Beef Bourguignon is one of the few recipes everyone needs to know how to cook! Tender beef braised in red wine with onions and carrots and flavoured with bouquet garni, this French beef stew is the epitome of comfort food made easy!
For more stew recipes, check out our Coq au Vin Blanc or Chicken Chasseur.
So a whole week passed since I’ve started working from home, and so far I’ve enjoyed it much more than I’d expected.
I love going through my mornings at a slower pace instead of dashing out of the door into the insanity of London commute, once again driving my youngest to school, pottering in the kitchen while testing new recipes and generally being less stressed and enjoying life so much more.
I hope you, my friends, have enjoyed getting more fresh recipes in your mailboxes!
Shortly before I left my job I was explaining to my students that I would be no longer teaching but focusing more on my blog. As usual, it was met with curiosity and bewilderment. Most of them wanted to know what exactly I did outside of my job as an English teacher.
My French students were adamant Beef Bourguignon should be the recipe I share next and you just don’t argue with the French!! Trust me.
Developing my Beef Bourguignon recipe was quite easy, as it is basically a beef version of my very popular classic coq au vin.
There are many recipes out there and I am sharing my take on this French classic, something that works for me. I would encourage you to follow this recipe but also make necessary adjustments to suit your family’s tastes.
What ingredients go into Beef Bourguignon?
For example, many beef bourguignon recipes include pearl onions but I know that eating a whole onion, no matter how small, would never fly with my kids, or even with me if I am completely honest, so I omitted them.
Mushrooms are also a permanent fixture in most beef bourguignon recipes but since my husband is away on a work trip and it’s just kids and I, mushrooms also got cut!
Although I am a mushroom lover, they are not! My point is add or remove anything you like or don’t like.
Cooking time would also depend on your oven temperature, how large your beef pieces are (I like mine large!), and how tender you’d like your meat to be. My advice to you is to taste and make adjustments. Always!!
What wine should I use?
Lastly, the wine, that this flavourful stew is cooked in, is traditionally Burgundy, which might not be readily available where you live.
Red and full-bodied wine like Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon is a good choice for this dish. It should be a decent drinking wine but don’t break the bank on it!
How do I make delicious Beef Bourguignon?
Beef Bourguignon is one of those low effort dishes that I believe everyone should know how to make. The wine and slow cooking do all the heavy lifting.
There are a couple of things though that will contribute to richer flavour like searing of the beef; it should be nice and brown on all sides as well as monitoring of the cooking time.
It needs to be shortened or extended depending on how tender your meat is since oven temperatures vary. Other than that, the recipe is full proof.
What to serve with this tender French Beef Stew
Mashed potatoes is my number one choice when it comes to Beef Bourguignon. Also green steamed greens beans with a little salt and butter go extremely well with this flavourful beef stew.
More classic French recipes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs stewing beef or rump roasting joint cut into 2 inch cubes
- 500 ml/ 2 cups red wine
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 50 g bacon lardons/ 2-3 strips bacon chopped
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2-3 tbsp flour
- 1 cup baby carrots/2 large carrots cut into 2 inch pieces
- up to 1 cup/ 250 ml beef stock optional
- 1 prepared bouquet garni or 3 parsley stalks 3 thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves tied together
- salt and pepper to taste
- parsley chopped
Instructions
- The night before combine beef and wine in an air tight container or a ziplock bag and marinade overnight.
- When ready to cook take the beef out and lightly dab the pieces with paper towel to absorb the liquid, salt and pepper them, then set aside for a moment, reserve the wine the meat was marinated in.
- Preheat the oven to 300F/160C
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy cast iron pot and cook the bacon lardons until they render fat, remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl.
- In the same pot brown beef over medium-high heat, do so in batches to avoid overcrowding and steaming. The beef should be nicely browned on each side but not cooked all the way through, approximately 2-3 minutes on each side depending on how high the heat is. Remove the browned beef to the same bowl as bacon.
- Now add chopped onion to the pan and cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes until tender and translucent, then add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute stirring constantly to prevent garlic from burning or it will turn bitter.
- Return the beef and bacon bits back to the pan, add carrots, flour and stir, cook for a minute to ensure all flour got saturated in the fat in the pan, then add reserved wine and enough beef stock to cover the beef, add your bouquet garni and bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and put in the preheated oven for 2 hours.
- After two hours check on the liquid in the pot, it should remain at the same level. Put the beef back in the oven with the lid off to allow the liquid to reduce and thicken, cook for 1 to 1.5 hours for tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef. Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Serve sprinkled with additional chopped parsley over mashed potatoes or noodles.
Thanks for the recipe. I omitted mushrooms bacon and wine. It was still beef bourgignon because I used a powder mix. Worked for me… Also here’s an idea you might like to work on : produce recipes from famous Artist’s favourite meals. It’s probably a book as you could go through their art and also specifically any paintings based on food. Not sure how you’d deal with Andy Warhol and his soup cans but I’m sure you get the idea.
It’s merely a suggestion. Naturally.
Again, many thanks for your help.
That’s quite the concept, Steven! I will have to give it some thought. Maybe start a separate blog for that. 😉
Love your recipes. Can wune be replaced with a non alcoholic alternative? What would you suggest?
You can use beef stock instead of wine and it will still be delicious but it won’t have the same taste as Beef Bourguignon, Afifa. You can also try non-alcoholic red wine.
Typically when cooking alcohol in dishes evaporates leaving you just the flavor of what is added in
I don’t have a cast iron pot. Could I cook everything on a skillet and transfer it to a roasting pan with a lid for the oven?
That’s absolutely fine, Heather.
I give this recipe “4 stars” from my family. Overall, we liked it. No one under 25 so can’t speak for the kidlets. Only complaint was sauce was strong. Think I’ll cut the red wine and do half of it with water next time.
Will try this again!
The sauce does have a very distinctive taste of wine but that is why I love it! You can definitely use less wine and more stock next time, Kelli. Thanks for your feedback.
This looks delicious. May I ask which red wine you recommend to cook this with?
Any full-bodied red wine like Merlot, Shiraz or even Malbec will work in this recipe, Kendra. It doesn’t have to be an expensive wine either, something at low-medium range would be perfect.
I would also not use cheap wine … should cook with a wine you would drink! If you wouldn’t drink it don’t cook with it.
Definitely don’t use undrinkable wine for this recipe but it is possible to use inexpensive wine, which is plentiful in Europe (I live in the UK) and get excellent results! All I was trying to say, “Don’t use your rare vintage bottle for it, it’s not necessary!” 🙂
This came out so great (I included mushrooms in mine and left the bacon out — since had none on hand). The house smelled divine. The meat melted in your mouth and the sauce was excellent with mashed potatoes. Made it for a small dinner party. Thanks for a great recipe!
Yay, I am so excited to hear it, Victoria. I love, love, love this recipe and what I love even more is how it needs very little hands-on time. I need to make it again with mushrooms now that my husband is home and someone will actually eat them! lol