The last place you’d expect to find sous vide cooking is at a fast food restaurant. After all, in a place that’s all about speed, the low and slow sous vide method seems out of place. However, that didn’t deter Chipotle, which has been using this gourmet technique to cook its beef since 2016. So, if you’re addicted to Chipotle’s steak, you can likely thank this unique cooking strategy for its tender juiciness!
While Chipotle made the switch to sous vide cooking, the process itself isn’t done at each restaurant on-site. Instead, the chain’s steak and beef barbacoa are cooked sous vide at a more central off-site location before being transported to restaurants. Once delivered, the beef is marinated and grilled. While you might not relish the idea of food being precooked outside of your local Chipotle, this practice is actually extremely common in the industry — Panera even makes its soups off-site.
As for the reason behind Chipotle’s switch to sous vide, the change came after the restaurant chain suffered from an E. coli outbreak that impacted stores in nine states. According to Chipotle’s Food Safety Overview, the sous vide method is valued for its ability to control and mitigate the growth of harmful bacteria, and its process is continuously monitored and inspected according to USDA guidelines to prevent accidents. This has allowed the restaurant to lower the risk of foodborne illness regarding its beef while also producing some of the tastiest fast food you can find.
Chipotle’s beef stand outs from the competition
Chipotle stands out from other fast food restaurants for its mouthwatering meals that taste like they weren’t just ordered and prepared within minutes. After all, in truth, some of their protein options did take hours of sous vide cooking to prepare, which is why the taste and texture of the chain’s beef are so exceptional.
Now, the cuts of steak Chipotle uses are primarily shoulder (for barbacoa) and round. These are cooked at a low temperature for a long time using the sous vide method, which helps lock in all the meat’s natural juices. The meat is then marinated at each restaurant in a chipotle adobo sauce and either grilled or braised with additional spices like oregano until it’s tender enough to be shredded for barbacoa. Thanks to the initial sous vide step, the meat retains much more moisture and doesn’t dry out even with this additional cooking.
If you can’t get enough of Chipotle’s beef, the good news is that it’s easy to replicate at home with an immersion circulator, like Inkbird’s Sous Vide Machine. Now, of course, you shouldn’t invest in a whole new kitchen gadget just to cook one dish, but the great thing about sous vide is that it can be used to cook so much more than just beef. (You can even use the sous vide method to cook mashed potatoes!) So, if you’re feeling adventurous and aspire to make the best food possible, it’s definitely worth the investment.
