Thai Sous Vide Chicken Thighs with Tomato Salad
Thai night can be healthy, low carb and delicious with these Thai sous vide chicken thighs served over a bed of tasty tomato salad.
When it comes to cooking up a super flavorful chicken dish, if you ask me, thighs are where it’s at. Although chicken breasts seem to be a more popular dish for weeknight cooking, chicken thighs are just as easy to whip up and naturally pack more flavor (since dark meat contains a little more fat).
Boost the flavor of your chicken thighs with mouthwatering Thai aromatics—such as ginger, garlic, basil, cilantro, and sriracha—and serve on a bed of sliced tomatoes. With that, I’d say you’ve got yourself a winner, winner, chicken dinner! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
While this is a sous vide chicken thigh recipe, if you don’t have a sous vide precision cooker, you can still make this dish using another cooking method, such as grilled in a cast iron skillet. You could also bake the chicken thighs in a single layer in the oven.
For Grilling:
Preheat grill on medium. Coat chicken with spray (discard marinade); grill 8–10 minutes on each side, turning often, or until grill-marked and 165°F. Sprinkle with fresh basil and cilantro before serving with the tomato salad.
For Baking:
Preheat oven to 425°F. In the meantime, spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Lay marinated chicken in a single layer. If you’d like an extra crispy skin, place a roasting rack on top of the roasting pan and lay the chicken on the rack. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of your chicken reaches 165°F. Sprinkle with fresh basil and cilantro before serving with the tomato salad.
Why Sous Vide is the Best Option for Cooking Animal Protein
The main benefit of using a sous vide precision cooker for protein is that your meat never comes out dry. When set to a precise temperature and cook time, and the food placed in a vacuum sealed bag and water bath, the sous vide machine cooks chicken thighs (and all other types of animal protein) to an exceptional degree of juiciness every time. Personally, I use the Anova sous vide machine, and I explain why in more detail here.
If you’re looking for a few more sous vide recipes for chicken, I also recommend this Sous Vide Honey Mustard Chicken Breast With Sweet Potato Mash (made with honey, dijon, and whole grain mustard) and this Sous Vide Chicken Breast With a White Wine and Lemon Juice Sauce. Both recipes will work for chicken thighs too.
I hope you enjoy these Thai crispy chicken thighs! If you get a chance to make them, please leave a comment below and let me know how you like it or share a photo of your masterpiece on social media using hashtag #streetsmartkitchen so that I can see it. Cheers!
Thai Sous Vide Chicken Thighs with Tomato Salad
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Main, Low Carb
- Method: Sous Vide
- Cuisine: American
Description
Chicken thighs marinated in a Thai sauce, and sous vide to perfection, then seared to be crispy outside. They are served over a tasty tomato salad to complete a low-carb and delicious meal.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped, divided
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped, divided
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sriracha
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
- 4 medium tomatoes, sliced
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine basil, cilantro, ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce, olive oil, garlic, sriracha, and fish sauce until blended. Reserve one-half of the marinade.
- Place remaining half of the marinade in a large Ziploc bag; add chicken and knead to coat. Let stand 30 minutes (or overnight) in the fridge to marinate.
- When ready to cook, preheat Anova Precision Cooker to 149°F. Take out the marinated chicken from the fridge and open the bag. Slowly lower your bagged chicken into the water bath, using the water displacement method, letting the pressure of the water press air out through the top of the bag. Once most of the air is out of the bag, carefully seal the bag just above the waterline. Cook for 2 hours.
- Slice the tomatoes and set aside.
- When the chicken is done, remove the bag from the water bath and pat gently with paper towels. Heat some oil in a non-stick or cast iron pan over high heat until very hot. Place the chicken in the hot pan to sear, skin side down. Press the chicken down slightly to allow good contact between the skin and the pan. Sear for 2-3 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and crispy. You should be able to lift the chicken easily at this point.
- Divide the tomatoes into 4 equal portions and place on 4 serving plates. Place chicken on top and drizzle with the reserved Thai marinade. Add more kosher salt or freshly ground black pepper; sprinkle with freshly chopped basil and cilantro if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- If you prefer, you may transfer the marinated chicken into a sous vide bag, discard the marinade, and seal it with a vacuum sealer before adding it to the water bath.
- When searing the chicken, wear gloves and long sleeves if you are very sensitive to small oil splatters.
- If you sous vide a big batch, transfer the bagged chicken to an ice bath after cooking. When it’s chilled completely, chicken can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days before finishing and serving. In this case, you might want to reserve or discard the chicken juices first to prevent having gelled juices around your chicken thighs. Therefore, you can directly sear the chicken when you are ready without waiting for the juices to thaw first.
