Sous Vide Veal Chops with Mushroom Sauce
If you’re looking for a veal chop recipe that is guaranteed to be tender and boosted with a delicious sauce, check out these no-fail sous vide veal chops with mushroom sauce. Easy and impressive.
Veal is expensive. The last thing you want to dig into tough meat due to over cooking. The sous vide method eliminates the guess work, resulting in soft, tender meat cooked exactly how you like it.
The only experimenting you will have to do is with the doneness of the meat. It’s perfectly safe to eat medium rare, but some may prefer their bone-in veal chops closer to a medium cook. Even medium-well. In this case, you just increase the sous vide cooking temperature a bit.
Since veal has a mild, delicate flavor, it needs some kind of flavor boost with a sauce, chutney, or chimichurri for example.
In this recipe, we’re using a rich but simple mushroom sauce of finely chopped mushrooms, green onions, sherry, broth, garlic, and [optional] balsamic vinegar and butter.
What to serve with sous vide veal chops
This veal chop recipe pairs really well with basic mashed potatoes, root vegetable mash, lemon asparagus risotto or herb lemon cauliflower rice stir fry (for a low calorie, low carb option). Or consider these other easy side dishes: grilled carrots with balsamic glaze, Parmesan roasted cauliflower or an oven roasted vegetables recipe.
If you don’t like mushrooms, you can just use an easy 5 minute beef gravy with the veal.
FAQ – Good To Know
Veal is produced from very young male dairy beef calves (1-3 months). The meat is lean and has a mild, delicate flavor. There are two types of veal: milk-fed which is very pale pink (almost whitish) and grain fed which has a more reddish color. Both types taste the same, but the milk fed veal is more tender. (both are very tender with a sous vide method though)
Look for pale whitish-pink meat if you want milk fed veal which is more tender. Redder meat means the calf is older with less tender meat. Note that tenderness is NOT an issue with sous vide so either is fine). Avoid sinewy looking meat, yellowish outside fat and greyish-white bones. For bone-in chops, I prefer rib chops, but loin chops are good too. Frenched veal chops are the exact same meat as regular veal chops. The bones are just trimmed for a nice presentation.
1. For more tenderness, cook the meat longer (but excessive time for the cut of meat and thinness of meat can make it mushy)
2. Time is determined by the cut of meat and the thickness of the meat (not the weight). Tougher cuts of meat (like brisket) and thicker meat need more cooking time.
3. Temperature will determine the “doneness” of the meat. Lower temps for medium rare, higher temps for medium-well.
4. Cook straight from frozen by adding and extra 30 minutes to cook time for a 1″/2.5cm thickness and 2 extra hours for a 2″/5cm thickness.
Because we’re making a rich mushroom sauce, I skip the brining and marinating for this recipe. However, you certainly can to add more flavor to the meat. If brining, use a weaker brine (not as much salt) for a couple hours only so as not to overpower the flavors. For a marinade, skip the acid component (e.g. vinegar or lemon).
Tailor To Your Taste
There is not much variation for cooking the veal chops sous vide. There are options, however, with the mushroom sauce:
- Type of mushrooms to use: any kind will do – button, shitake, cremini, portobello, porcini or a combination
- If you don’t like or have mushrooms, try chopped onions and peppers with fresh or dried herbs like thyme, chives or rosemary.
- Instead of sherry, feel free to use white or red wine.
- For the broth, use beef or chicken broth (I like to use a combination of the two). If you have veal stock, even better!
Shortcuts
Skip the mushroom sauce and use a store-bought fruit chutney instead. Or this 5-minute fresh herb sauce.
Make Ahead
- You can make the chops a day or two ahead. Complete the sous vide process, put the chops with the bag in the fridge. When you’re ready to use them, place the bag in the sous vide water bath at 125F/51.6C for an hour. Then continue with the recipe.
- The mushroom sauce can be made several days ahead as well.
Other sous vide recipes you might like
- sous vide pork tenderloin recipe -maple mustard
- sous vide prime rib (for 3-4)
- sous vide turkey thighs
- Korean beef short ribs (sous vide)
- sous vide chicken citrus glazed
- sous vide salmon recipe with caper sauce
- Vietnamese pork chops (sous vide)
- sous vide pork chops with apple chutney
- sous vide turkey breast
- sous vide pork loin with raspberry balsamic sauce
- sous vide flank steak
- sous vide lamb chops
- Indian butter chicken (sous vide or regular)
- sous vide chicken thighs
How to make sous vide veal chops with mushroom sauce
Vacuum seal chops or place in ziploc bag. Cook sous vide at 134F/56.6C for medium-rare-ish (as pictured) for 3.5-4 hours. Remove from bag and pat dry with paper towels.
