Easy Sous Vide Chicken Breast (With Citrus Glaze)
“This is absolutely the only way to cook chicken breast! …Sauce is delicious. Rave reviews from dinner guests last night”. M.E.
Guaranteed tender and juicy, this recipe for sous vide chicken breast is finished with a bright, sweet-and-tangy citrus glaze of maple syrup, orange, lemon, and lime. Simple enough for a weeknight, yet special enough for company.
What to expect
This recipe delivers tender, juicy chicken breasts every time – thanks to the sous vide method. No guesswork (love that!), no dryness, just perfectly cooked chicken finished with a zesty, golden, sticky citrus glaze.
Sous vide is a stress-free cooking technique that gently cooks food sealed in a bag in a temperature-controlled water bath. My go-to temp is 144°F (62.2°C), but you can choose the exact doneness you prefer. Set it and walk away – your chicken will be ready in 90 minutes (or up to 4 hours if life gets in the way).
No sous vide equipment? No problem. You’ll find stovetop, oven, and grill options in the recipe card.
Bottom line: Simple prep, great flavor, and a beautiful dish with a fresh citrusy twist.
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
- Chicken: Use regular boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Chicken seasoning: Salt, black pepper, thyme
- Citrus Glaze: Includes lemon, lime, orange, cilantro, garlic, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and optional cilantro.
- Cornstarch: I use a little cornstarch to thicken the glaze, but if you don’t have any, simmer the sauce longer until it naturally reduces and thickens. Just note: you’ll end up with less sauce (and I like lots of sauce!)
- Garnish (optional): toasted sesame seeds and green onion
Substitutions for glaze ingredients
- Citrus: You can use all lemon juice or all lime juice. Just don’t skip the orange juice and zest – they’re key to the flavor.
- Herbs: Swap the optional cilantro with chives, oregano, or parsley if preferred.
- Heat: Instead of red pepper flakes, try a dash of sriracha or your favorite hot sauce, or skip the heat altogether.
Variations
- Cooking method: If you don’t have sous vide equipment, use the stovetop, oven, or grill method instead – see notes in the recipe card.
- Herbs: Try basil in the glaze, or rosemary with the chicken during sous vide for a woodsy flavor.
- Turkey option: Instead of chicken breast, make a sous vide turkey breast and finish it with the citrus glaze in the same way.
Step-by-step instructions
What to serve with this sous vide chicken recipe
I love serving this chicken to guests due to its simplicity and beautiful presentation. It’s fantastic over lemon herb cauliflower rice if you want to keep the calories and carbs down. Or try our coconut jasmine rice with or without the chili crisps.
The chicken is also great with quinoa, white rice, curried rice or mashed potatoes to soak up any sauce that drips off the chicken. And try a colorful, healthy side of roasted bok choy and broccoli or easy creamed spinach.
To serve as an appetizer, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and serve with toothpicks at room temperature.
Shortcuts
- Fresh is best, but in a pinch, use bottled lemon juice or lime juice or orange juice. You will still need the orange zest.
- Instead of making the citrus glaze, you can buy a store-bought sauce/glaze to drizzle over the cooked chicken, such as teriyaki sauce, peanut sauce, or sweet Thai chili sauce.
Recipe FAQs
Sous vide cooking is very safe if certain rules are followed. Safe cooking times are based on the temperature, thickness, and type of food. The food must also be fully immersed in the water bath (in a sealed bag). Here is a non-technical summary on food safety with sous vide cooking by Doug Baldwin, who is considered a scientific expert in this area.
Yes, you can use frozen chicken breasts for sous vide cooking. Make sure they are frozen in a single layer so you can cook them in the water bath in a single layer (not piled up in a thick frozen lump). Season as usual, place in a sous vide bag or ziploc (no need to defrost) and seal the bag. Cook in the water bath at your desired temperature for an extra hour if frozen.
Yes, feel free to use bone-in skin on (or skinless) chicken breast for this recipe. The cooking instructions will be the same. After cooking and a quick sear, you can choose to cut the meat off the breast bone if you like for easier slicing.
There are many ways to shortcut meal prep with leftover or pre-prepared sous vide chicken. Try a classic chicken salad, easy Pad Thai, chicken tacos, Chinese chicken fried rice, chicken and cheese quesadilla, stir fry, puff pastry chicken pot pie (30 minutes), lemon orzo soups with chicken, peri-peri-style spicy chicken pasta, and wraps.
More sous vide chicken and turkey recipes
- Indian butter chicken recipe
- sous vide chicken thighs
- sous vide turkey breast
- sous vide turkey thighs
- sous vide chicken wings (Korean-style)
If you’re looking for general tips about sous vide cooking regarding preparation, set up, temperature, timing and finishing, check out our best sous vide recipes and tips.
Please leave a 5-star rating ***** with a comment in the recipe card below if you like the recipe. Thank you so much!
Citrusy Sous Vide Chicken Breast
Equipment
- Sous Vide Equipment – immersion circulator or box like sous vide machine (see Note 4 for alternatives)
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (2-3 pieces)
- seasonings: salt, black pepper, few springs fresh thyme (or dried)
- optional garnishes: 1-2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds, 1 sliced green onion.
