Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

Joule® Turbo Sous Vide

Digital scale

12-inch Carbon steel skillet

2-gallon Ziplock-style freezer bag(s)

Turkey crown

Kosher salt

Sugar

Neutral oil

Sage

Why do I need to sear my turkey twice? 
We sear these breasts before and after they cook. We do this primarily because it’s the best way to develop maximum flavor. When you are <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/presearing-for-sous-vide">presearing</a> the breasts, you don’t have to worry about getting a totally even crust; you just want to develop a nice brown layer. If you want to skip the presear, you can, but trust us, it’s worth the small amount of extra effort and makes the post-sous vide sear much easier.

I have never seared turkey before. Any tips? 
Whenever you are working with poultry, you want to sear pieces skin-side down and in a really hot pan. (If you have skinless pieces, you simply sear on the side from which the skin was removed.) To test whether a pan is hot enough, sprinkle in a drop of water or two. The drops should sizzle as they hit the pan. And your bird should also make a sizzling sound when you lay it gently in the pan. Lay down the part that is closest to you first, or oil could spatter and burn you. If you don’t hear a sizzling sound as the skin makes contact with the pan, return your bird to the plate and allow the pan to heat for a little longer, then try again. As the poultry sears, it will naturally want to curl in the pan. Apply pressure with a weight or kitchen towel to ensure even contact with the pan.

I want to make dark meat, as well as white. What do I do? 
Nice. We have a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-better-way-to-turkey-cook-that-bird-sous-vide-for-the-best-feast-ever">recipe for cooking the whole bird</a>, in parts.

What if I want to cook just the legs? 
Use <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/crispy-tender-confit-turkey-legs">this recipe</a>. Or make a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turkey-roulade">roulade</a>. (NOTE: Got a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/joule">Joule</a>? Check out our turkey leg and breast guides in the app and use Visual Doneness to choose exactly how you want your bird to come out.)

I’m used to following USDA guidelines and cooking my turkey breast to [f 165]. But the temperatures in this recipe are way lower than I’m used to. Am I going to die if I eat turkey that’s cooked at a lower temperature? 
Cooking poultry to [f 165] ensures the meat is pasteurized immediately; once the meat hits that temperature for even a second, all the bacteria contained within it are dead. This is why the USDA uses this temperature as a guideline, not just for poultry, but for beef and pork. 

However, pasteurization is a function of two variables: temperature and time. As our <a href="https://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Table_4.1">friend and colleague Douglas Baldwin notes</a>, poultry that’s cooked to lower temperatures (but still above [f 130]) than the USDA recommendation can be just as safe as poultry cooked to [f 165], provided it is held at that lower temperature for an extended period of time.

The amount of time depends on the thickness of the piece of poultry, but rest assured that for this recipe, the extended cook time is more than sufficient to pasteurize your turkey.

Before we begin

Heat sous vide water bath to [f 131].

Heat sous vide bath

If starting with a whole turkey, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turkey-butchery-how-to-separate-breasts-thighs">break down turkey into airline breasts (boneless breasts with drumettes attached) and leg quarters (keeping thighs and drumsticks attached)</a>. You can reserve legs for cooking sous vide as either <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/crispy-tender-confit-turkey-legs">whole leg quarters</a> or boned out for a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turkey-roulade">roulade</a>, or for making <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/thanksgiving-turkey-nuggets">turkey nuggets</a>, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/holiday-turkey-floss">floss</a>, or <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turkey-rillettes-potted-turkey">rillettes</a>. 

If starting with a turkey crown (whole bone-in breast), break down into 2 skin-on, boneless breasts. Crowns don’t typically come with drumettes attached, so you’ll lose that bit of presentation, but your turkey will still look and taste great. 

If using skin-on boneless breasts, skip to Step 3.
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How to butcher a turkey and separate it into breasts and leg quarters.

How to Break Down a Turkey: Breasts and Leg Quarters

Break down turkey (optional)

Weigh turkey breasts. In a small bowl, scale salt to 1% of weight of turkey breasts; scale sugar to 0.5% of weight of breasts. Stir until well combined; set salt-sugar mixture aside.

You can also save yourself the hassle of doing any arithmetic by using our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/brining-guide">poultry brining calculator</a>.

