How to sous vide a turkey breast

Ingredients

1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 Tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
2 Tbsp shallots, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 3-lb boneless turkey breast, skin on

Overview

Equipment

Sous vide circulator

Sous vide pouches

Medium skillet

2 silicone baking mats

2 baking sheets

Cooling rack

Small saucepan

Timing

Prepping time: 20 minutes / Sous vide cooking time: 2 1/2 hours

Directions

For the Turkey:

1. In a medium skillet, stir 6 tablespoons butter over medium heat for 4 minutes, or until it turns a nutty brown. Add sage, shallots, and garlic and stir 1 minute, or until shallots soften. Pour butter into medium bowl and cool. Stir in remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Using your fingers, separate skin from breast meat and remove skin in one piece. Reserve skin. In a large sous vide pouch, combine turkey breast and ½ cup sage brown butter and seal. Cook at 145°F (62.7°C) for 2 ½ hours. Meanwhile, to crisp turkey skin, preheat oven to 425°F (218.3°C). Place a silicone baking mat on a large overturned baking sheet.
3. Lay reserved turkey skin, fatty side down, in a flat layer on parchment paper and sprinkle with salt. Place another silicone baking mat over skin and weigh it down using a heavy baking sheet. Bake about 30 minutes, or until fat has rendered and skin is golden brown and crisp. Transfer to a cooling rack and break into pieces.

To Serve:

1. In a small saucepan, melt remaining sage brown butter over medium-low heat.
2. Slice turkey and transfer to platter. Serve with sage brown butter and crisp skin.

Ask Dr. Bruno Goussault, the master of sous vide.

Dr. Bruno Goussault pioneered the sous vide method in 1971, forever changing the way we cook. Soak up his knowledge by browsing his answers to questions from Sous-Vide magazine readers—and ask him a question of your own!

Cooking sous vide turkey breast bone in is one of the easiest ways to cook a perfect turkey, every time. Save room in your oven by utilizing Thanksgiving sous vide recipes like this one. Learn my tried and true sous vide turkey breast time and temperature, and how to finish the turkey in the oven for to get beautiful, roasted skin. Let’s sous vide!

This guide will teach you how to cook fresh turkey sous vide style. If you’re cooking turkey from the freezer, see how to sous vide frozen turkey breast.

We decided to sous vide turkey breast for Thanksgiving one year when I was super pregnant and we were having a cozy T-day, just my husband and I. We didn’t want to fuss over the turkey too much and loved the idea of saving room in the oven by sous viding turkey.

New to sous vide techniques? Learn why is sous vide so popular.

Since then, we’ve made sous vide turkey for other holidays and to make juicy, fresh turkey sandwiches.

Find more delicious recipes in my sous vide cookbook.

Ingredients

This recipe uses a 3-4 pound turkey breast on the bone. This is about a half turkey breast portion.

For seasonings, you’ll need garlic salt, black pepper, ghee (or butter), shallots, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, and half a lemon cut in slices.

How to sous vide turkey breast bone in – step by step

Start with adding flavor to the turkey breast.

Make a paste of the rosemary, thyme, ghee, garlic salt and pepper. Season the outside of the turkey breast with half of the paste.

Place the turkey breast in a vacuum-seal bag, add lemon slices and vacuum-seal the bag.

Time and temperature for sous vide turkey breast

Sous vide turkey breast for 3 hours at 145ºF.

When done, remove the turkey from the hot water and shock the bag in an ice bath for 10 minutes. Remove turkey from the bag and pat dry.

Do you have to cook sous vide turkey to 165 degrees?

I found the discrepancy between general recommended cooking temperatures and sous vide cooking process super confusing when I started. Especially when I was pregnant and trying to follow safe food guidelines.

Cooking sous vide is more like pasteurization.

Since the sous vide bath cooks the turkey for a longer period of time than in the oven, it will be fully cooked at 145 degrees.

Longer cook time = safe at a lower temperature when it comes to sous vide cooking.

With that said, when I first made sous vide turkey at home and was pregnant, I still wanted to get that “safe” 165 degree internal temperature.

This is when sous vide was new to home chefs and I wanted to be 100% safe.

So I would sous vide turkey at 145 degrees, then stick it in the oven at 425 degrees until it reached 165 degrees internally. But – that’s not needed for this recipe! Sous vide cooking temperatures are different because they cook for a longer period of time.

Finishing in the Oven Broiler

Preheat broiler to high. Coat the turkey with the remaining seasoning paste.

Broil turkey on high for 3 to 8 minutes on a baking sheet, until golden brown. Let rest 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy your perfectly cooked turkey breast!

You haven’t truly mastered sous vide cooking until you try this recipe for asparagus sous vide

What should sous vide turkey breast look like?

Like most proteins, sous vide turkey looks funny when it comes out of the sous vide bag.

The reason is that the turkey is cooked, but it hasn’t had the element of high heat to brown the outside.

When cooking turkey breast bone in with skin, you want the outside to take on a golden-brown color so you’ll broil the turkey in the oven on a baking sheet after the sous vide bath.

It does not necessarily have to be even, but the entire turkey skin should be colored.

The inside should be entirely white to ensure that your breast is fully cooked.

Looking for a new sous vide dish to try? Check out my butter poached sous vide asparagus.

