What you need for four servings:
For the breasts:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
16 slices of Jarlsberg cheese
4 slices smoked ham
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
¼ lb. bacon
Cilantro, minced, for garnish
How to make the breasts:
- Dice the bacon and fry it over medium heat until crispy. Remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and let it cool on paper towels. Reserve some of it for garnishing.
- Pre-heat a sous vide to 145°F.
- Split the two side seams of a freezer bag and lay it as one rectangular piece of plastic, on a work surface, so that the short sides are to the left and right. Sprinkle the right-hand side of the plastic with water. Lay a chicken breast over the water droplets, with the side that used to have the skin face down. Fold the left end of the plastic over the breast. Pound the breast, using somewhat-diagonal, glancing blows, to thin the breast and also greatly increase its surface area. Repeat with the rests of the breasts. Discard the plastic.
The water lets the chicken slide across the plastic, which makes it much easier to pound down. It doesn’t take much water. If you have a tenderizing hammer, this is the time to fish it out from wherever it’s hiding. However, if you look around, I’m sure you can find something heavy and handy to use as a pounding tool.
- Lay one of the breasts flat on a work surface with the same, used-to-be-the-skin-side face down. On a nearby work surface, lay a 1½ foot sheet of plastic wrap with the short ends to the left and right. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Lay two slices of cheese onto the breast. Lay a slice of ham over that. Sprinkle bell pepper and bacon bits over the ham. Roll the chicken tightly into a cylinder. Place it on the edge of the plastic wrap furthest from you, and roll the cylinder up tightly in plastic. Twist the left and right ends of the plastic, twisting one end clockwise and the other end counterclockwise, simultaneously. This will tighten the chicken into the plastic. Keep twisting until you have a very tight, compact fit. Repeat with remaining breasts.
Heavy-duty plastic wrap will work best for this. Everyday household plastic wrap will also work – not as well, but well enough. Make sure it’s microwave-safe and BPA-free; it should say so on the packaging.
- Seal two chicken cylinders into a vacuum-seal bag. Seal the other two into a second bag. Place in the bath for an hour. (Meanwhile, make the sauce. See directions, below.)
- Preheat broiler. Remove the chicken from the bags and the plastic wrap, and place them in a skillet. Cover each cylinder with two slices of cheese. Place in broiler until cheese melts and browns, checking every one-to-two minutes.
As an option, you could brown the cylinders in the skillet. This would add flavor as well as color. In that case, you may not want to cover them with cheese, or with as much cheese, after you’ve browned them.
- Ladle sauce onto place. Place a cylinder onto the place, slice it in half, and arrange the halves askew. Sprinkle with cilantro and reserved bacon.
For the sauce:
16 oz. (2 cups) heavy cream
2 egg yolks
2 oz. (¼ cup) gold tequila
Zest of 1 or 2 limes
How to make the sauce:
- In a medium saucepan over a medium flame, reduce the cream by a one-half. Allow to cool until not longer hot, but still warm (110°F).
- Whisk in eggs, tequila, and zest. Reheat over low heat until mixture thickens, whisking constantly. Do not let it come to a boil. Keep warm, or reheat when needed.
Two limes-worth of zest will give you a pronounced lime flavor that’s not over the top. One will give you more of a hint of lime. The combination of lime and Jarlsberg is complex and interesting, but maybe not for everyone. Lime and Colby-Jack would make a different, but attractive alternative.
This sauce’s emulsion is delicate. If you bring it too close to a boil, it will break. This won’t be a problem so long as you keep the sauce warm, or gently reheat it from room temperature, so long as you stir it frequently if not constantly, and don’t let it approach a simmer.
Leftover, however, this is more of a problem. It’s nearly impossible to reheat it from refrigeration temperature without bringing it to a simmer. Know, though, that if broken, it will still taste great. It just won’t look as pretty or have quite as lovely a texture. When it comes to reheating the leftovers, faced with having to heat the sauce in a double boiler, or breaking it in the microwave, I always do the latter. When serving it to guests, though, I always make it fresh.
Stuffed Chicken Breasts in a Tequila-Lime Sauce, Sous Vide
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man!, unless otherwise indicated. Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything.
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Beautiful. I love everything about this. Except the tequila. I actually love tequila, and had 3 margaritas last night for my birthday. I just don’t like alcoholic food. I know, weird. But it can still be wonderful without the tequila, right?!
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I’m sure it could. It was really the lime that contributed the important flavor. The tequila just added a tiny edge to it.
I’m a known breaker of the sauce! So I’m prone to agree with you that it still tastes great anyway. GREG
sippitysup recently posted…Radicchio Chickpea Crostini ZOOM! ZOOM!
