There are nights when we’re just so tired and busy we don’t have the energy to cook food for dinner!
But before you settle for takeaway, you should give sous vide a try. Cooking frozen steak sous vide is one of the best ways to have healthy meals with minimal effort. We’ll let you know how to sous vide frozen steak in this guide.
10 Steps to Sous Vide Frozen Steak
1. Fill The Pot With Water & Set To The Necessary Temperature
While there are many sous vide machines available, you can also do this cooking method in a regular pot. The key to sous vide is maintaining the right water temperature, which the sous vide precision cooker can do for you automatically.
However, if you are using a regular pot, you will constantly monitor the heat. To do this, you will need a timer, an immersion circulator, and a specialized thermometer.
2. Season The Meat
One of the best things about sous vide is its convenience. Once you’ve stocked up on steak for sous vide (filet mignon, sirloin steak, strip steak, pork chops, T-bone steaks — you name it), vacuum-seal the raw meat inside sous vide bags with seasonings like salt, pepper, herbs, or your favorite marinade. Stash them inside the freezer until you’re ready to sous vide frozen steak.
3. Place The Meat In A Zip-Top Bag (Single Layer)
Sous vide requires putting your food inside a vacuum-sealed sous vide bag. You can use regular Ziploc bags, but you will have to manually remove the air from inside. Ensure that the bag you’re using is BPA-free and safe for boiling.
4. Seal The Bag
Water Displacement
If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, you can use the water displacement method for vacuum sealing.
Arrange your fresh steaks in a single layer and put each inside a Ziploc bag. Press out as much air as possible and seal all but one corner of the bag.
Slowly place the bag into a pot of water and make sure everything below the zip line is submerged, then seal the rest of the bag. You now have a vacuum-seal bag.
Vacuum Sealer
If you have a sealer, sous vide frozen steak will be a breeze. Make sure you’re using the right quality vacuum-seal bags for the job and that the meat is in a single layer. Some grocery stores also carry vacuum-sealed steak that will work just fine with your sous vide machine. Find out what’s the best vacuum sealer for sous vide cooking here.
5. Submerge The Bag In A Water Bath
After discovering sous vide, we never wanted to go back to old cooking methods. We didn’t have to defrost frozen steaks, and we still achieved a perfect steak dinner!
The first thing you’ll have to do in sous vide cooking is to preheat the sous vide water bath and set it to the right temperature depending on the doneness you prefer (we’ve prepared a guide for you below).
Lower the meat inside the water bath and make sure that it is fully submerged but that the seams remain above water.
6. Set The Right Cooking Time
Cooking sous vide steak should take 45 minutes to 4 hours with the sous vide machine. Cooking frozen steak will undoubtedly be longer than cooking fresh. When you’re cooking sous vide steak from frozen, something to keep in mind is to multiply the average cooking time by 1.5.
You can remember this formula for anything frozen that you want to cook sous vide:
Frozen Cook Time = Fresh Cook Time x 1.5
For example, to get medium-rare doneness on a frozen steak, you need to set the timer to 2.5 hours, as the fresh steak will take only one hour.
Also, don’t leave the frozen steak sous viding in the water for too long as it can get mushy.
Read: What’s the Best Torch for Sous Vide?
7. Let It Chill For About 10 Minutes In A Water Bath
Once the timer goes off, take the bag out of the water bath and chill it for at least ten minutes in cold tap water (no ice) to get its temperature ready for searing.
8. Pat Steak Dry & Season With More Salt And Pepper
Take the cooked steak out of the bag and pat dry. Season with a little bit more salt and pepper.
9. Sear It In The Skillet
Fire up the stove and heat a heavy-duty pan (such as a cast-iron skillet) over high heat. Spread a little bit of butter on the surface and sear each side for 60 seconds to get a nice brown crust all over.
10. Cut & Serve
Transfer the seared steak to a cutting board and let it rest for five minutes before slicing. Cut against the grain, serve with side dishes, and enjoy a steak that’s cooked perfectly!
Read: Sous Vide Cooking vs Grilling
Steak Doneness Cooking Temperature Guide
| Doneness | Temperature |
| Well-Done | 160°F (71°C) |
| Medium-Well | 150°F (66°C) |
| Medium | 140°F (60°C) |
| Medium-Rare | 135°F (57°C) |
| Rare | 125°F (52°C) |
FAQs
Should you defrost steak sous vide?
No. There is no need to thaw frozen steak with sous vide! You can cook frozen steak in the water bath with the desired temperature, and take note to cook it with the additional time.
Will meat come out less delicious if cooked from frozen?
Absolutely not! The vacuum-sealed frozen steak will always come out delicious with sous vide, whether you choose to cook steak from frozen or not. Just make sure that the frozen foods don’t have freezer burn, as it will affect the taste. [1]
Can you sous vide steak and then freeze it?
Yes, you can sous vide steak now and freeze it for future use. The key to doing this is to get the temperature of the meat down as quickly as you can to preserve the quality of the meat. Submerging the meat in an ice bath after sous vide cooking will achieve this.
Can you eat more than one-year-old frozen meat?
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, frozen meat is safe to eat indefinitely, as long as it stays at exactly 0°F without fluctuation. This keeps the bacteria and mold that naturally grow in aging food when the temperature rises away.
Final Thoughts
Sous vide frozen steak is one of the best ways to have a great steak dinner without the hassle of preparing food. It also saves you the trouble of defrosting yet maintains the tenderness and juiciness of the meat. This process makes meal planning for healthy food easier and allows you to prepare steak for cooking several weeks ahead!
Thank you for reading this far! I hope that the information provided in this article will be helpful to you.
Reference:
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/freezer-burn