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Impress your dinner guests this holiday season with a Sous Vide Whole Duck! The tender and flavorful dark meat and crispy skin makes this one a show stopper for Christmas dinner!
If you’re wondering how to sous vide a whole duck, this recipe includes all the tips and tricks including where to buy duck, why you should spatchcock it and how to get golden brown and crispy skin!
When we want to impress dinner guests or prepare something special for the holidays, we usually serve duck. This sous vide duck confit is so tasty and elegant, it’s truly restaurant quality.
This sous vide duck breast with orange glaze is a favorite to serve at dinner parties and these duck bites are the perfect delicious appetizer for any party! And to keep you warm at night, stewed duck is the answer.
Can you tell that I love to prepare duck using the sous vide? It’s just so reliable and yields the most tender and juicy duck! AND...you can use the leftovers to make this duck pizza.
So, while this roasted duck recipe is delicious and has been a Christmas staple for years, I’m changing it up this year and preparing my whole duck sous vide style!
Jump to:
Why this recipe works
- Cooking a whole duck using the sous vide requires some prep work, but once it’s in the water bath, it’s pretty hands off. Your time and the oven are freed up to make all the side dishes to go with your duck, like these duck fat crispy smashed potatoes!
- If the crispy duck skin is your favorite part, don’t worry! The duck gets a quick roast in the oven after it comes out of the water bath so the skin gets perfectly browned and crispy!
- With the sous vide (and spatchcocking), the whole duck is cooked evenly throughout! The result is a rich, tender, juicy and flavorful duck. And the controlled temperature of the water bath ensures the duck isn’t overcooked or undercooked!
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What is Sous Vide?
Sous vide is basically a method of cooking using what is called an immersion circulator (i.e. the sous vide machine). This immersion circulator circulates water in a temperature controlled water bath at a certain temperature to perfectly cook your food every time.
Because the temperature doesn't change, and it keeps your meat (or dessert, veggies, etc.) at the same temperature, your risk of overcooking becomes very minimal.
To learn even more about sous vide cooking, head over and read "what is sous vide cooking and the benefits of sous vide cooking."
What is the Water Displacement Method?
The displacement method is where you slowly submerge a ziplock bag in water pushing the air out of the top of the bag (the bag should be slightly open at the top to allow air to escape).
Use a clip (I use sous vide magnets) to clip the bag to the side to keep it from floating and getting air and/or water inside.
Tools Used
You will also want to check out these posts on the best sous vide containers and the best sous vide bags for more information!
Other sous vide poultry recipes
Where can you buy whole duck?
If your local grocery store doesn’t sell whole duck (mine usually doesn’t), you have a few other options. If you live close to an Asian market, many of them sell ducks, or you can check with your local butcher shop. You can even buy duck online.
Ingredients
For the full list of ingredients and quantities, please see the recipe card below.
You’ll need a 3-5 pound whole duck for this recipe. Whole ducks normally come with giblets (heart, liver and gizzard pieces) and the neck stuffed inside. You’ll need to remove these innards before cooking the duck.
The duck is coated in a sauce which includes pomegranate juice and champagne vinegar. If you can’t find pomegranate juice, you can substitute cranberry juice. It adds a similar tart flavor and color to the sauce. For the champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar is a good substitute.
The duck is cooked with ½ cup of sliced fennel and 1 bunch of green onions, chopped into 2-inch pieces. Fennel has a unique flavor, tasting a little like black licorice, so I don’t recommend substituting it in this recipe.
As for the green onion, since the recipe calls for an entire bunch, it’s best to avoid a substitution here too. In a pinch, however, you can replace it with a mix of chopped chives and shallots.
Step by step instructions
Start by removing the spine of the duck (spatchcock or butterfly it). If you’re not sure how to do this, here is a helpful video on how to butterfly a duck.
Prick the skin all over and use a sharp knife to lightly score the skin on the breast side, making sure not to cut the meat.
Coat the duck in salt and let it sit, uncovered, in the fridge overnight.
Heat a sous vide water bath to 150F degrees.
