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.

You add herbs to the sous vide bag and it slowly adds herby flavor to the steak. Butter– don't forget to add the butter to the sous vide bag before you add it to the sous vide. The butter melts in the sous vide and adds delicious butter flavor to the steak.

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.

Sous Vide: Produces tender and moist results with enhanced flavor retention. You can even put marinades, sauces, or herbs into the vacuum sealed bag with your food so the flavor soaks in. Instant Pot: Retains flavors well, but textures can vary based on the chosen cooking method.

Drawbacks of Sous Vide Cooking

Additionally, sous vide cooking can take longer than traditional cooking methods, since the food must be cooked for a longer period of time at a lower temperature.

Sous vide cooking, in particular, is a cooking technique that both home cooks and professional chefs can take advantage of for its potential to streamline complex dishes.

With sous vide, food can be held at the desired cooking temperature for much longer than with traditional cooking methods. However, at some point, food will become mushy and overcooked in its texture since meat tenderisation is still going on while held in the water bath.

Can you overdo sous vide? ›

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. Just remember that while you technically can't 'overcook' your food, the quality could start to decline if it's left to cook for a lot longer than is recommended.

Sous vide takes the guesswork out of cooking salmon perfectly and allows you to easily add fat and aromatics. Picking the right temperature range gives you great control over the finished texture of the fish.

Do Steakhouses use Sous Vide Cooking Methods? Pre-cooking juicy steaks using sous vide is common in steakhouses across the United States. This might come as a surprise to frequent steakhouse customers, but using the technique allows chefs to cook great tasting steaks every time.

Steak is held up as the best example of just what sous vide can do, so it's probably one of the things that you'll want to try first. It's heartbreaking when you leave an expensive piece of steak just a little bit too long and wind up making it tough and dry, but thankfully, sous vide takes away all the guesswork.

Rare sous vide steak (120°F/49°C): Your meat is still nearly raw. Muscle proteins have not started to contract much and will have a slippery, wet texture. Chewier cuts, like hanger or flap meat, will be particularly tough at this stage. Fat has not yet started to render, so fattier cuts will have a waxy texture.

The most popular sous vide containers are the common stockpot and saucepan. In case you're wondering, the difference is that sauce pans tend to be smaller, ranging from 1 quart/0.946 liters to around 6 quarts/5.678 liters and generally have one long handle.

Tools like immersion circulators and Sous Vide Supreme baths do make the process faster and easier, but they are not a requirement. You can sous vide without the machine—all you need is a digital thermometer and some plastic freezer bags.

So, if you're wondering how to use an Instant Pot as a slow cooker—and are unsure if you can do so—the answer is a firm “yes!” Slow cooking is one of the cooking functions that the “multi” moniker refers to.

The new function of the Instant Pot ULTRA is a setting on the control panel that is similar to custom and manual mode, except now you, can do more than just choose the cooking time and pressure – you can choose the cooking temperature, too!