Sous Vide Pork Chops: Temperature and Time by Thickness

Sous vide pork chops cook at 140°F (60°C) for a medium chop that is pale pink, tender and juicy. A chop 1.5 in (3.8 cm) thick needs at least 2 hr 30 min in the bath, is at its best between 2 hr 30 min and 3 hr 30 min, and should come out by 4 hr.

The time depends on how thick the chop is. Every time on this page comes from the calculator.

Pork chop temperature and doneness

The bath temperature sets the doneness. The chop heats to the temperature of the water and stops there.

The default is 140°F (60°C). Choose 135°F (57.2°C) for a rosier, softer chop. Choose 150°F (65.6°C) if you want no pink and accept a firmer chop that is starting to dry. At 160°F (71.1°C) the chop is white, firm and a little dry.

The drying at the two higher settings has a physical cause. Douglas Baldwin's guide to sous vide cooking explains that between 105 and 140°F (41 and 60°C) muscle fibers shrink across their width, and above 140 to 150°F (60 to 66°C) they shrink along their length and lose a substantial amount of water.

Doneness names for pork are not standardized. The calculator calls 140°F (60°C) medium, and J. Kenji López-Alt's pork chop recipe for Anova labels the same temperature medium-rare. The pork temperature chart puts chops next to the other pork cuts.

How long to sous vide pork chops, by thickness

Measure the thickest chop through its thickest part, including any bone. Arrange the chops in a single layer. If they overlap, measure the whole stack.

The minimum is the longer of two times: the time for the center to come within 1°F (0.5°C) of the bath, and the time to pasteurize a chop of that thickness. At 140°F (60°C) a 1.5 in chop is pasteurized after 2 hr 15 min, and its center reaches the bath temperature at 2 hr 30 min, so the minimum is 2 hr 30 min.

Some recipes print a shorter low end. The López-Alt recipe gives 1 to 4 hours for chops about 1.5 in thick. The calculator's minimum is built on Baldwin's heating and pasteurization tables: by its heating model the center of a 1.5 in chop takes 2 hr 30 min to come up to the bath temperature. America's Test Kitchen's recipe for 1.5 in chops at the same temperature uses 2 to 3 hours.

Medium-rare chops

Pasteurization is slower at 135°F (57.2°C), and at this setting the pasteurization time sets the minimum at every thickness. A 1 in (2.5 cm) chop needs 2 hr, against 1 hr 30 min at 140°F (60°C). A 1.5 in chop needs 3 hr, against 2 hr 30 min, and its best window of 3 hr to 4 hr ends at the 4 hr maximum.

At 150°F (65.6°C) and 160°F (71.1°C) a 1 in chop needs 1 hr 15 min and a 1.5 in chop needs 2 hr 30 min.

Thick chops

Time rises faster than thickness. At 140°F (60°C) a 2 in (5.1 cm) chop needs 3 hr 45 min and a 2.5 in (6.4 cm) chop needs 5 hr 30 min. At 135°F (57.2°C) the same chops need 4 hr 15 min and 5 hr 45 min.

Those minimums are close to or past the usual 4 hr texture limit, so the calculator sets the maximum for these chops at the minimum plus 1 hr. At 140°F (60°C) that is 4 hr 45 min for 2 in and 6 hr 30 min for 2.5 in, and at 135°F (57.2°C) it is 5 hr 15 min and 6 hr 45 min. Expect a softer texture than a thinner chop would have.

The calculator covers chops from 0.5 to 2.5 in (1.3 to 6.4 cm). For a whole roast, the pork loin guide has times by diameter, and the pork tenderloin guide does the same for that narrower cut, where a 2 in piece at 140°F (60°C) needs 2 hr 45 min.

Bone-in vs boneless pork chops

Chops are cut from the loin, which the National Pork Board describes as the meat that runs from the pig's hip to its shoulder. Ribeye and porterhouse chops carry a bone. The New York chop is boneless.

