Easy Sous Vide Steak Recipe
Try this easy sous vide steak recipe for a restaurant-quality dinner at home! And learn why every kitchen needs an Anova Precision Cooker in their appliance repertoire!
Let me be REALLY honest with you to start this post. Life is pretty wild, one minute I’m living my best life and the next I’m being wheeled into surgery to have my appendix removed. Obviously, I had to put a bunch of things on a temporary pause, while recovering, including this post.
My plan was to share with you how to make an always perfect sous vide filet mignon but due to circumstances outside of my control (i.e. my appendix deciding to break up with me) I wasn’t able to find the most perfectly photogenic filet mignon(s) to use for photos in this post, which was a total bummer.
I’m telling you all this background because ‘every dark cloud has a silver lining’ and even though the filets that I found, and am featuring in this post are less-than -beautiful, they actually prove a point that is more important that simply sharing a singular recipe.
I want this post to be relevant to ALL OF YOU and not just a handful that regularly splurges on filet mignon. Or honestly, has access to the most perfect cuts of meat. No matter what cut of steak you buy, let’s be honest they are all expensive. And to talk ONLY about the most expensive cut isn’t meeting the needs of most. Food privilege is real and needs to be acknowledged more often by those of us with platforms like mine.
And I’m sure you can all identify with how upsetting it can be when that steak you splurged on is ruined when, despite your very best effort, it’s over cooked! (or disappointingly undercooked)
Sous vide is the secret weapon that everyone needs in their kitchen to ensure that their steaks (and many other delicious foods) are cooked perfectly every single time! No matter what size or shape, when you are using sous vide to cook a steak, ANY STEAK, dinner is always a foolproof success!
I know you’re probably thinking that it’s a little crazy for me to make a claim that includes cooking a steak perfectly or that a recipe is foolproof, but TRUST me I know what I’m talking about in this case.
But let’s back up a minute and do a deep dive into the magic behind sous vide. And why an Anova Precision Cooker is THE must have small appliance for every kitchen!
What is Sous Vide?
Sous vide (pronounced sue-veed) loosely translates to “under vacuum” in French. It refers to the process of sealing food in a bag (ideally with a vacuum-sealer) then cooking it at a precise temperature using a water bath. Sous vide allows precision cooking that is otherwise impossible to achieve through any other cooking method.
In some cases, you may also find recipes that utilize cooking foods in a sealed jar as well. I make a killer Sous Vide Cheesecake in a Jar using this method – recipe coming ASAP!
Once limited to professional chefs, restaurants have been using sous vide cooking for years to cook food to a precise temperature/doneness, consistently, every time. However, sous vide has recently gained popularity for foodies & home cooks (like ME!!) with Anova’saffordable and easy-to-use sous vide Precision Cookers!
Now before you assume that I’m only tauting the sous-vide horn because this is a collab with Anova, let me stop you right there. Back in 2015 I purchased my first Anova Precision Cooker Nano after doing a ton of research, and cooking sous vide has become one of my favorite cooking techniques since.
I have 6 years of experience using their sous vide Precision Cookers and am honestly speaking from my heart when I say that it’s one of the cooking techniques that has truly elevated my ability to make restaurant quality meals at home, like my Sous Vide Lamb Chop Recipe!
Why Choose Anova Precision Cooker for Sous Vide?
Life can be demanding, but your cooking dinner shouldn’t be! Anova is changing the way people cook; transforming an everyday task into a meaningful experience that can bring people together over a delicious meal.
When cooking sous vide with the Anova Precision Cooker, your proteins and vegetables can hang out in the sous vide bath until you’re ready to eat, with no loss of quality! Let dinner happen on your schedule, with perfect, predictable results, every time.
5 Reasons every Kitchen Needs a Sous Vide
Telling you to add another appliance to your kitchen isn’t good enough. ‘Because I said so’ isn’t my style. Here are 5 reasons you need a Anova Precision Cooker AND consequently, how cooking sous vide will indeed SAVE you money!
- Consistent Results. Because you cook your food to a precise temperature for a precise amount of time, you can expect consistent results. I know that I want my steak cooked at 125F for my perfect rare and every time it’s perfect, no questions asked.
