Six Of Our Best Sous Vide Recipes

French for “under vacuum,” sous vide is an easy but technology-friendly process. And though it might sound fancy, home cooks who love the technique swear by its ability to perfectly and evenly cook steaks, chops, shanks and more. Sous vide cooking involves three easy steps: (1) taking your favorite protein be it salmon, steak, or chicken, (2) sealing it in a bag, and (3) cooking it in a temperature-controlled water bath et voila, perfectly tender protein! We love it because not only every part of your protein winds up hotspot-free—each bite cooked identically and perfectly—but its more juicy too.

Want to give it a try for yourself? Scroll down for a few of our favorite sous vide recipes and then head here to find all the sous vide equipment you might need.

1. Chai-Spiced Apple Pie

Sous vide pie? Believe it. An immersion circulator is key to making the apples in this chai-spiced apple pie precisely the right texture. A smart combination of classic baking spices (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) and unexpected ones (cardamom and ginger) get you the rest of the way to one of the most knockout apple pies ever.

2. Sous Vide Salmon with Fennel and Green Olives

We’ve all been there: You plunk down a ton of money for a good piece of fish, only to realize after searing and baking it that you’ve overcooked it. Sous vide can be the key to getting succulent, tasty, moist fillets every single time. Salmon with fennel, favas and green olives is a Mediterranean flavor combination that works wonderfully. Our favorite part of this recipe? Leave the oven off — you only need two minutes of searing time on the stovetop once the water bath has done its thing.

3. Crispy Chicken Thighs

We have superstar chef Michael Voltaggio to thank for this gorgeous chicken thigh recipe. Though it looks like fried chicken, these are actually thighs marinated in thyme, butter and garlic before getting a quick pan-fry in a tiny bit of oil. The hands-on time is minimal, they’re more healthful than they look, and the flavor combination is killer.

4. Brisket with Honey and Spices

Done right, sous vide is a smart way to break down less-expensive cuts of meat as well as those resistant to becoming meltingly tender. This excellent brisket recipe delivers all the warming winter flavors (garlic, paprika, thyme, red wine) you want in a dish like this one, and it’s a snap to execute. Don’t skip the step of searing the meat after you cook it in its water bath; you’ll love the variety of texture it achieves in the finished product.

5. Sous Vide Rib Eye with Rosemary-Garlic Butter

Michelin-starred chefs worldwide employ sous vide technique to get their fancy cuts of meat just so. There’s no reason why the home cook can’t borrow a page from their book. Rib eye steaks cooked in a water bath before getting a beautiful crust on the grill are going to be some of the best you’ve tasted. We’re particularly fond of this recipe, which employs boneless steaks and a rosemary-garlic butter you’ll find yourself dreaming of long after the meal is done.

6. Turkey

Believe it or not, a water bath can be the key to better turkey, too. Chef Voltaggio’s recipe is absolutely beloved in-house, as it dramatically reduces the probability that you’ll end up with dry turkey pieces in your finished meal. This bird benefits, too, from a bevy of winter citrus, tucked right into the brine. Bright flavors like grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes leaven denser spices such as cloves, coriander, allspice and mustard seeds. The result is a flavor-saturated bird that just couldn’t be tastier.

Check out more reasons to sous vide tonight here.