How to Sous Vide Turkey

For most people, turkey just comes out once or twice a year. But once you taste sous vide turkey you'll be looking for excuses to eat it year round.

Note: For a much more detailed look at cooking turkey, I highly recommend reading my article on How to Sous Vide Turkey and Poultry.

Ensuring turkey is safe to eat is a big concern with turkey and all poultry. This used to mean cooking it to at least 150°F or 165°F (65.5°C to 73.8°C). But as we discussed in the lesson on Sous Vide Safety, you can achieve the same safety levels through extended cooking at lower temperatures. This allows you to enjoy much juicier poultry than you normally would.

Once heated, turkey and other poultry are pasteurized by cooking it at:

• 140°F (60.0°C) for 30 minutes
• 145°F (62.8°C) for 12 minutes
• 150°F (65.6°C) for 4 minutes

Below are my recommended cooking time and temperatures for sous vide turkey.

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Sous Vide Turkey Temperatures and Times

Breast

All should be pasteurized by thickness

• Medium-Well: 149ºF for Pasteurized by Thickness (65.0ºC)
• Medium-Rare: 137ºF for Pasteurized by Thickness (58.3ºC)
• Ideal: 141ºF for Pasteurized by Thickness (60.6ºC)
• How to sous vide turkey breast

Drumstick

• Medium: 141ºF for 4 to 6 Hours (60.6ºC)
• Ideal: 148ºF for 4 to 6 Hours (64.4ºC)
• Shreddable: 165ºF for 8 to 12 Hours (73.9ºC)
• How to sous vide turkey drumstick

Leg

• Medium: 141ºF for 4 to 6 Hours (60.6ºC)
• Ideal: 148ºF for 4 to 6 Hours (64.4ºC)
• Shreddable: 165ºF for 8 to 12 Hours (73.9ºC)
• How to sous vide turkey leg

Thigh

• Medium: 141ºF for 4 to 6 Hours (60.6ºC)
• Ideal: 148ºF for 4 to 6 Hours (64.4ºC)
• For Shredding: 165ºF for 8 to 12 Hours (73.9ºC)
• How to sous vide turkey thigh

Whole

• Ideal: 145°F for Pasteurized by Thickness (62.8ºC)
• How to sous vide turkey whole

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