Sous Vide Chicken Breast with Garlic Shallot Pan Sauce
If you don’t own a sous vide, what are you even doing with your life? I ask this seriously, because I really and truly must know. Mike gifted me a sous vide years ago for my birthday. I remember opening the gift and thinking to myself, what in the heck is this contraption? This was very shortly before I started this food blog. Once I cooked with it a few times, I immediately wondered where it had been all my life and why I had never heard of it before. And now I can answer these questions for you. Where have they been: they’ve been kept hidden deep inside the kitchens of the fanciest restaurants for years and years now. Why have you never heard of it before: because these restaurants want to keep you coming back for that $80 six ounce steak. And yeah, that’s just for the steak. The mashed potatoes will cost you $10 more, thank you very much.
Sous vide literally means “under vacuum” in French. So, I’ll tell you what you’re supposed to do here, versus what I do. I think most people, when they choose to cook sous vide, prepare their foods and then vacuum seal the bag closed. That’s the “under vacuum” part. I don’t do this. I simply put my proteins in a bag, and then either seal them, or not. I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been cooking sous vide for years now and not once have I ever vacuum sealed my proteins inside the bag. This is because I do not own such a device to accomplish this. My kitchen is about 70 square feet, including the counters and all the appliances and all that jazz. So yeah, I don’t have room for a vacuum sealer. And I’m not mad about it. I’ve never wanted one. You do not need one to cook sous vide. Your proteins will be in their bag and you will make sure that the water level is a few inches over the top of your proteins, and you’ll be good to go. The proteins sink in the water. They don’t float, so you really don’t need to seal the bag at all. Just a little tip from me to you. Save your kitchen storage allotment for something truly awesome, like an air fryer. 70000 times better than a vacuum sealer.
I like to serve this chicken breast over my Garlic Smashed Potatoes because they pair perfectly together. To get a little green in your day, serve it up with some steamed broccoli or a green salad on the side, and you’ve got yourself a complete meal! This chicken breast makes for the perfect date night dinner. Don’t let the instructions fool you. What I love about cooking sous vide is that I can get my proteins in the water bath, and then walk away for an hour or so. Sometimes I go for a run, a walk, do laundry, or anything else I need to get done. Then I come back, get a nice sear on both sides of my meat, and then eat it up! Easy peasy, and really freaking delicious too.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Set up your sous vide water bath. Turn the sous vide on and set the temperature to 155° F.
- Place the chicken breasts on a flat surface and pat dry all over. Season generously on both sides with sea salt and pepper. Place the chicken breasts in your sous vide bag. Add 1 tbsp ghee, 1 tbsp chicken broth, and the fresh thyme to the bag. Once the water bath comes to temperature, place the bag into the water bath and secure. Leave in the water bath for at least one hour and up to three hours.
- After the sous vide time is up, remove the chicken breasts from the bag and pat dry all over. Reserve the liquid in the bag (but discard the sprig of thyme) and set aside.
- Place a medium skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add 2 tbsp avocado oil. When the skillet is very hot but not smoking, gently place the chicken breasts in the skillet. Sear for 30 seconds, then flip. Sear for 30 seconds, then add 1 tbsp of ghee to the skillet and swirl the skillet to distribute the fat. Sear for 30 seconds on each side and then remove the chicken from the skillet and place on a plate. A meat thermometer should register 165° F when inserted. Turn the burner off.
- There should be some fat remaining in the skillet. If there is not, add a little more ghee. Once melted, add the garlic and shallot to the skillet. Sauté 2-3 minutes until very fragrant and starting to brown and soften. Add all of the reserved liquid from the sous vide bag to the skillet. Scrape the bottom of the skillet to release any bits of chicken that may be stuck to the bottom. Sauté 2-3 minutes more, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened a bit.
- To serve, slice the chicken and plate. Spoon the pan sauce over the chicken, serve hot, and enjoy!
