10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (2024)

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (1)

Sous vide is often used for cooking meat, particularly steak. But, the technique is so much more versatile than most people assume. As a result, it can be used for many different types of dishes, including Mexican meals and dishes that use Mexican flavors. For that matter, many Mexican-inspired dishes use ingredients that naturally work with a sous vide setup anyway, including beef and pork.

Some of these 10 sous vide Mexican recipes are fairly traditional, while others take advantage of Mexican flavors to create something entirely different.

Regardless of the overall style, the recipes are all powerful in their own right. Besides, it’s always good to introduce some new meals into your repertoire.

I even prepared some sous vide pork carnitas while playing Top Golf all day yesterday, and came home to tender pork, ready to shred and serve when I got home!

Table of Contents

Mexican Sous Vide Recipes

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  • Carnitas Sous Vide
  • Sous Vide Shrimp and Chile Queso
  • Sous Vide Pork Tamales
  • Sous Vide Chicken Burrito Filling
  • Sous Vide Tacos de Lengua
  • Sous Vide Pulled Pork Tacos
  • Sous Vide Carnitas for Tacos
  • Sous Vide Steak Quesadillas
  • Wicked Good Sous Vide Pulled Pork Shoulder
  • Sous Vide Mole Bitters Infusion

Carnitas Sous Vide

This Carnitas Sous Vide recipe from stefangourmet.com is very different from the traditional Mexican approach. For one thing, he has altered the type of pork used, relying on pork belly, rather than pork shoulder. At the same time, using sous vide inherently changes the end result.

Those differences aren’t a bad thing though, especially as you still end up with a tasty meal overall. The recipe is also clever, as Stefan takes steps to ensure his meat is still crispy, despite the use of sous vide.

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (3)

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (4)

Sous Vide Tomato Sushi

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (5)

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (6)

Sous Vide Crispy Chicken Adobo

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (7)

Deonjang-Spiced Sous Vide Eggplant

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (8)

11 Spices for Fajitas to Elevate Your Homemade Fajita Treat

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (9)

Sous Vide Pork Belly Adobo

Sous Vide Shrimp and Chile Queso

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (11)

Meat-based dishes are the obvious choice for Mexican sous vide meals. However, options like this Shrimp and Chile Queso from amazingfoodmadeeasy.com can also work very well. The recipe itself has three components, each of which involves different steps. However, it is worth trying out for the shrimp alone and the entire recipe is easy to follow, even for beginners.

Sous Vide Pork Tamales

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (12)

These Pork Tamales are another option if you like Mexican food and the recipe comes from stefangourmet.com, again. With dish recipe, the pork is cooked in the sous vide, while the rest of the components are prepared separately. The end result is worth the effort, especially as the tamales look very authentic.

The recipe itself also contains a large number of images, including photos of every step in the process. That aspect could be essential if you’ve never made tamales before or if you’re not confident.

Sous Vide Chicken Burrito Filling

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (13)

With this recipe, from almost-kosher.net, the focus isn’t on an entire Mexican meal. Instead, the information provided is just for the chicken filling of a burrito.

But honestly, that’s all the details you need and the meat is the most critical component anyway. After that, you can choose the rest of the ingredients based on what you have at hand, along with your personal favorites.

Sous Vide Tacos de Lengua

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (14)

This Mexican recipe, hosted at seriouseats.com, may not look or sound too unusual, unless you know that the meat in question is tongue. As a result, this recipe won’t suit everybody – not by a long shot. But, if you’ve ever been interested in tongue, the dish is a great way to try it out. For that matter, sous vide makes it so much easier to cook the tongue and the recipe itself is basic.

At the same time, the other ingredients used are fairly strong in their own right. That could be an advantage if you haven’t tried tongue before, as there are many other flavors present too.

Sous Vide Pulled Pork Tacos

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (15)

Tacos can be simple or complex and these Pulled Pork Tacos from bigspud.co.uk are on the basic side. That’s never a bad thing, as recipes like this let the flavor of the meat shine through. The key idea here is to use the sous vide to create Mexican-style pulled pork. Doing so works well, as the sous vide offers a better balance of tenderness and flavor than other techniques (like slow cooking).

Sous Vide Carnitas for Tacos

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (16)

I’ve always found that seriouseats.com offers amazing recipes and this Sous Vide Carnitas recipe is no exception. For one thing, the dish comes with some amazingly intense flavors that can make your tacos taste that much better.

Additionally, there is also information about various cooking times and temperatures that you can use – along with the outcomes that these produce. That type of information is important if you prefer a specific texture to your pork.

There’s a lot of talk about using pork for tacos, but I think you could also cook up some really good flank steak too!

Sous Vide Steak Quesadillas

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (17)

I found these Steak Quesadillas at amazingfoodmadeeasy.com and they’re perfect if you want something different than basic tacos. The recipe mostly focuses on cooking the steak via sous vide and you can then assemble the quesadillas from there. Doing so gives you juicy and flavorful steak, which basically cooks on its own. Nevertheless, the recipe does cover the rest of the steps too, including every aspect of putting the quesadilla together.

Wicked Good Sous Vide Pulled Pork Shoulder

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (18)

This Wicked Good Pulled Pork Shoulder, from www.chefsteps.com, isn’t specifically designed for Mexican cooking and doesn’t even use Mexican spices. However, the recipe is a very easy way to make pulled pork, especially as you can choose which spices you use. This approach would make the pork perfect for including in tacos.

After all, the quality of your tacos often simply comes down to the meat you’re using. So, if you can find a great recipe for that meat, the rest of the dish is bound to be amazing.

