Sous Vide Chicken is an easy and flavorful go-to chicken recipe and cooking technique for any day of the week.
The addition of caprese flavors to sous vide chicken takes this recipe over the top delicious.
Sous Vide Chicken
Don’t be intimated, the process of sous vide is much, much easier than you think. Follow along below as I guide you on how to implement this new technique for sous vide chicken at home. This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of Food Saver®; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
How to sous vide at home
When it comes to sous vide cooking, there are two important tools you will need. FoodSaver® Sous-vide Vacuum Sealed Bags and FoodSaver® FM2000 Vacuum Sealing System.
Both of these items are conveniently found at Target.
Sous-vide bags are super important because this is what you are cooking goes directly into.
For this recipe, the marinated chicken breasts go into separate sous-vide bags. Topped with fresh basil leaves, then they get vacuum sealed by the FM2000 system.
The process of vacuum sealing the sous-vide bags is to lock in the flavors of the marinade, the chicken actually soaks in the marinade in the process of vacuum sealing. Plus, this will ensure that no water will leak into the bag while cooking.
What sous vide means
Essentially, the word sous vide is a generalized term used for cooking in a sealed bag in regulated temperature-controlled water. This process of sous vide cooking makes it so that your meat or veggies inside the sealed sous-vide bags do not overcook, leaving you with a perfectly cooked meal every time.
Sounds like a dream scenario – right? And, it is! AND, it is doable in your own home. This process is so easy, I am so surprised it is not an everyday cooking method in most households.
How to sous vide chicken
- For this recipe, I made a simple marinade of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and spices. But, you can even just simply sprinkle the sous vide chicken breasts with salt and pepper if you prefer.
- Then, place each piece of chicken into a separate sous-vide bag. Vacuum seal each bag with the FM2000 system.
- Place the baggies into your temperature-controlled water bath, you can use a sous vide machine for this, which I highly recommend. Most even come with Wifi enabled controls, with temperature settings, making this literally idiot proof.
- I cooked my sous vide chicken caprese at 170 degrees for two hours, as per my machine’s recommendations. When it’s ready, just cut open the bags, and your meal is ready to eat!
I topped my sous vide chicken with a fast tomato, mozzarella, and basil salad. This dinner is so fresh, yet extremely flavorful, perfect for summer.
The additional drizzle of balsamic glaze really sets this dish off.
Another reason to sous vide: you don’t warm up your kitchen!! This is the ultimate summertime cooking technique if you ask me.
Here are a few reasons why I love FoodSaver® products for sous vide cooking:
- The sous-vide bags seal air-tight. That means no inconsistent cooking and no floating during the cooking process. All that yummy goodness is sealed tight in the bags, every time.
- What is really amazing about these sous-vide bags is, you can meal prep with them! YESSSSS, just make up your marinade, pop them in the bags, and seal them off. Place them in the freezer, then when you are ready to cook they can go straight into the hot water bath – no defrosting required!
- The sous vide bags are available in many sizes, perfect for anything you need to cook, or store. They are also safe for the microwave, fridge, and freezer along with sous vide.
- Best paired with the FM2000 system, the sous-vide bags and system can both be purchased at Target in-store OR online – score!
Ready to try this sous vide technique yourself? Now is a perfect time. Target is offering 15% off on both the FoodSaver® Sous-vide Vacuum Seal Bags and the FM2000 system!
What will you sous vide first? I highly suggest this sous vide chicken breasts recipe!!
How to sous vide chicken breasts
Sous Vide Chicken Caprese
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless about 1.5 pounds
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 5 cracks fresh black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 6 fresh basil leaves
For the caprese topping
- 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cracks fresh pepper
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 3 fresh basil leaves torn by hand
- 2 ounces fresh mozzarella pearls
- balsamic glaze for drizzling
Instructions
For the chicken
- Prepare sous vide water bath to 170 degrees. Place chicken breasts into separate sous-vide bags. In a small bowl, whisk together the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, dried oregano, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar until combined. Pour half of the marinade into each bag. Gently massage marinade into chicken until coated. Add three basil leaves into each bag.
- Vacuum seal the bags separately. Place bags into the hot water bath for 2 hours.
For the caprese topping
- When the chicken is finished cooking, take them out of the water bath with tongs, set aside and make the topping. Place the tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, basil, and mozzarella into a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Cut open bags and place chicken on serving plates. Top each with half of the tomato mixture. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over top to your liking. Serve,
Nutrition
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The marinade and Caprese were fine, but 170 is way too high to cook the chicken. I made the chicken for a dinner party and it was so terribly tough. It was hard to even cut and lost all of its flavor. I was so embarrassed. The chicken should cook at 145 for tender, moist chicken.
Thank you for the feedback, I used timing and temp based on my sous vide machine. I thought it was great, maybe the size of the chicken should be taken into account as well? If you cooked it at 145 in the past, then I would definitely stick with what you know works.
170 is way to hot considering the FDA says to cook chicken to 165, at 170 for 2 hours it’s just to hot. You may need to look at your cookers instructions again. All of the cookers I’ve used suggest a range of 136 to 150 max.
Well, first off, I LOVE all of your recipes, although I have not tried ALL of them. I am working on this. The recipes are easy to follow, and a wide variety of them, they look so good. I have been cooking all my life (at least 56 years of them). Every morning I get up and go straight to your site and browse, to see what I can make today. I cook for a lot of my elderly family members. I noticed that you did not have a recipe for “BUFFALO CHICKEN WINGS”. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Elizabeth! Thank you so much for the kind words, you got me choked up! I do not have a recipe for buffalo chicken wings (yet! 😉 ), that will be on my to-do list just for you. BUT, I make them a lot at home, just haven’t been able to post yet – similar to my baked bbq wings I have on the site already, you can find that recipe here: https://thissillygirlskitchen.com/last-nights-dinner-baked-bbq-wings/ (this is one of my first recipes so please excuse the horrid photos and unstructured post.) Seasoned with just garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper, then cooked the same way except finished off with Franks Buffalo Sauce instead of bbq. They are SO GOOD!
What does 5 cracks of black pepper mean? measurement wise? or am i just turning my pepper grinder 5 times?
Yes, 5 turns of a peppermill. Or, just to taste.
I made this a couple of days ago and really liked it. The only thing I did differently was I cubed my chicken and dropped the temperature to 160. I think this was some of the best chicken that I’ve ever had. Thank you for the great recipe. I’ll definitely be making this a lot.
I have made this several times and it is always a hit! The only thing I change is cooking my chicken for 1.5 hours at 150. 🙂 . This is just how I always sous vide my chicken and keeps it really tender and juicy!
The picture shows grill marks on the chicken which is impossible using this cooking method. Fake news
There are no grill marks… unless you are referring to the balsamic vinegar drizzled on top… which are not grill marks.
I’m sorry but I have read through the Instructions several times and it reads clearly to combine the ingredients for the topping in a bowl. Nowhere does it mention cooking them but the photos clearly show that the tomato IS cooked. Please explain
No, the topping is not cooked.
My fiance and I loved this. I would cut the heat back but think it really worked. Served it with shredded lettuce salad and balsamic vinegar on top.