Sous vide whole chicken

It’s been quite exciting times experimenting with cooking sous vide, including this recipe for sous vide whole chicken. I like a roast chicken dinner for two reasons. Firstly, it’s such a warming homely dish and secondly, the use of leftovers for another meal. I looked in to how to cook a whole chicken sous vide, I didn’t find anything on roasting, but found some information on poaching and I also learned that each part of the chicken cooks at different times and temperatures on sous vide.

After much deliberation, I did some maths, now that is dangerous since I am not good at it! Anyway, I came up with a few possibilities based on my findings. First attempt, I poached the chicken for 6 hours at 60°C as per my finding online and it didn’t work for my taste, the meat wasn’t quite what I was expecting, it was a bit too pink and juices weren’t running too clear.

Next experiment - I poached another chicken for 7 hours at 62°C, every degree counts on sous vide, and bingo! It was perfect! The meat is moist, juicy and the chicken still just about holds its shape.

It looked quite pale, but after a good 5 minutes under a very hot grill, you just want to crisp up the skin and not to cook the chicken. It looked very appetising. (I had tried the blow torch method but it didn’t look that great).

I also sous vide the vegetables. The onions taste so good and sweet afterwards, I made an extra dish, onion purée. Don’t worry about unpleasant breath.

This recipe is great if made on the day or in advance for a stress free roast chicken meal.