Using a sous vide immersion cooker for the chicken in this salad makes it moist and full of flavor. A shout out to my good friend, Liza Boubari, who designed part of our logo, has a new show for women, about women, by women called The Original with Chris and Liza.
When I first got my sous vide immersion cooker, one of the first things I did with it was put some chicken in a bag with some Asian salad dressing. I was surprised at how good it tasted. That’s the great thing about sous vide, the food can marinate while it’s cooking. You get great flavor without food drying out.
The great thing about this salad is you can add whatever you want to it. I like to add wonton strips or chow mein noodles. Japanese pickled ginger is also a good addition. I happened to have an orange bell pepper on hand when I made this, but the more colors the better. If you get the small baby bell peppers, they usually come in yellow, orange, and red in the package and they look and taste lovely in this salad.
Depending on what you put in the salad, it can be served for a light lunch, or you could have it as a part of a larger dinner meal. When I made it I served it with egg rolls.
How long to Sous Vide Marinated Chicken
One of the best things about sous vide is you don’t have to baby it. If you are a little late taking it off the heat, it’s not a disaster. However, you do need to cook it for at least an hour but no more than four. If you cook it for more than four hours, it will be mushy and not appealing at all. For more information about sous vide chicken, check the article at Serious Eats.
The Marinade
If you want to use your own Asian salad dressing for the marinade, feel free. We happen to like the one from Girard’s, Toasted Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette. It has great flavor, not too sweet, not too salty, just right.
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 1 pound Chicken breast
- 2 tablespoon Toasted Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette
For the Salad
- 1 head Lettuce, torn
- 1 Tomato, sliced
- 1 Bell pepper, sliced
- 1 cup Mandarin Oranges
- 2 tablespoon Toasted Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette
Instructions
- Put the chicken in the bag with salad dressing. Seal the bag and cook it via sous vide at 150 F / 65 C for one to four hours. Remove the bag from the water and put it in the refrigerator to cool for about 2 hours. When the chicken has cooled, slice it nicely for the salad. Toss the juice that''s in the bag.
- Tear the lettuce into nice pieces. Slice the tomato and bell pepper. Drain the mandarin oranges. Combine the lettuce, tomato, bell pepper, oranges, and chicken in a nice serving bowl. Add the wonton strips and toss with the remaining salad dressing.
Notes
Nutrition
If you lack space or tend to move around a lot, you’ll likely prefer the maneuverability of a handheld machine, but if you rely on your food vacuum sealer often, the superior performance and durability of a countertop model may suit you better.
Taneka, thanks for the advice. I actually have two sealers, one on the counter that I use for sealing larger packages and a small handheld for little things like avocadoes. The little one is a VMSTR with a rechargeable battery, and the big one is a Nesco VS-02. I feel that each has its own uses.