If you’ve yet to hear about this buzzy cooking technique, sous vide (pronounced soo-veed) is a method of cooking food in a vacuum sealed pouch immersed in water. Sounds weird, right? But there’s a method to the madness. The idea is that the temperature is steadily controlled, ensuring evenly cooked food, while the vacuum-sealed bag keeps the marinade inside. You can do it with a machine, or without. It’s also pretty foolproof– you can’t over cook anything because the water won’t rise past a certain temperature. I’m a nervous meat cooker so this is big time for me. Plus, it’s great for meal prep. Most of the following recipes can be frozen once they are in the air-tight bag, ready to cook whenever you need them. I used to think that sous vide was limited to steak (if you don’t have a grill, this is a great way to make a steak), but recently learned that it can also be used for all sorts of meats and even veggies.
The sous vide possibilities are actually pretty endless. So, if you haven’t tried the sous vide technique, this is your sign. Read on for 12 sous vide recipes to get you started.
Sous Vide Recipes With Meat
Sous Vide BBQ Chicken from Whitney Bond
Why We Love It: This sous vide recipe is a shortcut that every entertainer needs to know about. All you have to do is throw some BBQ sauce in with the chicken breasts and let the sous vide work its magic. Ninety minutes later you have juicy BBQ chicken that your guests will think you spent all day marinating. The best part? While the chicken is cooking, you can put all of your finishing touches on the rest of the meal so that when the timer goes off, dinner is served.
Sous Vide Teriyaki Salmon from Simply Recipes
Why We Love It: If you’ve ever cooked salmon, you know that it’s a hard fish to perfect. Preparing it in the sous vide takes away all of that stress, plus every part of the fish will cook the same amount. It has a super simple yet flavorful marinade with ginger, soy sauce, garlic, and all those yummy Teriyaki ingredients. I personally serve over a bed of rice for a delicious and filling meal.
Sous Vide Steak from Fit Foodie Finds
Why We Love It: This is your guide to making a restaurant-grade steak at home. I love this recipe because the seasonings are kept simple, but decadent enough to make it truly taste professional. Once it’s in the sous vide, you have plenty of time to finish up work and then all it needs is a quick sear in a cast iron skillet. Steakhouses beware, you might never leave home for a steak again.
Sous Vide Sesame Chicken from Simply Recipes
Why We Love It: Introducing a healthier alternative to your favorite takeout Chinese food. Sesame Chicken would definitely be a part of my last meal, and I love that this recipe swaps the fryer for the sous vide. It is so juicy and tender that you don’t even realize it isn’t fried. The long cooking time gives you plenty of time to prep the delicious sauce, too.
Mongolian Sous Vide Flank Steak from Fit Foodie Finds
Why We Love It: With only 15 minutes of prep, this recipe can either sit in the sous vide for five hours, or 24 hours. Your choice. The flank steak comes out so tender and the Mongolian beef sauce comes together with just the sous vide juices and cornstarch. Delicious, healthy, and easy.
Sous Vide Brisket from Platings and Pairings
Why We Love It: This recipe post may have coined my favorite way to describe sous vide recipes: “set it and forget it.” You’re definitely going to clock some hours with this one, but the result is oh so worth it. The brisket sits in the sous vide for over 24 hours, but once it’s in, you can just relax and enjoy. The seasonings are super simple, too, so it’s a stress-free recipe all around.
24-Hour Sous Vide Ribs from Fit Foodie Finds
Why We Love It: Don’t let the phrase “24-hour” scare you. If you’re going to make ribs, you have to do it right. Plus, this recipe only entails 20 minutes of actual prep. Using the sous vide ensures that the ribs are cooked perfectly and fall off the bone every time. If you’re entertaining with this recipe, it allows you to get all of the work done ahead of time and just throw the ribs on the grill when the guests arrive.
Vegetarian Sous Vide Recipes
Sous Vide Glazed Baby Carrots from Thyme and Joy
Why We Love It: We’ve had lots of cooked carrot debates over here at Camille Styles, mostly because of their texture. There’s nothing worse than a warm, mushy carrot, in my opinion. However, making them in a sous vide allows you to cook them to perfection: tender, but not mushy, and firm, but not crunchy. Plus, cooking them in the bag allows them to soak up their own natural juices that can otherwise escape.
Garlic Herb Sous Vide Potatoes from Izzy Cooking
Why We Love It: Potatoes will always and forever be my favorite side dish, and using the sous vide as step one is perfect for chopped potatoes or mashed potatoes. After they are finished cooking in the sous vide, you can either sear them to give them a crispy outer layer, or mash them up. It takes all the guesswork out of boiling them and makes the potatoes deliciously fluffy.
Sous Vide Carrot Ginger Soup from Platings and Pairings
Why We Love It: Carrot and ginger are a match made in heaven. Perfect for chilly days inside, just set the ingredients in the sous vide and get ready for a healthy, cozy night in. Not only is the color of the soup itself so pretty, but the lime crema topping gives it major presentation points. This soup will definitely be on repeat this fall.
Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites from Copy Kat
Why We Love It: This might be the most creative of all the sous vide recipes I have seen. With this recipe, you prepare the egg mixture in a blender and then pour it into separate jars. The jars are both the vessel that you use to cook in the sous vide, and the perfect mold for the bites. Back in 2019, Camille published her own Egg Bite recipe that actually shows you how to make them without a sous vide machine, too. These are a brunch must-try.
Butternut Squash & Apple Soup from Simple Bites
Why We Love It: Sous Vide soup? A combo of my favorite things. With fall finally here, I’m constantly craving butternut squash soup and this recipe makes it so easy. Butternut squash and apples are both in their prime season, so there’s no better time to try this out. I also always love a soup with a long prep because it makes that first spoonful so rewarding… even when the sous vide did all the work.
