Sous vide grilled chicken is the juiciest grilled chicken recipe you'll ever make.
4.37 from 22 votes

By Christie Vanover | Published July 2, 2018 | Last Updated February 16, 2023

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of FoodSaver®; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

grilled sauced chicken breasts sliced on wooden platter with BBQ sauce in background

We’ve all had our share of experiences with dry, rubbery chicken or undercooked chicken. But no more. It’s time for a chicken revolution. If you pre-cook your chicken using the sous vide method, it will be the juiciest chicken you’ve ever pulled off the grill.

– Learn more about sous vide cooking –

Sous vide is a fancy French word that means under vacuum. Basically, you vacuum-pack your chicken and cook it in heated water, but since it’s sealed tight in a FoodSaver® Sous-vide Vacuum Seal Bag, no water sneaks in to dilute the chicken flavor. Instead, the chicken bastes in its own juices and the fat from the skin.

I seal my sous vide bags with a FoodSaver® FM2000 Vacuum Sealing System. They’re on sale at Target throughout the month of July (2018).

You can actually season the meat, vacuum pack the chicken and freeze the bag, so the chicken is always on hand and ready for your next barbecue. You don’t even have to defrost them. The sous vide bags can go straight from freezer to sous vide pot.

Why you should sous vide your barbecue sauce

Barbecue sauce needs to be heated to help combine the flavors, but it’s usually made up of a lot of sugar. If you heat it in a pot, you have to nurse it to make sure it doesn’t burn or crystallize. If you sous vide it, you can toss it in the heated water for about an hour and get on with other tasks.

For this recipe, you’ll sous vide the chicken for about an hour. I place the bag of barbecue sauce right under the chicken in the pot and cook them at the same time.

When you remove the chicken from the bag, it will be moist and tender, but the skins will be, too. That’s where the grill comes in as the hero.

4 sous vide chicken breasts on sheet pan with rack

Place the breasts skin-side-down to start crisping up the skins, and brush on the molasses barbecue sauce.

4 chicken breasts on grill with grill marks

Flip the birds after about 10 minutes and brush with sauce again.

black brush basting sauce on a grilled chicken breast

When you pull these breasts off the grill and slice into them, the tender meat will glisten with juiciness.

close up shot of sliced chicken breast showing juiciness
grilled sauced chicken breasts sliced on wooden platter with BBQ sauce in background

Sous Vide Grilled Chicken with Molasses Barbecue Sauce

Sous vide grilled chicken is the juiciest grilled chicken recipe you’ll ever make.
4.37 from 22 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients
 

  • 4 bone-in chicken breasts
  • salt and pepper

Molasses Barbecue Sauce

  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 1/2 tsp hot sauce
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Fill a large pot with water. Insert your sous vide machine, and set the temperature to 155F degrees.
  • Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place in a gallon-sized sous-vide bag. Vacuum and seal the bag with the FM2000 system.
  • Combine the molasses barbecue sauce ingredients. Place in a quart-sized sous-vide bag. Seal the bag with the FM2000 system. (Don’t vacuum it.)
  • Place the barbecue sauce in the pre-heated water. Add the bag of chicken on top. Sous vide for 1 hour.
  • Preheat the grill or oven to 400F degrees.
  • If grilling, place the chicken skin-side-down on the grill grates. Brush with sauce. Grill for 10 minutes. Flip. Brush with more sauce, cook for 10 more minutes.
  • If baking, place the chicken skin-side-up on a sheet pan. Brush with sauce. Bake for 15 minutes.
  • Serve with excess sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 626kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 38gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 130mgSodium: 1087mgPotassium: 899mgSugar: 62gVitamin A: 480IUVitamin C: 2.6mgCalcium: 106mgIron: 2.9mg

This estimate was created using an online nutrition calculator

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