Sous Vide Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

[fuzzydaddy]

I went to Sam's Club this morning and picked up a large package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They were $1.88 per pound and injected "up to" 10%. We will be freezing most of these for future meals and like a soft texture for adding to salads, etc., which is why I chose to SV at 140. ChefSteps was my guide in selecting 140.

Here's the run-down:

• 9 breasts, 6.3 pounds total, so an average of 0.7 pounds each. Breasts were ~1.5" thick at the thickest point.
• (3) gallon ziplock freezer bags used. I turned-down the first bit to avoid getting chicken on the outside of the bag when adding the breasts.
  • Bag 1: 1T vegetable oil & 2T Italian dressing per breast.
  • Bag 2: 1T vegetable oil & 2T Publix Original bbq sauce per breast.
  • Bag 3: 1T vegetable oil & 1tsp Franks red hot sauce per breast.
• Anova was set to 140.
• Air removed from bags by lowering into water. I massaged each bag to evenly distribute everything and made sure breasts were not on top of each other.
• I'll SV for 2.5 hours.
• Breasts will be lightly coated with vegetable oil, if needed, before a very quick sear on Grill Grates over the SnS.
  • I'll use about 1/2 chimney of KBB, well lit.

I'm interested to see how much flavor the breasts get from what I added to the bags during the SV. I don't expect much. I thought about cutting a diamond pattern on one side of each breast, but decided to do that next time.

I'll come back later today with how things turned out and more photos. This will be a learning experience. I'll definitely sample the 3 different breasts before freezing the rest.

26" Kettle, SnS, Grill Grates


Hardware and Software


Bagged Breasts


My Setup (I have 2 ThermoWorks silicone trivets under the tub).

[Jerod Broussard]

Call me when the bananas are ready.

I smoke mine with cherry wood real quick like, sous vide, then pull for salads for the ladies. OK, someone else does the pullin'.

[fuzzydaddy]

I knew that was coming!

[Jerod Broussard]

Yeah, I got a good smear on the bottom of my sandal walking through the den this morning, carried it into the kitchen. Turns out the kids had bananas YESTERDAY.

[fuzzydaddy]

Call me when the bananas are ready.

I smoke mine with cherry wood real quick like, sous vide, then pull for salads for the ladies. OK, someone else does the pullin'.

I'll have to try the quick smoke then SV. Thanks.

[Jerod Broussard]

Maybe 15-20 minutes with wood chips. Doesn't take long.

[fuzzydaddy]

Texture is what I was looking for. Very juicy. These will be frozen for future meals. I ate most of this one.

[Atalanta]

Looks good. Another good SV is costing them with a Thai curry blend (we got ours from the little thai cookbook. )

[Mitrakas]

Thanks! I am just now venturing into the SV arena as well. Curious how much flavor penetration you got from adding the marinades to the bag before you SV'd. Did it flavor well? I'm also working on trying to get a bit more maillard on my finished product. Wondering if I could accomplish this by going with SV at a little lower temp for a little longer, and then removing and placing on grill indirect for a few minutes each side to dry the surface, and then to a finish sear. I have the same Anova unit as you, seems a pretty popular model. Neat tool, no?

[fuzzydaddy]

Mitrakas Had I made a few cuts about 1/8" deep in the chicken there would have been more surface area for the marinades to cling to. The bbq sauce (thicker) clung the most. I am happy with minimal flavor since these will go in dishes my wife will prepare and it was an opportunity to do a test sous vide cook. I seared with a little vegetable oil for about 1 minute a side. Next time I'll not use the grill grates so I'll get better exposure to the heat from the charcoal for more a uniform sear on the rounded top of the breasts. I would not want to sous vide much below 140 for safety reasons. See this USDA chart for TIME-TEMPERATURE TABLES FOR COOKING READY-TO-EAT POULTRY PRODUCTS.

I'm enjoying the Anova. All the best on your cooks!

[chudzikb]

My wife has not complained about the breasts I have done SV, at least not yet. Throw some spices in the bag and SV for a couple of hours and then sear. Decent results. They do well with this technique.

[fuzzydaddy]

Sounds good and thanks! There's a chance that the flavor is just fine. My wife often says that a day at the smoker makes it hard for me to gauge the taste, and she's usually right!