Sous Vide Turkey Breast With Crispy Skin Recipe

The Food Lab

Unraveling the mysteries of home cooking through science.

Yield:Serves 6 to 8
Active time:1 hour
Total time:4 hours
Rated: 5.0

This recipe appears in:

The Food Lab: How to Cook Sous Vide Turkey Breast With Extra-Crisp Skin

Our sous-vide turkey recipe produces tender and juicy meat with insanely crisp skin. [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Sous-vide is a fantastic method for cooking holiday roasts. It delivers reliable moist and tender results, frees up your oven for other tasks, requires almost no supervision while cooking, and is very easy to hold hot and ready to serve until your guests are ready. That said, sous vide turkey comes with a few problems. We've solved the issues to give you a recipe that produces turkey cooked exactly how you like it, with deep roasty flavors and extra-crispy skin to boot.

Why this recipe works:

Tying two breast halves into a cylinder makes for perfectly even cooking and gorgeous presentation.
Sous-vide cooking offers a very high level of precise control over the end results.
Cooking the skin separately in the oven delivers the roasty flavors and extra crispness that we love about great roast turkey.
Using the breastbone to fortify stock gives rich, flavorful gravy

sous-vide Turkey Temperatures and Time
Final Result	Bath Temp	Core Temp	Cook Time After Reaching Core Temp	Approx. Total Cook Time
Very pink, soft, extra-moist	132°F (56°C)	130°F (55°C)	2 hours	4 hours
Pale pink, soft, moist	138°F (59°C)	136°F (58°C)	1 hour	3 hours
White, tender, moist	145°F (63°C)	143°F (62°C)	16 minutes	2 1/2 hours
White, traditional roast texture	152°F (67°C)	150°F (66°C)	4 minutes	2 hours

Ingredients

1 large whole skin-on, bone-in turkey breast, about 5 pounds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Gravy:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 1/2 quarts homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour

Directions

1.

Carefully remove turkey skin in one piece and set aside. Using a sharp boning knife, remove breast meat from breastbone. Set breastbone aside. Season turkey generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Place one breast half with cut-side facing up on a work surface. Place the second breast half face-down, with the fat end aligning towards the skinny end of the first breast half. Gently form into an even cylinder.
2.

Tie turkey breast at 1-inch intervals using butcher's twine. Transfer to a zipper lock bag. Turkey can be refrigerated for up to 5 days before proceeding.
3.

Adjust a sous-vide water bath to 145°F (or to desired temperature according to chart above). With the bag open, slowly lower the turkey into the water, letting the water pressure squeeze air out of the bag until just the seal is still submerged. Seal bag completely. Let turkey cook for 2 1/2 hours (or according to chart above). Meanwhile, make the crispy skin and gravy.
4.

For the Crispy Skin: Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 400°F. Spread skin evenly over a piece of parchment paper set in a rimmed baking sheet. Season generously with salt and pepper. Place a second sheet of parchment on top and carefully squeeze out any air bubbles with the side of your hand. Place a second rimmed baking sheet on top and transfer to oven.
5.

Roast until skin is deep brown and crisp (it will crisp further on cooling), 30 to 45 minutes. Allow to cool and set aside at room temperature. Turkey skin can be roasted in advance, cooled completely, then stored loosely covered at room temperature for up to three days. To re-crisp, place in a hot oven for a few minutes just before serving.
6.

For the Gravy: Chop breastbone into 1-inch chunks with cleaver. Heat oil in medium saucepan over high heat until smoking. Add turkey neck, onions, carrots, and celery, and cook, stirring occasionally, until well-browned, about 10 minutes total. Add stock, bay leaves, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour then strain through a fine mesh strainer. You should have a little over a quart of fortified stock. If not, add water or more chicken stock to equal 1 quart. Discard solids and set stock aside.
7.

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Whisking constantly, add broth in thin, steady stream. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until thickened and reduced to about 3 cups. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
8.

When turkey is cooked, remove from water bath and unseal bag. Carefully remove butcher's twine. Slice into 1/4- to 1/2-inch slices for serving. Fan slices out on a warmed serving platter or cutting board. Break skin into serving-sized pieces and add to platter along with a pitcher of gravy. Serve immediately.