Sous Vide Whole Chicken (Not Poached) Two Ways

You must try this sous vide whole chicken because it’s going to be the juiciest, tenderest, and most flavorful chicken you’ll ever make. Note: It’s not poached!

When it comes to sous vide whole chicken, so many recipes on the internet are poached. There is a good reason for that, which I will explain shortly. 

If a poached chicken isn’t something that sounds attractive to you, I am happy to tell you that I’ve discovered two foolproof paths to a perfectly juicy, golden-brown whole chicken with crispy skin without having to add any chicken stock to your cooking bag. 

In this article, I’ll show you exactly how to sous vide whole chicken safely with both methods step by step. Keyword: safely!

Before we get into it, though, a common question that I get frequently is why cook a whole chicken sous vide? Here’s the answer. 

Why Sous Vide Whole Chicken? 

The benefit of using a sous vide precision cooker (versus a grill or oven method) for making a whole chicken is that you can rest assured your chicken is always going to turn out tender, juicy, and cooked to perfection consistently, every time—never overcooked or dry. I’m sure you would agree, that less stress in the kitchen is always nice! 

The even nicer part is that once your bird is in the sous vide bath, feel free to walk away from your kitchen. It’s going to take at least six hours (totally hands-free), and even if you leave the chicken in the bath longer, it’s still going to turn out great because sous vide makes it pretty much impossible to overcook it. 

How to Sous Vide a Whole Chicken Safely

The main principle of sous vide cooking is to slow-cook food at a precise low temperature. A lot of the time, the cooking temperature is below 140°F (60°C). You might have heard of the “danger zone,” which refers to a temperature range between 40°F (4.44°C) and 140°F (60°C). When food sits in this range, potentially harmful bacteria, notably food pathogens, can thrive and make you sick. 

One of the most problematic pathogens is Salmonella, and our beloved chicken has a lot of it. When the center of your chicken reaches 165°F (74°C), 100% of Salmonella is killed immediately. And that’s why the FDA recommends the minimum internal temperature for safely cooking chicken is 165°F (74°C). 

When you cook chicken sous vide between 140°F (60°C) and 150°F (66°C), the internal temperature of the bird will never reach 165°F (74°C). How on earth is it safe to cook chicken this way? That’s a great question. Please read on. 

Temperature and Time

You know that Salmonella in chicken dies instantly at 165°F (74°C). What you might not know is that at 160°F (71°C), it takes 14 seconds to kill Salmonella in chicken (5% fat). At 155°F (68°C), it takes 50 seconds. When the temperature is brought down to 150°F (66°C), the pathogen is killed in 3 minutes. 

You see, to pasteurize chicken or any food, it isn’t just about the temperature. It’s about time as well. Technically, you can cook your chicken at an even lower temperature than 140°F for a longer time, and it will be safe to consume. But I don’t recommend it because the chicken will have a sashimi-like texture, which no one will find appealing. 

The recommended sous vide whole chicken cooking time is 6 hours at 150°F  (66°C). Not only is food safety ensured, but your bird will turn out mind-blowingly tender and juicy. Seriously, you are going to be stunned! 

Can’t wait to roll up your sleeves and put a whole bird in a cooking bag? Hold on for a second. There’s one more thing you should know.

Fill up That Cavity

The tricky thing about cooking a whole bird sous vide is removing the air from the cavity. Because air doesn’t conduct heat well, it will prevent the inner part of the chicken from reaching its desired temperature. 

Even if you use a vacuum sealer, there’s no way to suck the air out of the cavity unless you spatchcock your chicken. That’s why sous vide whole chicken is usually poached. Adding liquid into the cooking bag fills the chicken cavity, and the liquid can effectively transfer heat inside the chicken. 

(Full disclosure: the first time I attempted to cook whole chicken sous vide, I did not add any liquid in the vacuum-sealed bag. The chicken made its own juice which filled up the cavity during the cooking process. After six hours, my bird was fully cooked and my family thoroughly enjoyed it. None of us got sick. However, it never hurts to take precautions regarding food safety.)

After reading the comments below and doing a few more experiments, I am happy to report that there are two non-poaching ways to effectively remove the air from a chicken cavity, and both methods worked extremely well.

Method #1 Mold the sous vide bag into the chicken cavity.

This method was initially introduced to me by a reader, GS. See his comment below. Thank you, GS! 

Put the chicken into a large sous vide bag, cavity side first. Then use your fist to push the bottom of the bag into the cavity. When you vacuum seal this way, the air gets sucked out of the cavity as well. The water in the sous vide bath can fill the cavity immediately when you drop the chicken into the bath. Now, the water can circulate your whole chicken, including the inside. 

Method #2 Stuff the cavity of your chicken with onions and lemons!

The onions and lemons act as the heat transfer agent inside your chicken to ensure it reaches 150°F (66°C) inside out and holds at that temperature during the entire cooking time. They also add an unexpected layer of flavors to your chicken, in addition to the mouth-watering thyme, cayenne, garlic, and paprika dry rub. 

