Sous vide

Sous vide is a cooking method where food is sealed in a bag, often vacuum sealed, and cooked in a water bath held at a precise, consistent temperature for an extended time. Because the water never gets hotter than the target temperature, it is difficult to overcook the food, and proteins in particular come out evenly cooked edge to edge.

For meal prep, sous vide is useful for cooking a large batch of chicken breast, steak, or eggs to an exact doneness that holds up well when reheated later in the week, since the low, even cooking reduces the moisture loss that often makes reheated meat dry. Many people cook a big batch sous vide, then quickly sear it in a hot pan just before eating for texture.

A common mistake is treating sous vide as a fully hands-off method: food still needs to be chilled quickly after cooking if it will be stored rather than eaten right away, following the same shallow cooling and two-hour guidance as any other cooked food. A dedicated immersion circulator and a set of vacuum-seal or zip-top bags are the main equipment needed to get started.