Beef Bourguignon is both hearty and delectable. This famous French dish is a rich, slow-cooked beef stew, where the beef is braised in red wine with onions and carrots until it is fork tender. It’s easy to make and produces wonderful leftovers. For an unforgettable meal, this should be at the top of your list.
Beef Bourguignon was made famous by Julia Child. In fact, if you've ever made Julia Child's beef bourguignon, you would definitely understand the rave reviews.
One problem, however, with Julia's recipe is that it has a number of steps and is somewhat fussy. That's why when I read The Washington Post article about Anthony Bourdain's recipe, I knew that I had to try it. The result was not only spectacular but also relatively easy to put together.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients: Here's What You'll Need
- Step 1: Preparing the Beef
- Step 2: Browning the Beef
- Step 3: Cooking the Onions
- Step 4: Adding the Rest of the Beef Bourguignon Ingredients
- Step 5: Finishing the Beef Bourguignon
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Other One-Pot Wonders
- Recipe
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Rich and flavorful: Beef Bourguignon is known for its deep, complex flavors, thanks to the slow cooking process, red wine, and combination of herbs and vegetables. The dish provides a satisfying and hearty meal that is perfect for special occasions or a cozy family dinner.
- Versatile and adaptable: Beef Bourguignon can be customized to suit your preferences or dietary restrictions. You can easily modify the recipe to use different cuts of beef, substitute vegetables, or adjust the ingredients to accommodate dietary needs.
- Great for entertaining: Beef Bourguignon is an excellent choice for dinner parties or gatherings, as it can be prepared in advance and reheated before serving. This allows you to focus on your guests and enjoy their company without having to stress about last-minute cooking.
- One-pot meal: Beef Bourguignon can be made in a single pot, which simplifies both the cooking process and cleanup. This is particularly appealing for those who want to minimize their time spent in the kitchen or have limited space for cooking.
Ingredients: Here's What You'll Need
The two stars of the show here are (1) beef chuck roast; and (2) red wine.
- The Beef: I use beef chuck roast every time I make this amazing dish. As you may know, beef chuck roast is a relatively cheap cut of meat that has a ton of flavor. It also tends to have a lot of fat. In fact, it's not unusual that half of the weight of the beef that I purchase is fat that I dispose of. Probably, the most time-consuming part of making this awesome dish is trimming the beef of as much fat as possible.
- Red Wine: For the red wine, I've used Merlot, Malbec, and Pinot Noir. Basically, any good dry red wine will do.
- The Vegetables: For the vegetables, I used onions - lots of onions, carrots, and garlic. Because of the slow and extended cooking, the onions disappear, helping to create a rich, luxurious sauce.
- The Flavorings: To enhance the richness of the sauce, I added some Better than Bouillon Roast Beef Base. I also added some dried thyme, Kosher salt, and black pepper.
- The Rest of the Ingredients: I also used olive oil to brown the beef, water to supplement the wine in the sauce, and flour to help thicken the sauce.
Step 1: Preparing the Beef
The first thing that I did was trim the beef of as much fat as possible. Then, I cut it into 1-inch pieces.
Like Julia Child's recipe, Bourdain included the step of drying the beef before it was browned. The reason is simple - the dryer the beef, the more browning that occurs and the more taste that develops via the Maillard reaction.
Therefore, I started by placing the cut beef on paper towels and blotting each piece to remove as much moisture as possible. After that, I sprinkled the beef with salt and pepper.
Step 2: Browning the Beef
Once I had blotted as much moisture as possible from the beef, I heated some oil in my Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Then, I added the meat in batches, making sure that I didn't crowd the pan.
The reason for not crowding the pan with the beef was to ensure that the meat actually browned. If the pan is crowded, the meat will have a tendency to steam.
Once the beef was nicely browned, I removed it from the Dutch oven and repeated the process with the remaining beef.
Step 3: Cooking the Onions
After all of the beef had been cooked, I added more oil to the Dutch oven. Then, I added the onions. I cooked the onions, stirring occasionally until they softened. This took 7 or 8 minutes.
Next, I added the flour to the onions and stirred to combine everything. I let the mixture cook for another couple of minutes.
After that, I added the dried thyme and minced garlic. I cooked the mixture for around 30 seconds until the garlic was fragrant.
Step 4: Adding the Rest of the Beef Bourguignon Ingredients
I started Step 4 by adding the wine to the onions.
The onions had released some liquid, so I was able to scrape up bits from the bottom of the pan while the onions cooked. With the wine added, I continued scraping the bottom of the pan to release more bits. These bits have a ton of flavor!
After the wine started to boil, I returned the cooked beef to the Dutch oven, along with the carrots, water, and Better than Bouillon. I stirred to combine everything and brought the mixture to a boil. Next, I reduced the heat to medium-low and covered the pan.
Step 5: Finishing the Beef Bourguignon
I let the Beef Bourguignon cook for around 2 ½ hours until the beef was fork tender. During this time, I stirred the mixture occasionally to ensure that it didn't stick to the bottom of the Dutch oven.
