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Boeuf bourguignon is one of the best French recipes with beef. This flavourful beef recipe combines the meat with red wine and herbs for an exquisite result. This dish is sometimes called beef burgundy, because the traditional wine used is from France’s Burgundy region. It is a version of Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon aka beef bourguignon and a great alternative to a traditional stewed beef recipe.
Whether or not you’ve made Julia Child’s beef bourguignon before, if you have beef, red wine and herbs, you can whip this up when that beef burgundy craving hits!
You might also like simple beef and vegetable stew, a creamy meatball stew, poor man’s stew, or what about a slow cooker chicken stew?
Why You’ll Love This
- It’s full of flavour: This stewed beef dish with pearl onions and red wine boasts rich, robust flavours in every mouthful.
- It’s a classic dish from France: If you want to enjoy authentic French cuisine, you might not want to start out with frogs’ legs and snails! This authentic recipe is sure to appeal to your tastebuds though.
- Easy to prepare: There’s nothing difficult about putting this flavourful dish together. If you’ve made stews before, you’ll find the process very similar. You will need a large Dutch oven or similar pot to hold it.
Beef Bourguignon Ingredients
Butter, beef, flour, red wine, salt, bacon, shallots, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms go into this dish, and then you also need thyme, bay leaves, parsley, and rosemary for the bouquet garni.
The Best Wine for Boeuf Bourguignon
Make sure you choose a good wine to make this beef stew recipe. A red from the Burgundy region of France is the classic choice. You can go for a Pinot Noir or Gamay.
As for the meat in this flavourful beef recipe, chuck works well. Brisket would make a good alternative although it isn’t as traditional.
What is Bouquet Garni?
You can see this recipe calls for bouquet garni, but what is this exactly and why is it added to beef burgundy?
Bouquet garni is French for ‘garnished bouquet’. It’s a bundle of fresh herbs that you add to a beef stew recipe or similar dish to add flavour. Because the herbs are tied together, you can simply remove it before serving the dish.
Sometimes a bouquet garni is tied with twine. The herbs can also go inside a mesh bag. Bouquet garni bags are available online or from the grocery store, and you can use them for infusing iced tea and other recipes.
How to Make Beef Burgundy
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
- Sear the beef: Sear the beef in butter until browned all over.
- Add more ingredients: Add flour and then red wine, a little at a time, allowing it to reduce.
- Slow cook it: Add the remaining wine, herbs and salt, and cook for 2 hours.
- Prepare the bacon and vegetables: Cook the bacon and onions in a separate pan, then add the garlic, mushrooms and carrots, and cook.
- Finish it off and serve: Add the bacon mixture to the beef mixture once the beef is falling-apart tender, season to taste, and serve it hot with some fresh parsley.
What to Serve with Beef Burgundy
Perhaps you’re curious about what to serve with beef bourguignon. Well, considering it’s such a rich and hearty dish, it goes well with mashed potatoes. Other serving ideas include French fries or egg noodles. Rustic bread would also be good, and you could use it to mop up all the tasty juices.
This flavourful beef recipe has carrots and mushrooms in it, so you don’t need to serve another vegetable side dish.
If you want to, then green beans would be good alongside. The wine you used in this beef burgundy recipe would also be nice served with the finished dish.
This beef burgundy makes such a good dinner and is a great example of French cooking. It’s hearty and filling for the winter, but you can make it whenever you want!
The pearl onions, beef and beef stock, fresh vegetables and sauce are just perfect. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the meat and vegetables and then add as much of the liquid as you please.
How Do You Store Beef Bourguignon?
- Store: This beef stew keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. And in fact every time you reheat it, it seems to taste even better. You’ll soon see why those French cooks in the Middle Ages used to keep it simmering for days over the fire.
- Freeze: It also freezes nicely in a freezer-safe container. Just let it thaw overnight and warm it back up the next day. You might even like to make a double batch and freeze half of it. Just use a bigger pot to make it if you’re doubling up.
Boeuf Bourguignon FAQs
This delicious beef stew recipe is famous all over the world today, although it goes back to the Middle Ages. Back then it was considered peasant food (just like lobsters and oysters were, funnily enough!)
People in rural areas would make slow cooked meals which were cheap and hearty. They could use cheap cuts of meat because they would slow cook to tender perfection.
Boeuf bourguignon in the Middle Ages took two days to make, and the longer it cooked the stronger the flavour would be. The meat would also get more tender the more time it bubbled away over the fire.
In modern times, this French beef stew recipe is more of a bistro dish. The first printed recipe for it only goes back to the early 20th century.
A large chunk of beef was the historical choice, but today chopped stewing beef is the more usual type for modern beef Burgundy. That is what you will find in Julia Child’s beef bourguignon recipe anyway, and the way many people make it.
The exact cooking time depends on the cut of beef you’re using. As soon as you can cut the beef with a fork it’s done.
Julia Child’s beef bourguignon also uses lardons, which are little strips of fatty bacon, and they taste great too.
Boeuf Bourguignon – Beef Stewed with Mushrooms, Red Wine and Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1.5 Lbs. beef stew meat , cut into 1-2 inch chunks
- 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 5 Cups red wine
- 1 Tsp. salt
Bouquet Garni
- 4 Sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 Sprigs fresh parsley
- 1 Sprig fresh rosemary
- 8 Oz. bacon , rind removed and cut into strips
- 10 shallots, peeled and whole (or halved if large)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 Cup carrots, sliced and peeled
- 8 Oz. mushrooms, sliced
Instructions
- Pat dry the beef.
- Heat up the butter in a pot over medium high heat and sear the beef in batches until brown.
- Add the flour, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes, continuously stirring. Be careful not to burn the flour.
- Deglaze with a good pull of the red wine, stir and let reduce for 1 to 2 minutes while stirring.
- Add another pull of wine, stir again and let it reduce. Repeat until flour is dissolved, and you have a creamy sauce.
- Pour in the remaining red wine, add the herbs and the salt and cook covered on low-medium heat for about 2 hours or until meat is fork tender (note 4).
- Meanwhile, heat up a pan over medium high heat and cook the bacon and shallots until the bacon is golden and slightly crisp.
- Add the garlic, mushrooms and the carrots and braise everything covered for 20 minutes.
- When the beef is cooked add the bacon-vegetable mix to the pot.
- Add salt and pepper to taste (note 5)
- Serve hot with fresh parsley. Mashed potatoes are the traditional accompaniment, but you can also pair it with boiled potatoes, pasta or bread.
Notes
Note 4: Cooking time varies depending on the meat Note 5: Wait until the last step to season with salt, because the bacon mix will add a lot of salty flavour to the stew
Nutrition
This is one of the most flavourful beef dishes either and it’s easy to prepare. Similar to Coq au vin, this recipe is a classic French meal that makes a great dinner.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
What a rich dish! I love the flavor combo and the red wine on the sauce.
So easy to make and it tastes exceptionally good!
I don’t cook with beef much but this recipe has changed my mind!