Sous Vide Turkey Breast with Crispy Skin

Cooking sous vide turkey breast bone in is one of the easiest ways to cook a perfect turkey, every time. Save room in your oven by utilizing Thanksgiving sous vide recipes like this one… This recipe is similar to one published in my cookbook… Let’s make it…

Learn my tried and true sous vide turkey breast time and temperature, and how to finish the turkey in the oven for to get beautiful, roasted skin.

Quick look at this recipe…

1. Season turkey breast with butter herb paste. 
2. Vacuum-seal turkey breast with lemons. 
3. Sous vide turkey breast for 3 hours at 145 degrees F. 
4. Remove from the bag and pat dry. 
5. Add more butter herb paste and broil until golden brown.

New to sous viding turkey? Scroll down for a video and step-by-step directions you can print.

Ingredients

You just need a handful of flavorful ingredients to make this delicious turkey…

• 4 lb turkey breast (skin-on, bone-in)
• 2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp rosemary, fresh diced
• 1 tsp thyme, fresh diced
• 3 tbsp ghee / butter
• 1 tbsp shallots 
• lemon slices

This guide will teach you how to cook fresh turkey sous vide style.

If you’re cooking turkey from the freezer, see how to sous vide frozen turkey breast.

Step-by-step recipe for sous vide turkey breast

1. Preheat sous vide machine to 145 degrees F.

2. Make a paste of garlic salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, ghee, and shallots. Season the outside of the turkey breast by rubbing it with half of the paste. Set aside the rest in the fridge for the broil-finish step.

3. Add the turkey breast to a sous vide bag with lemon slices and vacuum-seal the bag. 

4. Sous vide turkey breast for 3 hours at 145 degrees F.

5. Preheat the broiler to high and remove the turkey from the hot water. Optional: shock the bag in an ice bath for 10 minutes. Remove turkey from the bag and pat dry. 

6. Coat the sous vide cooked turkey with the remaining seasoning paste. Broil the sous vide turkey breast on high for 3 to 8 minutes, until golden brown. Let rest 15 minutes, covered in foil, before serving.

Find more delicious recipes in my sous vide cookbook.

Do you have to cook sous vide turkey to 165 degrees?

I found the discrepancy between general recommended cooking temperatures and sous vide cooking process super confusing when I started. Especially when I was pregnant and trying to follow safe food guidelines.

Cooking sous vide is more like pasteurization.

Since the sous vide bath cooks the turkey for a longer period of time than in the oven, it will be fully cooked at 145 degrees.

Longer cook time = safe at a lower temperature when it comes to sous vide cooking.

With that said, when I first made sous vide turkey at home and was pregnant, I still wanted to get that “safe” 165 degree internal temperature.

This is when sous vide was new to home chefs and I wanted to be 100% safe.

So I would sous vide turkey at 145 degrees, then stick it in the oven at 425 degrees until it reached 165 degrees internally.

But – that’s not needed for this recipe! Sous vide cooking temperatures are different because they cook for a longer period of time.

You haven’t truly mastered sous vide cooking until you try this recipe for asparagus sous vide

What should sous vide turkey breast look like?

Like most proteins, sous vide turkey looks funny when it comes out of the sous vide bag.

The reason is that the turkey is cooked, but it hasn’t had the element of high heat to brown the outside.

When cooking turkey breast bone in with skin, you want the outside to take on a golden-brown color so you’ll broil the turkey in the oven on a baking sheet after the sous vide bath.

It does not necessarily have to be even, but the entire turkey skin should be colored.

The inside should be entirely white to ensure that your breast is fully cooked.

Looking for a new sous vide dish to try? Check out my butter poached sous vide asparagus.

Can turkey and vegetables sous vide at the same time?

Sous vide Brussels sprouts are a great side dish for this sous vide recipe.

But it’s important to note that vegetables and proteins cook at different times in the sous vide bath.

So you’ll want to sous vide the Brussels sprouts in advance, refrigerate them, then finish them in the broiler when the turkey is ready to be broiled.

What if my turkey is dry? 

We’ve all been there!

I think everyone has a fear at sometime that cooking turkey at home will turn out dry.

In theory, cooking turkey breast sous vide style should almost guarantee that it does not come out dry, since it can’t overcook in the sous vide bath.

Only broil it for the recommended amount of time in the oven after so it retains all the moisture and flavor.

See how to enhance a turkey gravy packet…

If you’re also a fan of dark turkey meat, check out this recipe for sous vide turkey legs.

Check out my new cookbook – The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook. It’s packed with 100+ recipes to inspire any level sous vide enthusiast.

For a sneak peak of recipes in the book, see my long-cook sous vide brisket, super juicy bone in steak sous vide, and tips on how long to sous vide frozen steak. 

The Perfect Sous Vide Setup

Everyday I’m asked, “what do you need to sous vide food?”. Here’s my answer.

1. A sous vide machine.
   Option 1: “stick” models like the Joule, Anova, or Instant Pot Slim.
   Option 2: “multipot” models like the SousPreme or InstantPot Duo Evo Plus.
2. Sous vide container.
   If using a sous vide “stick” model, you need something to hold the water the food cooks in, like a bucket or stockpot.
3. Bags to cook sous vide food.
   Keep it simple and sous vide in ziplock gallon bags, or get fancy like me with a vacuum sealer setup.
4. Nice-to-have accessories for sous vide cooking.
   – Sous vide weights to hold down food that floats.
   – Mini mason jars for desserts and sous vide egg bites.
   – Cast iron skillet to sear sous vide steaks to finish them.
5. My sous vide cookbook with 100+ recipes.

Try a new sous vide recipe…

• Sous vide salmon
• Sous vide frozen steak
• See how long to sous vide chicken
• Learn how to sous vide frozen chicken breast
• Sous vide chicken wings
• Sous vide chicken breast tenders
• Sous vide pork chops

Are you a foodie, too?

Hey home chef, hope that answers all your questions about cooking turkey breast with the sous vide machine.

Enjoy cooking and chat soon on Instagram / TikTok / YouTube.

– JennaNext, browse the Sip Bite Go recipe collection…