Sous Vide Time & Temperature Calculator
Pick your protein, thickness, and doneness — get the precise water-bath temperature and the safe cooking-time window, with frozen-food adjustments and food-safety limits built in.
1Your cook
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2Step-by-step math
Printed from toolwitty.com/sous-vide-time-temperature-calculator/
3Doneness options
| Doneness | Bath temp | Min time | Hold up to |
|---|
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Safe zone
Never cook or hold food at or below 130 °F (54.4 °C) for longer than 2.5 hours — harmful bacteria can grow in the danger zone, and this calculator caps low-temperature cooks automatically. Poultry minimum times include pasteurization: do not shorten them. This tool is guidance only, not a substitute for USDA/FDA food-safety guidelines.
Frequently asked questions
Food can’t exceed the bath temperature, so it won’t “overcook” in the traditional sense. But texture degrades with excessive time: steak turns mushy past about 4 hours, fish falls apart past 90 minutes. That’s what the “hold up to” number is — a texture ceiling, not a suggestion.
Yes — add about 50% to the minimum time, which this calculator does automatically when you choose “Cooking from frozen.” It’s actually safer than thawing on the counter. Don’t raise the temperature to compensate; just give it the extra time.
Below about 131 °F (55 °C), over long times, harmful bacteria — including the lactobacillus that sours meat — can multiply in the oxygen-free bag environment. The rule: never hold food at or below 130 °F for longer than 2.5 hours. This calculator enforces it automatically and flags any temperature/thickness combination that can’t be cooked safely.
About 1 hour per inch of thickness as a minimum — a 1.5-inch ribeye needs roughly 2 hours, holdable up to about 3¼ hours. Thickness matters far more than weight, because heat penetrates from the outside in and time scales with thickness^1.75.
Almost always too long in the bath. Delicate proteins have hard texture ceilings — shrimp turns rubbery with just 15 extra minutes, and fish shouldn’t go past 90 minutes. Tender cuts like filet break down faster than tough cuts like chuck. Respect the maximum time.
No. The water-displacement method — slowly lowering a zip-top bag into the water to push the air out, then sealing — works fine for most cooks under 4 hours. Use food-grade, BPA-free bags and keep the seal above the waterline.
Related tools
Sous Vide Time & Temperature Calculator
Sous vide promises perfect doneness — a steak that’s medium-rare from edge to edge, chicken that’s juicy instead of chalky, salmon that’s silky instead of dry. The catch: you need the right temperature (which sets doneness) and the right time (which depends on thickness). This free calculator gives you both for 12 proteins, with frozen-food adjustments, a live food-safety check, and a step-by-step breakdown of the math — in imperial or metric units.
What is sous vide cooking?
Sous vide (“under vacuum” in French) cooks vacuum-sealed food in a precisely controlled water bath. Because the water never exceeds your target temperature, the food cannot overcook past your chosen doneness — a 135 °F bath produces a medium-rare steak whether it stays in for 2 hours or 3. After the bath, a quick sear in a ripping-hot pan builds the crust and flavor that the gentle water bath can’t.
The result is consistency no grill or oven can match: no gray overcooked band, no raw center, no guessing.
How to use this calculator
- Pick your protein — beef steak and roast, pork chops and tenderloin, chicken breast and thighs, salmon, white fish, shrimp, lamb, duck breast, and eggs.
- Pick your doneness. Each protein lists doneness options with the exact bath temperature, shown in °F and °C.
- Set the thickness at the thickest point. Time grows roughly with the square of thickness — this matters more than anything else you enter.
- Choose fresh or frozen. Cooking from frozen adds about 50% to the minimum time; the calculator adjusts automatically.
You’ll get the water bath temperature, the minimum time (how long heat needs to reach the center — don’t cut this short), and the hold-up-to time (the texture limit — past this, food turns mushy), plus a food-safety verdict and a temperature safety-zone visual showing where your cook sits relative to the 131 °F danger floor.
The method: temperature sets doneness, thickness sets time
Temperature = doneness
In sous vide, temperature is the recipe. 129 °F gives rare beef, 135 °F medium-rare, 145 °F juicy chicken, 130 °F silky salmon. There’s no carryover cooking to account for, so what you set is what you get.
Thickness = time
Heat moves from the outside in, so doubling thickness roughly quadruples heating time. This calculator scales a tested 1-inch baseline for each protein by thickness^1.75, then clamps the result to that protein’s proven window. That’s why a 1-inch steak needs about 1 hour but a 2-inch steak needs over 3.
Worked example
A 1.5-inch ribeye, medium-rare (135 °F / 57.2 °C), cooked from thawed. Baseline: 1 hour at 1 inch. Time ≈ 1 × 1.5^1.75 ≈ 2 hours 2 minutes minimum, holdable up to 3 hours 15 minutes. From frozen: 3 hours 3 minutes minimum, holdable up to 4 hours. Finish with 60–90 seconds per side in a screaming-hot cast iron pan.
The 130 °F rule (food safety)
This is the most important section on this page. Do not cook or hold food at or below 130 °F (54.4 °C) for longer than 2.5 hours. Below that temperature, over long times, harmful bacteria — including the lactobacillus that sours meat — can multiply in the oxygen-free bag environment.
This calculator enforces the rule automatically: if your temperature/thickness combination would exceed 2.5 hours below 131 °F, it caps the window and warns you. If the minimum time alone exceeds 2.5 hours (a very thick cut at rare temperatures), it flags the combination as unsafe and tells you to raise the temperature or choose a thinner cut. Please don’t work around it.
Additional safety notes: poultry minimum times include pasteurization — don’t shorten them. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours. Never cook in a bag that isn’t food-grade.
Sous vide time and temperature quick reference
| Protein | Popular temp | Typical time (1″) |
|---|---|---|
| Beef steak, medium-rare | 135 °F / 57 °C | 1–4 hr |
| Beef chuck roast | 135–155 °F | 24–36 hr |
| Pork chops, medium | 140 °F / 60 °C | 1–4 hr |
| Chicken breast, juicy | 145 °F / 63 °C | 1–4 hr |
| Chicken thighs | 150–165 °F | 1.5–6 hr |
| Salmon, tender | 130 °F / 54 °C | 30–90 min |
| Shrimp | 135 °F / 57 °C | 15–45 min |
| Lamb chops, medium-rare | 135 °F / 57 °C | 1–4 hr |
| Duck breast | 135 °F / 57 °C | 1.5–3 hr |
| Eggs, jammy yolk | 158 °F / 70 °C | 40–60 min |
(Use the calculator above for your exact thickness — these are 1-inch starting points.)
Tips for better sous vide results
- The minimum time is about physics, not preference. Pulling early means a cold center. The maximum is about texture — respect both ends of the window.
- Sear after, hard and fast. Pat the surface completely dry first; moisture is the enemy of browning. 60–90 seconds per side is plenty.
- Season before bagging, but use slightly less salt than for grilling — it penetrates deeply over a long cook. Skip raw garlic in long cooks; it can turn bitter.
- Chill thick cuts before searing. Ten minutes in an ice bath lets you build a deep crust without pushing the interior past your perfect temp.
- Keep the seal dry. With the water-displacement method, keep the zip seal above the waterline and clip the bag to the container side.
Disclaimer
This calculator provides cooking guidance based on published sous-vide heating tables and tested baselines; it is not a substitute for USDA/FDA food-safety guidelines. Never cook or hold food at or below 130 °F (54.4 °C) for longer than 2.5 hours, follow the minimum times for poultry, refrigerate leftovers promptly, and use a food thermometer when in doubt. Consuming undercooked meat, poultry, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness.