Why cook sous vide? The results are obvious. Take these two tenderloin steaks, for example. They’ve both been cooked to 130ºF (medium-rare), but they look strikingly different. The steak on the left has been cooked using the Anova Precision Cooker and then quickly seared before serving. The steak on the right was seared on the stove-top and finished in a hot oven. The steak cooked sous vide has a few distinct advantages: First, it is medium rare almost completely from edge-to-edge. (There is a small, millimeter-thick browned edge that results from searing the steak to finish.) The steak cooked using the traditional method is medium-rare in the center, but has a thick, overcooked band around the edges. Second, the muscle fibers in the sous vide steak are smooth and still full of delicious, beefy juice. The steak on the right has contracted and lost some of its moisture. The grain is more fully defined and less tender. Third, if you're cooking a steak with a defined fat cap (like a ribeye or strip steak), you'll definitely want to choose the sous vide option — the fat on a sous vide steak is tender and flavorful, while the fat on a traditionally cooked steak is tough and gristly. Which would you rather eat?
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Ingredients for 1
1 (8- to 12-ounce) boneless tenderloin, ribeye, or strip steak
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
Directions
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Step 1
Set the Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker to 130ºF (54.4ºC).
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Step 2
Generously season the steak with salt and pepper. Place in a medium zipper lock or vacuum seal bag. Seal the bag using the water immersion technique or a vacuum sealer on the dry setting.
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Step 3
Place the bag in the water bath and set the timer for 2 hours.
Finishing Steps
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Step 0
When the timer goes off, remove the bag from the water bath. Remove the steak from the bag and pat very dry with paper towels.
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Step 1
Heat the oil in a medium cast iron skillet over high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the steak and sear until well-browned, about 30 seconds per side. Transfer steak to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve.
Latest Comments
Sous vide steak is the ONLY way to eat steak. We are obsessed with the perfectly cooked goodness of sous vide steak. It’s as easy as 1-2-3. Looking for more sous vide ideas for dinner? Check out our
Mongolian Sous Vide Flank Steak or our Sous Vide Salmon. Both are absolutely delicious! If this is your first time cooking sous vide, don’t panic. We talk more
about the sous vide in general in our Mongolian Sous Vide Flank Steak post. Stop what you’re doing and go check it out! Sous vide steak is the ultimate way to eat steak! If you’ve ever ordered a steak at a fancy restaurant and it came out fairly quickly, it was probably sous vide. Especially if it was perfectly cooked throughout the whole piece of meat. The sous vide has been a restaurant tool for a while and we’re all just catching up!
Ingredients You Need
You only need a few ingredients before you add your steak to the sous vide. Here is everything you need.
- New York strip steak- we used New York strip for this sous vide steak recipe, but you can use any cut of steak. Just be sure the steak is at least 1 inch thick!
- Coarse sea salt + black pepper– you salt your steak before you place it in the sous vide. Be sure you use both coarse salt and pepper rather than finely ground.
- Fresh herbs- we used a combination of rosemary, thyme, and oregano for this recipe. You can use one or all of these herbs. You add herbs to the sous vide bag and it slowly adds herby flavor to the steak.
- Butter– don’t forget to add the butter to the sous vide bag before you add it to the sous vide. The butter melts in the sous vide and adds delicious butter flavor to the steak.
- Olive oil– the olive oil is for post sous vide when you sear your steak to brown the outside. Feel free to sub the olive oil for more butter.
There are many different cuts of steak out there and you can use any of them for this sous vide steak recipe. We used New York Strip for this recipe, but feel free to use any of the cuts of steak below.
Here are other cuts of steak you can use.
- Ribeye
- Skirt
- T-Bone
- Porterhouse
How to Make Sous Vide Steak
- First, fill a large container with water and attach the sous vide to the container. Set the sous vide to 130ºF and let the water come to temperature.
- Salt and pepper the steak and let the steak sit for 10-15 minutes. Then place the steak into a stasher bag, Ziploc, or food saver bag with butter and herbs.