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The Ultimate Guide to Brining Turkey

Scale dry-brine mixture

In a 12-inch carbon or stainless steel skillet, heat 30 g oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Holding one breast by the drumette end with the skin facing away from you, gently add, skin-side down, to pan. Using a towel, tongs, or a cooking weight, press down firmly on breast to maximize contact with pan. Cook until skin is golden brown, rotating occasionally to ensure even browning, about 90 seconds. Transfer breast, skin-side up, back to sheet pan.

Repeat with second turkey breast.

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Presear steaks and roasts before sous vide.

A Guide to Presearing for the Best Sous Vide Steaks and Roasts

Presear breasts

Season breasts evenly with all of salt-sugar mixture from Step 3. Transfer breasts to a 2-gallon ziplock-style freezer bag or vacuum-seal bag. Arrange pieces in an even single layer, making sure they don’t overlap and add 30 g oil to bag. (If using 1-gallon ziplock-style freezer bags, add one breast and 15 g oil per bag.)

Massage outside of bag(s) until breasts are evenly coated on all sides. Add sage leaves, placing leaves on flesh side.

Seal bags using water displacement method or vacuum sealer.

Bag and season turkey

When adding herbs to a sous vide bag with skin-on poultry, you want to avoid adding them to the skin side, which will cause indentations and discoloration, negatively affecting presentation and making it harder to get an even sear on the skin. By adding the herbs to the flesh side of the meat, you get all the flavor and none of the drawbacks.

Adding herbs to meat cooked sous vide

Lower bag into sous vide bath until turkey is fully submerged, and clip to side of water bath container. Cover container.

Cook for 16 hours and up to 24 hours.

Once cooked, turkey breasts can be held in sous vide bath for 4 to 12 hours longer (28 hours total) without any loss in quality.

NOTE: Turkey breasts will be fully cooked in 8 hours, but our preferred timing for ultra-tender turkey breast is 16 hours.

Cook breasts sous vide

For long cooking times, it’s important to cover your sous vide bath container to reduce evaporation. You can use a lid, a cut-up yoga mat, or some high-quality plastic wrap to cover the container.

Cover for long cooking times

Remove turkey breasts from bag(s) and transfer to a paper towel–lined plate or tray. Pat dry.

In a 12-inch carbon or stainless-steel skillet, heat remaining 30 g oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add breasts, skin-side down, to skillet. Press down firmly to maximize contact with pan. Cook until skin is golden brown, rotating breasts occasionally to ensure even browning, about 90 seconds. Transfer back, skin-side up, to plate or tray.

Sear for crispy skin

Slice breasts to desired thickness and transfer to platter. (We prefer thicker slices, but it’s up to you.) Serve.

Serve

Breasts can be cooked in advance, rapidly chilled in an ice bath for 30 minutes, and refrigerated in their bag(s) for up to 4 days. To reheat, heat a sous vide bath to [f 126] and cook turkey for at least 90 minutes and up to 2 hours before searing and serving.

Make-ahead and storage

Chances are that when you think of turkey breast, you don’t think of something juicy, succulent, and impossibly delicious. That’s about to change.Cooking a lean turkey breast sous vide transforms it into something extraordinary: crisp skin lying atop super-tender and juicy meat. The key here is treating breast meat—which we think of as white meat, similar to chicken breast—like tough dark meat since it’s actually much tougher than chicken breast. Cooking the breast at a low temperature, much lower than is typical for poultry, and extending the cook time, tenderizes the meat, both by converting any collagen to gelatin and through enzymatic tenderization. It’s basically foolproof, provided you scale the seasoning correctly for the weight of the turkey breast.Best of all, it’s an almost entirely hands-off process, and you can even <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-a-simple-and-stress-free-way-to-reheat-almost-anything">prepare it up to 4 days in advance</a>, chill it, and reheat when you’re ready to serve with absolutely no loss in quality. If you’re looking to cook a full turkey sous vide—and experience the best Thanksgiving ever while you’re at it—head to our complete <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-better-way-to-turkey-cook-that-bird-sous-vide-for-the-best-feast-ever">turkey guide</a> to get the full run-down on when to do what.

Ultra-Tender Sous Vide Turkey Breast