Sous Vide Turkey Breast
Perfection! Sous vide turkey breast is impossible to beat for moist, tender, succulent turkey – EVERY time. Amazing results with this method – guaranteed.
And don’t just think Thanksgiving. Turkey can be a light summer dinner, too, when served with lighter sides and accompaniments such as peach chutney, mango salsa, savory peach sauce or cranberry relish.
Why sous vide a turkey breast
If you’ve read any of our other sous vide recipes, you’ll know that I’m completely sold on the sous vide method for its easy, walk-away, stress-free benefits.
Once you master a few simple rules, you are pretty much sure to achieve tender, moist meat with precise control over the doneness you choose.
Unlike the oven or grill, the temperature is the same from edge to edge and not, for example, overcooked on the outside and undercooked in the middle. Incredibly reliable.
As for turkey, I hate, hate, hate dry-as-a-bone turkey that you can choke on if not soaked in gravy. With traditional methods, a whole turkey is tough to get right as the different parts of the turkey cook at different rates. Turkey breasts are easier, but you often still have to hold your breath when you slice into it.
With the sous vide turkey, there are no surprises. Just a simple boneless turkey roast recipe, cooked sous vide to achieve a juicy, succulent, tender turkey breast every time.
For a few tips and tricks we’ve learned in the last couple of years about sous vide cooking (after lots of practice and research), take a look at our post on Best Sous Vide Recipes.
Cooking Temperatures and Time
I do suggest experimenting with your preferred ‘cook’ from super soft and moist to the more traditional.
For this recipe, I used a temperature of 144F for 2 3/4 hours and the turkey was outstanding – flavorful, tender and juicy. If you prefer your turkey a bit more well done with no pink at all, cook it at 145-146F.
Note that you can do 2-3 half-breasts at the same time if you have a large enough vessel.
Great Side dishes for sous vide turkey breast
Everyone has his/her favorite sides for turkey on Thanksgiving or other times. Here’s a few of ours:
- Vegetable quinoa stuffing (pictured above with the turkey)
- Vegetarian stovetop stuffing
- How to make homemade stuffing
- Mashed potatoes
- Thanksgiving side dishes (includes gravy, sides, stuffing, cranberry sauce and more)
- Pearl couscous with vegetables and apricots
And don’t forget gravy!
- chicken gravy without drippings in 8 minutes (use turkey broth if you have any, including juices from the sous vide bag, strained) or
- turkey gravy without drippings (make ahead from scratch)
Make Ahead
- To prepare ahead, the turkey breast can be seasoned, sealed in a vacuum bag and refrigerated for a couple of days before cooking.
- If cooking the same day, you have an additional 2 hour window to keep the turkey in the sous vide bath (up to 5 hours total) without affecting the temperature and texture.
- To cook it a couple of days ahead, sous vide the turkey, cool it down for 10-15 minutes in an ice bath, then place bag with the turkey in the fridge. To warm the turkey (retherm it), place in water bath at 140F/60C for 45 minutes to an hour. Then pat dry and sear if desired.
Other turkey recipes you might like
Step by step instructions
Sear skin in hot pan for 1-2 minutes with a touch of oil for a nice presentation.
Please leave a 5 star rating ***** with a comment in the recipe card below if you like the recipe, Thank you so much!
Sous Vide Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- ½ turkey breast, bone-in, skin-on (about 2.5 pounds/1.13kg) – or 2 pound/0.91kg boneless, skin on.
- seasonings: kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, fresh or dried rosemary or thyme (or poultry seasoning)
For searing turkey after sous vide cooking:
- 2 teaspoon oil with high smoke point (e.g. canola, avocado, extra light olive oil, corn, peanut oil or ghee/clarified butter)
- additional salt, pepper
Video
Instructions
- HEAT SOUS VIDE WATER BATH: Fill sous vide container with water. Set temperature on your immersion circulator (or box sous vide) to 144F/62.2C (or 145-146F/63C if you want no pink) and allow water to heat to that temperature. About 10-15 minutes.
- PREPARE TURKEY FOR SOUS VIDE: Remove bone (optional): To remove bone from turkey breast, slice turkey meat off as close to the bone as possible. You can leave the turkey on the bone if you prefer. Reserve bone for making broth for gravy if desired. Season: Generously season all sides of breast with kosher salt and pepper, a little garlic powder and fresh sprig of rosemary or thyme (or dried) or poultry seasoning.Place turkey breast in bag: Use vacuum sealer or displacement method (Note 1). If using a vacuum sealer, fold back top of vacuum bag about an inch to create a flap (this ensures no food touches the top of the bag where it gets sealed). Insert turkey breast and shape it to an even thickness (to cook more evenly). Unfold flap and vacuum seal the bag using a vacuum sealer. Turkey can be refrigerated in the bag for a couple of days. Submerge into sous vide bath: When temperature of water bath reaches 144F (or 145-6F), submerge bag into water. (Note 1 for displacement method)
- COOK TURKEY SOUS VIDE: Cook time is a minimum 2 3/4 hours and a maximum of 5 hours. Remove turkey from sous vide machine and remove from bag. Reserve juices to make a gravy if desired (there will not be a lot of juices though). Pat turkey dry with paper towels.
