can you overcook potatoes in sous vide

Sous vide potatoes! Make a big batch on the weekend, then reheat as needed for quick side dishes during the week. Theyre perfectly cooked and creamy all the way through.

Oh, potatoes. There’s very little you can’t do, and very rarely do I turn you away.

For example, I’m totally unopposed to cooking up a really good bag of frozen French fries. Or tater tots. I’m also completely smitten with making my own oven-roasted potatoes, and I also love serving boiled potatoes slathered with olive oil or butter (or a bit of both, let’s be honest) and some fresh herbs.

Sous vide potatoes are the best of both worlds: Buy fresh potatoes at the store and cook a big batch sous vide, then you can eat them right away, freeze them for later, or keep them in the fridge and reheat them throughout the week.

About this method: Sous vide is a method for cooking food in a sealed plastic bag using precisely controlled water temperatures, so nothing can overcook.

The Best Potatoes to Sous Vide

For this recipe, the smaller the potato the better because they cook faster. Look for little ones that youd normally use for boiling or pan-frying.

I tested this recipe several times with combinations of yellow, red, and purple baby potatoes, all of which worked equally well. These potatoes are a little bit waxy, so hold their shape well and they also can go right into a hot pan or oven afterward to further develop flavor.

I also tried some potatoes that were irregularly sized, and in those cases, I made sure all the potato pieces were approximately the same size by cutting them in half or in quarters.

If you have the ability to hand-select your potatoes in a bulk bin or at the farmers’ market, look for ones that are about the same size—tiny potatoes about an inch or less in diameter are great, but larger ones can be cut in half or quarters.

If bags of potatoes are your only option, thats fine; just know that some will always be some larger and smaller. Again, just cut the larger ones so that all the pieces are roughly the same size.

How Sous Vide Cooking Works

How does sous vide work, exactly? Well, an immersion circulator creates a consistent temperature environment that ensures very precise cooking results. It’s similar to a slow, gentle poach that helps food retain its moisture, too.

This low, slow method of cooking sous vide is well suited to vegetables because it keeps them at a consistent temperature and cooks them thoroughly but without letting them getting too mushy.

There’s a little bit of a learning curve or trial and error with using this style of cooking, but it’s nothing to be too wary of. It’s mostly a hands-off process, not unlike cooking in a slow cooker.

New to sous vide cooking? Start here!

Garlic Herb Sous Vide Potatoes

FAQ

Can you sous vide mashed potatoes too long?

Is it possible to overcook with sous vide?

Is it possible to overcook potatoes?

Can I sous vide potatoes at 150?

How to cook potatoes in sous vide?

Place the potatoes in a ziplock-style bag or a plastic vacuum bag, add your fat of choice (geese, olive oil, or butter) and the seasonings. Set your sous vide oven to 194 degrees Fahrenheit or 90 degrees Celsius and cook the potatoes for a a full hour. Once the potatoes are cooked, shock them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

How do you cook potatoes in a sous vide bag?

Place the sous vide bag and sous vide runner in a pot or large container full of water and set it to 140°F for 1 hour. Step 4: Saute and serve. After the hour is up, transfer the contents of the bag to a cast iron skillet and brown them on all sides until tender and crispy. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, serve them warm with fresh dill. Enjoy!

Can You overcook potatoes in a sous vide machine?

While you can’t technically overcook potatoes in the sous vide machine, they can get too mushy after a while. That’s why I recommend cooking these sous vide potatoes for an hour and 30 minutes. Any longer than that and you risk turning them too mushy.

How do you cook mashed potatoes in a sous vide oven?

Season with salt along the way. Add a small amount of salt into the bag before sous vide cooking, and add more during mashing. Taste along the way so that your mashed potatoes are not too salty. The best temperature for making sous vide mashed potatoes is to use a water bath at 194ºF or 90ºC. At that temp, they will take about an hour.