My Sous Vide Screwup and How I Fixed It

Picture of food thermometer with 140 degrees as not enough and 165 as just right.

Sous vide cooking can be “set and forget,” but the other day, I forgot before I was even set.

I was cooking chicken thighs, and for some reason, I thought 140 degrees Fahrenheit was the correct temperature. It cooked for three hours. When I got home, I prepared to finish the chicken by broiling it in the oven, but I needed to look at the recipe for the glaze. That’s precisely when I realized I should have cooked the chicken at 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

I turned the sous vide to 165 degrees Fahrenheit while preheating the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The chicken sat in 165 degrees Fahrenheit water for 15 minutes as I waited. Then, it baked in the oven for 15 minutes. I checked it with an instant-read thermometer, and the chicken was cooked. I finished it by adding the glaze and broiling. Crisis averted!

This was the second time this had happened to me. Has it occurred to you before? Let me know in the comments below.

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