- Superior Taste. During the sous vide process, the food cooks in it’s own juices. This ensures that the food is moist, juicy and tender. Plus you completely control what spices and seasonings are infused along with the food.
- Less Waste more Food. Traditionally prepared food dries out and results in waste. For example, on average, traditionally cooked steak loses up to 40% of its volume due to drying out. Steak cooked via precision cooking, loses none of its volume! That’s more food for the same money. Win-Win!
- Flexibility. Other style of cooking can require your constant attention. Where as sous vide cooking brings food to an exact temperature and holds it there. There is no worry about overcooking. I like to think of sous vide as a BETTER way to slow cook.
- Saves Money. See reasons 1-4, with all of those benefits you’ll be able to enjoy more delicious food at home, less cooking errors and more enjoyment from cooking! All of which offset the investment of purchasing an Anova Precision Cooker!
Which Sous Vide is Best?
The best precision cooker in my opinion is the Anova Precision Cooker . Yes, this is most definitely a sponsored collaboration with Anova but one that I sought out based on my experience with their products over the past 6 years.
The key points that set Anova Precision Cooker apart from the competition in my eyes is that it features both a display with onboard controls as well as WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity to their convenient app. Their app also contains tons of recipes and sous vide cooking guides, making it easier than ever to cook sous vide in your kitchen!
Speaking of saving money, hint-hint…. Anova is making it even MORE affordable to stock your kitchen with all the sous vide supplies you need to get started with their holiday sale!
From now through December 5th you’ll want to take advantage of these deals:
With those prices, I HIGHLY suggest giving the gift of sous vide to everyone on your gift-list too!
How to Sous Vide a Steak
Sous vide cooking is much easier than you might think! To cook a steak via sous vide there are simple steps:
Attach your Precision Cooker to a container & add water. You don’t NEED a special container. It can be a large pot that you’d normally use on the stove or a wide variety of other similar options.
Because I use my sous-vide frequently, it’s a no brainer that I have an Anova Sous Vide Container, duh.
Next, set your Anova Precision Cooker to your desired temperature and time for your steak, using the onboard display or via WiFi/Bluetooth using the Anova App. My perfect rare for a lean steak like a beef filet mignon or venison tenderloin is 125F for 1+ hours. See below for help choosing the perfect temperature/time other degrees of doneness and cuts of meat.
While your Precision Cooker is preheating the water, prepare your steaks, as desired. When cooking sous vide filet mignon, I prefer to shape mine using butchers twine into a neat circle. It’s not necessary but, these guys needed all the help they could get!
Season the steaks with a generous sprinkle of kosher or sea salt and black pepper to start. Then feel free to experiment with flavor additions like garlic and herbs (thyme and rosemary are my favorites) inside the bag. I feel like less is more when it comes to steak, I want to let the steak speak for itself rather than overwhelming it with too much other stuff.
In the past I’ve also added a tablespoon of butter in the bags along with my steaks but with further experimentation, I didn’t find that it made any improvement in flavor or texture.
Place your seasoned steaks in a sealable bag and place it into the water bath for best results. And of course Anova offers one that works great for not only sous vide but also meal prep and packing foods in a freezer bag!
f a vacuum sealer isn’t in the budget right now, you can also use the water displacement method to remove air from a zip top plastic bag.
Oh and you can definitely season and seal your steaks ahead of time! Just keep them in the fridge or even freezer until you’re ready to cook them. I often pack steaks for the freezer, pre-seasoned and vacuum sealed specifically to be sous vide cooked later!
Once your sous vide machine has preheated the water, add your sealed steaks into the water bath and let the magic happen!
After your sous vide timer is up, remove your steak from the bag and pat to dry with a paper towel before finishing it.
Of course your steaks are safe to eat as-is but searing, grilling, or broiling to add a crispy, browned exterior is an essential step!
Most often I prefer to sear my sous vide steaks in a cast iron skillet or carbon steel pan on the stove top to get a nice crust.
Preheat your skillet over high heat, add 50/50 avocado oil (or olive oil) and butter. Sear the sous vide steaks on both sides QUICKLY. Baste a few tablespoons with melted fat and toss in garlic cloves and fresh herbs, if desired.
