This zesty Sous Vide Chicken Salad is fresh and delicious, made with the juiciest chicken breast, avocados, lime juice, and cilantro – and no mayo!
Sous Vide Chicken Breast Salad
I’ve been getting requests for sous vide recipes, well I finally tried it and now I know what all the fuss is about! This is hands down, the juiciest chicken breast I ever made! I took that chicken breast and turned it into a delicious salad Tommy couldn’t stop eating! It’s loaded with protein and fiber and is the perfect lunch for the warmer weather. You can use this sous vide chicken in any of my other chicken salad recipes such as this Chicken Salad with Lemon and Dill or this Chicken Waldorf Salad.
I was excited when Pampered Chef reached out about partnering with me with their new Deluxe Multi Cooker it’s a fantastic time-saving tool with 16 different functions, including a slow cooker, pressure cooker, and sous vide. Plus, you can sear, sterilize, and cook rice, among many other things, in this multi-use appliance. I was most excited to try the sous vide function, and decided to make chicken breast, one of the hardest proteins to make right.
What is sous vide?
For the juiciest chicken breast, nothing is better than using a sous vide. Sous vide is when you cook food in a sealed bag in a water bath at a steady temperature, which slowly and evenly cooks the food.
To sous vide chicken breast for salad, you select the temperature, and it cooks to the exact doneness you want without ever overcooking it. After it’s cooked, the chicken can stay in the sous vide for up to two hours, giving you lots of flexibility for serving.
How long do you cook chicken breast in a sous vide?
To make the juiciest sous vide chicken breast, set the sous vide to 145°F and cook the chicken breast for 2 hours.
How to Meal Prep Chicken Salad
If you want to make this sous vide chicken salad ahead, make the recipe as is but leave out the avocados. Then add them right before serving so they don’t brown. The chicken salad will last up to three days in the fridge.
How to Serve Chicken Salad
There are many ways you could eat this easy chicken salad, which can be served at room temperature or chilled.
- Sandwich: Make a sandwich using your favorite wheat bread or pita.
- Wrap: Stuff a wheat tortilla with the chicken mixture.
- Salad: Top mixed greens with chicken salad and add cherry tomatoes and cucumbers for extra veggies.
- As a Main: Serve the chicken salad as the main dish with a side, like this Corn Tomato Avocado Salad or Southwestern Black Bean, Quinoa, and Mango Salad.
Variations:
- If you don’t like cilantro, skip it or use your favorite herb.
- If you don’t have a sous vide, you can poach the chicken, following the instructions in this chicken salad recipe. It will not be nearly as juicy, but it will work.
More Chicken Breast Recipes You’ll Love:
- Chicken Breasts with Hot Cherry Peppers
- Air Fryer Herbed Buttermilk Roast Chicken Breast
- Baked Chicken Breasts
- Cilantro Lime Chicken Breast
- Peanut-Braised Chicken Breasts
Sous Vide Chicken Breast and Cilantro Lime Chicken Avocado Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, organic if possible
- 3/4 teaspoon seasoning salt
- freezer gallon bags
For chicken salad:
- 8 ounces diced avocado, from 2 small haas
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- juice of 1 1/2 limes
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Fill the inner pot of the Deluxe Multi Cooker to the 1/2 fill line with water.
- Lock the lid and select SOUS VIDE. Set to 145°F (63°C) and the timer to 2 hours. Press and hold START.
- Season the chicken with seasoning salt. Place in a single layer in a gallon-sized resealable bag, remove the air, and seal.
- When you hear three beeps and "Add" is displayed, open the lid and submerge the bag with the seal above the water. Lock the lid; press START.
- When the timer is up, press CANCEL. Remove the bag from the water. Remove the chicken from the bag.
To make the salad:
- Dice the chicken breast in small pieces and combine with remaining ingredients.
- Season with salt, to taste.
Last Step:
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This post is sponsored by Pampered Chef. All thoughts are my own.
145 sous vide temp seems a little low for chicken breast. Should it not be set to 165 degrees Fahrenheit for appropriate doneness for chicken breast?
Sous vide is different due to the long cooking times. As stated in the recipe, chicken will be pasteurized at 145 for 2 hrs. Search Baldwin tables for more info.
I’m a huge fan of all Skinnytaste and rarely does a recipe disappoint so I was really surprised that this one bombed. The chicken came out perfectly but the lime was so overpowering that it all ended up in the trash.
If you don’t have a SOUS VIDE, marinate your chicken breasts in greek yogurt with what ever spices you want for your dish. It needs to marinate at least 3 hours, but no longer than 5 as it will get mushy. Honestly, the tenderest chicken I’ve ever made.
I do it the old school way, pouch chicken in white wine water or chicken broth star anise
Garlic cloves
Pepper corn
Onion 💥💯
I am so excited to try this tonight. Unfortunately I forgot to take the chicken breast out of the freezer. Can I still sous vide if frozen? I tried to google it and found a suggestion to add an extra hour to the cooking time. What is your recommendation?