Because I cooked the Beef Bourguignon covered, the sauce was a bit too thin for my tastes. Therefore, I thickened it with a slurry made with Bisto and chicken broth. If you don't have Bisto, you could use cornstarch. I also ended up adding about a ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper.
The Beef Bourguignon was show-stopping delicious and earned the envious Master Taste Tester seal of approval. I served it with steamed new potatoes, collard greens, and the rest of the red wine that I had used in the dish. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
Choose a cut of beef that is suitable for slow cooking, such as chuck, brisket, or round. These cuts have a good amount of marbling and connective tissue that will break down during the long cooking process, resulting in tender, flavorful meat.
Yes, Beef Bourguignon actually tastes better the next day as the flavors have more time to meld together. You can make it a day or two ahead and store it in the refrigerator, then gently reheat on the stovetop before serving.
Traditional accompaniments include crusty French bread, steamed, boiled or mashed potatoes, buttered egg noodles, or steamed rice. You can also serve it with a simple green salad or your favorite roasted or steamed vegetables.
Beef bourguignon can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Beef chuck roast typically has a lot of fat. In general, when I trim the fat away, almost half of the weight is made up of discarded fat.
- You can use any good dry red wine in this dish. I’ve used Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Malbec. Just make sure that whatever you use is drinkable!
- It’s important not to crowd the meat as you are cooking it. You want the meat to brown nicely, not steam as would occur if you added too much to the pan.
- The Beef Bourguignon is even better the next day as the flavors continue to develop.
Other One-Pot Wonders
If you’re looking for additional recipes for one-pot wonders look no further. Below are some of my favorites.
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole: Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole is a one-pot wonder combining your favorite ingredients into an amazing dish. This casserole is super easy to put together and can be made ahead of time. Leftovers, if any are just as yummy.
- Creamy Chicken Broccoli Pasta: Creamy Chicken Broccoli Pasta is an amazing one-pot wonder that’s super easy to make and takes less than 30 minutes to put together. It makes a lot which is great given the the leftovers are just as yummy!
- Easy Cheesy Mexican Rice with Chicken: Easy Cheesy Mexican Rice with Chicken is just in time for Cinco de Mayo. It’s an amazing one-pot meal with an incredible blend of flavors and textures. It makes a lot, so be prepared for yummy leftovers!
- Cheesy Southwestern Chicken Pasta: Cheesy Southwestern Chicken Pasta – the name for this amazing one-dish wonder says it all! Imagine the marriage of succulent chicken in a creamy southwestern sauce with tender pasta topped with ooey gooey cheese. It doesn’t get much better than this.
- Lazy Lasagna: Lazy Lasagna has all of the amazing taste of regular lasagna. However, it uses store-bought, cheese-filled ravioli in place of the typical layering of the lasagna noodles, and ricotta cheese mixture. This equates to less time in the kitchen and more time to do other things. As an added bonus, Lazy Lasagna can be put together ahead of time, can be frozen and makes awesome leftovers.
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Beef Bourguignon
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef chuck roast, untrimmed (See Tip 1)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided
- 4 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup dry red wine (See Tip 2)
- 6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 Tablespoons Better than Bouillon Roast Beef Base
- 1 Tablespoon Bisto or cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water or chicken broth, if needed
- Minced parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Trim beef of as much fat as possible. Cut remaining beef into 1-inch pieces. Place on paper towels and blot as much moisture as possible. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the meat on all sides. Remove to a plate. (See Tip 3)
- Heat remaining oil in Dutch oven and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions have softened, 7 to 8 minutes. As the onions cook scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add the flour; stir to combine. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and thyme; cook for 30 seconds or until garlic is fragrant.
- Add the wine; stir and continue to scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Bring to a boil. Return the meat and juices to the pan. Add the carrots, water and Better than Bouillon. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for 2 to 2 ½ hours or until meat is fork tender.
- If sauce is too thin, thicken it with a slurry made of Bisto or cornstarch and water or chicken broth.
- Yield: 8 servings.
Tips/Notes
- Beef chuck roast typically has a lot of fat. In general, when I trim the fat away, almost half of the weight is made up of the discarded fat.
- You can use any good dry red wine in this dish. I've used Merlot, Pinot Noir and Malbec. Just make sure that whatever you use is drinkable!
- It's important not to crowd the meat as you are cooking it. You want the meat to brown nicely, not steam as would occur if you added too much to the pan.
- The Beef Bourguignon is even better the next day as the flavors continue to develop.
Pam Bastable says
This beef bourguignon was easy enough and cooked perfectly but mine was still a little bitter after adding some butter and sugar as I read to do online. I used a good red wine. Any suggestions?
Chula King says
Pam,
I'm sorry that your Beef Bourguignon was bitter. I've never had that problem and can't imagine what is producing a bitter taste. In fact, the onions (I always use sweet onions) and carrots tend to produce somewhat of a sweet taste when I make the Beef Bourguignon.
Chula