- MAKE IT LOOK BEAUTIFUL (OPTIONAL): The turkey meat is now perfect to eat as is, but if you want a pretty presentation and crispy skin, you can pan sear or grill it skin side down on high heat 1-2 minutes. First, season turkey lightly again on all sides. To sear skin side: Heat oil in a heavy pan to medium-high heat (about 8 out of 10). Place skin side down, pressing into pan on all corners to achieve a golden brown over the entire skin side for a total of 1-2 minutes. To grill: Grill skin side down on high heat for 1-2 minutes.
- SLICE AND SERVE: Slice horizontally and serve with gravy if desired, cranberry orange relish and other sides.
Recipe Notes
- Displacement method (instead of a vacuum sealer): You can use a freezer-grade zipper-lock bag instead of a vacuum bag. Place turkey breast in bag. Slowly lower bag into water. The pressure of the water will press air out of bag. When bag is just above water line and air is mostly out, seal (zip up) bag.
- Make Ahead:
- Prepare ahead, the turkey breast can be seasoned, sealed in a vacuum sealed bag and refrigerated for a couple of days before cooking.
- Cook the same day, you have an additional 2 hour window to keep the turkey in the sous vide bath (up to 5 hours total) without affecting the temperature and texture.
- Cook it a couple of days ahead, sous vide the turkey, cool it down for 10-15 minutes in an ice water bath, then place bag with the turkey in the fridge. To warm the turkey (retherm it), place in water bath at 135F/57C – 140F/60C for 45 minutes to an hour. Then pat dry and sear if desired.
- To freeze: Remove from sous vide, cool turkey completely (plunge into ice bath for 10 minutes), place in freezer in the same bag (don’t open it).
- To reheat sous vide: Thaw in fridge overnight and reheat turkey in bag at 135F/57C-140F/60C sous vide water bath for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Or reheat from frozen for 1-2 hours, depending on thickness. A very gently simmering pot of water on the stove will work as well.
- To reheat in oven: Place thawed turkey breast in pan with a few tablespoons of juices from bag or water to keep it moist. Cover well with foil and heat at 350F/175C for 30 minutes until warmed through, depending on thickness.
Nutrition
This recipe has been updated from the originally published recipe in 2017.
I removed the breast from the bone- quite a large meaty bone remains. Do I roast or sous vide the meaty bone?
You can use it to make a turkey soup, with or without roasting it (roasting deepens the flavors). You can give this Instant Pot Turkey Soup a try if you have an instant pot.
My Turkey breast is 8 pounds. How much longer should I cook it since your recipe is for a 2 and a half pound breast?
I made your chuck roast a couple of times now-WONDERFUL!
Thanks for the shout-out about the chuck roast Colleen. As for the turkey, that’s a big breast! The timing depends on thickness, not weight. So if you have two pieces (two halves from the whole breast, bones removed), you would tuck in the meat to create as even a shape as possible with the two pieces. Place them in one or two bags, and sous vide for about 4 hours assuming the thickness is ~ 4 inches. If thicker, add more time. If you want to do just one piece, place them on top of each other, tucking in any ends and creating a cylinder shape – tie it up with butcher cord. Same time, depending on the thickness. I hope that helps.
I would like to bring this to a work potluck. Could I potentially cook and sear at home and then warm it up via Sous vide at work? I have never used Sous vide to warm up something I have already seared.
You can absolutely rewarm your seared sous vide turkey Ashley – I do it all the time. Warm it up sous vide at a lower temp than you cooked it at 130-135F for 30-60 minutes depending on thickness and if it’s coming straight from the fridge. If the turkey is thick and cold, go for 60 minutes. Rest a few minutes, then slice. Lucky coworkers!
I’m planning to do this recipe because my bears are playing and I’m always in charge of food. Do you think its possible to sear the breasts in the oven with a broiler? I only worry because when I sear in the cast iron I tend to set off the smoke alarms. With guests over I’d like to avoid any panic!
Thanks!
Yes, you can broil the turkey instead of pan searing it after it’s cooked sous vide. Just for a few minutes though – turning the pan once to brown it more evenly. Another option is the gas grill for a couple of minutes. Good luck and hope your guests enjoy it!