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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 classic French stew recipes, check out our Coq au Vin Blanc or Chicken Chasseur.
I used to work with a lot of French youth, which gave me a lot of opportunities to get their informed opinions about recipes to share. They were always adamant that Beef Bourguignon is a recipe that needed to find space on this site!
One taste will tell you why they are so passionate about this classic dish. The combination of tender beef and vegetables with herbs in a rich wine sauce is inspired!
Developing my own version of a beef bourguignon recipe was quite easy as it is basically a beef version of my very popular classic coq au vin. It has since become a huge favourite, easy to cook but unbelievably delicious!
Ingredients
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 to make necessary adjustments to suit your family’s tastes.
For example, many beef bourguignon recipes include pearl onions. The truth is that eating a whole onion, no matter how small, would never fly with my kids so I omitted them.
Mushrooms are also a permanent fixture in most beef bourguignon recipes but 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.
As with many traditional stew recipes, the origin for this one is the need to tenderise otherwise tough cuts of meat. The time spent cooking will go a long way in transforming a cheap cut into something special.
This means you can save a bit of money on the meat without sacrificing the end product. I used rump roasting joint cut that I cut into 2 inch or 5cm pieces, but chuck, shin or brisket will also work.
What wine to use
When trying to choose which wine to use when cooking a meal, a good rule of thumb is to pick one that you’d want to drink with the same meal. For a hearty beef stew, I would always choose a big, bold, dry red wine.
The wine that this flavourful stew is cooked in is traditionally Burgundy, the wine from the same region of France as this dish. Definitely a good choice but it might not be readily available where you live.
Fortunately there are a lot to choose from, and a and full-bodied wine like Shiraz, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon will be a good choice for this dish. It should be a decent drinking wine but don’t break the bank on it!
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Searing the beef will contribute to a richer flavour. It should be nice and brown on all sides.
- When browning the beef, be sure to leave space between pieces so the beef sears rather than steams due to overcrowding. This may require cooking the beef in batches.
- The cooking time will need to be shortened or extended depending on how tender your meat is since oven temperatures vary. Check the meat as it cooks until you are happy with how tender is is.
- Cooking time will also depend on how large your beef pieces are.I like mine large! My advice to you is to keep an eye on the stew as it cooks and make adjustments if necessary.
- I omitted mushrooms and pearl onions from this recipe but both are included in classic beef bourguignon.
Serving suggestions
Mashed potatoes is my number one choice when it comes to beef bourguignon. The potatoes are perfect for absorbing all the amazing flavourful juices.
Also lemon garlic greens beans and a slice of thick sourdough bread go extremely well with this flavourful beef stew.
Storage and leftovers
Beef bourguignon is just as good a day or two later. In fact, it may even get better as flavours have the chance to meld and become more vibrant with time. Choose an This is an affiliate link.airtight container and keep it refrigerated for up to five days.
I love having a few meals ready to go in my freezer for when time is short, and this stew is a great option. It can be frozen for up to three months.
Leftovers can be warmed up in a microwave, but the best way is using a This is an affiliate link.saucepan over medium heat. If it is looking too thick, add a splash of water to loosen it up.
More classic French recipes
- Coq au vin
- Chicken Provencal
- French Chicken Casserole a la Normande
- Chicken in Wine and Mustard Sauce
How to Make Beef Bourguignon
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Cast iron Dutch oven
Ingredients
- 900g / 2lbs stewing beef or rump roasting joint cut into 2 inch/5cm cubes
- 500ml / 2 cups red wine
- 1 tbsp This is an affiliate link.olive oil
- 50g / 2oz bacon lardons/ 2-3 strips bacon, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2-3 tbsp flour
- 110g / 1 cup baby carrots/2 large carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
- 250ml / 1 cup 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 airtight 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love almost everything I’ve tried by Vikalinka. This one challenged me. The 2 hours in the oven were too long. I realize that V. said to watch the stewing beef, but I had to run an errand. I came back before 1.5 hours and the stew was nearly dried out. I pulled it out of the oven. Doctored it with some delicious friench beef boullion, a little water, scraped the sides. I added sauteed mushrooms at this point. Left it on top of stove on LOW heat until it tasted ready. I was upset at first bc I used expensive beef. But I now know how to adjust. It turned out great after all.
Hi Penny, I feel your pain! I do! I once left a stuffed duck roasting for Christmas and came back to a bird burnt to a crisp. It seems to happen when we are away. 🙂 I am not sure why the stew dried up but ovens do vary in temperature and maybe yours runs a bit high or it’s possible the pot you used was too wide and the liquid evaporated quicker than mine? Thank for your comment and trying my recipes. I appreciate the support very much.
Julia
Another winner! I prefer more beef flavor so the only small tweak that I did was use only about 1 cup of the reserved wine and then the rest was broth. It came out so nice. I served it with mashed potatoes and homemade bread. What a great fall dinner.
I made this dish before back in 2022, It is delicious I chose to use the wine that I drink because if its good enough for me to drink, then its good enough for me to cook with. I’m actually making this dish again for dinner on July 30th 2023 and I’m going to make pommes puree and some cornbread this is going to be amazing and this time I’m not adding any mushrooms, nor carrots, I’m adding the onions and bell pepper (green), If this passes to the people that I’m feeding tomorrow then this dish will be served on my food truck. And the sides would be greens or green beans or broccoli, and cornbread served with Water, Tea, Wine.
Thank you so very much for such a great recipe I just love it!
My pleasure, Patrick. Enjoy!!
Yum! This is a really nice recipe – easy to follow and I always appreciate the recipe tips/notes. I used a Pinot Noir only because that’s what I had on hand. It worked just fine! Being a little bit crunched for time, I had to cut down the cooking time to about 2 hours total in the oven. The meat was still super tender and delicious. Thank you!
I am so pleased you loved this recipe, Kaitlin! It’s my go to recipe when I want to feel super cozy at home. 🙂
Instead of the oven would this recipe work in a crock pot?
I do not own a cast iron pot unfortunately.
Hi Shannon, it’s definitely possible but I haven’t tested it personally, so I can’t give you the specifics in terms of timing and liquid to meat ratio.You’d need to reduce the liquid as slow cookers tend to retain it too much and you would end up with a watery stew if you keep the recipe as is. Also, you don’t NEED a cast iron pot, you can always use a deep casserole dish instead and use the oven method, which is preferable here.
It’s just not a bourgignon without mushrooms in it at least. This just is a beef stew, sure it’s tasty but it’s not bourgignon.
Have you read the article? I wrote about mushrooms and why they were not included in this recipe. By all means, add the mushrooms if you like but they are not the ingredient that is essential. As the name suggests, it’s actually beef and Burgundy wine, which make this dish Beef Bourguignon.
I wanted to make this today but realized that it requires overnight marinating. Can I make it without marinating
Marinating deepens the flavour and tenderises the meat but you can skip it in a pinch, Anita. If you can marinate for any time at all, even 1-2 hours would help.
Could this be made in a slow cooker/crock-pot?
You definitely can, Alish. Follow the recipe up to step 7, then transfer all ingredients into a slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or slow for 8.
Have you ever tried making this recipe in an instant pot? Would love to try it in there for a quicker cook time
Hi Lily, yes you can make it in Instant pot. Cook it for 40 minutes at high pressure. However, you would need to thicken the sauce later as Instant Pot method produces slightly different results. Here is the recipe for Instant Pot Coq au Vin, which addresses the modifications you will need to make.
Should I still marinate the beef in the wine the night before?
I would, marinating helps to tenderise and flavour the beef.