Simple Sous Vide Recipes to Make at Home

By Marilyn Kitzes  

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives in so many ways—among them that many of us are inside, and cooking at home, more. With more days spent at home, the time couldn’t be better to try new recipes. These selections include ingredients that not only are easy to find at the grocery store, but also offer simple comfort. Because we all could use some of that right now.

CAST IRON FRITTATA
Eggs are the ultimate solution for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Not only do they keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 weeks, they’re versatile and pack a nutritional punch. This recipe uses the magic of sous vide (of course, our favorite way to create the perfectly cooked egg). After immersing an egg and spice mixture for 45 minutes in your circulator, it’s transferred into a cast iron skillet—along with sous vide potatoes—and baked together for 20 minutes. Anytime meal perfection!

TURKEY BREAST WITH SAGE BROWN BUTTER
With just five ingredients, this delicious recipe is not only simple, it’s an all-around pleaser. Its two defining flavor elements come from the sage butter—and the turkey’s crispy skin. Before the turkey is immersed in the circulator (for 2 1/2 hours with a portion of the butter), the skin is removed from the breast all in one piece and baked until crispy. To serve, slice the turkey, add extra butter, and garnish with the skin, which is broken into bite-sized pieces.

COFFEE RUBBED FLAT-IRON STEAK
A flat-iron steak, a tablespoon of French roast coffee grounds, and some standard pantry ingredients are all you need for this classic recipe—which is easy to double or triple if you want leftovers. The special spice rub—a mixture of coffee grounds, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and paprika—is marinated with the steak for 2 hours. A slow, 24-hour sous vide cooking and a quick sear on a skillet and you’re done. Feel free to experiment with the two side dishes, which include a sous vide cauliflower mash and a compressed kale (which only requires a plastic pouch).

HONEY PEANUT BUTTER CUSTARD POPSICLES
Adults and kids alike will flip for these delicious dessert pops created from a custard of vanilla, honey, and peanut butter—and a unique candied peanut mixture. Cook the custard with the peanuts in a water bath for 1 hour, then freeze overnight in pop molds, and enjoy. Note that although the candied peanuts call for kaffir lime leaves, you can substitute bay leaves or lemon zest—or even combine the two—to create the complex flavor.

CARMEN MIRANDA
If ever there was a time for a cocktail, it’s now. And although traveling to the tropics may not be in the cards soon, a banana-infused bourbon cocktail will certainly transport you to a better place. This recipe, which comes from Washington, DC’s avant-garde Barmini—brought to us by chef and humanitarian José Andrés—calls for a bottle of bourbon, ripe bananas, cinnamon sticks, bitters, and demerara sugar (feel free to substitute turbinado, light brown, or granulated sugar). Just seal all the ingredients in a pouch, cook in a circulator for 2 hours, refrigerate, and serve.