21+ Mouthwatering Instant Pot Sous Vide Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Can I use my Instant Pot as a sous vide? ›

The original Instant Pot functioned as a pressure cooker, slow-cooker, sauté pan, steamer, and yogurt maker. The new Instant Pot Max now boasts a home canning function, automatic stirring—and a sous vide capability that allows you to precisely control water temperature.

You technically can sous vide in certain models of the Instant Pot (the Pro, Max, and Duo Plus), but this appliance is considerably less accurate than using an immersion circulator. Instant Pots take longer to preheat and do not maintain water temperature as reliably as a purpose-built sous vide machine.

The minimum cook time to sous-vide bottom round roast or rump roast is 24 – 48 hours. I would recommend 24 hours, to get an even more tender roast. The sous-vide temperature is 138 – 145°F (59 – 63°C). The minimum cook time to sous-vide bottom round roast or rump roast is 12 – 36 hours.

It has three different temperature ranges. “Normal” is 320 to 349 degrees Fahrenheit, perfect for regular sautéing or browning. “More” is 347 to 410 degrees, great for stir-frying or browning something even more. “Less” is great for simmering or thickening a sauce, typically at 275 to 302 degrees.

Ziplock and Glad brand bags are made from polyethylene plastic, and are free of BPAs and dioxins. A good rule of thumb is that when a bag is rated as microwave safe (which requires FDA approval) you can use it for sous vide. Even Dr. Schaffner agrees.

At its most fundamental level, sous vide cooking is the process of sealing food in an airtight container—usually a vacuum sealed bag—and then cooking that food in temperature-controlled water. In French, the term translates to "under vacuum," which makes sense.

If you're not careful about cooking times (as specified by the product manufacturer), your food can become contaminated. In addition, if your food is not properly vacuum sealed, or your food becomes contaminated during prep, cooking sous-vide poses an additional threat.

When you're working in a professional kitchen, there's no room for error, and things have to be done exactly by the book. This is where sous vide really comes into its own, allowing chefs an unparalleled level of control over their dishes.

Sous vide is a great cooking method but it's a one trick pony. If you want to cook a piece of meat to an exact internal temperature, perfectly, sous vide is the best method. A long slow soak in a sous vide bath will transform a tough piece of meat into a hunk of tenderness as well, but that's all sous vide is good for.

You can also potentially overcook your meats when it comes to searing them before serving, especially if you're using a much thinner cut of meat. So, while it's certainly very difficult to overcook your food using sous vide, to say that it's impossible is a little bit of an overstatement.

What is the best beef to sous vide? ›

Most beef cuts can be cooked sous vide, including larger, tougher cuts such as Short Ribs or Chuck Roast, but rich, well-marbled cuts such as Strip Steak also really benefit from this preparation.

For example, many chefs recommend that sous vide steak should not be cooked for longer than four hours because the connective tissue begins to break down and the steak can become mushy. If the recipe says to cook something for between one and four hours, it's probably not recommended to cook it for 12.

Food is vacuum-sealed and cook in water at a low-temperature; typically, 130–160°F/ 55–71°C.

Improved Nutrition. Quite often, when using traditional cooking techniques, food loses the fats that add nutritional value. As with the food's juices, sous vide cooking techniques keep essential vitamins and antioxidants locked in with the food.