A Sous Vide Guide to Cooking Vegetables | The Tool Shed

Sous vide is the perfect way to cook most foods, allowing you to have the ultimate temperature control, which in turn results in perfectly cooked food. While you may most commonly associate sous vide with cooking meat and fish, it is also a great way to cook vegetables. As with all food that you prepare using the sous vide method, you will be able to get your veggies just right, as long as you choose the right temperature.

To help get you started with cooking vegetables in your sous vide, we’ve put together a short guide of some of the best veggies to cook and how to prepare them perfectly

Why is Sous Vide so Great for Vegetables?

There is a reason why sous vide works so well with vegetables. It is partly due to the way that sous vide compresses the food when it is vacuum-sealed into its bag. When it is cooking in this bag, the water molecules inside the vegetable cells are forced to move throughout the vegetable itself, giving it a uniform texture. The method also ensures that all the flavour is retained, something which can often be an issue when boiling vegetables.

Brussel Sprouts

Sprouts can be hard to get right, which may well be the reason so many people claim to hate these little vegetables. However, when they are prepared perfectly, they can be absolutely delicious, and they’re packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, so they’re worth getting right!

Cook the sprouts at 85ºC for an hour and you will have the perfect al dente texture. You can also add chunks of pre-cooked bacon to the bag to add something a little extra to the flavour. 

Carrots

You may be surprised by just how flavoursome your carrots can be when cooked sous vide. Add a little olive oil and salt to the bag before vacuum sealing. You can then cook them at 85ºC for just 25 minutes, leaving you with crunchy carrots which are packed full of flavour.

Potatoes

There are so many different ways to cook potatoes when you’re cooking sous vide depending on the result you want. While you can’t roast potatoes this way, you can certainly use the sous vide to soften them before you roast, giving them a light and fluffy texture.

Alternatively, you could try out a recipe like our butter-poached jersey royals with glazed parmesan and watercress which uses the vacuum-seal bag to infuse the potatoes with butter before crisping them off in a pan.

Corn on the Cob 

When you get corn on the cob right, you’ll get to enjoy a sweet and juicy side with plenty of flavour. Heat the water bath to 83.5ºC and season your corn with salt and pepper before adding it to the cooking bag with butter and a handful of fresh coriander. Cook for 30 minutes to an hour and you can eat straight from the bag!

Of course, this is just a brief introduction to some of the vegetables which are perfect when cooked sous vide. There are plenty more to try out, so head to our recipes page to find more sous vide vegetable recipes that you can sample at home.

You can also browse our selection of tools that are perfect for any home chef or professional chef.