Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon has a reputation for being complicated, and I want to talk you out of that.

It is a beef stew. A very good one, built on chuck roast, bacon, red wine, mushrooms, and pearl onions, but a stew all the same. The technique is nothing you have not already done a hundred times: brown the meat, cook down the vegetables, add liquid, put a lid on it, and walk away.

What you get back is a pot of beef so tender it gives way against a fork, in a wine sauce that turned glossy and deep all on its own while you were doing something else.

It takes most of an afternoon, but almost none of that is your time. Set it going at two and you are eating something remarkable at six.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Chuck roast is one of the cheapest cuts at the counter and it is the right cut for this. No substitutions needed to save money.
• Everything happens in one Dutch oven, from the bacon to the finished sauce.
• The oven does the actual cooking, so the hands-on time is closer to 45 minutes than three hours.
• It gets better overnight, which makes it one of the few impressive dinners you can fully finish the day before.
• It feeds eight generously and freezes beautifully, so a Sunday afternoon pays you back twice.
• Nothing on the ingredient list is hard to find. It is bacon, beef, wine, and vegetables.

What Beef Bourguignon Actually Is

Bourguignon means from Burgundy, the wine region in eastern France, and the dish is exactly what the name suggests. Beef braised in Burgundy wine.

It started as peasant food, a way to make a tough cut of beef worth eating by cooking it slowly in the wine that was already on hand. Julia Child put it in front of American home cooks in 1961 with Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and it has carried a reputation for fussiness ever since, mostly because her version runs several pages long.

The version below keeps every step that changes the outcome and drops the ones that do not. You still brown the beef in batches, you still cook the mushrooms and pearl onions separately so they hold their shape, and you still let the oven do the long work. That is where the flavor lives.

Ingredients You'll Need

• Chuck roast. Three pounds, cut into 2 inch cubes. Buy the whole roast and cut it yourself. Pre-cut stew meat is usually trimmed too small and cooks through before the sauce has time to develop.
• Thick cut bacon. Six ounces, cut into lardons. It seasons the fat you cook everything else in, and the crisp pieces go back in at the end.
• Red wine. One 750ml bottle of Pinot Noir. Burgundy is Pinot Noir, so that is the traditional choice, and its lighter body lets the beef stay the star. Buy something you would actually drink.
• Beef broth. Two cups, low sodium so the sauce does not go salty as it reduces.
• Tomato paste. Two tablespoons, cooked into the vegetables until it darkens. This is a small step with a big payoff.
• Carrots and yellow onion. The base of the whole thing. Cut the carrots thick so they survive the braise.
• Garlic, fresh thyme, and bay leaves. Whole cloves smashed, thyme on the sprig, bay leaves fished out at the end.
• All purpose flour. Three tablespoons, dusted over the beef before the liquid goes in. This is what thickens the sauce.
• Cremini mushrooms and pearl onions. Cooked in butter in a separate pan and folded in at the end so they stay distinct instead of dissolving.
• Butter and fresh parsley. To finish.

How to Make Beef Bourguignon

Render the Bacon

Heat the Dutch oven over medium and cook the bacon lardons until golden and the fat has rendered out. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving all that fat in the pot.

Everything you cook from here picks up that flavor.

Brown the Beef in Batches

Pat the beef cubes very dry and season them well with salt and pepper. Dry meat browns, wet meat steams, and this is the single step people rush.

Sear the cubes in a single layer with space between them, working in three batches. Give each batch a few minutes per side until they are properly brown, then move them to a plate.

The dark bits stuck to the bottom of the pot are the foundation of the sauce. Do not scrub them.

Cook the Vegetables and the Tomato Paste

Add the onion and carrots to the pot and cook until the onion softens and turns golden, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic for one more minute.

Stir in the tomato paste and let it cook for two full minutes until it turns from bright red to a deeper brick color. That step takes the raw edge off and builds real depth.

Flour, Wine, and the Long Braise

Return the beef and bacon to the pot, sprinkle the flour over everything, and stir for two minutes so the flour cooks rather than tasting pasty.

Pour in the whole bottle of wine and scrape the bottom of the pot hard to lift every browned bit. Add the broth, thyme, and bay leaves. The liquid should just about cover the meat.

Bring it to a simmer on the stove, put the lid on, and slide it into a 325°F oven for 2 ½ to 3 hours. It is done when a piece of beef falls apart under light pressure from a fork.

Finish the Mushrooms and Pearl Onions

About 20 minutes before the stew comes out, melt butter in a skillet and cook the pearl onions until they take on color, then add the mushrooms and cook until browned and their liquid has cooked off.

