Sous Vide Balsamic Chicken
The beauty of sous vide chicken is that you can rest assured your chicken breasts are properly cooked without worrying that they will be overcooked and dry. This recipe can be used for all your basic chicken dishes, but includes an easy balsamic sauce at the end.
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Sous Vide Balsamic Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 m
- Cook Time: 1 h
- Total Time: 1 h 15 m
- Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 beefsteak tomato chopped
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Instructions
- Pre-heat the sous vide water bath to 140ºF.
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken breasts in a zipper lock plastic bag along with the sprigs of fresh thyme. Remove as much of the air as possible from the bag using a vacuum pump or by submerging the bags one at a time in the water up to the zipper seal (don’t let any water into the bag), and allowing the water to displace the air in the bag. Seal the bag and drop it into the water bath.
- Cook in the sous vide water bath for one hour, or as long as 2 hours.
- While the chicken is cooking, combine the balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, brown sugar and smashed garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it thickens slightly. Set aside.
- When the time is up, remove the chicken from the zipper lock bag and pat it dry with paper towels. Pre-heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and butter and then sear the chicken breasts on both sides until nicely brown. Remove the chicken to a side plate and add the tomato to the skillet and toss around for a minute. Pour in the reduced glaze and simmer for a minute. Add the thyme and then return the chicken to the skillet to coat the chicken in the glaze. Remove the chicken from the skillet and serve with the sauce on top.
Nutrition Facts
Sous Vide Balsamic Chicken
Amount Per Serving
Calories 555
Calories from Fat 180
% Daily Value*
Fat 20g31%
Saturated Fat 6g30%
Cholesterol 160mg53%
Sodium 503mg21%
Potassium 1296mg37%
Carbohydrates 44g15%
Fiber 3g12%
Sugar 38g42%
Protein 51g102%
Vitamin A 1800IU36%
Vitamin C 31.8mg39%
Calcium 69mg7%
Iron 2.3mg13%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
I have just discovered sous vide cooking, and my husband and I are loving the food that I have made thus far. I will make this balsamic chicken recipe soon and post my comments, and I am sure that they will be great! Thank you so much for helping me branch out with sous vide recipes (strawberry cheese cakes next) and all of your other helpful recipes. Very appreciative!!
So glad to hear it, Renee! I love sous vide cooking too – I think it takes a lot of last minute stress out of cooking. I think you’ll love cooking sous vide in jars.
Making this for a second time. Delicious!!
Made the chicken tonight and it was so tender and delicious. Didn’t have beefsteak tomato but I had cherry tomatoes and they worked perfectly.
Two for two!!! Tried this chicken sous vide recipe and boy did it make me look GOOD! When I “plated” this dish, I felt like a PRO. Just 👏 awesome. The chicken breast was so tender and the balsamic topping was just plain fancy (for me, anyway😊). My hubby was impressed….he posted pics on his Facebook page. Several of his guy friends responded saying they wanted to give sous vide a try. Looks like I’ll be sharing your website with them soon. Thank you for sharing your skills and recipes with “us”. Can’t wait to give another one of your recipes a go!
Hello again….I plan to make this yummy recipe again and am wondering if it’s possible to butterfly the chicken breast so it’s not so thick on one end. The chicken breasts I found were 1/2 lb. each….and I was hoping to thin them out some by filleting them. With sous vide steak I’ve learned it’s not the weight but the thickness that helps determine the length cooking time….does this hold true for chicken too? Would I need to alter the cooking time OR water temp? Thanks for your help BJC!
Hi Karen. You can butterfly the chicken or pound out the thick side until the breasts are the same thickness throughout. The temperature of 140°F will stay the same. Sous vide for at least an hour, it will not overcook if the correct temperature is set.
Delicious! Juicy and flavorful! I used 4 breasts and had plenty of sauce. Had 2 reheated in the microwave for a 2nd dinner, and no loss of quality. Spaghetti squash oven roasted with butter, salt & pepper was a nice side dish. It looks nice sliced diagonally on the plate with the sauce over. Thank you for this and all of your recipes, instructions, and encouragement!
I tried this after we loved your Korean bbq recipe. We loved the sauce. We served the chicken with sautéed shredded Brussels sprouts and the kids put the sauce on the spouts. So good! We will use the sauce on other things too.
This was fantastic!!! Definitely making again!!!!
Made this tonight for a special birthday dinner. Doubled everything and it was DELICIOUS! (I did use white balsamic vinegar.) Rave reviews all around. Will make this again. Thank you!!!
I really love this recipe!! Thanks for sharing.
Loved this recipe! I have been cooking with my Sous Vide for about 2 years but hadn’t quite did chicken yet. Loved how moist the chicken was and the sauce gave it that perfect kiss of flavor. Only thing I didn’t have was the tomato and grainy mustard. I used Dijon in its place and it was perfect.
Made almost per recipe. Had to substitute some maple syrup for honey due to honey shortage. Also used a cherry balsamic we had on hand. Super tasty – was appreciated by all, young and old alike. *thumbs up*
I thought that chicken breast should be cooked to 165 degrees. Does cooking sous vide at 140 degrees for one hour render the chicken safe?
Hi David, This is a very common question when you are starting out with sous vide cooking. So much so, that I have written an article on food safety in sous vide cooking. You can read that here: https://bluejeanchef.com/cooking-school/food-safety/ . The short summary is that it is a combination of temperature and time that kills bacteria. They die faster at a higher temperature. At a lower temperature, the bacteria still die, but you have to hold it at that temperature for longer. Hope the article helps.