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You are here: Home / Dinner / Crispy Skin Sous Vide Duck Breast

December 11, 2020

Crispy Skin Sous Vide Duck Breast

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These Sous Vide Duck Breasts have crispy skin on the outside and deeply rich and tender meat on the inside. Sous vide method will have you cooking like a pro, simply cook them at 135°F for 2 hours, and you’ll make the restaurant-quality medium-rare duck breasts at your own home!

These Sous Vide Duck Breasts have crispy skin on the outside and deeply rich and tender meat on the inside. Sous vide method will have you cooking like a pro, making the restaurant-quality duck breasts at your own home! #SousVideDuckBreast #DuckBreast

This foolproof sous vide recipe allows you to cook the meat to the precise temperature you set. It’s so succulent and rivals some of the best steaks. No more over-cooked chewy duck breast! Serve with red wine sauce on potatoes or tortilla tacos for a mouth-watering dinner, and impress your guest this holiday season!

Table of Contents

  • Why Sous Vide Duck Breast
  • What You’ll Need for This Recipe
  • How to Cook Sous Vide Duck Breast
  • Tips for making tender and juicy duck breasts
  • Temperature and Doneness
  • How Long Does it Take to Sous Vide Duck Breast?
  • Can You Serve Duck Breasts Medium Rare?
  • How to serve sous vide duck breast?
  • Crispy Skin Sous Vide Duck Breast Recipe

Why Sous Vide Duck Breast

Unlike chicken breast, the breast of the duck is a rich and dark meat, covered by a thick layer of fat. Low and slow is the preferred method to produce the most tender duck meat, making it an ideal candidate for sous vide cooking. 

You may think the skin is too fat and thick, but searing after sous vide can turn the skin into a thin and crispy crust, so don’t trim it off.  Scoring the skin so that the fat will render away easily while cooking.

What is sous vide? Sous vide means ‘under vacuum’ in French. It’s a low and slow cooking technique where the food is vacuum-sealed in a bag, and then cooked to a precise temperature in a warm water bath. Sous vide duck breast guarantees the perfect tender and juicy texture!

What You’ll Need for This Recipe

Actually you really need only duck breast and your favorite seasonings! Here are the ingredients I used for this recipe

  • Duck Breasts: fresh or frozen
  • Koshar Salt
  • Freshly Ground Black Pepper
  • Red Wine Sauce for Serving (optional)

You’ll also need a Sous Vide Machine, zip-loc bags, and a large pot for this recipe.

How to Cook Sous Vide Duck Breast

1. Score duck breasts: Place the breast on a cutting board skin side up. Score the skin in a crosshatch pattern (as shown below), making sure not to cut through to the meat. Scoring helps to render the fat from the skin during cooking. 

Closeup showing scoring the skin in a crosshatch pattern.

2. Season the breast: Season the skin side with salt only (no pepper, as I like the clean look of the skin). Then flip the breast, and season the flesh side with salt and pepper.

Season duck breasts before sous vide cooking.

3. Sous vide cook duck breasts: Place seasoned duck breasts in a vacuum bag or zip-lock bag. Vacuum seal the bag and cook in the sous vide warm water bath at 135°F (57°C) for about 2 hours. 

Sous Vide cooking vacuum-sealed duck breasts in a warm water bath.

4. Finish by searing in a skillet: Sear the sous vide cooked duck breasts skin-side down until the skin turns golden crispy. Flip and sear the flesh side for 30 seconds. Let the breasts rest for 3-5 minutes; slice and serve. 

Searing the duck skin until crispy and golden brown.

Tips for making tender and juicy duck breasts

  • Score the skin before sous vide cooking. Keep the scores about 1/2 inch apart and make sure to cut all the way through the edges. This will prevent them from curling up during searing.
  • Vacuum seal the meat without a vacuum-sealer: If you don’t have a vacuum-sealer, you can seal the bag using the water displacement technique. Simply seal all but one corner of the bag, and then slowly place it into a large pot of water. Make sure everything below the zip-line is covered by water, then seal the rest of the bag. 
  • After sous vide cooking, pat dry duck breasts thoroughly, any moisture left on the skin will interfere with the proper searing, making the skin less crispy.
  • Don’t throw away the rendered fat from duck breasts. It’s considered one of the healthiest animal fats. Frying potatoes in this fat is a classic French approach to duck. 

Temperature and Doneness

Unlike other types of poultry, duck can safely be cooked to a lower temperature. Our preferred doneness is medium-rare when the breast is cooked to 135°F (57°C). Remember that the temperature will rise slightly when searing in the pan later. This recipe produces the duck meat that’s extremely tender with silky-smooth texture. If you’d like to cook your duck to different doneness, follow the chart below:

Duck Breast Internal TemperatureDoneness
130 °F / 54 °CRare
135 °F / 57 °CMedium-rare (tender and juicy)
145 °F / 63 °CMedium (less juicy, but still tender)
155 °F / 68 °CWell-done (More chewy)
Sliced Sous Vide Duck Breast served with potatoes and green beans on a white plate.

How Long Does it Take to Sous Vide Duck Breast?

It’s best to cook the duck breast in the warm water bath for 1.5 hours to 2 hours. You can take it out after 1 hour if you are in a hurry, or cook it for as long as 4 hours. If cooking from frozen duck breasts, you’ll need to add half an hour to the cooking time.

Can You Serve Duck Breasts Medium Rare?

Yes, absolutely. It’s safe to consume medium-rare duck meat, as it has been cooked for a long time in the sous vide water bath. The perfectly cooked medium-rare duck breasts have a moist and juicy texture and are so delicious.

