Sous Vide Chicken Breast

Never worry about overcooked and dry chicken again with this tender and juicy Sous Vide Chicken Breast recipe with garlic butter!

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 2

Total Time 2 10

Servings people

Calories 556kcal

1 ½ - 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
4 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 roasted garlic cloves (substitute ½ teaspoon garlic powder or sous vide garlic)
1 tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Heat a sous vide water bath to 140°F degrees.
Combine the chicken with 2 tablespoons of butter, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper in a vacuum seal bag.
Vacuum seal, trying to keep a little space between each breast so they cook properly.
Cook the chicken in the water bath for 2 hours.
Remove from the water bath and take the chicken out of the bag (set it on a plate), reserving the juice for serving.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium high heat.
Add the breasts and brown for 30 seconds on each side, spooning butter over the top while browning. Add the reserved bag sauce in the last 20-30 seconds
Remove, slice and serve.

Adjust the recipe for more chicken breasts as desired. Cook as many as you can fit in a singer layer in vacuum seal bags.

To ensure the chicken breasts cook evenly and properly, make sure they’re not overlapping when you seal the bag. For this reason, I prefer to use vacuum seal bags instead of ziplock.

If you use bone-in chicken breasts, you will need to add 30 minutes to the cook time

For safe and even cooking of the chicken, make sure the bag doesn’t start floating in the water bath. If it floats, just open the vacuum seal or ziplock bag, let the excess air out and reseal it.

You can also use something heavy to weigh down the bag to ensure it doesn’t float. I like to use this sous vide sinker weight or one of these sous vide magnets.

When browning the chicken breasts, make sure you only do so for 30 seconds per side. If you leave them for longer, they may overcook and dry out.

If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt you add to the chicken when seasoning it

For extra juicy and flavorful chicken breasts, be sure to baste with butter as you’re browning them.

I don't recommend using fresh, raw garlic as cooking garlic at low temperatures for a long time can potentially cause food safety issues.