Combine the remaining ingredients (except the fennel and green onions) in a bowl and mix to combine.
Coat the duck in the sauce and place in a vacuum seal bag (or ziplock bag if using the water displacement method) with the fennel and green onion. Seal the bag.
Place it in the water bath and let it cook for 12 hours.
Remove the duck from the water bath and the bag (reserve the bag juice) and place on a roasting rack.
Roast in a 450F degree oven for 15-30 minutes, or until the skin has turned a golden brown. Be careful not to over-roast as the duck could dry out.
While the duck roasts, place the bag juice in a saucepan and simmer, skimming the fat and particles off the top as it cooks. Adjust the taste with salt.
Remove the duck from the oven and let cool slightly. Carve and serve it drizzled with the cooked bag juice.
Expert tips
- Removing air from the sealable bag is essential for food safety as it keeps bacteria out of the bag.
- To keep bacteria out of the bag, it's also essential to spatchcock the duck for this recipe. This will remove the cavity where air can be trapped.
- Make sure the duck remains submerged in the water bath. If the bag floats, you can open it to let the excess air out, then reseal it. (This works for a vacuum sealed bag or a ziploc bag).
- You can also prevent floating by using a sous vide sinker weight or weighing the bag down with something heavy.
- Don’t forget to remove the innards in your duck! You can save them to make duck broth by following this crockpot chicken broth recipe or this Instant Pot chicken bone broth recipe. Just replace the chicken with duck.
- It's important to salt the duck and let it sit uncovered in the fridge overnight. This helps dry out the skin so it gets crispy in the oven.
- Be careful not to over-roast the duck after the water bath as it will dry out. You want to roast it just until the skin is browned and crispy.
Common questions
When you spatchcock or butterfly, you remove the cavity in the middle where air can sit while the duck cooks in the sous vide. You want to get as much air out of the bag as possible to avoid bacteria entering the bag. Spatchcocking also ensures the duck cooks evenly.
Scoring the skin on the duck breast helps to render the fat from the skin during cooking, which helps create the golden brown and crispy skin. When scoring, be careful not to cut too deeply. You want to lightly cut the skin, not the meat underneath.
For the best results, set the temperature of your sous vide water bath to 150F degrees.
At 150F degrees, the duck will only take 12 hours to cook in the water bath. Of course, spatchcocking the duck also helps speed up the process.
Since the duck is being spatchcocked and dried out overnight in the fridge, it will need to be defrosted first. This will take 1-2 days in the fridge.
Ducks are considered poultry, however, the meat is dark and tender like red meat. As such, duck may be slightly pink, even when cooked to an internal temperature of 165F degrees. Many people prefer their duck cooked medium or medium rare, with a touch of pink inside.
Make it a meal
Here are a few of our favorite side dishes to serve with duck:
- Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes
- Air Fryer Carrots with Maple Glaze
- Savory Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Instant Pot Brussels Sprouts
- Instant Pot Cabbage
- Duck Fat Parmesan Truffle Fries
If you love this recipe, leave a comment below and let us know your favorite thing about it. We'd also love to connect on Instagram! Follow us at @went_here_8_this for awesome recipes and all sorts of fun food stuff 🙂
Recipe
Sous Vide Whole Duck
Ingredients
- 3-5 pound whole duck innards removed
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste substitute fresh grated ginger
- 3 garlic cloves smashed
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate juice
- 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ cup sliced fennel
- 1 bunch green onions chopped in 2" pieces
Instructions
- Start by removing the spine of the duck (spatchcock or butterfly it). If you’re not sure how to do this, here is a helpful video on how to butterfly a duck.
- Prick the skin all over and use a sharp knife to lightly score the skin on the breast side, making sure not to cut the meat.
- Coat the duck in salt and let it sit, uncovered, in the fridge overnight.
- Heat a sous vide water bath to 150F degrees.
- Combine the remaining ingredients (except fennel and green onions) in a bowl and mix to combine.
- Coat the duck in the sauce and place in a vacuum seal bag (or ziplock bag if using the water displacement method) with the fennel and green onion. Seal the bag.
