Sous Vide Time and Temperature Chart for Every Food

This sous vide time and temperature chart lists the default temperature and time for all 61 foods in the calculator. A steak 1.5 in (3.8 cm) thick cooks at 131°F (55°C) for at least 2 hr 15 min, a chicken breast of the same thickness cooks at 145°F (62.8°C) for at least 2 hr 30 min, and every vegetable cooks at 183°F (83.9°C).

Each table shows one setting per food. For another doneness, another thickness or cooking from frozen, use the calculator. Free one-page PDF versions for printing are on the printable charts page.

How to read the chart

• Setting is the calculator's default doneness for that food.
• Thickness is the default thickness for foods that are timed by thickness. Measure through the thickest part, and the calculator says how to measure each food. A thicker piece needs more time and a thinner one less.
• Size the time applies to replaces thickness for long cooks, shellfish, eggs, vegetables and desserts. Their times are ranges from published recipes.
• Minimum is the shortest time in the bath. For poultry, pork, burgers, sausage and the rolled leg of lamb it covers pasteurization and should not be shortened.
• Best window is where the texture is at its best.
• Maximum is the time to take the food out by. "No maximum given" means the source gives a single time. "No limit, gets softer" means the upper time is a texture guide, not a limit.

The page on sous vide cooking times explains how each kind of time is worked out.

Beef

Steaks and roasts are timed by thickness.

Every steak and roast defaults to medium-rare at 131°F (55°C). Beef tenderloin and prime rib are entered as round roasts, measured straight through the center, and Baldwin's heating table gives a cylinder a shorter time than a flat piece of the same thickness. That is why a 2.5 in (6.4 cm) tenderloin heats through in 3 hr and a 2.5 in steak takes 5 hr 15 min.

The prime rib default is 2.75 in (7 cm) across. That figure is the thickness limit in Baldwin's roast beef and pulled pork recipes. His guide has no rib roast recipe, so the default width is the calculator's choice for prime rib and not his advice for it. Burgers default to 135°F (57.2°C), the lowest burger setting, and their minimum is the pasteurization time because ground beef can carry bacteria all the way through the patty.

At the minimum time a whole steak or roast at these settings is heated through but not pasteurized. The calculator's note is that this is normal for a whole, intact cut of beef cooked to this doneness. For a 2.5 in (6.4 cm) steak at 131°F (55°C) it adds a warning that the piece is close to the 6 hour limit for the center to reach 130°F (54.4°C), and that a thinner piece or a higher temperature is the more cautious choice. The steak temperature chart has the table for every doneness from rare to well done.

Tough cuts get a long tenderizing cook.

Tough cuts come from muscles that do more work. Iowa State University Extension's article on tender and less tender cuts says weight-bearing and constantly used muscles contain more collagen, and that collagen becomes gelatin when it is cooked slowly with moist heat. Douglas Baldwin's guide to sous vide cooking says collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin above 122 to 131°F (50 to 55°C), which is why short ribs and London broil can cook for a day or more at a medium-rare temperature.

Pork

Pork chops, tenderloin, loin and sausage are always held for the pasteurization time. FoodSafety.gov lists 145°F (62.8°C) with a 3 minute rest as the safe minimum for pork chops and roasts. The calculator's 140°F (60°C) default is below that, and its note is that the lower temperature pasteurizes the food only because it is held for the full minimum time.

Shoulder, belly, ribs and bacon are long cooks, and the ham setting is a reheat.

Pork ribs show no maximum at 165°F (73.9°C) because the source gives a single tested time of 12 hours. The ham setting reheats a fully cooked ham and is not for a raw ham. The calculator's note is that USDA guidance allows 140°F (60°C) only for a ham still in the packaging from a USDA-inspected plant, and that any other cooked ham should be reheated to 165°F (73.9°C). The pork temperature chart has the doneness options for each pork cut.

Poultry

Turkey legs and duck legs are long cooks.

Every poultry minimum covers pasteurization. The times use Baldwin's poultry table together with the poultry tables in the USDA FSIS cooking guideline for meat and poultry products. The USDA safe minimum for poultry is 165°F (73.9°C), which the calculator describes as a single reading with no hold time. The lower settings pasteurize the food only because it is held for the full minimum time.

Thighs, drumsticks and wings default to 165°F (73.9°C). The calculator's note for thighs is that dark meat needs a higher temperature than breast meat to become tender. The chicken temperature chart has the doneness options for each chicken cut.

Lamb

Lamb shank is a long cook.

Lamb chops and rack of lamb default to medium-rare at 131°F (55°C). The rolled leg of lamb defaults to medium at 140°F (60°C). A boned and rolled leg has outside surface rolled into the center, so the calculator does not treat it as an intact cut. Its minimum is never shorter than the pasteurization time, at any thickness in its range. The lamb chops guide has the time for each thickness.

Fish and shellfish

For fish settings that do not pasteurize, the calculator says to use fish sold for eating raw that has been frozen to kill parasites. Salmon, cod and halibut each have a 140°F (60°C) setting that pasteurizes, and no tuna setting does. The scallop default leaves the flesh translucent, which is short of the USDA guidance to cook scallops until the flesh is pearly or white and opaque. The fish temperature chart has every doneness for each fish.

Eggs

Eggs go into the bath in their shells with no bag, and the times are for large eggs straight from the refrigerator. The eggs guide describes each texture.

Vegetables

Every vegetable cooks at 183°F (83.9°C). Baldwin's review of sous vide cooking says vegetables turn tender when the material that cements their cells together dissolves, which starts around 180 to 185°F (82 to 85°C). The calculator's note is that bags tend to float at this temperature and need to be weighed down. The vegetables chart adds the second setting for larger potatoes and sweet potatoes, and covers cut size.

Desserts

Cheesecake and creme brulee cook in small jars, and larger jars need longer. The calculator's note is to close the lids only fingertip tight so air can escape. Yogurt is a fermentation, not a cook: the bath holds the milk at the temperature the culture needs.

Where the numbers come from

The times for steaks, chops, fillets and roasts are calculated from the thickness. For meat and poultry the minimum is the time for the center to come within 1°F (0.5°C) of the bath, based on Baldwin's heating tables, and for poultry, pork, burgers, sausage and the rolled leg of lamb it is never shorter than the pasteurization time.

Those minimums can be longer than the flat ranges printed in recipe charts. J. Kenji López-Alt's time and temperature guide for Anova lists steak at 1 hr 30 min to 4 hr without a thickness. The calculator gives a 1.5 in (3.8 cm) steak a minimum of 2 hr 15 min, because the center of a thicker piece takes longer to reach the bath temperature.

The times for tough cuts, shellfish, eggs, vegetables and desserts are ranges from published recipes.

Meat, fish and shellfish settings at 130°F (54.4°C) and below are not pasteurized, and the calculator limits them to 2 hr 30 min or less in the bath. The reasoning is in is sous vide safe.