Sous Vide Shrimp: Temperature, Time and Texture

Sous vide shrimp cook at 135°F (57.2°C) for 15 to 30 minutes for a moist, tender, barely opaque result. For the snappy bite of traditional poached shrimp, use 140°F (60°C) for the same time. The times are for large peeled shrimp in a single layer, and the maximum is 1 hour.

Temperature and texture

The calculator has four settings for shrimp. The temperature changes the texture. The time is the same for all four.

How to choose:

• Soft and buttery, 125°F (51.7°C). The shrimp are translucent and semi-raw. This is the softest setting.
• Very tender, 130°F (54.4°C). The shrimp are nearly opaque with a hint of firmness.
• Moist and tender, 135°F (57.2°C). This is the default. The shrimp are barely opaque, juicy and tender.
• Traditional snap, 140°F (60°C). This is the texture of poached shrimp, with a snappy, juicy bite. Pick it if you want shrimp that look and feel fully cooked.

The two lowest settings are below 131°F (55°C) and carry the low temperature warning, covered in the safety section. The calculator also notes that 125°F (51.7°C) leaves the flesh translucent and 130°F (54.4°C) leaves it nearly opaque but not fully opaque. Both are short of the USDA guidance to cook shrimp until pearly or white and opaque.

Anova's shrimp guide tested temperatures in 5°F steps from 115°F (46.1°C) to 150°F (65.6°C). It reports that shrimp below 125°F (51.7°C) stayed unpleasantly soft and shrimp above 140°F (60°C) started to turn tough.

Time

These times are for large peeled shrimp. The recipe the times come from uses 1.5 lb (about 700 g) of them and gives no count per pound.

Thickness is not an input for shrimp. That is different from a fish fillet, where the time depends on how thick the piece is, as the fish temperature chart shows. A salmon fillet at 120°F (48.9°C), for example, needs 20 min at 0.5 in (1.3 cm) and 45 min at 1 in (2.5 cm).

Why the best window ends at 30 minutes

The calculator notes that some shrimp turn very soft after about 30 minutes in the bath, so the best window for shrimp cooked from the refrigerator ends there. From frozen, the best window is later by the time added for thawing. The maximum is 1 hour.

Serious Eats, in its guide to sous vide shrimp, attributes this softening to protease enzymes. Two papers describe such enzymes in raw shrimp and prawns. Neither tested cooked shrimp or a sous vide bath.

A study of prawns stored on ice in the journal Food Chemistry concluded that the main cause of mushiness appeared to be protein-digesting and collagen-digesting enzymes spreading into the muscle from the hepatopancreas, a digestive organ, as it broke down.

A later paper in the journal Foods describes the same movement of a trypsin-like enzyme into the muscle after the shrimp are caught. It cites earlier work reporting that trypsin activity starts to fall when the temperature goes above 140°F (60°C).

Every shrimp setting in the calculator is at or below that temperature. Enzymes that stay active in the bath are therefore a possible explanation for shrimp that soften with time, not a tested one.

Peeled or shell-on

The times in the table are for peeled shrimp. For shell-on shrimp, add 5 minutes to the minimum, which makes it 20 minutes.

Anova's guide describes the trade-off: shell-on shrimp have more flavor, but the shells have to come off after cooking or at the table.

Peeled shrimp can be seasoned directly. The recipe J. Kenji Lopez-Alt wrote for Anova tosses 1.5 lb (about 700 g) of large peeled shrimp with 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Anova's guide says the baking soda makes the shrimp plumper and firmer.

How to cook shrimp sous vide

1. Heat the bath to the temperature for the texture you want.
2. Season the shrimp. Peel them if you want them peeled, then toss with salt and baking soda in the amounts above.
3. Bag in a single layer. The recipe adds 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil or butter, with garlic, shallot, parsley or tarragon if you like. Press the shrimp flat so none overlap.
4. Remove the air. Use a vacuum sealer or the water displacement method with a zipper-lock bag.
5. Cook for 15 to 30 minutes. Start at 20 minutes for shell-on shrimp. Do not go past 1 hour.
6. Serve. The recipe lifts the shrimp onto a plate lined with paper towels. Anova's guide also suggests emptying the bag into a preheated cast iron skillet for Spanish-style shrimp.

The single layer matters because the times assume each shrimp is surrounded by water on both sides of the bag. A pile of shrimp heats like one thicker piece, and the middle lags behind.

The recipe serves the shrimp hot or chilled. To serve them chilled, use 135°F (57.2°C) or 140°F (60°C), because the calculator's warning for the two lower settings says to serve the shrimp right away.

Cooking from frozen

The calculator allows shrimp to go into the bath frozen. It adds 10 minutes so the center can thaw and heat, and it assumes a piece about 0.5 in (1.3 cm) thick. The best window moves later by the same 10 minutes.

This works for shrimp frozen separately and bagged in a single layer. A solid block of frozen shrimp is much thicker than 0.5 in (1.3 cm), so the 10 minute allowance does not cover it. Thaw a block first.

The FDA's seafood safety page gives two ways to thaw without cooking: overnight in the refrigerator, or sealed in a plastic bag and immersed in cold water. The rules for other frozen foods are in the guide to cooking sous vide from frozen.

Safety

None of the four settings is pasteurized. The warnings below are the calculator's.

At 135°F (57.2°C) and 140°F (60°C):

At 125°F (51.7°C) and 130°F (54.4°C):

From frozen, the limit in that second warning is 1 hr 10 min.

USDA guidance for shrimp is to cook until the flesh is pearly or white and opaque. The FDA page describes cooked shrimp the same way: the flesh becomes firm, pearly and opaque. The 125°F (51.7°C) and 130°F (54.4°C) settings stop short of that.

The FDA also says not to leave seafood out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours, or more than 1 hour when it is above 90°F (32°C). The background to the pasteurization rules is in is sous vide safe.

Common problems

Soft or mushy shrimp. Some shrimp turn very soft after about 30 minutes in the bath. Take them out inside the 15 to 30 minute window. In the prawn study above, the enzymes spread into the muscle while raw prawns were stored on ice for a week, which is before any cooking. The FDA says fresh shrimp flesh should be clear with a pearl-like color and little or no odor.

Tough shrimp. Anova's guide found that shrimp start to turn tough above 140°F (60°C). Check the bath setting. A hot skillet is far above that temperature, so shrimp left in the pan keep cooking.

Unevenly cooked shrimp. The shrimp overlapped in the bag. Use a larger bag or a second one so they lie flat.

Shrimp still cold in the middle from frozen. The pieces were thicker than 0.5 in (1.3 cm) or frozen together.

Lobster tail follows similar temperatures with a different time and more preparation, which the lobster tail guide covers.