28 Sous Vide Recipes for Perfectly Cooked Meals, Every Time

We’ve long sung the praises of sous vide cooking at Serious Eats. After all, what better way to guarantee juicy meat or tender vegetables with a relatively hands-off approach? The method involves cooking food in a sealed plastic bag (sometimes vacuum-sealed) in a precisely temperature-controlled water bath, offering complete control over whatever it is you’re trying to cook. Whether you want to make an evenly cooked steak, a buttery summer lobster roll, or even some homemade vanilla extract, an immersion circulator will produce a stellar end product. Below are some of our favorite sous vide recipes to get you started. The only question is: Which one will you be making first?

Sweet Recipes

Homemade Vanilla Extract

We tested and found that this homemade vanilla extract is better (and cheaper!) than store-bought.

Toasted Cream

Cooking cream low and slow gives it all the subtle flavors of browned butter, making it perfect for adding to delicate purées, soups, and ice cream.

Vegetables

Sous Vide Glazed Carrots

Sous vide carrots are intensely flavorful and perfectly cooked.

Sous Vide Corn on the Cob

Want guaranteed corn on the cob that’s extra-flavorful and juicy? Sous vide is the way to go.

Poultry

Sous Vide Buffalo Chicken Wings

Cooking chicken wings sous vide allows you to get perfectly cooked meat that’s supremely juicy.

Sous Vide Chicken Breast

Sous-vide techniques will give you chicken with unparalleled levels of juiciness.

Sous Vide Duck Confit

Not only does sous vide cooking produce an exceptional version of confit duck leg, it’s far easier than the traditional method.

The Best Classic Chicken Salad

The juiciest, most flavorful chicken salad is possible!

Hot and Numbing Sichuan Chicken Salad (Bang Bang Ji Si)

Sous vide is the modern way to make this Sichuan classic without the banging.

Beef and Lamb

Sous Vide Steaks

Thanks to precise temperature control, this steak turns out more consistently than traditional steak, every time.

Sous Vide Smoked Brisket

Through sous vide cooking, you can achieve consistently moist and tender brisket at home.

Sous Vide Rack of Lamb

For rack of lamb that’s evenly medium-rare from edge to edge, sous vide cooking is by far the best approach.

Sous Vide Leg of Lamb With Mint, Cumin, and Black Mustard

Robustly flavored leg of lamb—perfectly cooked, thanks to a sous vide circulator—can stand up to an intense seasoning of crunchy mustard seeds and cumin.

Pork

Overnight Sous Vide Bacon

A little planning ahead yields crisp bacon that melts in your mouth—what more could you want on a Sunday morning?

Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin

The juiciest, most evenly cooked pork tenderloin ever, all ready for your next dinner party.

Sous Vide Barbecue Pork Ribs

Here, we have tender and meaty pork ribs with a crusty bark or rich glaze of sauce—no smoker required.

Sous Vide Pork Chops

Using an immersion sous vide cooker is the easy, foolproof way to guarantee extra-juicy pork chops.

Sous Vide Barbecue Pulled Pork Shoulder

We’ve got a step-by-step guide to making sous vide barbecue pork shoulder—finished in an oven or smoker, complete with a smoky flavor and flavorful bark.

Sous Vide Carnitas for Tacos (Crispy Mexican-Style Pulled Pork)

Crisp, juicy, and tender carnitas are the undisputed king of the taco cart, but they’re even better when cooked sous vide.

Sous Vide Pork Shoulder Chashu

This recipe uses precise temperature control to yield soft, juicy, and flavorful slices of pork shoulder chashu that still have some bite.

Overnight Sous Vide Canadian Bacon or Breakfast Ham

Cooked low and slow overnight, sous vide ham retains all of its juiciness, but gains an incredibly luxurious, buttery-soft tenderness as its connective tissue and muscles break down.

Seafood

Sous Vide Salmon

This sous vide salmon recipe yields perfectly flaky, tender fish that you won’t want to stop eating.

Sous Vide Lobster

If buttery, tender, sweet poached flavor is what you’re after, there’s no better way to cook lobster than sous vide.

Butter-Basted Sous Vide Halibut

This recipe yields buttery, well-browned halibut with a juicy, medium-rare center.

Sous Vide Shrimp With Garlic, Sherry, and Smoked Paprika

Cooking shrimp sous vide allows you to infuse them with flavor. In this recipe, we use the flavor profile of the Spanish tapas standby, gambas al ajillo.

Sous Vide Tuna

Cooking tuna sous vide is foolproof and allows you to fine-tune the results.

Sous Vide Connecticut-Style Lobster Rolls (With Lemon and Butter)

This version of a lobster roll is made in the classic naked style you’ll find in Connecticut, dressed with nothing more than a little butter and lemon juice.

Sous Vide Maine-Style Lobster Rolls (With Mayonnaise)

Served cold with a touch of mayonnaise and lemon, this version of a lobster roll is what you’ll find up and down the coast of New England.