Classic French Beef Bourguignon Slow Cooker

🥘 A Traditional French Stew

This recipe for beef bourguignon slow cooker offers an easy method for classic beef bourguignon, a traditional French dish of beef cooked in red wine. Suitable for both a crock pot and an Instant Pot, it delivers rich flavor and is known as beef stew in North America.

You will also love my traditional French recipe for Beef Burgundy, Red Wine Braised Beef, and Beef Stew With Beer recipes!

🔍 Quick Look: Beef Bourguignon Slow Cooker Recipe

• ⏱️ Prep Time: 45 minutes | Marinating Time: Overnight | Cook Time: 4-6 hours
• 🕒 Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
• 👥 Servings: 6
• 📊 Calories: ~659 kcal per serving (based on nutrition panel)
• 🔥 Cook Method: Slow Cooker, Crock Pot, Instant Pot, Stove Top
• 👩‍🍳 Flavor Profile: Beef bourguignon tastes like a rich, savory, and deeply comforting French stew, characterized by tender, slow-cooked beef, aromatic vegetables, and a luxurious red wine sauce. More sophisticated and deeply flavored version of North American beef stew.
• ⭐ Difficulty: Easy to moderate. It takes preplanning to be prepared to marinate the beef, chop vegetables early in the day of serving, and give the beef bourguignon enough time to slow cook for several hours. A very forgiving dish.

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❤️Why You'll Love Authentic Beef Bouguignon

• It's the easiest way to enjoy a French classic without babysitting a pot.
• The slow cooker creates unbelievably tender beef and a silky, restaurant‑worthy sauce.
• Perfect for entertaining, it tastes even better the next day.
• Uses simple, accessible ingredients you likely already have.
• Your kitchen will smell like a charming little bistro in Burgundy.
• It's a forgiving recipe, hard to mess up, easy to love.

✅What Is Beef Bourguignon Slow Cooker

Beef bourguignon, called "bœuf bourguignon recette" in French, is a classic French stew, tender beef simmered slowly with onions, vegetables, herbs, and a rich red wine sauce.

Every French cook has their own take on this beloved dish, so use this recipe as your foundation and adjust it to suit your taste.

A little planning makes all the difference, and the results are well worth it. Whether for family dinners or entertaining, this is a recipe you'll return to again and again.

More French-style stews with other meats to enjoy: Appetizing Lamb Stew Recipe, or Best Venison Stew Recipe, and a vegetarian stew, Vegetable Ratatouille (stew).

📋Key Ingredients

• Beef stewing meat: this is a dish for using cheaper cuts of beef.

NOTE: See recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantities.

For the Marinade

• Good red wine. If it is a wine you enjoy sipping, then it will be suitable. If you don't want alcohol, substitute half red wine vinegar and water, or use all fruit juice, broth, or water.

For the Stew

• Tomato puree - adds a little tanginess and helps thicken the sauce a little.
• Bouquet garni - three stalks of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and one bay leaf.
• Clove - a clove adds a little warmth and intensifies the rich meat flavor. You will not detect the flavor of the clove as it will subtly work its culinary magic behind the scenes.

🔄Substitutions For Making Beef Stew

• Use shallots instead of onions for a sweeter, more delicate flavor.
• Replace some of the wine with extra beef stock if you prefer a milder wine taste.
• Add a splash of balsamic vinegar at the end for brightness.

For a Beef Bourguignon Instant Pot version, pressure cook the meat after browning for 35 minutes and finish with a quick simmer to thicken the sauce.

🔢How To Make Beef Bourguignon Slow Cooker

Marinate The Meat

Step 1

Cut the meat into large pieces.

Step 2

Chop the onions, carrots, shallots, and garlic. Poke the clove into a piece of onion.

Step 3

Place the meat, vegetables, wine, and oil in a large bowl for the marinade and mix well. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator overnight.

NOTE: Don't use cooking wine. Ever. Use a wine you enjoy sipping. (I've heard it said go for cheap wine when marinating, but that could spoil your dish.)

Cooking The Bourguignon

Start early on the day you are serving. Prepare to cook the beef bourguignon in the slow cooker for:

• 3-4 hours (if cooking on high heat)
• 5-6 hours (if cooking on medium/low heat)
  The cook times depend on the temperature of your slow cooker. (A Dutch oven on the stove is an excellent cooking method as well.)

Step 4

Prepare the bouquet garni by tying the herbs together with a kitchen string or using a nylon produce bag.

Step 5

Remove meat from marinade and dry with a kitchen towel. (If the meat is moist, it will not brown, and flavor will be lost.)

NOTE:

• Handle raw meat safely with freshly washed hands, counter, chopping block, and utensils.
• Wash your hands after handling meat before touching other food.
• Cook thoroughly; the internal temperature for red meat should be a minimum of 145° F up to 170° F for well done.
• Cooked meat should be refrigerated after 2 hours of being out.

Step 6

Heat the oil right in your slow cooker or large heavy-bottomed pan, and brown the meat on all sides. (I prefer to first brown the meat in a heavy-bottomed skillet rather than in the slow cooker. My slow cooker is older and would not do the best job.) If using a separate pan from the slow cooker, move the meat to the slow cooker and don't leave any scrapings or juice behind from browning the meat.

Top Tip: Browning the meat ahead of time before adding it to the stew in this recipe or any recipe you make with red meat will result in a much deeper, tastier flavor.

Step 7

Strain the marinade, keeping both the vegetables and the liquid separate for use later. Remove the clove from the onion piece and toss it in the trash.

Step 8

Add the vegetables from the marinade and 2 tablespoons of butter. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir until well blended. Next add the marinade juice, and bring to a boil. Stir often to prevent the flour from lumping.

Step 9

Add seasoning. (Start with a little of each, stir well to blend, and after a half hour, taste, and add more if needed. This part of any recipe is a matter of individual taste.) Stir in ½ cup (4 fl oz/125 ml) water, tomato puree, garlic, and bouquet garni.

Cover, and simmer for about 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low, but don't let it boil hard; you just want it to be a gentle bubble.

TIP: A little patience goes a long way. Low and slow.

💡Expert Chef Tips:

• If your sauce tastes flat, add a pinch of salt or a splash more wine.
• Let the dish rest for 20 minutes before serving, and the flavors settle beautifully.
• This dish is even better the next day, so it's perfect for make-ahead meals.
• Serve it in warm bowls. It keeps the sauce velvety and luxurious.

🙌Similar Recipes To This One

• Another wonderful Beef Bourguignon for you to enjoy, Classic French Beef Burgundy.
• Beef Carbonnade, or traditional Irish beef stew, is a delicious meat dish that you can add your favorite vegetables to, to make an amazing meal.
• And, even though Beef Bourguignon is a beef stew, here are other tasty recipes for you to try: Crockpot Beef Stew With Gravy, Deer Meat Stew, and Easy Lamb Stew that will take the chill out of any winter evening!

❔Beef Bouguignon Slow Cooker FAQs

🥂What To Pair With Beef Bourguignon Crock Pot

If you tried this Beef Bouguignon Slow Cooker recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Très Bien!!!

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