Depending on the size of your chicken, you might need to use more or fewer onions and lemons. Make sure you stuff the cavity as much as possible so there’s little to no air left inside before you bag the chicken. I cut my onions and lemons into slices and stuffed the bird well. 

Feel free to add a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme or whatever your heart desires inside the chicken. 

Essential Equipment  

To sous vide a whole chicken successfully with either method, there are a few essential pieces of equipment you’ll need.

• A sous vide machine: I used Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker 2.0 to sous vide my whole chicken. 
• A sous vide container or a large pot: Depending on the size of your chicken, a decent-sized sous vide container will be ideal to hold the whole bird and still have room for the water to circulate. My go-to cooking vessel is this 16L sous vide container also by Anova. 
• Vacuum-sealer bags: As you can see, with method #1, I custom-cut a large sous vide bag to mold the bottom into the chicken cavity. Vacuum sealer rolls come in handy in cases like this. With method #2, I used a reusable sous vide bag with a hand pump to seal the bag. Wondering what type of bags you should use for sous vide? Read my in-depth Sous Vide Bags 101 here.
• A vacuum sealer: To use vacuum-sealer rolls, you’ll need a vacuum sealer. 

How to Sous Vide Whole Chicken Step-by-Step Instructions – Method #1 Molding

Now, here comes the exciting part. Let’s do this!

Step 1: Preheat water to 150°F (66°C) using an immersion circulator.

Step 2: Make the dry rub for your bird.

Step 3: Coat your chicken with the dry rub.

Step 4: Custom-cut a large sous vide bag from a vacuum-sealer roll. You’ll want the bag to be long enough as part of it will be molded into the cavity. 

Step 5: Place the chicken, cavity side first, into the bag. Fold the top of the bag and hold it with one hand. Use the other hand (fist) to push the bottom of the bag into the chicken cavity. Release the top and vacuum seal the bag.

Step 6: Lower the bag into the prepared water bath. You should see bubbles popping out from the cavity right away as the chicken sinks to the bottom of the sous vide container. Set the timer for 6 hours.

Step 7: Once the chicken is done, transfer it onto a plate and gently pat it dry with paper towels. Sear it on the stove, in the oven, or using a torch.

Sous Vide Whole Chicken Step-by-Step Instructions – Method #2 Stuffing

Follow step 1 to step 3 from method #1. 

Step 4: Stuff the cavity with onions and lemons.

Step 5: Pop the chicken into a large sous vide bag and vacuum seal it.

Step 6: Lower the bag into the prepared water bath and set the timer for 6 hours.

Step 7: Once the chicken is done, transfer it onto a plate and pat dry gently. Sear it on the stove or using a torch.

Hooray! You did it!

The Meat around the Leg Bones of My Cooked Chicken Is Still Pink-ish. Is It Safe to Eat? 

It’s understandable when we see cooked chicken meat that’s not white but pinkish, we automatically think it’s unsafe. It’s because we’ve spent most of our lives eating overcooked chicken, so when it’s cooked properly, it seems underdone. 

If cooked chicken doesn’t have the appearance that we expect—all white inside and out—that doesn’t mean it’s unsafe to consume. Once again, provided it has been pasteurized fully, it is perfectly safe to eat. 

What If I Don’t Have a Sous Vide?

Don’t have a sous vide machine or not ready to invest in one yet? Don’t worry. This dry rub I used for this sous vide whole chicken recipe is the same recipe as my Crockpot Whole Chicken. So you can follow step 1 to step 3 and use different cooking methods to cook the chicken.

• Slow cooker method: Cook the chicken on low for 6-8 hours. Feel free to add whatever vegetables into your slow cooker.
• Oven method: Roast the chicken at 350°F (177°C) for 1.5-2 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
• Grill method: Grilled the chicken at 350°F-400°F (177°C – 204°C) for 80 minutes (rotate once halfway through) or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.

Note: For the oven and grill method, you’ll want to melt some butter and brush all over the chicken before cooking. This step will result in golden brown and crispy skin.

Round out Your Chicken Dinner

You can turn your chicken dinner into a feast by serving it with garlic paprika sous vide potatoes and pan-steamed broccolini with portobello mushrooms. 

This recipe is perfect if you love serving up a hassle-free, wholesome dinner on the weekends. Plus, if you’re cooking for only two or three people, this whole chicken will yield enough leftovers to make a hearty chicken salad or a batch of chicken soup the next day.

Looking for more delicious sous vide chicken recipes? You might also like the following dishes.

• Sous Vide Chicken Breast and Asparagus
• Moroccan-Style Sous Vide Chicken Thighs (Chicken Tagine)
• Chinese Sticky and Cripsy Sous Vide Drumsticks
• Best Ever Sous Vide Chicken Wings

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Note: This recipe post was originally published on October 20, 2018, and I have received many questions, comments, and criticisms regarding whether it’s safe to sous vide whole chicken without poaching it in the cooking bag. I feel it’s necessary to address these concerns regarding food safety. Therefore, I’ve updated this post with more information and different ways to safely sous vide a whole chicken.