Can you sous vide a whole chicken? Is it easy to do? Yes and yes - if you know a few technical details, you can certainly pull off this sous vide main dish! It turns out so delicious and the presentation is something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. In this post I’ll take you from beginner to pro when it comes to sous viding an entire chicken successfully. Let’s sous vide!
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time6 hourshrs
Finishing Time45 minutesmins
Total Time7 hourshrs
Course: Dinner, Main Course, Main Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: roasted sous vide chicken, sous vide a whole chicken, sous vide entire chicken, sous vide whole chicken
While the sous vide bath preheats, prep the chicken. Clean the chicken, then place it breast side down on a cutting board. Use sharp kitchen shears to cut from top to bottom along the backbone. Repeat on the other side to fully remove the backbone from the chicken. I add the backbone to a bag in the freezer labeled “chicken stock” - though you can just discard it. Push down to flatten chicken completely.
Season chicken with garlic salt and pepper. Add chicken to a large sous vide bag, keeping it flat so it cooks evenly in the sous vide bath. Add the sprig of rosemary to the bag and vacuum seal it. Sous vide chicken at 148 degrees ºF for 6 hours.
When done, remove chicken from the hot water and shock the bag in an ice bath for 5-10 minutes. Discard the rosemary. Preheat the oven broiler to High.
Remove chicken from the bag and pat dry. Transfer to a rack placed on top of a lipped baking sheet. Add butter to the top of the chicken and broil it on High for ~3-8 minutes - until the chicken is golden brown.
Once done, allow chicken to cool for 15-30 minutes. The longer the better, in my opinion. To keep it warm, cover it with foil while it rests, however leave a little hole in the top of the foil for the steam to escape. Serve the whole sous vide chicken on a platter or cut into main pieces - leg, thigh, breast, etc. Either way looks great.
Video
Notes
Note on RAW chicken - - - The chicken should be completely cooked to 148 degrees F. If you slice the thickest part of the thigh to check, before putting it in the oven to finish, it should not be bright pink and raw.But what if the chicken is clearly raw and still bloody inside after cooking? If you found yourself with raw chicken, which means it doesn't fall apart easily with a fork), you can fix it by sticking a digital thermometer in the thickest part of the bird (that's the thigh) and cook it in the oven at 400 degrees until it reaches 165 degrees F. It will still have the benefit of being super juicy from the sous vide bath, but now it will be cooked to a safe temperature in the oven.More tips for making and finishing a whole sous vide chickenSpatchcock chicken before sous vide cooking so it cooks evenly. Don’t just stick a whole chicken into a vacuum bag and drop it into your sous vide cooker. That will lead to incomplete cooking and all the health risks that go with raw poultry.This recipe guides you towards finishing the chicken in the oven broiler on high. You can also finish it in a cast iron skillet or on the grill. For those last two options, I’d add a little olive oil first, instead of using butter as recommended for the oven broiler method.Recipe from Sip Bite Go - https://sipbitego.com/sous-vide-whole-chicken