10 Satisfying Sous Vide Recipes

Once the realm of professional kitchens and chefs, today sous vide is becoming more and more popular. And a wide range of different sous vide machines is making it possible for even home cooks to take advantage of what British Chef Heston Blumenthal has called "the single greatest advance in cooking technology in decades" (per Sous Vide Tools).

Using a vacuum-sealed bag and a temperature-controlled water bath, sous vide allows you to cook foods low and slow, and leads to perfectly precise and repeatable results. The sous vide method is also incredibly versatile, and allows you to cook many different types of food with precision, from proteins such as steak and salmon to vegetables, fruits, and even ice cream — In fact, you could cook an entire Thanksgiving meal sous vide.

Whether you recently acquired a sous vide machine or have been working with one for a while (or are using another type of temperature-controlling method), here are 10 satisfying sous vide recipes that you'll want to return to time and again.

There's a reason why steak is one of the most popular things to cook sous vide, and you'll understand why after trying out this rib eye steak recipe. Simply seal your steak with garlic and herbs and let it cook for two hours — if you're pressed for time, even one hour will do. Once your steak is done sous viding, pat dry and quickly sear it in a hot cast-iron skillet for that perfect crust, then let rest for five minutes before serving. You may never cook steak any other way again.

Recipe: Sous Vide Rib Eye Steak

With just a few simple ingredients and less than an hour (with most of the work being done by the sous vide machine), you can enjoy perfectly moist and flaky pieces of salmon that practically melt in your mouth. Once the salmon is done sous viding, finish it in a skillet with some butter and lemon juice. Serve the salmon with a side salad, spinach, rice, or baby potatoes, and you've got an easy, healthy, and complete meal.

Recipe: Sous Vide Salmon

Desserts, like this red wine poached pears recipe, are perfectly suited for sous vide, which yields more consistent and better textural results than using traditional cooking methods. Stick with Bosc or Anjou pears and peel them for the best texture and appearance, and reduce your red wine with spices ahead of time. Sous vide the two together for 45 minutes, and you've got yourself an easy, delicious, and hands-off dessert — simply top with vanilla ice cream and drizzle with the remaining cooking liquid.

Recipe: Sous Vide Red Wine Poached Pears

It doesn't get any easier than this sous vide flank steak recipe, which calls for just three ingredients: flank steak, salt, and olive oil. With two hours in a sous vide machine, and a quick sear on the grill or a cast-iron pan, you'll have a juicy, tender, and perfectly cooked flank steak. Serve the flank steak with a side of roasted veggies, rice, or potatoes, or slice it up to use in a sandwich, salad, stew, fajitas, or a hearty breakfast of steak and eggs.

Recipe: Sous Vide Flank Steak

Sous vide is the key to the juiciest chicken ever, which is the star of this easy chicken salad recipe. Cooking the chicken with some tarragon, garlic, lemon zest, and salt and pepper infuses it with plenty of flavor, which is then taken up a notch with the addition of lemon juice, honey, and serrano chiles in the chicken salad mix, along with mayonnaise and celery. Serve in a sandwich or with some greens for a tasty lunch or picnic or potluck dish.

Recipe: Sous Vide Chicken Salad

You'll need to plan ahead for this sous vide barbecue ribs recipe, since you need to sous vide the ribs for 24 hours and finish them on the grill for six to eight minutes, but the results — tender and juicy meat that falls off the bones — make it totally worth the effort, which is actually quite minimal as far as ribs go. Pair it with a homemade barbecued sauce or your favorite store-bought version and a classic side of potato salad, green salad, or sweet corn on the cob for an easy and classic barbecue meal.

Recipe: Sous Vide Barbecue Ribs

So a sous vide machine alone won't be enough to make ice cream (you'll still need and ice cream maker for that), but what it can do is cook the ice cream base into a perfectly thick and silky smooth custard, ready to be chilled overnight and frozen and churned by the ice cream maker the next day. This recipe calls for dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and cacao nibs, which you can totally customize with additional flavors like lavender or cinnamon, or add-ins like fruit preserves and crushed crackers.

Recipe: Sous Vide Chocolate Ice Cream

Pork chops are delicious but easy to overcook and dry out, which is the reason many people avoid the dish. Well, this sous vide pork chops recipe will make chewy pork chops a thing of the past. Cooked with garlic, thyme, lemon zest, and salt and pepper, these pork chops come out of the bag tasty, super tender, and juicy. Finish the pork chops in a hot pan for some added color and a crispy coating, and serve with some sauteed green veggies or potatoes.

Recipe: Sous Vide Pork Chops

Light and fluffy, with the texture of souffle, these sous vide cheesy egg bites make for a quick breakfast that you can make ahead, and can grab and go. The beauty of this recipe, besides how easy it is, is that you can customize the cheeses and add-ins to your tastes (or what you have in the fridge) — instead of cheddar and Gruyere, you can use other cheeses like Parmesan or Monterey Jack, and instead of adding pancetta, you can use bacon or a veggie option. The options are endless, and entirely tasty.

Recipe: Sous Vide Egg Bites

Poached eggs are delicious and tasty additions to any number of dishes, including a salad, but they are notoriously difficult to get right. With this recipe, all it takes is a sous vide machine and an hour and you'll end up with perfectly poached eggs with a custardy yolk, and the ideal topping for this mesclun, radicchio, and endive salad that's been inspired by the Lyonnaise style, with bacon lardons and a bacon-fat vinaigrette tying everything together.

Recipe: Sous Vide Egg Salad