Sous Vide Chicken Breast Recipe with Bulgur Salad and Za'atar Onions (2024)

This year I'm trying to explore some new flavors I usually don't use in my cooking. For this recipe I go in a Middle Eastern direction and combine a sous vide chicken breast with some za'atar onions and a bulgur wheat and pomegranate salad. It's a really flavorful but light dish with lots of different textures and tastes.

Za'atar is a classic Middle Eastern spice blend of thyme, toasted sesame seeds and sumac. It adds a complex flavor that complements the charred sweet onions. I'll often make extras since it lasts for a week or so in the refrigerator. Below I give a recipe for making your own but you can often buy pre-made mixes that will work just fine.

Bulgur, or bulgur wheat, is another common Middle Eastern ingredient and it adds a great base texture and holds the salad together. The corn and pomegranates both add bursts of sweetness and flavor while the mint and parsley contribute wonderful herb notes.

This dish can be served hot or cold, whichever you prefer. All of the ingredients can be stored in the refrigerator overnight if you are serving it cold. If it's going to be served cold, make sure you use a little more seasoning than you would normally so it still comes through. I like to finish the dish with some sea salt and walnut oil, but you can just use olive oil if it's all you have on hand.

I prefer my chicken breasts cooked at 141°F (60.6°C) for 2 to 4 hours since it seems to be the ideal temperature for tender and moist chicken that still has that "properly cooked" texture and feel. You can cook chicken safely as low as 136°F (57.8°C) but then they are a little too raw-tasting for me. Some people prefer them as high as 147°F (63.9°C) but I find them a little too dry for my taste.

If you are curious about the various pasteurization times for chicken you can view them on my sous vide thickness ruler but here are some for 141°F (60.6°C), my favorite white meat temperature. A thickness of 1/2" (13mm) takes 40 minutes, 1" (25mm) takes 1:10 and 1.5" (38mm) takes 2 hours. Those are the minimum times needed to make the chicken safe, but the texture is still good for up to 4 hours or so.

In this recipe I call for a sear on the chicken breast but I know it can be hard to get any browning on chicken without over cooking it. I've skipped the sear before and an unseared chicken breast also works really well.

This article is by me, Jason Logsdon. I'm an adventurous home cook and professional blogger who loves to try new things, especially when it comes to cooking. I've explored everything from sous vide and whipping siphons to pressure cookers and blow torches; created foams, gels and spheres; made barrel aged co*cktails and brewed beer. I have also written 10 cookbooks on modernist cooking and sous vide and I run the AmazingFoodMadeEasy.com website.

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