- Place it in the water bath and let it cook for 12 hours.
- Remove the duck from the water bath and the bag (reserve the bag juice) and place on a roasting rack.
- Roast in a 450F degree oven for 15-30 minutes, or until the skin has turned a golden brown. Be careful not to over-roast as the duck could dry out.
- While the duck roasts, place the bag juice in a saucepan and simmer, skimming the fat and particles off the top as it cooks. Adjust the taste with salt.
- Remove duck from the oven and let cool slightly. Carve and serve it drizzled with the cooked bag juice.
Expert Tips:
- Removing air from the sealable bag is essential for food safety as it keeps bacteria out of the bag.
- To keep bacteria out of the bag, it's also essential to spatchcock the duck for this recipe. This will remove the cavity where air can be trapped.
- Make sure the duck remains submerged in the water bath. If the bag floats, you can open it to let the excess air out, then reseal it. (This works for a vacuum sealed bag or a ziploc bag).
- You can also prevent floating by using a sous vide sinker weight or weighing the bag down with something heavy.
- Don’t forget to remove the innards in your duck! You can save them to make duck broth by following this crockpot chicken broth recipe or this Instant Pot chicken bone broth recipe. Just replace the chicken with duck.
- It's important to salt the duck and let it sit uncovered in the fridge overnight. This helps dry out the skin so it gets crispy in the oven.
- Be careful not to over-roast the duck after the water bath as it will dry out. You want to roast it just until the skin is browned and crispy.
Nutrition
BobInAZ
For the 3rd straight year, made this with my 143/137 method listed below. If you can work it into your day, cooking the dark meat at 143 for 8 hours instead of 6 will make it even more tender. Highly recommend y'all try it that way. After cooking in the sous vide, chill the bags of duck in an ice water bath (in sous vide cooking this is called "shocking") until at least down to room temp. This will help you avoid over cooking when you roast in the oven. It will still get plenty warm in the oven for eating and give you more leeway to brown the skin.
Another tip... you can sous vide and shock the duck and strain the bag juices (see below) the day before and store it in the fridge overnight before finishing in the oven and making the "demi-glace".
Duck "demi-glace":
I step up the game on the juices from cooking by making a simple "demi-glace" as follows: 1. strain the bag juices through a strainer lined with a wet paper towel. (you may have to change out the towel a couple of times to get them all to go through into the pan). Add a tablespoon or two of white wine, two more tablespoons of pomegranate juice, and 1/2 tsp of xanthum gum dissolved in at tsp of water (a thickener, you could substitute arrowroot or even flour). Boil a few minutes until reduced slightly and thickened and serve over duck after roasting.
Danielle
Thanks for your tips! These are great 🙂
dg
I must have missed this, but what do you do with the fennel and green onions? Garnish?
Danielle
Hi! It goes in the bag with the duck before cooking it (step 6).
Allen
Duck should be eaten medium rare. 150 is way too hot.
Danielle
Did you make the recipe?
Debbie
This will make the center of our 2022 Christmas meal! We are going to try 2. Maybe do the other with your orange sauce. Any tips on doing 2 at once?
Danielle
If you're going to cook them in the same bag, just make sure they don't overlap each other so they cook evenly. Otherwise I hope you love them!!
Pam
Made this dish for a banh mi family lunch and it turned out perfect! I doubled the ginger, garlic and soy and the flavors were great. I roasted the duck for only 15 minutes bc I was afraid to dry out the meat. Maybe I’ll try to broil it for a few minutes as well next time just to make sure the skin is crispy.
Danielle
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Chris M
Not finished yet but it wasn’t clear if the salt listed in the ingredients was to be used to put on the duck skin or mixed with the other ingredients in the bowl?
Danielle
The salt is used on the duck skin before letting it sit in the fridge overnight. Let me know how it turns out!
Lynn Young
Where can I buy the cookbook with all the above recipes ? The duck and all the side dishes sound delicious and I want to try them for Thanksgiving.
