way to cook chicken that also produces the most consistent, delicious results!  You get yummy moist chicken every time and you don't have to hover over it which makes it perfect for weeknight or weekend cooking.  And if you have ever ruined a dish right before guests were coming over, you can rest assured that sous vide chicken is a safe bet!  Keep on reading to learn more about sous vide and how to make the perfect sous vide chicken breast.

If you want to learn more about what Sous Vide is, tips and tricks and all the latest information on cooking sous vide, go and check out my post on How to Cook Sous Vide HERE.

The short story is this:

Sous Vide (pronounced soo-veed) has been used by restaurants for a really long time to make those perfect steaks, moist chicken, and so many other dishes!  But recently, they have begun to manufacture a way to sous vide at home at an affordable cost.  To sous vide, you need an immersion circulator which is a device that heats and circulates water (don't worry you are not boiling your food), and there are several options out there.  After a lot of research, and asking friends and family, I settled on getting the Joule Sous Vide.  (affiliate link)  You can snag yours HERE.  Sous Vide is a cooking method where vacuum-sealed food is immersed in a water bath and cooked very precisely.  And even though it is so precise, and your results are so consistent, from a cooks perspective, you actually have a lot of wiggle room in this method of cooking.  If your spouse is running late, you can typically keep your meal immersed in the water for another 30-60 minutes to keep it warm while you wait for them to get home.  However, you don't end up with rubbery or dry chicken as a result.  It will still be delicious and moist and perfect!  I love that I can "hold" my food if I need to.

So another question I had when I first began using my Sous Vide was, can you sous vide frozen chicken?  And the answer is YES!  Yes, you can sous vide frozen chicken!  You can control exactly how you want my chicken cooked from my Joule app on my phone.  And you can indicate before the sous vide chicken breast even starts to cook whether the chicken is fresh or frozen.  Cooking from frozen does take longer, however, it can still be done with wonderful results.

Alright, so on to the sous vide chicken!

Sous Vide Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken Breast
• ½ Tablespoon Olive Oil, plus another ½ Tablespoon Olive Oil (for searing)
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper, or other Spices (I used Mural of Flavors from Penzy Spice for this chicken breast, but even just salt and pepper is perfect to season this with!)

Supplies:

• Pot (or container like this)
• Joule Sous Vide
• Freezer Ziploc Bag (quart size or larger)
• Binder Clip
• Water
• Pan (for searing, any pan will work but I love a grill pan for this)

Directions:

1. Fill a pot with water and place the Joule sous vide into the pot.  Mine hooks onto the side of my pot.
2. Place your pot on a heat resistant surface.
3. Open your Joule app, and select Poultry, Basic Chicken, Fresh/Frozen, how Thick it is and the final temperature and start your Joule.
4. While the water is circulating and heating up, prepare your chicken breast.
5. Place your chicken in a freezer Ziploc bag.  Add ½ Tablespoon oil, salt, and spices of your choice. Do NOT zip it shut.
6. Once the water is to temperature, place your chicken into the water, leaving the top portion up high enough to secure it to the side of your pot with a binder clip.  By leaving the bag unzipped, the air will escape out of the bag when it is placed into the water, creating a vacuum-seal without needing a fancy vacuum-seal machine.
7. Click the "Start" button on your Joule app and sit back and relax while your chicken cooks.
8. When the chicken is cooked (your app will alert you), you can choose to keep your chicken for a little longer if you need to hold it or take it out.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.
9. Depending on how you plan to eat your chicken, you can prepare it, shred it or eat it as is.  I personally love to give my chicken breast a quick sear on the stove.
10. To sear your chicken, add ½ Tablespoon oil into a pan and bring to high heat.  Place chicken in hot oil and sear for a few minutes on both sides until browned.
11. Serve and enjoy!

Sous vide chicken breast is such an easy way to make dinner during the week or on the weekend.  It is easy enough for everyday cooking, but impressive enough for a fancy meal with guests too!

I just love trying new sous vide recipes and can't wait to share more with you soon.

You might also enjoy:

How to Cook Sous Vide

Easy Instant Pot Ziti

Grilled Citrus Chicken with Grilled Pineapple Salsa

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Crispy Chicken Wrap