Citrus Glaze
- 1 large orange (1/2 cup juice and 1-2 teaspoons zest) or 2 medium oranges
- 1 lime (the juice)
- ¼ lemon (the juice)
- ¼ cup maple syrup (honey or brown sugar can be substituted)
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce (low sodium)
- 1 ½ teaspoon minced/grated garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 ½ teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- PREPARE SOUS VIDE BATH: Fill water in the sous vide container as per manufacturers instructions (not too high). Set the temperature to 144F/62C (for soft, moist breasts) and allow sous vide water bath to heat to that temperature. Note 1 for other temperatures.
- PREPARE CHICKEN: Season generously both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and place a few sprigs of thyme on top (or sprinkle lightly with dried thyme). For vacuum seal method: Fold back top of sous-vide bags about an inch to create a flap (this ensures no food touches the top of the bag where it gets sealed). Insert one or two chicken fillets per bag (I do 2 in one bag) in a single layer, ensuring no overlap. Unfold the flap and vacuum seal the bag using a vacuum sealer. Note 2 for water displacement method.
- COOK CHICKEN SOUS VIDE: When temperature of the water bath has reached 144F/62C, submerge the plastic bags with the chicken into the water. Cover and cook for minimum 90 minutes and a maximum of 4 hours.
- MAKE GLAZE: While chicken is cooking, whisk together all glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to medium heat and continue to cook, about 8-10 minutes until sauce is reduced and slightly thickened (it should coat the back of a spoon).
- FINISH THE DISH: Remove chicken from bag(s) and pat dry with paper towels. Coat with glaze, reserving 2-3 tablespoons for final drizzle. If you want to brown chicken to enhance presentation, place breasts on a foil-lined pan and broil one side a few inches from top of the oven for about 3 minutes. (Alternatively, do a quick sear in a sauté pan or cast iron pan on one side (without the glaze) with a little oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes.) Slice on angle if desired on cutting board, transfer to plates, drizzle with remaining glaze, add sesame seeds and green onions if using and serve.
Recipe Notes
-
Choose your preferred sous vide temp for chicken breasts:
Choose a temp below for your ideal doneness. Cook for 1.5–4 hours max. Serious Eats tested a range of temperatures for chicken breasts with these results:- 140°F / 60°C: Very soft and juicy, may appear slightly pink (but it’s safe and fully pasteurized).
- 144°F / 62°C: Soft, moist (my preferred temp).
- 150°F / 66°C: Juicy and tender, slightly stringy.
- 160°F / 71°C: Firm, more traditional texture, less juicy.
- Water Displacement Method (instead of vacuum sealer): Place chicken in a Ziploc bag. Slowly lower into water to push out air. Seal just above waterline.
- No sous vide equipment? Use the grill, oven, or skillet, then glaze. For all 3 methods, season breasts, spray with oil, and cook to 155F/68C temperature. Test with an instant thermometer and rest the chicken after cooking for 10 minutes. It will rise to 160F/71C. Don’t overcook.
- Grill: Oil grates. Medium heat. Grill 4–6 minutes per side.
- Oven: Bake at 450°F / 232°C for 10–12 minutes.
- Skillet: Medium-high heat with 2 tsp oil. Cook 4 mins per side.
- For appetizers cut chicken into bite size pieces and serve with toothpicks.
- Make Ahead and Storage:
- Hold in the water bath: You have a window of up to 4 hours to keep sous vide the chicken.
- Fridge: Cool in ice bath, refrigerate (in bag) for up to 2 days.
- Freeze: Cool in ice bath, freeze (in bag, in a single layer) for up to 2 months.
- Reheat: Rewarm in water bath set 10°F lower than original cook temp, for 20–30 minutes.
Excited to try this tomorrow! Should I glaze before or after browning under the broiler?
I glaze the chicken before browning under the broiler and leave a few tablespoons of glaze to drizzle on after as well. Hope that helps. Good luck and let us know how it turned out 🙂
can i use orange juice instead of oranges?
Hi Rachel. Yes, you can certainly use orange juice. It will be fine – but the glaze will be a bit less intense as you won’t have the orange zest from the oranges.
I am in the middle of making this for dinner. I “read” the recipe for the sauce. Twice. I STILL saw the word “Ginger”, while missing the word “Garlic”. Don’t know where my head is today. As a result, the doubled sauce received a good dosage of fresh ginger paste, but also the same amount of garlic. We haven’t eaten dinner yet, but I will say that I cannot stop tasting this sauce. It is SO GOOD!! I cannot imagine it being nearly as good without the ginger, but I may have to try it the right way next time, just so I can be true to the actual recipe 🙂
Thanks so much!!
That’s pretty funny. Let me know how it turns out with the ginger! Mistakes and tweaks are how new recipes are born all the time 🙂
This is absolutely the only way to cook chicken breast! We used sous vide method and cooled, then reheated on grill. Sauce is delicious. Rave reviews from dinner guests last night.
So happy you and your guests loved the recipe! Thanks for leaving a comment. We always appreciate that 🙂
This recipe timing is perfect. I was just looking for something amazing to make for a small get together. Can’t wait to try it. Love citrus! Thank you
Hope you like it!
Could I use boneless skinless chicken thighs?
You definitely can Cindy, but I would sous vide the thighs at 165f for 1 1/2 hours or up to a maximum of 4 hours if you like them tender and juicy.
Thanks for this recipe. Simple and incredibly delicious, we loved it!
So glad to hear – thank you!