Danielle
Hi Lynn! I actually do not have a complete cookbook yet. I am in the process of making a sous vide holiday cookbook containing all the sous vide recipes, but it won't be ready until October. For now I just recommend bookmarking all those recipes so you can go back to them for Thanksgiving. You can also print each of them out and make your own cookbook 🙂
BelC
This was waaaaaaaay overcooked and I even set the sous vide at 137
Danielle
I'm sorry it didn't come out as you expected. How long did you roast it for after the sous vide? I'm wondering if that's what caused it to be overcooked.
Joshua Wurst
I don't understand the need for spatchcocking prior to sous vide? It will cook evenly either way. Is there an unwanted flavor element?
Danielle
It helps keep the air out of the bag as air tends to sit in the cavity and the vacuum sealer can't always get it out. You can make the recipe without spatchcoking if you prefer, but you may have issues with floating.
Josh
Thank you! After I posted I noticed this advice in the Expert Tips section. I made this last night, broiling a well-oiled skin side up bird to perfection to finish. Excellent! Thank you for creating this useful resource.
Danielle
So glad you enjoyed it Josh!
BobInAZ
I made this recipe yesterday (Christmas) and it was probably one of the top three best meals we have ever had in our lives. The breast was so tender it was almost like butter, and the flavor was great. I used immersion style circulators for years, but, they are kind of a mess and keep failing after a year or so because of hard water. I've switched to the Insta Pot Aura Pro which is an 8 quart stainless crockpot with a sous vide setting. For this recipe parted the duck into a breast section and the dark meat and put each in separate bags. I cooked the legs, thighs and wings at 143F for 6 hours, then dropped the temp to 137F and added the bag containing the breast to the water bath (keeping the dark meat in also) and cooked for 4 more hours. Instead of a fry pan, I browned the meat using an infrared grill (by Gaspro that I bought on Amazon) The results were perfect. Definitely going to try some of the other recipes on this site... tonight, the Instapot Chicken Curry Soup with the stock made from the duck bones!
Danielle
I'm so glad you liked it! Great idea to separate the legs and breast. I've got to check out that Insta Pot Aura because I love to limit the number of different devices in my kitchen. Also, I'm going to look into that Infrared grill. Hope you love the Curry Soup!
BobInAZ
I'm working on the curry soup now... cooked the chicken sous vide, of course, using duck broth, flavor is great, but, the color is much different... kind of pink rather than yellow... difference in the garam masala I guess, but the flavor is good... I don't have a pressure cooker any longer... so I cooked the potatoes separately. Once the soup cools a bit, I'll add the potatoes and chicken and just let them soak up the flavors until I reheat at dinner time... I think we have another winner.
Danielle
That's great to hear! A little odd that it would be pink instead of yellow, but it could be the spice blend used as well. I use a homemade version of garam masala and it's a very deep color. I hope you love it!
Neme
I'm attempting this for dinner on Xmas. Do I rinse the salt off before sealing it into the bag? Most recipes that use the salt drying method do, but you don't mention it...
Danielle
No, I don't rinse the salt off. I put it in just like that. It helps to flavor the meat. Enjoy!
Natalie
Wow, that duck looks amazing. Perfectly cooked and with crispy skin. I have to give your recipe a try.
Danielle
Thanks!
Jess
I love this option for a holiday dinner. Something other than ham, finally!
Danielle
Thanks!
Angela
What a great post! So much info here on how to prepare duck. This is the perfect recipe for the holidays.
Danielle
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Tavo
It looks like such a fantastic dish! I am making my groceries list to make it over the weekend!
Danielle
Hope you love it!
Rebecca Hunter
Is it critical to spus vide for 12 hours? Can I do 10? How long in the oven if I only do 10 hours sous vide?
Danielle
You can cook for 10 hours, but the meat may be just slightly less tender. The oven time will remain the same - it's mainly just to get the skin browned and crisped.
Valerie
I have heard a lot about sous vide cooking but haven't tried it. I don't like it when meat is dry so this method sounds great for guaranteed results.
Danielle
It's the best method ever for cooking meat. You should def try it!