Remove your sous vide and seared steak from the pan (or grill or broiler) and let them rest for about 5 minutes prior to cutting. Does a sous vide steak need to rest? Yes! this helps seal the juices in the steak.
Even if my sous vide filet mignons are a little too rare for you, please pay special attention to how much of the steak is pink. With other forms of cooking the outer edge becomes more cooked with just the center staying pink, but sous vide and a quick sear eliminates that overcooked outer area. It’s consistently cooked throughout the entire steak. There’s no raw center in this rare steak!
What is the Best Temp to Sous Vide a Steak?
Here’s the million dollar question, What temperature to cook the best steaks? The best temperature to cook a sous vide steak is determined by how rare or well done you prefer your meat. We are going to look at 2 basic categories of steaks; Lean cuts (filet mignon, skirt steak, flank steak, tenderloin, eye of round, etc) and Not-Lean (everything else; ribeye, New York strip steak, Delmonico, t-bone, porterhouse, etc).
You want to cook leaner steaks at the lower temperature range and not-lean steaks at the higher end. Nothing crazy, just a very slight +/-5°F difference to help make sure the texture is spot-on.
Doneness | Temperature | |
Very rare to rare (very pink/red) | 120°F (49°C) to 128°F (53°C) | |
Medium-rare (pink/red center) | 129°F (54°C) to 134°F (57°C) | |
Medium (pink center, firmer texture) | 135°F (57°C) to 144°F (62°C) | |
Medium-well (mostly brown throughout) | 145°F (63°C) to 155°F (68°C) | |
Well-done (let’s just not) | 156°F (69°C) and up |
The consensus is that a Medium-rare steaks are the most widely enjoyed.
How Long to Sous Vide Steak?
The length of time you sous vide a steak is NOT as important as the temperature, but it can play a factor in the texture of the meat. The sweet spot for cooking a steak via sous vide is 1-4 hours, anything more than 4 hours the meat can start to breakdown and the texture can start to change.
Generally speaking try to think of Time, Temperature and THICKNESS all working together.
- Lean steaks need less time, Non-Lean tolerate more time.
- Rare steaks need less time, Well done steaks olerate more time.
- This steaks need less time, Thick steaks tolerate more time.
I’ve definitely cooked a rare steak longer than 4 hours and it was not bad at all. Ray was late coming home from work and I just let the steak hang out in the bath until it was time to eat. No big deal. It was not overcooked just not as-firm.
Sous Vide FAQ
While I TRIED to be as through as possible in this post, I’m certain you still have a bunch of questions. I’ll try to answer all the I can in this FAQ section. If there are questions that you have, but I have not answered comment on this post and I’ll keep this section updated to make it as comprehensive as possible!
Can sous vide meat be frozen?
Yes! you can freeze sous vide cooked meats for later. In fact I have 2 of the 4 filets that I used for this post in the freezer now!
Can you overcook meat in a sous vide?
Technically yes. If you cook a steak too long, say 24+ hours the meat fibers will be broken down and the texture will be unpleasant. However it will still be held at the exact temperature of doneness that you set your immersion circulator to.
Which Steak is Best for sous vide?
The best steak for sous vide is the steak that YOU like best! The point of this post is to share that virtually all steaks are cooked in sous vide in the exact same way!
What is the lowest temperature to sous vide steak?
Generally the lowest temperature is 120F for a very rare/blue rare steak.
Easy Sous Vide Steak Recipe
Equipment
- Carbon Steel Skillet
Ingredients
- 4 medium steaks
- 2 cloves garlic peeled & halved
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- kosher salt
- Black Pepper
- avocado oil
- butter
Instructions
- Preheat the water in your sous vide container to your desired temperature. (refer to chart in post)
- While the water is preheating, prepare your steaks, wrap with twine if desired. Season with salt an pepper Garnish with garlic clove and thyme.
- Vacuum seal steaks in bags. Larger steaks 1 per bag, smaller steaks 2 per bag.
- Sous vide steaks for 1+ hours.
- Remove from water and bag. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and pat dry.
- Finsh your steaks by quickly searing in a hot skillet with avocado oil/butter. Can also be grilled or broiled.
- Remove from heat, rest steaks for 5 minutes prior to cutting. Enjoy!
This post was sponsored by Anova as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.