- If you’d like some extra sauce, reserve the chicken juices after cooking, add a pat of butter and simmer it down to half as a pan sauce.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 348
- Sugar: 5.1g
- Sodium: 715.2mg
- Fat: 26.1g
- Saturated Fat: 6.2g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 8g
- Fiber: 1.2g
- Protein: 20.6g
- Cholesterol: 111.3mg
About the Author
Sharon Chen is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, an author and a sous vide fanatic who believes food not only brings healing but also connection. As the creator of StreetSmart Kitchen, she's on a mission to help you find balance, ease, joy, and simplicity in the kitchen as you improve your well-being.
I’m making this for the third time now, it has been fabulous each previous time. The main difference I have adopted is using a food processor to make the sauce, which helps it come out less chunky than when I did it by hand. The flavor is delightful, I’m happy with how the sous vide cooks the chicken, and I have been surprised by how much I love the tomato salad.
Hi Erik, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and let me know how much you enjoy this recipe. I am very happy to hear that. Using a food processor to make the sauce is a great idea. Thank you for sharing! Cheers!
None of this worked for me. When I took the thighs from the bag and put them in the skillet, the skin shredded off like wet tissue, and then dissolved into a charred mess. The texture of the meat was mushy. Clearly, 149 degrees for two hours is too much. We are sending out for something edible, and throwing this rotten mess out.
Very sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with this recipe.
To sear the skin successfully on the stove, patting it really dry is essential. In terms of texture, boneless chicken thigh can be sous vide cooked at 149F, 167F, and 185F for 45 minutes up to 2 hours.
Again, when the chicken came out of the water bath after 2 hours, there was no “patting it dry.” The skin had all but dissolved, and was like wet Kleenex. Touching it with the tongs tore it, and patting it with a paper towel pulled chunks of it off. I am convinced that two hours at 149 was too long, and left the meat soft and mushy. I will try again, maybe at a higher heat (167) for 45 minutes.
On the plus side, the marinade smelled absolutely delicious. I hope that changing the time/temp profile will fix it.
Please do let me know how it goes with your second try. Thanks so much for your constructive comments. I appreciate it!
Hi Sharon.
The sous vide version seems very attractive and delicious!
I have, however, two questions:
1) Isn’t the temperature of 149 F of the precision cooker too low to kill all the harmful bacteria? The USDA recommended temperature for chicken is 165 F. Besides, parts of the meat adjacent to bones might then retain the blood color, which would put off some of the eaters.
2) If I have no sriracha sauce, what can you recommend as substitutes, taking into account that I have at hand most primary components of Thai cuisine: galangal roots, lemongrass stalks, bird’s eye chilies, lime zest and juice, kaffir lime essential oil?
Hi Arie, thanks for stopping by and good questions. For your first question, I explained how to sous vide chicken safely in detail in this article: https://www.streetsmartkitchen.com/sous-vide-whole-chicken/ Basically, harmful bacteria can be killed at a lower temperature if you allow enough cooking time, which your sous vide is capable of.
For your second question, not to worry. You can use your bird’s eye chilies and lime juice to replace the sriracha in this particular case. Please do let me know how it turns out for you. Happy sous vide cooking!
Thanks for advice. The chicken turned out delicious!
Besides replacing sriracha with lime juice and chilies, I made some other modifications:
1) Instead of olive oil, I used the same total amount of canola oil infusions of galangal, lemongrass, and bird’s eye chilies. I always keep a stock of separate infusions prepared beforehand to save time.
2) I also added lime zest to the marinade, so it now contained the whole spectrum of Thai aromatics.
3) Instead of searing the chicken in a pan, I did it in a broiler. This is very rapid and avoids the mess of oil splatter on the stovetop and around.
4) Instead of making tomato salad, I braised tomatoes (they are rather tasteless now in my country), bell peppers, and carrots, using the discarded marinade and the chicken juices from the sous vide bags as braising liquid.
Arie, the modifications that you made totally brought this recipe to the next level! Thank you for sharing it with me and all other street-smart cooks! Absolutely LOVE it! <3
Hate, repeat, hate cilantro, so I left it out and used parsley and powdered rosemary. Finished on a grill with pecan smoke. Was delicious.
I love Thai food so I decided to give this recipe a try. I took the skin off and man was it delicious. I love this recipe and will be making it again. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome to hear, Alitia! Cheers!
Your recipe looks so tempting! I actually love chicken thighs if done correctly and yours look perfect. Tender and juicy!
That looks so good. I love the chard tops that you go on the chicken.
Mmm, this Thai chicken looks fabulous! Can’t wait to try it.
This is a meal my family would love! I can’t wait to try it!
I need to get a sous vide for sure! My brother has one but hasn’t used it yet. I just texted him your link to nudge him to start using it! I want to make your Thai chicken thighs as they look delicious! Pinning for later.
The Thai sauce is divine, and I love that it’s paired with a simple tomato salad!