I have not tried anything from frozen in the sous vide..sorry!
Yes you can definitely sous vide from frozen, one of the most awesome things about sous vide! Adding an hour should be safe, you won’t over cook it.
Delicious. I use my sous vide all the time. So moist!
Thank you for coming on board with sous vide it has become my favorite method for cooking so many proteins. Yes, it takes more time but the results are always perfectly done. No more guessing at desired finished temp. . And, I normally prepare many meals at once in individual packages (I use vacuum food saver bags and an ANOVA brand sous vide stick.
If you think chicken breast are fabulous, try pork chops and pork tenderloin too. 👍
Delicious! It’s all my favorite things in one bowl! I added cherry tomatoes. We love to sous vide chicken, pork and steaks. Gina, awesome to see you post a recipe using sous vide method. I will season and freeze the extra (raw) chicken breasts from the pack to make this again. PREP TIP: When we buy extra meat, we season and vacuum seal then freeze so it’s ready for the next time. Thaw in fridge then into the sous vide!
Perfect!!!
No need to thaw you meat. You can add it right to the water bath. Just add an hour to the finished time.
Love your Recipes! I don’t have a Multi Cooker. cab I do this in a Pot of boiling water on the Stovetop? I’d like to try this Recipe but…
This was a so-so recipe. The chicken was tough and dry, even though I followed the recipe to a T.
If you sous vide your chicken as directed it wouldn’t be tough and dry. I don’t think its the recipe. Sorry.
Impossible, sounds like you cooked the chicken a different way?
I can’t wait to try this! I love my sous vide – it is perfect for scallops!
Cant wait to try!
This is so light and fantastic-
Gina, your recipes are my absolute favorite. I know you want to reach folks who research on their phones and like Instagram recipes, but how do I get to a recipe with your Pinterest-posted Instagrams? Playing the Instagram over and over until I can write it all down is not going to work for me, It’s not enough info and it takes too much time. Gotta tell you, any Pinterest recipes that I see are Instagram posts I just ignore, and many of my friends feel the same way. Let us know how to reach a recipe from an Instagram post on Pinterest. Your blog posts are the best!!
Not sure I follow, I think you mean the videos? Any video thats not here I will eventually post here later.
Would this work in a pressure cooker (bag in water)? I don’t need one more large appliance on my counter!! If so, for how long would you cook after coming up to pressure? I just don’t want to try & then melt the plastic in my pressure cooker!! Thanks, this sounds fantastic!
One of the best things about sous biding, you can’t over cook the meat. It seen strange but you set the temp, it never goes higher or lower and you can cook chicken breasts from 1-3 hours still without over cooking. But might change the meat texture if you let it go longer.
Therefore an instant pot would not be appropriate since it cooks high and fast.
This looks delicious. Is there a way to use an instant pot for this?
Cooking with a sous-vide is amazing. It is the only way I cook pork tenderloin anymore. I look forward to trying this recipe.
By the way, the sous-vide is great when you are entertaining and want to grill. You can sous-vide your meats ahead of time and then just finish them on the grill very quickly. They don’t get over cooked or dry out and you aren’t spending a lot of time over a hot grill!
QUERY. What’s best method to cook chicken breast without a special soup vide pot?
I don’t want any more hardware in my kitchen, but this seems a great recipe!
Thx
Ann
I agree! I don’t need more cooking items so I’m going to try this by either grilling or cooking the chicken in a skillet (on low, covered so it gets sort of ‘steamed’, which hopefully keeps it moist). I have an air fryer so I might cook it using that.
I’ll keep looking for an answer to your question from Skinnytaste as well.
My IP has sous vide option.
Any pot you already own will work to hold the water. You just need an immersion circular (sous vide stick)
Poach them. She has a recipe on how to do that in the Waldorf chicken salad recipe here on the site.
Some IP’s have a sous vide option. If yours does not then I would suggest poaching it (https://www.skinnytaste.com/cilantro-chicken-salad/) or you can make the chicken however you prefer and then add to this recipe. 🙂
I am a big fan, I have several of your cookbooks 💖
I can’t wrap my head around the idea of cooking my food in a plastic bag at high temperatures. Not to mention the waste of the plastic bag. I’m trying to reduce my use of plastic ♻️ Can reusable silicone bags be substituted instead?
Yes to silicone bags! I have some from Stasher that I’ve used and they work great: https://www.stasherbag.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8LmG1u3r9wIVVAaICR0PxAOwEAAYASAAEgK_KvD_BwE
The temperature is kept very low, not high. Just wanted to clarify for you.
I am doing a happy dance! I can’t wait to see more sous-vide recipes from you and thakn you so much for possting this one. Already cannot wait to try it!