How long to sous vide a steak depends on the cut, thickness, target temperature, whether you want it pasteurized, and the desired texture. To make it easy, I built a calculator that accounts for all of these factors at once. Below the calculator, I explain why these factors matter and how they affect the final cooking time.
Note
The cooking times in the calculator are mostly based on the work of Douglas Baldwin and Amazing Food Made Easy, two of the most trusted references for sous vide cooking.
Sous Vide Steak
Time & Temperature Calculator
Get exact cook times based on your steak’s thickness, cut, and target doneness. Works for steaks between ¼ in (0.6 cm) and 2½ in (6.5 cm) thick.
🌡️ Temperature
⏱ Timing
🛡 Food Safety
🔥 After Sous Vide
- Cool in an ice bath for 5 min
- Pat completely dry — moisture kills crust
- Rest in the fridge 15 min on its side
- Sear on ripping-hot cast iron, 30 sec/side
- Serve immediately — no rest needed
Bath temperature = your target doneness. This calculator uses the standard home sous vide method where you set the bath to the exact temperature you want the steak — 135°F for medium-rare, 145°F for medium, and so on. The steak sits in the water until the center equilibrates to within a degree of the bath. It physically cannot exceed the bath temperature, so you can’t overcook it.
Why do 140°F, 150°F, and 156°F show the same minimum time for thick steaks? Because the clock is set by heat diffusion through the meat — not by food safety. At 140°F, pathogens are already reduced to safe levels in roughly 2–3 hours for a 2″ steak. At 150°F, maybe 20 minutes. At 156°F, just a few minutes. But the time for heat to physically travel through 2 inches of meat is always 3h 35m — pure physics (thermal diffusivity of beef), independent of the absolute temperature.
So why not set the bath higher and pull early? You can — chefs do this with a probe thermometer. Set to 165°F, pull when the center hits 135°F, and a 2″ steak would be ready in roughly 1–1.5 hours. But you need a probe, you have to watch it, and overshooting is easy. The Baldwin method trades speed for foolproof hands-off cooking.
