Sous Vide Turkey Breast

Learn how to make a delicious Sous Vide Turkey Breast. This cooking method allows you to cook your turkey in advance without fear of overcooking.

What is Sous Vide?

Sous vide means ‘under vacuum’ in French. It’s a cooking method where foods are vacuum sealed in a bag that is then suspended in a circulating water bath, at a preset temperature. The food is cooked in the sealed bag, allowing the food to retain all of its moisture.

Sous vide cooking was once used primarily in restaurant settings, but now, many home cooks have a sous vide – the wand that circulates the water in the water bath and heats the water to your set cooking temperature. It takes some practice* but it really is a great way to cook and reheat meat, poultry, and other foods.

Why is Sous Vide ideal for cooking turkey breasts?

The results are incredible! The turkey breast turns out extremely juicy and moist. You’ll season the turkey breast overnight in a spice rub before placing it in the bag to cook, so the flavors also infuse the meat as it cooks.

Also, sous vide cooking is ideal for cooking ahead. With this recipe, you could cook your turkey breast up to a day ahead of time. Then reheat through in the sous vide and brown the breasts in the oven just before serving.

Finally, with sous vide, it’s not necessary to bring the internal temperature up as high as you would using conventional cooking methods – so you won’t over cook it.

In the case of turkey breast for instance, traditional roasting guidelines have you remove the turkey from the oven once it reaches 160 degrees F – then let it rest while the internal temperature rises another five degrees or so to a ‘safe’ temperature of 165 degrees F. Using sous vide, you’ll need to cook the turkey to only 145 degrees F, BUT you do need to allow it to stay at the set temperature for longer to kill any bacteria – for this turkey recipe, a minimum of an additional 20 minutes.

More about timing:

There are various sous vide charts available on line and most say to get the turkey to 140-145 F. But that five degree range has different times to maintain once you reach that temperature. At 140 F for example, you need to leave the breast at that temperature for 30 minutes and at 145 F, you would leave it for 12-15 minutes. But leaving it longer does not dry it out like it would in the oven. So to make things simple and to make sure all types of bacteria are killed, we state 145 F for 20 minutes, which is a few minutes longer that necessary to kill other bacteria besides salmonella. In the case of sous vide, the extra precaution will still yield a moist finished product.

But don’t worry, as long as you set your sous vide to the proper temperature, your turkey breast will not overcook even if you leave it in the water bath for longer than those twenty minutes. (Note that you’ll brown the turkey breast in the oven after it comes out of the sous vide, so that does raise the temperature of the meat a little more.)

*Full Disclosure: Jack and I are self-taught sous vide home cooks, so we’re sharing recipes based on our own trial and error in the kitchen. Note that we also still relied on our trusty probe thermometer to test our turkey breast for doneness.

• It’s the ideal way to cook perfectly tender, juicy and flavorful turkey breast.
• You won’t struggle with oven space if you are preparing other baked side dishes for your meal.
• You can even cook your turkey breast ahead of time – then reheat in the sous vide just before serving.

• Turkey – We bought a whole turkey for this recipe and removed the legs and wings to make turkey stock and gravy. You could also simply buy a breast only – although they are typically smaller than the breasts you’ll get from a whole turkey.
• Dried Herbs – We made a simple dry rub of kosher salt, black pepper, poultry seasoning, and brown sugar.
• Fresh Herbs – We tied together sprigs of fresh thyme, sage, parsley and rosemary.
• White Wine – Any good drinking white wine is fine. A little bit of wine is added to the cooking bag.
• Turkey Stock – Note that you’ll be making a homemade turkey stock using the legs and wings from a whole turkey breast.
• To Brown the Turkey after it’s cooked in the sous vide – Butter, salt and pepper
• To Make Gravy – Butter, flour, turkey stock and the liquid from the cooking bags are combined with gravy seasoning sauce such as Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master.

1. Remove the two breast halves, leaving the rib cage attached to each.
2. Mix a dry rub with dried herbs. Cover each breast, seal in gallon bags and refrigerate overnight.
3. Place legs, thighs, neck, wings and turkey carcass in a pot with water and vegetables and simmer to make a stock. (Follow this recipe for guidance.)
4. Make a thick gravy with the turkey stock, butter, turkey fat, flour and gravy seasoning. Chill to reheat later.
5. When ready to sous vide, pour out any salty liquid that collected in the bag with the turkey breasts. (No need to rinse).
6. Tie the dried herbs together with butcher’s twine (this is called a bouquet garni) and place in the bag with the turkey breasts, along with white wine and turkey stock.
7. Seal and cook the turkey breast in a sous vide water bath until internal meat temperature reaches 145 degrees F, then cook for 20 additional minutes to kill any bacteria. Assuming your turkey breast halves are about three pounds each, the timing will be about three and one half hours to reach 145 degrees F.
8. Remove breasts from bags, reserve liquid and add to the thick gravy made earlier.
9. Coat breasts with butter, salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven to brown the skin.
10. Let sit for ten minutes then carve and serve with gravy.

• Can I make Sous Vide Turkey Breast ahead of time?  Yes! Part of the appeal of sous vide is to prepare foods in advance, then reheat in the sous vide and keep hot until needed. For a quicker reheat, thickly slice the cooked breasts and place the slices into a vacuum sealed bag, squeeze out the air and place in the Sous Vide to reheat.
• How do I store leftovers?   Store leftovers refrigerated for up to two to three days.
• How do I reheat leftovers? Sous Vide would be the best way to reheat and maintain the moisture of the turkey, however for a quick reheat, simmer a sauté pan with a little stock or gravy or microwave individual portions the same way.
• Can I freeze?  You can if the cooked meat is sealed in a vacuum bag with all air squeezed out. Thaw, and reheat in the Sous Vide bath to maintain the moisture and texture of the meat.

---

---