Sous vide chicken thighs with mushroom cream sauce is a simple but elegant dish to prepare. The sous vide chicken thighs can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated until shortly before serving. This technique produces incredible Chicken Thighs that I finish off with Mushroom Cream Sauce.
What is Sous Vide?
Sous vide is cooking technique whereby vacuum sealed food is cooked in a temperature controlled water bath for an extended period of time.
Because of the controlled environment, the food is cooked to a precise temperature that avoids overcooking and produces an amazing result. I have found that the sous vide technique is actually quite easy once you're able to precisely control the temperature of the water bath.
Equipment Used for Sous Vide
- Vacuum Sealer: Food cooked via the sous vide technique is submerged in a water bath. Therefore, it needs to be packaged in a water-tight container. The most efficient way to do this is to vacuum seal the food. Vacuum sealing the food provides a water-tight environment. It also eliminates the air from the packaging which helps keep the food from floating in the water bath. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, you could put the food in a Ziploc bag with as much of the air removed as possible.
- Immersion Circulator: The precise water bath temperature is achieved using an immersion circulator. An immersion circulator is an electrically powered divide that heats the water to a specific temperature, and circulates the water to maintain that temperature. I use the Anova Precision Cooker/Immersion Circulator.
- Water Bath Container: For the water bath, you need a container that is large enough to hold the food and and keep it totally submerged in the water. There are a lot of options here such as a large pot, large Dutch oven, cooler and food storage container. I personally use a 12-quart polycarbonate food storage container.
Making the Sous Vide Chicken Thighs
Only three ingredients are required for the sous vide chicken thighs - bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs, Kosher salt and black pepper.
- First, I trimmed the chicken thighs of excess fat. Then, I sprinkled both sides of the chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
- Next, I vacuum sealed the chicken thighs. Because of their size, I vacuum sealed two thighs per bag. As I was vacuum sealing, I pressed the thighs to try to keep the skin as flat as possible.
- Once the chicken thighs had been vacuum sealed, I placed them in the 165°F temperature controlled water bath and walked away. I let the thighs cook for about two hours, after which they were perfectly cooked.
- I placed the vacuum sealed bags in an ice water bath to quickly cool the thighs and stop the cooking.
I knew from experience that the thighs would need some searing to crisp up the skin. I wanted to minimize the additional cooking with the searing - thus the cool down at this point.
One thing to note at this point is that I could have refrigerated some or all of the chicken for later use.
Finishing the Sous Vide Chicken Thighs
To put the finishing touches on the Sous Vide Chicken Thighs, I needed to sear them to crisp up the skin.
Before searing the chicken thighs, I removed them from the vacuum sealed bags to a paper towel lined baking sheet. I was amazed at the amount of gelatin that had formed from the cooking.
I scraped the gelatin off the chicken to a small bowl to use in the Mushroom Cream Sauce.
With additional paper towels, I blotted the chicken thighs to dry them out as much as possible to minimize spattering when I seared them.
To sear the chicken, I started by heating some peanut oil in a heavy 12-inch skillet over medium heat until the oil was shimmering.
Then, I added the chicken thighs, skin side down. After about 5 minutes when the skin was a crispy brown, I turned the chicken thighs over to brown the other side for a minute or two.
Once the chicken was well browned, I removed it from the skillet to a paper toweled liked pan, and made the Mushroom Cream Sauce.
Making the Mushroom Cream Sauce
I used the following ingredients: Onion, fresh mushrooms, Madeira, the gelatin from the chicken (could also use chicken broth here), and heavy cream.
As a first step I added the onions to the same skillet over medium heat, and sautéed them for about 1 minute (Photo 1). Then I increased the heat to high and added the sliced mushrooms (Photo 2). I sautéed the mushrooms for several minutes until they were lightly browned and all the liquid had evaporated.
Next I added the Madeira (Photo 3) and the gelatin I had removed from the chicken thighs (Photo 4), and boiled it for several minutes until the liquid was syrupy (Photo 5). Finally I added the cream and boiled it for several minutes over high heat, until the sauce had thickened (Photo 6).
I tasted the sauce - it was perfect, i.e., it didn't need any salt or pepper.
I served the Sous Vide Chicken Thighs topped with the Mushroom Cream Sauce, steamed collard greens, and Scalloped Potatoes. Yum!
If you're looking for some more Sous Vide recipes, check out my Sous Vide Corned Beef with Irish Fried Cabbage with Onions and Bacon or Sous Vide Pulled Pork with Balsamic Sauce.
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Sous Vide Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Sous Vide Chicken
- 8 chicken thighs, skin-on and boat-in
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon peanut oil
Mushroom Cream Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons minced shallot or onion
- 4 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
- ¼ cup Madeira (See Tip 1)
- ½ cup chicken gelatin from cooking chicken (See Tip 2)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
Sous Vide Chicken
- Preheat the sous vide cooker to 165° F.
- Sprinkle both sides of chicken thighs with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Add chicken to vacuum seal bags; vacuum seal, pressing the chicken so that the skin is as flat as possible.
- Place the chicken in the water bath, making sure not to block the intake or output sections of the precision cooker. Cook for 1 to 4 hours. (See Tip 3)
- Once the chicken is cooked, transfer the bagged chicken to an ice water bath to chill. (See Tip 4)
- Remove the chicken from the bag(s) and scrape off any gelatin that has formed; transfer gelatin to a small bowl for use in the Mushroom Cream Sauce. Place the chicken on a paper towel lined plate; with another paper towel, blot the chicken dry and flatten the skin side to ensure even contact with the pan during searing.
- Preheat a 12-inch heavy skillet with peanut oil over medium heat until the oil is shimmering. Carefully add the chicken to the skillet, skin side down. Cook the chicken until the skin is brown and crispy, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken and cook the second side until the chicken is warmed through, about 1 minute. Transfer the chicken to a paper towel lined plate. Serve with Mushroom Cream Sauce. Yield: 4 servings.
Mushroom Cream Sauce
- In the same pan used to sear the chicken, add the shallots or onions; sauté for about a minute without browning. Stir in the mushrooms and sauté for several minutes until lightly browned and all of the liquid has evaporated. Pour in the chicken gelatin or broth and Madeira and boil down quickly over high heat until the liquid is syrupy. Stir in the cream and boil down again over high heat until the cream has thickened slightly. Remove from the heat; taste carefully for seasoning. Yield: About 1½ cups.
Tips/Notes
- Can use Marsala in place of Madeira.
- You can also use chicken broth in place of the gelatin from the Sous Vide Chicken Thighs
- I cooked the thighs for 2 hours.
- Once the chicken things are removed from the sous vide water bath, they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days before finishing and serving.
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