Can turkey and vegetables sous vide at the same time?

Sous vide Brussels sprouts are a great side dish for this sous vide recipe.

But it’s important to note that vegetables and proteins cook at different times in the sous vide bath.

So you’ll want to sous vide the Brussels sprouts in advance, refrigerate them, then finish them in the broiler when the turkey is ready to be broiled.

What if my turkey is dry? 

We’ve all been there!

It’s Thanksgiving and you’ve gone to a relative’s house and the turkey is sandpaper dry. So every time you make a turkey at home, you may cook in fear at the possibility it will turn out dry.

In theory, cooking turkey breast sous vide style should almost guarantee that it does not come out dry, since it can’t overcook in the sous vide bath.

Only broil it for the recommended amount of time in the oven after so it retains all the moisture and flavor.

Plating tips

Highlight the golden-brown of your turkey and garnish it with your favorite herbs for a warm, natural-looking plate. 

If you’re also a fan of dark turkey meat, check out this recipe for sous vide turkey legs.

What to serve with turkey breast

• Gravy
• Herb butter
• Caramelized red onions
• Sous vide Brussels sprouts
• Cranberry sauce
• Mashed potatoes
• Green beans
• Garlic dill carrots
• Asparagus

Cooking for the holidays? Make these sprouts with Babe’s Chorizo Sausage Stuffing.

Another easy way to make turkey? Always moist, always delicious, this air fryer turkey breast recipe is my favorite way to prepare turkey breast for up to four people. Make up a full holiday dinner without turning on the oven.

How to refrigerate leftover turkey

Cut turkey off the bone and store it in an air-tight container for up to four days.

Wine pairing

Pair savory, juicy sous vide turkey breast with a California Chardonnay. 

• Estimate 1-2 pounds of turkey per person.
• If you’re doubling this recipe to make two turkey breasts, seal each one in a separate vacuum sealed bag.
• Store leftover turkey for up to four days in the fridge. 
• See these easy leftover turkey recipes for inspiration.

Check out my new cookbook – The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook. It’s packed with 100+ recipes to inspire any level sous vide enthusiast.

For a sneak peak of recipes in the book, see my long-cook sous vide brisket, super juicy bone in steak sous vide, and tips on how long to sous vide frozen steak. 

Readers love these sous vide recipes

• Sous Vide T Bone Steak
• Sous Vide Wings
• Sous Vide Spare Ribs with BBQ Sauce
• Sous Vide Turkey Legs
• Sous Vide Pulled Pork
• Sous Vide Onions in Beer
• Sous Vide Corn
• Sous Vide Shrimp
• Sous Vide Lobster Tails

The Perfect Sous Vide Setup

Everyday I’m asked, “what do you need to sous vide food?”. Here’s my answer.

1. A sous vide machine.
   Option 1: “stick” models like the Joule, Anova, or Instant Pot Slim.
   Option 2: “multipot” models like the SousPreme or InstantPot Duo Evo Plus.
2. Sous vide container.
   If using a sous vide “stick” model, you need something to hold the water the food cooks in, like a bucket or stockpot.
3. Bags to cook sous vide food.
   Keep it simple and sous vide in ziplock gallon bags, or get fancy like me with a vacuum sealer setup.
4. Nice-to-have accessories for sous vide cooking.
   – Sous vide weights to hold down food that floats.
   – Mini mason jars for desserts and sous vide egg bites.
   – Cast iron skillet to sear sous vide steaks to finish them.
5. My sous vide cookbook with 100+ recipes.

Find me on Instagram @sipbitego. For more tasty turkey recipes, check out spatchcock turkey smoker style and smoked turkey breast cooked with turkey blend Traeger pellets.

• ▢ 4 lb skin-on turkey breast
• ▢ 2 tsp garlic salt
• ▢ 1 tsp black pepper
• ▢ 3 tbsp ghee substitute butter
• ▢ 1 tbsp shallots diced
• ▢ 1 tsp rosemary diced
• ▢ ½ lemon sliced

• Preheat sous vide machine to 145ºF.

• While the sous vide bath preheats, make a paste of garlic salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, ghee, and shallots. Season the outside of the turkey breast with half of the paste. Place the turkey breast in a vacuum-seal bag, add lemon slices and vacuum-seal the bag. Sous vide turkey breast for 3 hours.

• When done, remove the turkey from the hot water and shock the bag in an ice bath for 10 minutes. Remove turkey from the bag and pat dry.

• Preheat broiler to high. Coat the turkey with the remaining seasoning paste. Broil turkey on high for 3 to 8 minutes, until golden brown. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

• Estimate 1-2 pounds of turkey per person. 
• If you’re doubling this recipe to make two turkey breasts, seal each one in a separate vacuum sealed bag.
• These sous vide Brussels sprouts are a great side dish for this sous vide recipe, but it’s important to note that vegetables and proteins cook at different times in the sous vide bath, so you’ll want to sous vide the Brussels sprouts in advance, refrigerate them, then finish them in the broiler when the turkey is ready to be broiled.
• Store leftover turkey for up to four days in the fridge.

Calories: 519kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 88g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 249mg | Sodium: 2005mg | Potassium: 1007mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 82IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 2mg

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