Texture is kind of stringy and drier compared to my results from the previous day (147F, 3h). Everything else was kept constant aside from the day. Using a new Inkbird 200W, Ziploc bags using the underwater sealing method both times while I wait for my vacuum sealer to arrive. Added 1% kosher salt by weight as well. Both are from the same pack of Kroger chicken breasts.
Any thoughts or ideas as to what went wrong? I'm new to sous vide, but I would have thought that lower temp would make it less dry and stringy.
by AirCombatF22
15 Comments
Correction to the post: only differences were the day and the temp (143.5F today vs 147F yesterday)
Google “wooded breast” and see if that describes your chicken. It’s a huge problem in the poultry industry
Chickens are wildly unpredictable in terms of quality there days. Woody breasts, stringy meat and whatnot are almost the norm these days.
Your methods are sound, but 3 hours is overkill. I do 145 for 90 min, 2 hours if I start from frozen.
[woody chicken breast](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_breast)?
I don’t cook much chicken breast in the sous vide, but I suspect this could be caused by woody breast syndrome. It can occur when chickens are subject to rapid growth conditions, causing the muscle fibers to become tough, dry, and in my experience, stringy as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_breast?wprov=sfti1
If it is woody breast, there isn’t much you can do about it except try to source higher quality or more “natural” chicken breast (e.g. grass fed, cage-free, no-hormones).
Chicken always different qualities. Though I always prefer chicken breast at 136
I thought i was on r/breadit for a second and my thought was “uhhhh alot of things”
lower then 153 is really wierd texture for me. also i noticed when i buy fresh breasts(never frozen) results are a lot better
I tried cooking chicken many times at these lower temperatures and I was always disappointed with the results. Turns out I like the convenience of sous vide, but I like the temperature of classic chicken at 160-165. That gives the texture that I know and love, and I promise it is not dried out.
IMO, chicken just does not see the benefit of ultra low temp cooking like a steak does.
Did you cut against the grain? I think I see long meat fibers in the cut piece.
I cook my chicken breasts (boneless) at 146 for 90+ minutes and they come out pretty good. Having said that, we prefer thighs, so we cook those a lot more (156 for 90+ minutes).
A good reference for sous vide chicken breast (and many other things) can be found on Serious Eats: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast
I’d still happily eat that btw!
Wrap the whole dang thing in aluminum foil next time will trap all the juices. Personally I Crockpot, its great.
Did you have a lot of juice in the bag after the cook? Many say that too long with chicken moves all of the juice from the meat into the bag, and dries out the meat. The following article addresses this:
[https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast](https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast)
I do 140F for 3-4 hours – perfect.
For turkey breast, I do 140F for 8 hours (twice or more as thick as chicken).
Dark meat is higher temp than light meat…