Sous Vide Mole Bitters Infusion

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (19)

To round off this list of Mexican recipes, here’s one from amazingfoodmadeeasy.com that is a little unusual. The recipe here is for Sous Vide Mole Bitters Infusion, where you are using sous vide to bring smoky and spicy Mexican flavors into vodka. By doing so, you have the chance to create a wide range of Mexican-style drinks, many of which wouldn’t normally be possible. Plus, the idea is fun if you want something different.

Sous vide infusions are actually quite common, and it’s a great way to get new, exciting flavors into foods you never thought possible..

10 Mexican Sous Vide Recipes: Including Tacos, Carnitas, Queso, & A Mole Infusion | Food For Net (2024)

FAQs

What should not be sous vide? ›

The one thing I've found is that you can sous-vide pretty much anything, BUT foods that are ESPECIALLY high in water content will yield pretty terrible results. Fruits and vegetables - I find that they pretty much become mushy. My experiments with broccoli, brussels sprouts and apples have all come out weird.

What are the best things to cook sous vide? ›

The Best Foods To Cook Sous Vide
  • Tougher Cuts of Meat. What's important to remember here is that a 'tougher' or 'cheaper' cut of meat, doesn't necessarily mean a 'worse' cut. ...
  • Eggs. Eggs are one of the most popular foods to cook sous-vide for a couple of reasons. ...
  • Pork. ...
  • Lamb. ...
  • Carrots. ...
  • Filleted Fish. ...
  • Liver. ...
  • Fillet Steak.

What meat is best for sous vide? ›

The best meat to sous vide for 48-72 hours at 135°F (57°C) is beef brisket, while pork shoulder can be cooked between 24-36 hours at 165°F (74°C). Results are always tender and juicy, making for perfect leftovers in sandwiches, tacos, or any other dish calling for shredded meat.

What is the best protein to sous vide? ›

Almost anything is good to cook sous vide. I tend to cook pork, beef, chicken, eggs and I've also cooked beets and artichokes. I've done shell eggs as well as “egg bites” from the anova library. I do shorter methods with chicken usually, but I also will do a 36 hour cook for a beef chuck roast or pork butt.

What is the danger zone for sous vide meat? ›

Because of the relatively low temperatures used in sous vide, one major consideration is the Danger Zone. The 'Danger Zone' is a range of temperatures where bacteria particularly thrive and multiply. It's generally defined as 40F to 140 F, or 4.4C to 60C .

Can I use tap water for sous vide? ›

Fill your sous vide water bath with hot tap water.

What is the first thing I should sous vide? ›

Steak is held up as the best example of just what sous vide can do, so it's probably one of the things that you'll want to try first. It's heartbreaking when you leave an expensive piece of steak just a little bit too long and wind up making it tough and dry, but thankfully, sous vide takes away all the guesswork.

Can you use Ziploc bags for sous vide? ›

Ziplock and Glad brand bags are made from polyethylene plastic, and are free of BPAs and dioxins. A good rule of thumb is that when a bag is rated as microwave safe (which requires FDA approval) you can use it for sous vide. Even Dr. Schaffner agrees.

Should you sear before or after sous vide? ›

In the kitchen, you have to produce flavor, and then lock in that flavor. This is why we sear the meat before cooking sous vide. During the cooking process, the flavors are enhanced and reach the core of the steak. Finally, the flavor is secured in the meat during the chilling process.

Can you overcook meat in a sous vide? ›

While many will tell you that it's impossible to overcook with sous vide (and this isn't far from the truth), do bear in mind though that if you leave the food in the water bath for an extended period of time it won't 'overcook', but it could start to take on a mushy texture, so don't forget about it!

Can you sous vide pork chops? ›

The low, slow method of cooking sous vide is well suited to proteins, like pork chops and steak. It makes for an incredibly tender cut that remains juicy and flavorful with no question of doneness.

Do high end chefs use sous vide? ›

When you're working in a professional kitchen, there's no room for error, and things have to be done exactly by the book. This is where sous vide really comes into its own, allowing chefs an unparalleled level of control over their dishes.

Does bacteria grow in sous vide? ›

A: Sous Vide Cooking Process

With improper food handling, some of the most dangerous bacteria can grow, such as salmonella and botulism. Safe food handling and hygiene standards should always be maintained. Food cooked at low temperatures for extended periods of time can cause bacteria to multiply rapidly.

Why is my sous vide meat tough? ›

Home cooks love to use this technique with a wide variety of meats, fish, veggies, and other produce to help retain moisture. However, because sous vide requires the utmost precision, one wrong step and you can easily overcook your food, ending up with meat that has a rubbery consistency.

Does sous vide leach plastic into food? ›

No. The bags sold for sous vide cooking are free of phthalates , BPA , and other hormone-disrupting chemicals. So too are most, if not all, plastic ziplock-type freezer bags, which can alternatively be used when the food is not going to be stored afterwards, since you don't need a perfect seal.

Is sous vide cooking unhealthy? ›

Is Sous Vide Cooking Safe? If you follow good food safety practices, sous vide risks are low. But because harmful bacteria that cause spoilage and food-borne illnesses can be found in raw foods, they must be cooked to certain temperatures and for adequate time to kill the bacteria.

Does sous vide release toxins? ›

After reviewing the considerable amount of research that's been done, we believe the answer is: It's safe. Although some types of plastic have been found to release undesirable chemicals into food, especially under high heat or acidic conditions, the bags that we use for sous vide cooking are not among those plastics.

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