Spare Spoons Kitchen
Sous Vide Salmon
Forty minutes in a 125°F bath and you have salmon that's silky all the way through, not overcooked at the edges while the center is still translucent. A squeeze of lemon is genuinely all it needs. The pesto is even better. Either way, it's the easiest salmon you've ever made — and once you've had it this way, you'll struggle to go back.
Ingredients
Easier, if you like
- Skip the sear entirely — the fillet comes out perfectly cooked and beautiful as-is. On a low-spoons day, lemon and a fork is dinner.
- Skin-off fillets skip the searing question altogether; season, bag, cook, plate.
Method
Cook's notes
125°F vs 130°F: 125°F gives the silkiest, most restaurant-style result — the flesh is just set and barely holds together. If you prefer salmon that's more clearly cooked through and less custardy, 130°F (54°C) for 40 minutes gives firmer, more traditional texture while still being significantly better than stovetop.
Don't leave it long past an hour at this temperature. Unlike chicken (where the hold window is 4 hours), salmon gets mushy if it sits. Plan to eat it close to when it's done.
The white stuff: the albumin that weeps out of salmon when it's overcooked over high heat barely appears at 125°F. Less albumin = a cleaner, more elegant plate.
More sous vide: chicken breast (145°F, 1 hr), pork tenderloin (140°F, 1½ hrs), shrimp (135°F, 25 min).
Gluten-free and dairy-free as written
Gluten-free: it already is.
Dairy-free: skip the lemon-butter option; lemon juice or pesto are both dairy-free.
Other fish: halibut at 130°F for 30–40 minutes; cod at 130°F for 30 minutes. Fish thinner than ¾ inch cooks in 20–25 minutes.