Sous Vide Chuck Roast: Temperature and Time

Sous vide chuck roast cooks at 155°F (68.3°C) for 36 hours for a moist, tender roast that slices like barbecue. For a pink roast with the tenderness of a steak, use 131°F (55°C) for 24 to 48 hours. For a shreddable pot roast, use 176°F (80°C) for 12 to 18 hours.

These are tenderizing times. They do not change with the weight of the roast, but each setting has a thickness limit.

Chuck roast temperature and texture

The temperature decides whether the roast eats like a steak or like a braise. The Time column of the table gives the time for each setting.

131°F (55°C), steak-like. The roast is pink and sliceable, with the tenderness of a steak. Douglas Baldwin's guide to sous vide cooking says a beef chuck roast held in a bath of 131 to 140°F (55 to 60°C) for 24 to 48 hours has the texture of filet mignon. Choose the short end of the window for more chew and the long end for a softer slice.

155°F (68.3°C), moist and tender. This is the default. The roast is moist, tender and sliceable, like barbecue. The calculator gives a single time of 36 hours at this temperature and prints "No maximum given", because its source gives one time and no upper limit. Its notes credit Serious Eats for that time. The copy of the same recipe on Anova's site, linked in the steps below, lists 24 to 36 hours.

176°F (80°C), fall apart. The roast comes out very soft and shreddable, like a classic pot roast, in 12 to 18 hours. This is the shortest cook of the three.

The steak-like setting follows the same doneness logic as a steak, which the steak temperature chart lays out. The difference is the time: a tender steak only has to heat through, and chuck has to tenderize.

Why chuck needs a long cook

Jason Logsdon's chuck roast guide at Amazing Food Made Easy describes the cut: it comes from the shoulder and contains several muscles separated by connective tissue.

Iowa State University Extension explains why that matters. Muscles that bear weight or are in constant use hold more collagen, the connective tissue that binds muscle together, and more collagen makes meat harder to cut and chew. Cooked slowly with moisture, collagen becomes gelatin.

Baldwin's guide puts numbers on it. He describes 131°F (55°C) as the lowest temperature at which collagen dissolves into gelatin, and says the change happens more quickly at higher temperatures. He also reports that prolonged cooking can more than double the tenderness of meat.

The calculator's three times do not rise or fall in step with the temperature. Each setting gives a different texture, and its time comes from a different source: the minimum is 24 hours at 131°F (55°C), 36 hours at 155°F (68.3°C) and 12 hours at 176°F (80°C).

Higher temperatures have a cost. In the same guide, muscle fibers shrink lengthwise above 140 to 150°F (60 to 66°C) and lose substantial water. That is the trade between the settings: 131°F (55°C) keeps the roast pink and holds more of its water, and the two hotter settings give up water in exchange for a softer, braise-like texture.

The thickness limit

Thickness is not an input for chuck roast in the calculator, because it changes a tenderizing time very little. It still sets a limit on what the times cover.

Measure through the thickest part. Thicker pieces heat too slowly and are not covered, so cut them down before cooking.

The reason is the time the center spends warming up. Baldwin's guide says the center of the food should reach 130°F (54.4°C) within 6 hours to keep Clostridium perfringens from multiplying to dangerous levels. A 131°F (55°C) bath is only one degree above that mark, so the limit is lower at that setting.

Logsdon describes chuck roasts as typically 2 to 3 in (5.1 to 7.6 cm) thick. A roast at the thick end of that range has to be cut into thinner slabs for the steak-like setting.

How to sous vide chuck roast

1. Measure and cut. Check the thickest part against the limit for your setting. Cut the roast into slabs if it is over.
2. Trim. Logsdon trims off fat and gristle before bagging.
3. Season. Logsdon salts the roast lightly. J. Kenji López-Alt's smoked beef chuck recipe, published by Anova, coats it in kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper and ties it with butcher's twine at 1 in (2.5 cm) intervals so it keeps its shape.
4. Bag. Vacuum seal the roast, or seal it in a zipper-lock freezer bag with the water displacement method.
5. Heat the bath. Set it to 155°F (68.3°C), or to the temperature for the texture you chose.
6. Cook. Keep the bags in a single layer, fully under the water, and not overlapping. Leave the roast for 36 hours at 155°F (68.3°C).
7. Finish. Brown or shred the roast as described below.

Finishing by texture

Steak-like. Logsdon pats the roast dry and sears it for 1 to 2 minutes per side over high heat, or uses a torch. The aim is a browned surface without heating the inside much further.

Barbecue style. The Anova recipe pats the roast dry, applies the salt and pepper rub again, and bakes it on a rack in a 300°F (149°C) oven for about 2 hours until a dark bark forms. On a grill or smoker held at 300°F (149°C) with hardwood chunks, it takes about 3 hours. The roast then rests for 30 minutes under foil.

Pot roast. At 176°F (80°C) the roast shreds. Logsdon serves chuck with the juices from the bag as a sauce.

For slicing, the Anova recipe notes that the grain of a chuck roast runs from top to bottom. It cuts the roast in half from top to bottom, turns each half so the cut side faces down and slices thinly across the grain. Slicing across the grain leaves short muscle fibers in each slice, which Iowa State University Extension describes as more tender to chew.

Cooking chuck roast from frozen

Cooking from frozen at 155°F (68.3°C) adds 3 hours 15 minutes for the center to thaw and heat.

The first cell of the table gives the size the time covers: pieces up to 3 in (7.6 cm) thick. Measure through the thickest part. The table shows one time, 39 hours 15 minutes, and "No maximum given". At 176°F (80°C) the frozen time is 15 hours 30 minutes to 21 hours 30 minutes, for the same size.

Safety

All three settings are pasteurized at their minimum time. The one exception is the frozen 131°F (55°C) result, which is not recommended and does not count as pasteurized.

The USDA safe minimum internal temperature for beef steaks, roasts and chops is 145°F (62.8°C) followed by a 3 minute rest, as listed on FoodSafety.gov. The 131°F (55°C) setting is below that. It pasteurizes the roast only because the meat is held for the full minimum time shown, so do not shorten it. The explainer on whether sous vide is safe covers how time and temperature work together.

An acidic sauce or marinade can make beef take up to twice as long to pasteurize. If the roast is bagged in one, do not rely on the pasteurization time shown.

Crowded or overlapping bags heat more slowly, and the times shown will be too short for them.

If you cook ahead for meal prep, Baldwin's guide says to cool the sealed pouch quickly in ice water that is at least half ice before it goes into the refrigerator.

Common problems

The roast is thicker than the limit. Cut it into slabs before bagging. The limit is about how fast the center warms up, so a longer cook does not fix a piece that is too thick.

Chewy slices at 131°F (55°C). The roast needs more time. The window at this setting runs to 48 hours.

A roast that loses its shape. Chuck is several muscles joined by connective tissue. The Anova recipe ties the roast with twine before the cook so it keeps its shape.

A bag that floats at 176°F (80°C). Baldwin's recipes for 176°F (80°C) note that the bag puffs from water vapor at that temperature and may float to the surface. They say to hold the bags under water with a wire rack or another restraint, so the meat cooks evenly.

Less juice than expected at 176°F (80°C). The muscle fibers have shrunk and pushed water into the bag. Serve the roast with the bag juices.

Brisket takes the same 155°F (68.3°C) setting with a different time range, and corned beef, which is cured brisket, has a default of 150°F (65.6°C) for 24 to 48 hours. America's Test Kitchen names chuck roast as the substitute for boneless short ribs, which are cut from the chuck. For a leaner cut cooked the same steak-like way, compare London broil.