Sous Vide: Getting Started Class

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ChefSteps

Joule® Turbo Sous Vide

1-gallon Ziplock-style freezer bag(s)

The Breville Sous Chef® 16

Crispy Chicken Legs

Broccoli Cheddar Sauce

Olive oil

Parsley

Heat sous vide water bath to [c 70].

Heat sous vide bath

Follow the Crispy Chicken Legs recipe through Step 2. After you’ve put the chicken legs in the water, start making the Broccoli Cheddar Sauce. You’ll be cooking the chicken legs sous vide for about 60 minutes, which should be plenty of time to make the sauce. {activity:4wSswoz8fkBdqvUAYIZG9f}

This easy chicken recipe combines sous vide with a quick pan-fry to yield tender poultry legs with awesomely crispy skin.

Cook chicken legs

Make the broccoli sauce, but do not reduce it all the way. Once you’ve added the cream and cheese, reduce halfway, then let sit until you are about ready to serve. (Don’t stress about exactly how much “halfway” is—just eyeball it.){activity:1C9M5pEzX1ABJX2iL1LHl1}

Make Broccoli Cheddar Sauce

This is a great meal to serve in prewarmed dishes. Heat your oven to its lowest setting, and stick the plates or bowls in there until you’re ready to serve. You can keep them in there for as long as you want, so don’t worry if you get held up.

Heat serving dishes (optional)

Return sauce to heat and reduce until thick. Add florets and mushrooms, reduce heat to low, and cover.

Finish sauce

Remove chicken from bags and carefully pat dry.Add enough oil to a nonstick pan or cast-iron skillet to generously cover. Heat until just about smoking, then add thighs, skin side down. The oil will splatter—be sure to use tongs to avoid burning your hands.Sear until skin is golden brown, about 1 minute. Remove from pan, pat dry, and season with salt to taste.

Finish chicken

Place a mound of sauce onto each bowl or plate. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Place a chicken thigh on top of each mound of sauce, and garnish with fresh greens if desired. Serve!

Assemble your dish

Chicken, broccoli, and cheddar cheese: busy American households have been availing themselves of this casserole trifecta for decades, and for good reason. They taste awesome together. So imagine a dish that harnesses the deliciousness of the ingredient trio but also involves great textures and zero mush factor. We’re talking crispy-skinned chicken thighs with supple, juicy meat, blanketed in a velveteen sauce studded with earthy mushrooms for added umami. Dress that dish in some fresh greens (we use red ribbon sorrel, but parsley will work great), and you have a cheffy take on comfort food that’s sure to become a crossover favorite—by which we mean, prepare to please your food-snob friends and their picky-eater kids alike.

Crispy Chicken With Broccoli Cheddar Sauce

For decades now, parents have been using cheddar cheese as a bargaining chip—it’s the time-tested way to make the young folks eat broccoli. This sauce gives the classic kid-food combo a subtle upgrade with heavy cream, aged white cheddar, and a little wine. Pour it atop <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/crispy-chicken-legs">crispy chicken</a> or a baked potato, and you’ll wind up with a dinner that’s suitable for a range of palates yet easy enough to whip up at a moment&#39;s notice on a busy weeknight.

Experienced sous viders know that the cooking method is a game changer for chicken breasts, which are so very easy to over- or undercook in a traditional oven or in a pan on the stove. By cooking them slowly in water, however, we can precisely control the way the heat flows through our poultry pieces, yielding perfectly predictable, wonderfully juicy breasts every time. But the method is great for other parts of the bird too. Here, we walk you through a technique that combines sous vide with a quick pan-fry to yield tender chicken legs with awesomely crispy skin. Served alongside our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/warm-mustard-potato-salad">Warm Mustard Potato Salad</a> or <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/broccoli-cheddar-sauce">Broccoli Cheddar Sauce</a>, they make for a straightforward weeknight dinner that’s unlikely to alienate even the most persnickety of palates.