Ugh! That’s the one drawback. It’s flawless when fresh, but I’ll be damned if you can reheat it without breaking it.
Definitely should not be looking at this while I’m so hungry. Now I’m famished! Wising I could whip it right up, as it looks so rich and delicious. ~Valentina
It definitely was rich and delicious. Maybe not the best thing to eat when quarantined with limited exercise. But still, I enjoyed it.
That’s the tenderest chicken breast that I have ever seen! The sauce sounds really great and anything with bacon is definitely a winner in my book :-))
angiesrecipes recently posted…Taiwanese Pineapple Pastry
Thank you, Angie. It was a bit over the top with cream and cheese, but quite tasty!
You are killin’ it with the sous vide lately, Jeff. I love it! This recipe sounds like it’s got a ton of flavor, and that’s how I like to roll. More flavor, more betters. I’m thinking we could get together and make an awesome tequila-inspired menu with your chicken and the cheesecake I posted recently. 6 feet away of course.
David @ Spiced recently posted…Grilled Pork Tenderloin
You’d have a hard time keeping me six feet away from a cheesecake! You’d better plan to stand aside!
Wow, Jeff! Incredible flavors in this chicken dish! I love Jarlsberg cheese and I don’t see it pop up too often in recipes, so I’m definitely intrigued. I’ll give that tequila sauce a go. YUMMMM 🙂
Hope you enjoy it!
Ohhh my that sauce! Just the sauce alone will make my day
Raymund recently posted…Pancit Choca
It will also use up your calorie intake for the day!
Love that sauce! And yeah, it’ll break when you reheat, but it still tastes good so who cares? That water trick for pounding the chicken is a neat idea — gotta try that. Terrific recipe — thanks.
John / Kitchen Riffs recently posted…Taco Soup with Chicken
Thanks, John!
The tequila lime sauce sounds good with these.
Balvinder recently posted…Sookhe Kaale Chane/ Spiced Dry Black Chickpeas
It was really flavorful.
SO I do not sous vide, hah!, but I do do sauce. And this one sounds incredible!
Abbe@This is How I Cook recently posted…Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin
It’d be so easy to convert this to traditional methods. In some ways, it might be tastier, because you could brown the chicken.
Would it be completely wrong to drink the sauce as a cocktail? Seriously, though, this is a beautiful recipe and is easy enough to adapt for those of us without sous vide. Love the flavor combination.
Yes, it would be completely wrong … but now I feel like I need to try it. 😉
I can never resist tequila and lime, and this sauce sounds divine! I might get caught eating it by the spoonful.
lisaiscooking recently posted…Black Bean-Chipotle Falafel Mini Burgers
I know how you feel!
Love everything about this one. So juicy and bursting with flavours ! Keeper, definitely.
2pots2cook recently posted…Cannoli Danishes
Thank you!
The dish looks incredible, the sauce is out of this world! I may even have some decent tequila in my liquor cabinet!
Stefan Gourmet cooked us some incredible sous vide on our visit in February (seems a lifetime ago) so it’s really started to make me rethink the whole cooking in plastic thing. And now there is your chicken!
Eva Taylor recently posted…Restaurant Review: 4 Nudos, San José, Spain
It’s fun cooking sous vide, and what I love about sous vide chicken is that it’s good up-front, but just as good left over! That said, cooking this dish by conventional means would be delicious.
Delicious idea for stuffed chicken breasts Jeff. And as a lover of Jarlsberg cheese (especially when its all melted!!) this has to be made for dinner here soon.
Neil recently posted…Baked Vanilla Ricotta Pudding
Melted Jarlsberg is the best!
A great dish Jeff and one I’ll have to try. We just made sous vide chicken breast for the first time the other day and I was amazed at who moist and tender it was. I love everything about the dish and no worries about the sauce breaking as there isn’t going to b any left.
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This dish is a bit over the top, I have to say. Thank you, though!
Im really hungry with this recipe, looks awesome !!
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What an elegant dish! This sauce sounds and looks so delicious and decadent!
Thank you!
We LOVE stuffed chicken breasts and yours sound amazing! Love all the ingredients in your sauce! I am definitely going to try this recipe!
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Thanks!
It was perfect the first time. I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
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Hi Jeff,
I’m a very well known breaker of sauce! So I’m prone to agree with you that it still tastes great anyway
awesome flavors in this chicken dish
are there any more blogs like this?
going to make these, thanks
rai fakhar e alam recently posted…Top 5 convertible mattress sofa
Thank you! Like this in what way?
Oh, my. A wee bit like our Cordon Bleue, just even yummier! I have to stop browsing through here!
Yes, very much like that. A bit over the top with cheese, I must admit.