Pre-cooking potatoes with sous vide is a great way to meal prep for the week. Finish them in the oven, air fryer, or stove top for creamy, crispy, delicious potatoes. You can even keep them in the freezer ready to cook later!
Using sous vide to cook veggies is totally underrated, especially because you can incorporate freezing into the process. I love to use my freezer and immersion circulator together to be a meal prepping machine! So much so, I wrote a whole cookbook called Sous Vide Meal Prep.
Sous Vide Meal Prep
This cookbook outlines my entire method for keeping your freezer stocked with ready to sous vide meals (and some great recipes to boot!).
These potatoes are creamy on the inside and thanks to a finish in a hot oven or air fryer, crispy on the outside. I keep this recipe simple, but feel free to season the potatoes however you want using this method.
Why Use Sous Vide for Potatoes?
Sous vide is best known for helping you make a perfectly medium-rare steak or tender, flaky salmon, but it’s great for so much more, including produce! I love it for broccoli, beets, corn, and our other favorite form of potatoes: mashed potatoes.
But an hour of sous vide plus 10-15 minutes of finish time can feel like too much of a burden for a side dish. Let me change your mind!
- You can sous vide, then freeze. Leave them vacuum sealed and pop them into the freezer once they’ve cooled a bit. This way, you have potatoes that just need to be finished ready to go for side dishes!
- All of the potatoes will be cooked perfectly, even if they’re different sizes. You can be sloppy with your knife skills!
- This method is hands off. Don’t get me wrong, I love my oven roasted crispy potatoes, but boiling, draining, roasting, flipping requires a lot of my attention. With sous vide, I drop in the water, then roast.
- Of all the methods I’ve tried, sous vide produces the creamiest interior of the potato. Try it and you’ll see.
What You Need to Make Sous Vide Potatoes
If you already do some sous vide cooking, you likely have all of the equipment you’ll need on hand!
- An immersion circulator. My favorite is the Breville Joule.
- A vacuum sealer. Right now I’m loving my FoodSaver.
- Vacuum seal bags. Something big, like 11″x16″ bags.
- A container for your water bath. I like these clear containers.
- Something to keep the bag submerged. I like sous vide magnets.
For ingredients, I keep it really simple. Feel free to change these up – paprika, cayenne pepper, and onion powder are also welcome additions!
- Potatoes. You can use fingerlings or new potatoes, or diced yellow or red potatoes. I’m a sucker for yellow potatoes.
- Olive oil. Use something of decent quality.
- Garlic powder.
- Italian seasoning.
- Kosher salt. Diamond Crystal is my favorite.
How to Make Sous Vide Potatoes
This process is remarkably easy. Sure, it takes some time, but almost no effort.
The best time and temperature for sous vide potatoes is 190 degrees F for 1 hour. This is hot and long for sous vide cooking, but after testing other times and temps, I found this to produce the best texture.
Preheat your water bath using an immersion circulator to 190 degrees F. While it’s coming up to temp, toss your potato of choice with the olive oil and seasonings.
Add the potatoes to a vacuum seal bag and seal.
Toss the bag in the preheated water bath and cook for 1 hour. This sucker will want to float, so make sure to use something to keep it submerged, like sous vide magnets.
Once they’ve finished, you can cool them on the countertop and toss in the freezer or finish immediately. To finish, you can…
- Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet and roast in the oven at 425 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until browned.
- Cook in the air fryer at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, tossing the basket occasionally. (This one is my favorite!)
- Add to a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisped up.
That’s it!
Common Questions
- Can I make these ahead of time?
- These are perfect for a make ahead side dish! Sous vide, then cool on the counter before putting the fridge. When you’re ready to serve, follow the finishing instructions.
- Can I freeze these?
- Absolutely! Sous vide, then cool on the counter before putting the freezer. When you’re ready to serve, follow the finishing instructions. You may need to add a few minutes of cook time.
- Can I use new/fingerling/red/xyz potatoes instead?
- Go for it!
- Are there other ways I can use sous vide potatoes?
- Yes! You can do “smashed potatoes” by putting them on a baking sheet after sous viding and smashing them with the bottom of a glass. Prep twice baked potatoes using the sous vide method instead of baking. Get creative!
You can also view this recipe as a step-by-step web story here.
Get the Recipe:
Crispy Sous Vide Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds yellow potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat water bath using immersion circulator to 190 degrees F.
- Toss the potatoes with remaining ingredients. Add to a large vacuum seal bag (I recommend 11"x16") and spread into a single layer. Vacuum seal.
- Add the bag of potatoes to the preheated water bath. Use sous vide magnets or a ceramic plate to keep the potatoes submerged. Cook for 1 hour.
- Once done, you can cool the potatoes on the counter to refrigerate or freeze or finish to serve immediately.
Finishing Options
- To finish in the oven: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet and roast for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.
- To finish in the air fryer: Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees F. Add the potatoes to the basket and cook for 12-15 minutes, tossing the basket occasionally, until golden brown.
- To finish in a cast iron skillet: Preheat the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and cook, flipping occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, or until golden brown.
if freezing, do you defrost in the fridge overnight or sous vide from frozen to bring to temp?