After my husband and I watched Julie and Julia (good movie!), I went on a French cooking kick. Boeuf Bourguignon (also known as Beef Burgundy) was already pretty healthy to begin with, and I could make it with ingredients I already had on hand.
It really is everything it is made out to be in the movie, and I look forward to making it again!
Boeuf Bourguignon… As Fancy As It Sounds?
This dish really isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Boeuf Bourguignon is simply the French way of saying Beef Burgundy, which is basically a beef stew made with red wine. It’s hearty, rich, and extremely flavorful, with plenty of onions, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, and herbs.
I typically serve it as I would any stew, with just a sprinkle of fresh parsley on top, but we’ve also eaten it over cauliflower mashed “potatoes.”
Beef Stew With Wine!
Nothing turns my attitude toward cooking around like being “obligated” to open a bottle of wine since the recipe calls for it! A little for the stew, a little for me!
You can really use any red wine you’d like to make this classic dish, just make sure it is a dry one. Since sweet wines contain more sugar than dry ones, a sweet wine will make your finished Boeuf Bourguignon taste a little sweet too. Burgandy is ideal, but other good wine choices for this dish are pinot noir, cabernet, or merlot.
We order all our wine from Dry Farm Wines. They do an excellent job of lab testing their products to make sure they are clean, low in sugars and sulfites, dry-farmed, and hand harvested. Read more about them in this post.
Boeuf Bourguignon in Crock-Pot or Instant Pot
The traditional method for making Boeuf Bourguignon is to brown the meat in a pan on the stove before combining all the ingredients in a covered pot and cooking for a long time in the oven. I make it that way sometimes, but it’s nice to have other options when you don’t want to heat up your house with the oven all day or you’re just short on time.
I’ve updated this recipe with an Instant Pot option because you can sauté and cook in one pot. You get all the flavor and tenderness of the traditional method in a fraction of the time, and with fewer dishes. (Read more about why I love my Instant Pot in this post.)
See the recipe for each cooking option!
Note: For all three options I deglaze the pan with the wine after browning the meat and then simmer it for a little while to let the alcohol evaporate.
I hope you enjoy the hearty and warming flavors of Boeuf Bourguignon as much as I did. Next maybe I’ll try some of these other French classics next!
Savory Boeuf Bourguignon Recipe
Servings
Nutrition
Notes
- The red wine is what gives this dish its name, but feel free to use beef broth if you'd rather not use wine.
- Crock Pot Method: To cook in the Crock Pot brown the bacon and beef as in the stovetop/oven method. Deglaze the pan with wine before adding all the ingredients (except the mushrooms) to the Crock Pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add the mushrooms for the last 10 minutes of cook time.
- Instant Pot Method: Use the Sauté function to brown the bacon and beef in batches. Deglaze with the red wine and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients except the mushrooms and cook at high pressure for 35 minutes. Allow a 10 minute natural pressure realease, add the mushrooms, and return to a simmer for 10 minutes.
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Other Easy Set-and-Forget Beef Recipes to Try:
Ever ventured into French cooking? If not, ready to try?
I appreciate the recipe and inspiration, but I personally won’t make this again. Even with the instant pot method, it was more time consuming and expensive (wine) than the end result showed for in taste and texture. (Also, just a note that you didn’t give an amount for the basil. It just says “1 basil.”) I enjoy your site nonetheless, thanks for sharing!
Beef stew is my favorite with full of vegetables. Can you suggest me something instead of wine ? As we don’t use them for some reason.
Is it dried basil and parsley? There is no measurement listed for the basil.
So I made this yesterday and I’m a total recipe follower however I was looking at it today and it doesn’t say where or when to add the tomato paste so I totally forgot it.? It still tasted pretty good but I’m bummed I missed it.
So sorry about that! We will get it fixed.
I made this for my family tonight. We all enjoyed it. I added more garlic,carrots and mushrooms. Yum! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Is the bacon only used for the grease? It is never added back into the recipe with the beef!
Hi ~ -have you ever tried this with venison? Thanks!
Curious to see if the mushrooms could be browned and added in the pot to cook with the beef…is there any reason not to other than to keep their shape and possibly too much liquid from them or to keep their shape and firmness? Sounds like a delicious meal and i look forward to making it.
I have, but it was not grain free or even gluten free 🙁 I made sugar free cream puffs with choux pastry for a New Year’s treat…my family loved them, but I didn’t have a single one…I’ll have to experiment with healthier French cooking
Would this be good without the butter? I’ve always had a dairy allergy that seemed to have gone away for awhile but has returned.
Yep… you can omit it
Hi Mama, LOVE your blog and recipes!! I am a serious follower. Trying this recipe today (it’s in the oven as I type) and have a few questions—-does the alcohol burn off during the cooking process? I have a 5 and 3 year old that I plan to feed this to (let’s hope it does, or else we’re having early bed time!) Also, the tomato paste listed in the ingredients is not mentioned in the steps of the recipe. I wasn’t sure when to add it. I just stirred it together with the wine, broth and seasonings and poured it all atop the meat and veggies. That should work! Thanks for all that you do!
Do you think this can be made in a slow cooker?
Probably so… great idea actually! Let me know if you try it!
I tried it in the crock pot overnight, and it seems to have worked well (breaks apart easily and has a nice flavor). I saved the bacon and mushrooms to do separately this am. One question: where does the tomato paste figure in? I bought a can but then forgot to add it, since it isn’t mentioned in the instructions. Thanks!
Thanks for catching that. it can be omitted, or added at the beginning of cooking with the wine. It could be added at this point if you’d like, but not needed if you don’t,
Great, thanks.
Just made this. It took some time, but turned out sooo yummy!! Thank you so much for posting this. I’m adding it to my recipes!