Free sous vide time and temperature calculator. Pick your protein, doneness and thickness to get the bath temperature, cook time window and safety notes.
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Sous vide cooking has two numbers: the bath temperature, which sets doneness, and the time, which must at least heat the food through. Temperature comes from a protein and doneness table built on Douglas Baldwin's published heating and pasteurization data: steak medium-rare is 131F, chicken 145F and up, salmon 110 to 130F by texture. Time scales with the square of thickness, roughly 0.75 × thickness² hours, because heat must travel to the center; cooking from frozen multiplies the heat-through time by 1.55. The result is a window, not a single minute: serve any time between the minimum and the maximum. Below 130F food is never pasteurized, so the window caps at 2.5 hours for safety.
Temperature sets doneness; time must at least heat the food through. A 131F bath gives medium-rare steak edge to edge, because the meat cannot exceed the water temperature. Time follows thickness squared: heat-through is about 0.75 × thickness² hours, so a 1-inch steak needs 45 minutes, a 1.5-inch steak 1.7 hours, a 2-inch steak 3 hours. From frozen, multiply by 1.55. The answer is always a window, heat-through to about 2 hours later for tender cuts, because holding longer is harmless for texture within limits.
Steak: rare 129F, medium-rare 131F, medium 135F, medium-well 140F, well done 150F. Chicken breast: 145F minimum for pasteurization, up to 165F for traditional texture. Pork chop: 140 to 145F for juicy, 150F+ for firmer. Salmon: 110F silky, 120F flaky, 126F firm. Pork shoulder: 165F for 10 to 24 hours. Brisket: 155F for 12 to 24 hours. Tough cuts ignore doneness: they need long cooks at higher temperatures to convert collagen to gelatin.
Sous vide handles frozen protein better than any other method, because the sealed bag goes straight into the bath with no thawing step. Multiply the fresh heat-through time by 1.55: a 1.5-inch frozen steak needs about 2.6 hours minimum instead of 1.7. Seasoning can go on after the cook. The one limit: pieces thicker than 2.5 inches should be thawed in the fridge first, since the exterior lingers in the bacterial danger zone while the frozen core catches up.
Pasteurization is temperature plus time, per Douglas Baldwin's published tables. At 131F and above, holding long enough pasteurizes beef, pork and lamb. Below 130F, food is never pasteurized regardless of time: cap the total bath time at 2.5 hours and serve immediately. Chicken is pasteurized at 145F with hold time, which is why this calculator floors poultry at 145F. Pregnant women, children under 5, adults over 65 and immunocompromised people should only eat pasteurized results.
This short guide covers the cooking times the calculator does not. Vegetables need much higher heat than meat: carrots 183F for 45 to 60 minutes, asparagus 180F for 12 to 15 minutes, corn 182F for 30 minutes. Eggs: soft-cooked 140 to 144F, poached 145 to 149F, hard-cooked 150 to 165F, all about 45 minutes; in-shell pasteurized eggs 135F for 75 minutes. Remember that sous vide time is based on thickness, never on weight: a wide thin steak cooks faster than a small thick one. The best temperature for medium-rare steak is 131F for most people, 129F for rare-leaning and 133F for medium-leaning. Dinner planning: start the bath so the minimum time lands 30 minutes before you want to eat, then sear and serve inside the window.
Tender steaks are about heat-through; tough cuts are about time at temperature. Brisket at 155F needs 12 to 24 hours, pork shoulder at 165F needs 10 to 24 hours, short ribs similar. The long hold dissolves collagen into gelatin, which is what makes the meat succulent instead of chewy. These windows are very forgiving: two extra hours rarely hurts. This is also where sous vide beats every other method, precise low heat for a full day with zero attention.
It depends on thickness, not weight: heat-through time grows with thickness squared. A 1-inch steak needs about 45 minutes to 1 hour, a 1.5-inch steak about 1.7 hours, a 2-inch steak about 3 hours. From frozen, multiply by 1.55. Tough cuts like brisket and pork shoulder need 10 to 24 hours to break down collagen.
129F to 133F, with 131F the most popular pick. At 131F a 1.5-inch steak needs about 1.7 hours minimum and can be held up to about 3.7 hours. Sear it hard for 60 seconds a side after the bath for the crust.
Yes, with time. Pasteurization is temperature plus time: chicken is pasteurized at 145F with sufficient hold time, which is why this calculator never goes below 145F for chicken breast. The 165F rule is the instant-kill temperature for traditional cooking; sous vide achieves the same safety at lower temperatures by holding longer.
Not in the traditional sense: the food cannot get hotter than the bath, so a steak never goes past medium-rare at 131F. But texture degrades if you hold tender cuts far past the window, fish turns mushy, and anything below 130F must come out within 2.5 hours for safety.
Below 130F, food is never pasteurized no matter how long it cooks. Keep total bath time under 2.5 hours, serve immediately, and do not serve it to pregnant women, young children, older adults or anyone immunocompromised. Steak tartare-style textures at 129F are a calculated choice for healthy adults, not a default.
Yes for most cuts: add about 55 percent to the heat-through time (the 1.55x rule). Do not cook thick frozen pieces over 2.5 inches without thawing first, since the outside spends too long in the danger zone while the center catches up. Seasoning after the bath works fine.
Because heat travels from the surface to the center. Doubling the thickness quadruples the heat-through time, while doubling the weight at the same thickness changes almost nothing. Always measure the thickest part of the piece.
Pasteurized means held at temperature long enough to reduce pathogens to safe levels, following Douglas Baldwin's tables. The calculator marks each result Yes or No. Pasteurized food is the safe choice for poultry, pork, and anyone in a risk group.
For flavor and looks, yes. Sous vide cooks evenly but leaves the surface pale and soft. A ripping-hot sear, 60 seconds per side in a cast iron pan or with a torch, builds the crust through the Maillard reaction. Pat the surface very dry first.
Salt before the bath is fine and seasons more evenly. Go easy on raw garlic and strong aromatics, since low-oxygen long cooks can turn them bitter or, in rare cases, create botulism-friendly conditions; garlic powder is the safer pick.
Too long at too low a temperature. Fish proteins break down fast: 30 to 60 minutes is the window, 45 minutes the sweet spot for a 1-inch fillet. Past 90 minutes the texture goes soft and unpleasant.
Set the bath for the thickest piece and pull thinner pieces earlier. Since the window is forgiving, start everything together and remove the thin pieces at their minimum time while the thick ones keep going.