Tuna is one of the best seafoods around. My favorite way to eat tuna steaks is rare near raw, and sous vide is the perfect way to achieve this result. With sous vide, there’s no risk of overcooking and ruining that delicious (and expensive!) tuna steak. In fact, the same goes for all sous vide seafood, so make sure to try my other recipes.
Whether you’re working with ahi, yellowfin, bluefin, or albacore, the method outlined in this post will produce delicious results. I think my soy citrus marinade and the sesame crust are the most delicious way to serve tuna, but if you want to use different seasonings, this method will still totally work. In fact, this marinade would be great with sous vide salmon, too!
Looking for more marinade inspiration? The soy citrus marinade recipe comes from my cookbook, 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!).
What You Need to Sous Vide Tuna
If you already sous vide regularly at home, you’ll find you don’t need anything special to sous vide tuna steaks. Here’s the equipment that you’ll need to pull this recipe off:
- An immersion circulator. My favorite is the Breville Joule.
- A container for your water bath. A stockpot will work just fine, but I like the Everie containers.
- A vacuum sealer makes this easier, but you don’t have to have one. You can use another air removal method.
- A cast iron skillet. It’s hard to get a good sear in other skillets, like nonstick, because they can’t take as high of temperatures.
Time and Temperature for Sous Vide Tuna Steaks
The temperatures listed below produce dramatically different results, so choose wisely! My favorite temperature and the one used to sous vide the tuna in the photos is 110 degrees F.
| Result | Temperature | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Firm but nearly raw | 110 degrees F | 30-45 minutes |
| Starting to flake | 120 degrees F | 30-45 minutes |
| Flaky | 130 degrees F | 30-45 minutes |
How to Sous Vide Tuna
For this recipe, you can use one large tuna steak or two smaller tuna steaks, but you should be working with about 1 pound of meat.
After marinating, vacuum seal the tuna. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, you can use another air removal method.
When the tuna is done, remove the bag from the water bath.
After coating the tuna in sesame seeds, sear in a very hot cast iron skillet with sesame oil on all sides, slice, and serve with soy sauce! This will be some of the best tuna you’ve ever had, I swear it.
How to Serve Sous Vide Tuna
I like to eat this as is as an appetizer, but it’s also delicious served over rice.
If you really want to go the extra mile, mix together mayo and sriracha, cube the tuna, and toss in the spicy mayo. Serve over rice for a spicy tuna bowl.
No matter how you serve it, it’s delicious served with sliced green onions.
You can also view this recipe as a step-by-step web story here.
Get the Recipe:
Sous Vide Tuna (Any Species) in Soy Citrus Marinade
Ingredients
- 1 lb raw tuna, any species
Soy Citrus Marinade
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice, about 1 orange
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice, about 1 lime
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, about 1/2 lemon
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp ponzu sauce, can replace with soy sauce
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Finishing
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions, green part only
- soy sauce, for dipping
Instructions
- If not cut already, slice tuna into steaks if desired. However, it's okay to leave as one big piece.
- Whisk together all ingredients for the marinade. Add the tuna to a large glass tupperware container or zipper top plastic bag and pour the marinade over it. Let marinate for at least 1 hour, up to 3 hours.
- Preheat a water bath using an immersion circulator to 110 degrees F for very rare, near raw tuna.
- Remove the tuna from the marinade and place into a vacuum seal bag. Vacuum seal or use another air removal method.
- Add the tuna to the water bath and cook for 30-45 minutes. Make sure the bag doesn't float; you can use sous vide magnets or place a ceramic plate on top.
- When done cooking, remove the bag from the water bath. Add the sesame seeds and garlic powder for finishing to a plate and mix together. Press the tuna steak(s) into the sesame seeds to coat on all sides of the steak.
- Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add the sesame oil. Add the tuna and cook until sesame seeds are browned and tuna is seared, 30 seconds-1 minute per side.
- Remove the tuna to a cutting board and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices. Garnish with the green onions and serve with a bowl of soy sauce for dipping.
really enjoyed this recipe. took me a couple of goes as the first time i tried it i ran out of time. i dried brined the tuna first for a hour, so a a total of 3 hours. did it again today with fresh tuna as the first lot was getting on a bit my the time i got round to it,so i binned it. it was absolutely Delicious and i am serving it to friend for dinner in a couple weeks. i wanted to go though the steps first to check i had it right! i did and i put a pic on my facebook page offering a link to your page if anyone wanted to try it. thank you. i served it on noodles with spring onions around the side. as an aside could you add the metric measurements for those of us not in the usa. i am in the uk. i know its easy to do the conversion but be nice if it was on the recipe. thanks