- Place steak into the sous vide and let it sous vide for at LEAST 2 hours. You can leave it in the water for up to 4 hours.
- Remove steak from the sous vide, discard liquid in the bag, and set steak aside on a plate.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat and add two tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. When olive oil is fragrant, add steak to the pan and sear for one minute on each side.
- Remove from heat and let the steak sit for 10 minutes. Serve with chimichurri and enjoy!
We set the sous vide to 130ºF (which is the internal temperature for rare steak), because we sear the steak for 1 minute on each side which brings the internal temperature up to about 140ºF which is medium-rare.
It all depends on how you like your steak. Set the sous vide about 5 degrees lower than you want your internal temp to be.
- Rare- 130ºF
- Medium Rare- 140ºF
- Medium- 155ºF
- Well Done- 165ºF
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How long does it take to sous vide a steak?
Sous vide steak becomes tender after being in the water bath for at least 2 hours. However, don’t hesitate to mix things up and keep the steak in the sous vide for up to 4 hours.
Can you overcook steak sous vide?
Technically you can not overcook steak in the sous vide as it will sit in the same temperature of water for however long you leave it.
However, if you let your steak sit for longer than 4 hours, the tendons will begin to break down and it will no longer have that fabulous chew you crave with steak. It will be more shredded-like.
We love to use a cast iron skillet to sear our steaks. It gets hot really fast and leaves the perfect amount of char on the steak.
Basting the steak can add tremendous flavor!
When butter melts take a spoon and spoon butter over the top of the steak throughout the 2 minutes it is in the pan!
What to Serve with Sous Vide Steak
- 2 1/2-lb. New York strip steaks*
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 2 herb sprigs (rosemary, thyme, or oregano)
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- First, prepare sous vide water bath by filling a large pot with water. The pot needs to be large enough to hold your steak and the water needs to be deep enough to hit the water line on your sous vide. Next, place your sous vide into the water bath and set the temperature to 130ºF (this is for medium-rare steak).
- Next, generously salt and pepper both sides of the steak and place steak into a medium-sized Stasher bag or Food Saver bag. Each steak should be placed in its own bag, so if you’re cooking 4 steaks, use 4 bags.
- Next, add around 1 tablespoon of butter on top of each steak and a sprig of herb.
- Remove air from all of the bags and seal. If you’re using a Stasher bag, try your best to remove as much air as you can.
- Place steak into water bath and cook at 130ºF for 2-4 hours*.
- Remove the steak from the water bath and place steak on a plate.
- Now it’s time to sear the steak for that amazing texture. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add the olive oil.*
- When olive oil is fragrant, place steak in the pan. Sear for 1 minute per side and immediately remove from heat.
- Serve with chimichurri or a delicious vegetable side.
- You can technically cook as many steaks at once as you’d like.
- Option to leave the steak in the sous vide for up to 4 hours for ultra-tender steak, but 2 hours is just perfect, as well! Both will come out medium-rare.
- You can also sear steak on the grill by heating the grill to 450ºF and searing the steak on each side for 1 minute.
- Check out this temperature chart by Spruce Eats for other temperature options.
- We tested this recipe with a 1/2 lb. New york strip, .7 lb ribeye, and a 1 lb tbone and they all turned out perfectly!
- This recipe was slightly updated on July 26, 2021, to reduce the max cook time from 10 hours to 4 hours for optimal texture.
Serving Size: 1/4 Calories: 739 Sugar: 0 Fat: 55 Carbohydrates: 1 Fiber: 0 Protein: 58
Category: DinnerMethod: Sous VideCuisine: AmericanDiet: Gluten Free
Keywords: sous vide steak
About Linley Hanson
Linley is a 5′ nothing spitball of positive energy who joined Team Fit Foodie in the Spring of 2014. Linley has worked on the digital side of small businesses and nonprofits since 2011, where she specialized in social media community management. Lin has a passion for food and an incredible palate. She is FFF’s chief recipe developer, so you can thank her for these incredible recipes!