For mushroom sauce, saute mushrooms, onions, garlic and seasonings for a few minutes. Add sherry and let most of it evaporate. Stir in flour and cook for two minutes. Add broth and balsamic, stirring until thickened for 2-3 minutes. For extra richness, stir in cold butter if desired.
Sous Vide Veal Chops with Mushroom Sauce
Equipment
- Sous Vide equipment
Ingredients
- 2 bone-in rib or loin veal chops, about 2.2 lbs/1kg 1-1 1/2 inches thick
- salt, pepper, garlic powder, fresh rosemary sprigs (or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary or thyme)
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (for pan sear in last step)
Mushroom Sauce
- 2 teaspoon neutral olive oil or vegetable oil
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms (4 oz/50g) any kind
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/4 cup (60ml) sherry or fortified wine (white or red wine ok instead)
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 1 1/2 cup (355ml) broth – chicken, veal or beef (or combination)
- 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
- 1 tablespoon cold butter (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste (depends on saltiness of broth)
Instructions
- HEAT SOUS VIDE WATER BATH to:° 134F/56.6C for medium rare to medium (this is what I use). ° 136-140F/57.8-60F for medium to slight more done.
- PREPARE BONE-IN VEAL CHOPS: Season veal chops generously on both sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place in large zipper lock bag (or in two medium ones) along with a sprig of fresh rosemary. If bones are sharp, double bag the chops to prevent any tears/leaks. If using a vacuum seal, seal the bag. Note 1 for displacement method with ziploc bag.
- COOK SOUS VIDE: Submerge bagged veal chops in water bath and cook for 3.5-4 hours (I cook thicker chops of 1.5 inches/3.8cm for 4 hours).
- MAKE MUSHROOM SAUCE: (this can be made ahead while chops are cooking sous vide). Heat oil in a medium-sized pan to medium-high. Add green onions, garlic, thyme and mushrooms and saute for 4-5 minutes until liquid from mushrooms has evaporated. Add sherry and let it almost evaporate. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Then stir in broth (and balsamic if using). Cook for 2-3 minutes until sauce is thickened. If too thick, add more broth or water. Taste and adjust seasonings (more salt, chopped rosemary, thyme, pepper, etc). Remove from heat and stir in cold butter if using (for added richness). Spoon sauce over chops.
- FINISH VEAL CHOPS: Remove chops from water bath. Pat dry with paper towel. Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper. Sear chops on grill or in skillet. To pan sear: Heat a skillet to high (8-9/10). Add a tsp of vegetable or grapeseed oil. Sear chops for 1 minute per side and edges until browned. To grill: Heat grill to high (~500-550F). Spray chops with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill chops for 1 minute per side and on edges to create grill marks. Serve with mushroom sauce spooned over chops or on the side.
Recipe Notes
- Seal bag with displacement method: Place unzipped bag of pork chops into water until top of bag is just above water line. Air will be pushed out. Then zip up bag. Let bag go – it should sink below water line. If bag doesn’t sink, clip to side of container or add a metal spoon in bag.
- Variations for mushroom sauce:
- Type of mushrooms to use: any kind will do – button, shitake, cremini, portobello, porcini or a combination
- If you don’t like or have mushrooms, try chopped onions and peppers with fresh or dried herbs like thyme, chives or rosemary.
- Instead of sherry, feel free to use white or red wine.
- For the broth, use beef or chicken broth (I like to use a combination of the two). If you have veal stock, even better!
- Make Ahead
- A day or two ahead. Complete the sous vide process, put the chops with the bag in the fridge. When you’re ready to use them, place the bag in the sous vide water bath at 120F/49C for an hour. Then continue with the recipe.
- The mushroom sauce can be made several days ahead as well.
Did this with the suggested curry/golden raisin rice — both excellent.
I reduced the amount of broth to get it to thicken, too me 7 or 8 minutes to do that.
On to the Lobster tail sous vide tonight.
Great choices Larry – a good combo for sure. Hope you enjoy the lobster too – yum!
So tender and tasty – mouthwatering!
Great to hear! Thanks for trying the recipe.
Delicious !!!