January is a time when I return to the simple in my kitchen. After 6 weeks of feasts, cookies, pies, more feasts, and all the glitter of the holidays, it’s time to simplify. This month I want to eat down the freezer, use up the pantry supplies, and, in general, take things easy. Today? Sous vide chicken teriyaki.
I haven’t written much about sous vide cooking here, but since my first post on the Anova sous vide cooker several years ago, it’s been a steady tool in my kitchen. What I love about it is the ability to prepare something and then let it cook unattended. Prep is simple enough: put the food plus a bit of seasoning in a bag (a plain freezer-weight zip bag works fine for this), dunk it into water kept at a specific temperature, and just let it cook. I’ll be posting more about sous vide cooking this year, because – hey! It’s easy, and it works.
In my quest for easy, I am certainly not going to give up satisfying food. Take this teriyaki chicken as a case in point: it’s moist and perfectly cooked, and not at all stringy (I hate it when chicken goes stringy!) It’s actually easier than my standard method of the dish, and I love the results. Even better, the leftovers will be perfectly cooked, as well: just chill (or freeze) a portion right in its bag, and bring it back up to serving temperature later on.
That’s my kind of simple, right there.
Don’t be dismayed by the length of this recipe! If you’re new to sous vide cooking, the detail here will help you. If you’re used to SV, this is for you: sous vide chicken teriyaki: 147.5/64 1.5-3H, and make a quick sauce. Let me explain just what that means, okay?
preparation
Set up your sous vide container and device. Set the temperature to 147.5˚F or 64˚C. While the water comes up to temperature, bag the chicken breasts.
If your grocery store has chicken breasts as large as mine does, you’ll serve 2 people from every half breast. Trim the chicken breast halves; cut away any globs of fat. Place each chicken breast half in a bag – this can be a special bag made for vacuum sealing, or a freezer-strength zip bag. In each bag, add 1/2 clove sliced garlic and 1 teaspoon soy sauce.
Seal each bag appropriately, either with a vacuum sealer, or, if a zip bag, by water displacement: holding the opening above the water, dunk the rest of the bag. Press out any air and zip the bag shut. Then remove the bag from the water; it will only go back into the sous vide system once the water is at the correct temperature.
tip: make ahead strategy
If the chicken breasts that you bought are fresh, and never have been frozen, it’s certainly possible to freeze prepared bags of chicken. Label each bag with the temperature and time required (147.5/64, 1.5-3 hrs) and stash them in your freezer. To cook them, you can thaw the bags in the refrigerator overnight, or place them in the sous vide bath right from frozen, in which case you’ll need to add an hour to the time.
cook sous vide
When the water temperature is correct, place the sealed bags in the water. Make sure that the water can circulate freely around the bags, and then simply let them hang out in their warm bath for at least 1 1/2 hours, and not more than 3 hours. (More sous vide time would affect the texture of the chicken, edging it toward mushy.)
finish with a quick sear
At the end of cooking time, pull the bags from the water and set them on a towel. For each chicken breast you’d like to serve, remove it from the bag and discard the sliced garlic and any accumulated liquid. Pat the chicken breast dry with paper towels.
Heat a skillet, add just a bit of oil, and sear the chicken breast on both sides, just to get a little color on there. Remove to a cutting board and slice as you wish.
teriyaki sauce shortcuts
Finally, make a quick teriyaki sauce in that skillet: add some soy sauce and a bit of honey, or even some peach or apricot jam. Heat and stir this mixture, and drizzle it over the sliced chicken breast. Scatter sliced green onions over top, and you have a lovely dish.
Suggestions for serving: rice and mixed vegetables, or steamed bok choy.
Sous Vide Chicken Teriyaki
Ingredients
- FOR EACH SERVING
- 1 half chicken breast, boneless & skinless, trimmed
- ½ clove garlic, sliced
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 sm green onion, sliced (white & light green parts only)
Instructions
- Don’t be dismayed by the length of this recipe! If you’re new to sous vide cooking, the detail here will help you. If you’re used to SV, this is for you: sous vide chicken teriyaki: 147.5/64 1.5-3H, and make a quick sauce. Let me explain just what that means, okay?
- Set up your sous vide container and device. Set the temperature to 147.5˚F or 64˚C. While the water comes up to temperature, bag the chicken breasts.
- If your grocery store has chicken breasts as large as mine does, you’ll serve 2 people from every half breast. Trim the chicken breast halves; cut away any globs of fat. Place each chicken breast half in a bag – this can be a special bag made for vacuum sealing, or a freezer-strength zip bag. In each bag, add 1/2 clove sliced garlic and 1 teaspoon soy sauce.
- Seal each bag appropriately, either with a vacuum sealer, or, if a zip bag, by water displacement: holding the opening above the water, dunk the rest of the bag. Press out any air and zip the bag shut. Then remove the bag from the water; it will only go back into the sous vide system once the water is at the correct temperature.
- If the chicken breasts that you bought are fresh, and never have been frozen, it’s certainly possible to freeze prepared bags of chicken. Label each bag with the temperature and time required (147.5/64, 1.5-3 hrs) and stash them in your freezer. To cook them, you can thaw the bags in the refrigerator overnight, or place them in the sous vide bath right from frozen, in which case you’ll need to add an hour to the time.
- When the water temperature is correct, place the sealed bags in the water. Make sure that the water can circulate freely around the bags, and then simply let them hang out in their warm bath for at least 1 1/2 hours, and not more than 3 hours. (More sous vide time would affect the texture of the chicken, edging it toward mushy.)
- At the end of cooking time, pull the bags from the water and set them on a towel. For each chicken breast you’d like to serve, remove it from the bag and discard the sliced garlic and any accumulated liquid. Pat the chicken breast dry with paper towels.
- Heat a skillet, add just a bit of oil, and sear the chicken breast on both sides, just to get a little color on there. Remove to a cutting board and slice as you wish.
- Finally, make a quick teriyaki sauce in that skillet: add some soy sauce and a bit of honey, or even some peach or apricot jam. Heat and stir this mixture, and drizzle it over the sliced chicken breast. Scatter sliced green onions over top, and you have a lovely dish.
- Suggestions for serving: rice and mixed vegetables, or steamed bok choy.