The calculator has no separate bone-in setting. A bone-in chop and a boneless chop of the same thickness get the same row in the table, as long as the thickness you enter includes the bone. Lamb chops are measured the same way, through the thickest part including the bone.

Jason Logsdon of Amazing Food Made Easy wraps sharp bones in foil so they do not puncture the bag, and he notes that bone-in chops are a little harder to sear in a pan.

The Pork Board says bone-in chops often provide the most flavor: there is fat around the bone, and the bone helps keep the meat from drying as it cooks. Logsdon reports no real flavor difference between bone-in and boneless chops cooked sous vide.

Blade chops come from the shoulder end of the loin and sirloin chops from the hip end. Logsdon treats both as tougher cuts and cooks them much longer. The times on this page are for tender chops.

How to sous vide pork chops

These steps are specific to chops. The guide on how to sous vide follows a first cook from start to finish and covers the equipment.

1. Heat the bath. Set it to 140°F (60°C), or to the temperature you chose above.
2. Season. Salt and pepper on all sides. The López-Alt recipe says that if the raw chops will sit in their bags for more than a few hours before cooking, skip this and season just before searing.
3. Bag in a single layer. Use a vacuum sealer, or a zipper-lock bag sealed with the water displacement method. Cover sharp bone ends first.
4. Cook for the time that matches the thickness. Keep the bags in a single layer, fully under the water and not overlapping. Crowded or overlapping bags heat more slowly, and the times shown will be too short for them. If chops overlap, measure the whole stack.
5. Dry the chops. Take them out of the bag and pat both sides dry with paper towels.
6. Sear. The López-Alt recipe heats 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a heavy skillet over high heat and browns the first side for about 45 seconds. It then turns the chops, adds another tablespoon of butter, spoons it over them, and holds the chops with tongs to brown the edges. America's Test Kitchen sears 1 to 2 minutes a side in oil that is just smoking. A hot grill also works.
7. Rest and serve. The López-Alt recipe rests the chops on a rack for a couple of minutes.

The sear is there because the bath cannot brown anything. Baldwin's guide says the browning reaction becomes noticeable around 265°F (129°C) and gives good browning around 300°F (149°C), far above any bath temperature.

Cooking pork chops from frozen

Frozen chops go straight into the bath and stay longer. At 140°F (60°C) a frozen 1 in chop needs at least 2 hr 30 min, and a frozen 1.5 in chop needs 4 hr with a maximum of 5 hr. At 135°F (57.2°C) the frozen minimums are 2 hr 45 min and 4 hr 30 min. The right-hand column of the tables above has the frozen minimum for every thickness.

The frozen heat-through time is 1.55 times the thawed time, and the pasteurization time is longer by a matching allowance. That allowance is this calculator's own rule, because no published table covers pasteurizing from frozen.

Freeze chops in a single flat layer so the thickness is the same as when thawed. The guide to cooking from frozen has a section on frozen pork chops and lists the thick frozen pieces the calculator does not recommend.

Is pork safe at 140°F?

The USDA safe minimum internal temperature for pork chops is 145°F (62.8°C) followed by a 3 minute rest, as listed on FoodSafety.gov.

The 135°F (57.2°C) and 140°F (60°C) settings are below that. These lower temperatures pasteurize the chop only because it is held for the full minimum time shown, so do not shorten it.

The maximum is a texture limit. The chop is pasteurized at the minimum time, and extra time at 131°F (55°C) and above makes it softer but does not make it unsafe. The sous vide safety guide explains how time and temperature work together.

Common problems

The chop is dry and firm. The bath was too hot for the texture you wanted. The 150°F (65.6°C) and 160°F (71.1°C) settings are in the range where Baldwin describes substantial water loss. Drop to 140°F (60°C).

The chop is soft or mushy. It stayed in too long. Baldwin's guide notes that meat continues to soften in the bath and may become mushy if held for too long. Keep chops up to 1.5 in thick inside the 4 hr maximum.

If you cook chops ahead for the week, the meal prep guide covers chilling and reheating them in the bag.