Beef Bourguignon Recipe (Dutch Oven)
- Preparation 30 min
- Cooking 4 h
- Servings 6
- Freezing Absolutely
Ads
🍷 Beef bourguignon that falls apart at the touch of a fork!
The first time I tasted a real beef bourguignon was at a French friend’s place. It was her grandmother’s recipe, and it was absolutely delicious. I built my own version from that memory, and let me tell you: this is THE Sunday dinner for company. The beef falls apart, the red wine sauce is deep and glossy, and smoky bacon, mushrooms and little pearl onions finish the whole thing. Slide the Dutch oven in, and for three and a half hours your house smells so good everyone will be hovering around the stove. Promise!
🥩 Chuck roast, and no overnight marinade
This version is all about beef chuck. It’s affordable, and it’s exactly the cut you want for braising: it’s loaded with collagen that melts slowly in the oven, giving you that fork-tender texture and a sauce that coats the spoon. And no, you don’t need to marinate the beef overnight. Trust me, after three hours braising in wine, the flavor has all the time in the world to get into the meat.
🥓 Smoked bacon, and a garnish browned on the side
Classic recipes call for lardons. I use smoked bacon, because it simply has more flavor. And the garnish doesn’t spend three hours in the sauce: the mushrooms and pearl onions are browned in butter on the side and added for the last hour. They stay golden and hold their shape instead of turning to mush. Never peeled pearl onions before? Check the tips below, I’ve got a trick that pops them right out of their skins.
Ads
Ads
🧅 Peel pearl onions in two seconds
Peeling pearl onions one by one with a knife is miserable. Instead, blanch them for 2 to 3 minutes in boiling water, then run them under cold water. Trim the root end with a paring knife and squeeze the onion from the other end: it pops right out of its skin. I went looking for frozen peeled pearl onions and couldn’t find any. With this method, fresh ones go fast anyway.
🔥 Brown the beef in three or four batches
Dump all the beef in at once and the temperature drops, so the meat steams in its own juices instead of browning. That’s why I do it in three or four batches, easy. Patting the cubes dry helps, but it’s no miracle: the meat still releases liquid. Let each side get a real deep color before you turn them. That brown crust is what flavors the whole sauce.
🍅 Cook the tomato paste until it darkens
Don’t just stir it into the vegetables. Let it cook two to three minutes, until it turns a deep brick red. It loses its sharp acidity and tastes rounder and deeper. Same with the flour: a good two minutes of stirring so it loses that raw flour taste before the wine goes in.
🍷 Burgundy wine, or a red with backbone
It’s a beef bourguignon, so ideally a red Burgundy. Otherwise, grab a good full-bodied red. The rule is simple: if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t pour it in the pot. Two cups reduce for hours, so whatever it tastes like ends up concentrated in the sauce.
🥘 One cast-iron Dutch oven does it all
You don’t need a giant pot. A regular cast-iron Dutch oven is usually big enough for this recipe; the small ones are rare. It handles everything from start to finish: the bacon, the browning, the sauce and the oven, all in one pot. Fewer dishes, and every browned bit stays in your sauce.
📅 Getting ahead
The night before, peel your pearl onions and store them in a labeled container in the fridge. Cut the bacon, cube the chuck and pat it dry, then keep it cold. Chop the onion and garlic, slice the carrots and quarter the mushrooms, each in its own container. The next day, all that’s left is browning and braising. And that’s the good part: while it braises, you brown the garnish at your own pace and your guests walk into a house that smells like red wine and bacon. The one thing that should wait is the garnish: browned too early, it goes soft.
❄️ Fridge, freezer and the next day
It keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. It isn’t better the next day, but it’s every bit as good. Reheat it gently, covered, in the oven or over low heat, adding a splash of broth if the sauce has thickened.
✅ What to serve with my Dutch oven beef bourguignon?
You need something to catch the sauce. My aligot (French cheesy mashed potatoes) is over the top, and that’s exactly why it works. Tagliatelle with lemon and forest mushrooms make a great bed too, and crusty bread like my bread baguettes with olives, fresh herbs and beer will mop up every last drop. If you like this kind of dinner, try my beef bourguignon with flank steak or my Guinness beef stew.
Ads
Ingrédients
- 5 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 ½ lb (1.6 kg) beef chuck roast, cut into 2-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) unsalted butter
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
- 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) tomato paste
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (500 ml) red Burgundy wine (or another full-bodied red)
- 4 cups (1 L) beef broth
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) beef bouillon powder
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
Garnish
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) unsalted butter
- 1 lb (450 g) cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 10 oz (280 g) pearl onions, peeled
Ads
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- In a large cast-iron Dutch oven over medium-low heat, cook the bacon until crisp and the fat has rendered. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Pat the beef cubes dry, then season with salt and pepper. Raise the heat to medium-high and brown the meat on all sides in the bacon fat, in 3 or 4 batches so you don’t crowd the pot. Remove and set aside.
- Lower the heat to medium and melt the butter. Sweat the onion and carrots for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute, then the tomato paste and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until it darkens. Sprinkle in the flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes.
- Deglaze with the red wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the beef broth and bouillon powder, then return the beef, bacon, thyme and bay leaves to the pot.
- Cover, transfer to the oven and cook for 2 hours 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, for the garnish, melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the mushrooms, add the pearl onions and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Take the pot out of the oven, stir in the mushrooms and pearl onions, and keep cooking, covered, for 45 to 60 minutes, until the beef falls apart with a fork.
- Let rest, covered, for 20 minutes out of the oven. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves before serving.
- Slow cooker version: do steps 2 to 5 in the Dutch oven, without preheating the oven, then transfer everything to a slow cooker of at least 6 quarts. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours. During the last hour, make the garnish (step 7) and add it to the slow cooker. If the sauce is too thin, leave the lid off for that last hour. Let rest 20 minutes and remove the thyme and bay leaves before serving.
Beef bourguignon is braised in red wine, traditionally with lardons, mushrooms and pearl onions, and it cooks low and slow in the oven. Beef stew is a broader family: it’s often made with broth or beer, and usually has potatoes cooked right in the pot. Bourguignon has a darker, glossier, wine-forward sauce, and the garnish is often browned separately so it holds its shape.
Beef chuck roast, cut into large cubes. It’s affordable and full of collagen, which melts into gelatin during a long covered braise. That’s what makes the meat tender and gives the sauce body. Lean cuts dry out before they ever get tender. At my place, after three and a half hours in the oven, chuck falls apart with a fork.
If I had to pick one, it’s a spoonful of beef bouillon powder added with the broth. It deepens the sauce without making it taste like anything else. But the real secret is technique: browning the beef in batches, cooking the tomato paste until it darkens, and browning the mushrooms and pearl onions on the side so they arrive golden and whole.
No, I skip it. Plenty of recipes marinate the beef in wine overnight, but meat that braises three hours in wine has more than enough time to soak up the flavor. Beef straight out of a marinade is also wet, so it browns poorly. Put that time into browning your cubes properly instead.
Yes. Do all the stovetop steps in the Dutch oven up to adding the broth, then transfer everything to a slow cooker of at least 6 quarts. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours. Make the garnish during the last hour and add it to the slow cooker. If the sauce is too thin, take the lid off for that last hour. Don’t skip the browning: that’s where the flavor comes from.
Very well. Let it cool, divide it into airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months. It keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge. To reheat, thaw it in the fridge overnight, then warm it gently, covered, adding a splash of broth if the sauce has gotten too thick.
Ads
Ads
Ads
Ads
Ads