Fold them into the finished stew, taste for salt, pull out the bay leaves and thyme stems, and scatter parsley over the top.

Tips for the Best Beef Bourguignon

• Cut the beef into big 2 inch cubes. Small pieces overcook and go stringy before the sauce is ready.
• Never crowd the pot when browning. Three batches is not overkill, it is the recipe.
• Use a wine you would pour into a glass. The whole bottle reduces down and concentrates, so a harsh wine gets harsher.
• Cook the mushrooms and onions separately. Thrown into the braise, they turn to mush and give up their water into your sauce.
• If the sauce is thinner than you want at the end, set the pot on the stove and simmer it uncovered for 10 minutes.
• Salt at the end, not the beginning. Three hours of reduction changes everything.

Stovetop and Slow Cooker Versions

For the stovetop, follow every step through adding the wine and broth, then keep the covered pot at the barest simmer on low for about 3 hours. Check it every 45 minutes and add a splash of broth if the level drops below the meat.

For the slow cooker, do the bacon, the browning, the vegetables, the tomato paste, and the flour in a skillet first. Those steps are not skippable, they are where the flavor comes from. Transfer everything to the slow cooker with the wine, broth, and herbs, then cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4. Cook the mushrooms and pearl onions in a skillet at the end and stir them in.

The oven version gives you the most even heat and the best sauce, but all three get you tender beef.

What to Serve With It

Mashed potatoes are the classic answer and the right one. Buttered egg noodles come second, and a wide pappardelle works too.

Crusty bread is not optional. There is going to be sauce left in the bowl and somebody needs to deal with it.

Keep the vegetable side simple and green. Roasted haricots verts, a sharp arugula salad, or plain steamed green beans all cut through the richness.

If you are making a whole evening of it, a plate of marinated Castelvetrano olives to start and classic tiramisu to finish is about as good as a dinner party gets.

Make Ahead, Storage, and Freezing

This is the rare dish that is genuinely better on day two. The sauce thickens and the flavors settle into each other overnight.

To make it ahead, cook it completely, cool it, and refrigerate up to 3 days. Reheat gently on the stove over low heat, adding a splash of broth if it has tightened up. Hold the parsley until serving.

It freezes well for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat on the stove. The mushrooms soften slightly in the freezer, so if you know ahead that you are freezing it, leave them out and cook fresh ones when you reheat.

Leftovers over mashed potatoes are one of the better lunches you will have all week.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best cut of beef for Beef Bourguignon?

Chuck roast. It has the connective tissue and marbling that break down over a long braise into something silky. Brisket and short ribs also work well. Lean cuts like round will go dry and stringy no matter how long you cook them.

What wine should I use?

Pinot Noir is traditional, since Burgundy wine is Pinot Noir. A Côtes du Rhône, Merlot, or any dry medium bodied red will work. Skip anything labeled cooking wine, and skip heavily oaked or very tannic bottles, which turn bitter as they reduce.

Can I make it without wine?

You can substitute an equal amount of beef broth with two tablespoons of red wine vinegar or balsamic stirred in for acidity. It will be a very good beef stew, but the wine is what makes it Bourguignon.

Why is my beef still tough?

Almost always it needs more time. Tough means the connective tissue has not broken down yet, so put the lid back on and give it another 30 to 45 minutes. Cooking it too hot can also seize the meat, so keep the oven at 325°F and the simmer lazy.

Do I have to use pearl onions?

No. Frozen pearl onions are the easy route and work perfectly, no peeling required. You can also quarter a couple of shallots or just skip them, though you lose a little sweetness.

Can I double it?

Yes, if your pot is big enough that the meat is not stacked more than about two layers deep. Brown in more batches and add 30 minutes or so to the braise.

More Slow Cooked Beef Recipes

If this one lands, these are the other beef dinners worth the wait.

Texas Terlingua chuck roast chili uses the same cut and the same low and slow logic with an entirely different flavor.

Easy slow cooker birria beef tacos for when you want the braise to end in a tortilla.

Portillo's Italian beef sandwiches if a sandwich is what the day calls for.

And creamy Boursin chicken stroganoff or one pan French onion chicken and rice when you want the same comfort on a weeknight timeline.

Final Thoughts

Beef Bourguignon is one of those dishes that sounds like an occasion and cooks like a Sunday.

Brown things properly, use a decent bottle, and give it the full three hours. That is the whole secret, and it is not much of a secret.

Make it once and you will understand why it has stayed on tables for a couple hundred years.