How to serve sous vide duck breast?

Serve the breast with potatoes or green vegetables, thinly slice the meat and drizzle with red wine sauce or berry sauce. I’d pair it with:

  • Steamed Broccoli
  • Asparagus
  • Carrots
  • Green Beans

If You Like This Recipe Try Out These Sous Vide Recipes

  • These Rosemary Garlic Sous Vide Lamb Chops are super tender and so flavorful! The sous vide technique allows you to cook better lamb chops than the restaurant. The lamb is precisely and evenly cooked to the temperature you set with your desired doneness!
    Sous Vide Lamb Chops
  • These Sous Vide Lobster Tails are incredibly tender, juicy, and full of delicious lemon butter flavor. With sous vide method, cooking lobster is no longer intimidating. This is a no-fail recipe that produces the most succulent restaurant-quality lobster at home! #SousVideLobster #SousVideLobsterTails
    Sous Vide Lobster
  • Sous Vide Sirloin Steak is a no-fuss, no-fail recipe to cook this family-sized beef cut, turning it to a super tender and juicy dinner full of flavor! Sous vide machine cooks the sirloin steak to your targeted temperature precisely, and no more overcooked edges with the undercooked center! #SousVideSteak #SousVideSirloinSteak #SousVideTopSirloinSteak
    Sous Vide Sirloin Steak
  • Say goodbye to tough and flavorless pork chops! These perfect Sous Vide Pork Chops are super tender, juicy, and full of flavor! The sous vide method cooks the bone-in or boneless pork chops to your targeted temperature precisely, and we’ll show you how to easily finish them with 5 different popular flavors! #SousVidePorkChops
    Sous Vide Pork Chop

If you tried this recipe, let me know how your Sous Vide Duck Breasts turn out in the comments below!

These Sous Vide Duck Breasts have crispy skin on the outside and deeply rich and tender meat on the inside. Sous vide method will have you cooking like a pro, making the restaurant-quality duck breasts at your own home!

Crispy Skin Sous Vide Duck Breast Recipe

These Sous Vide Duck Breasts have crispy skin on the outside and deeply rich and tender meat on the inside. Sous vide method will have you cooking like a pro, making the restaurant-quality duck breasts at your own home!
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 278kcal

Ingredients 

  • 2 duck breasts skin-on (about 6 ounces each)
  • kosher salt to taste
  • ground black pepper to taste

optional:

  • red wine sauce or berry sauce for serving
  • rosemary for garnishing

Instructions 

  • Add water to the sous vide container or a large pot, set the Sous Vide Precision Cooker to 135°F (57°C). This is my preferred doneness with medium-rare meat, and if you’d like to cook it more or less, follow the temperate guide in the post above.
  • Score Duck Breasts: Place the breast on a cutting board skin side up. Using a sharp knife, score the skin in 1/2 inch intervals with a crosshatch (diamond) pattern. (Be sure to cut through the fat, but not the meat.)
  • Season the breast: Season the skin side with salt only. Then flip the breast, and season the flesh side with salt and pepper.
  • Sous vide duck breast: Place the seasoned duck breast in a zip-lock bag, vacuum seal it using “water displacement” technique: seal all but one corner of the bag, and slowly place it into a container with water. Make sure everything below the zip-line is covered by water. Then seal the rest of the bag. (If you use a vacuum sealer, seal the bag on the dry setting.)
  • When the water has reached the set temperature, lower the bag slowly into the water bath and make sure the breasts are fully submerged.
  • Cook for 2 hours. (This is my preferred cooking time, but you can reduce it to 1 hour if you are in a hurry, or cook as long as 4 hours.)
  • Sear duck breasts: When the timer goes off, remove the duck breasts from the bag and carefully pat dry with paper towel. (Make sure that you pat dry the breast very well, otherwise it will interfere with the searing.)
  • Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add duck breasts with skin-side down in the pan. Remove from heat when the skin is evenly browned, about 5-8 minutes. It’s ok if you find the center of the meat still pink. (If you find there’s too much water coming out of the breast, you can pat dry it one more time, and drain the liquid in the pan. Then continue searing.)
  • Flip the breast and quickly sear the flesh side for about 30 seconds.
  • Let duck breasts rest for 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Slice the breast, serve with potatoes, and drizzle with red wine sauce or berry sauce.

Equipment

Anova Sous Vide Cooker
Sous Vide Cooker
Zip-loc Bags
Cast-Iron Skillet
Kitchen Tongs

Notes

  • No need to add oil during searing if you use a non-stick pan. The duck breast will render a lot of fat.
  • Don’t throw away the rendered fat from duck breasts. It’s considered one of the healthiest animal fats. You can fry some potatoes in this fat, or pour it in an airtight jar. Store it in the fridge for later use.

Nutrition

Calories: 278kcal | Protein: 45g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 174mg | Sodium: 129mg | Potassium: 606mg | Vitamin A: 120IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 10mg
Author: izzycooking
Course: Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: French
Keyword: Sous Vide Duck Breast
Tried this recipe?Follow or tag us on Pinterest @izzycooking
These Sous Vide Duck Breasts have crispy skin on the outside and deeply rich and tender meat on the inside. Sous vide method will have you cooking like a pro, making the restaurant-quality duck breasts at your own home! #SousVideDuckBreast #DuckBreastRecipe

Editor note: Originally published Nov 18, 2019 and updated Dec 11, 2020.

Filed Under: Dinner, Sous Vide Tagged With: duck breast, pepper, salt

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