🥘 A Traditional French Stew
This Beef Bourguignon or also Beef Burgundy in France, is suited to a slow cooker method. It is a classic traditional French dish of beef cooked in red wine and is an easy, tasty meal. It is more commonly known in North America as beef stew. The secret to success is in marinating the meat the day before you cook it for best results, (although with a better cut of meat, this step could be skipped, but you will still lose a little flavor). So a little planning ahead will go a long way for a great-tasting meal, also like my Red Wine Braised Beef and Beef and Beer Stew!
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✅About Beef Bourguignon
Why we love it and you will too!
Are you wondering what Beef Bourguignon is? It is the most divine beef stew you will ever eat. The tender beef chunks are slow-cooked in a medley of allium and other vegetables with time-selected herbs in a rich wonderful red wine sauce.
Of course, pick up any cookbook and you will find a different recipe for Bœuf Bourguignon in each, because each home chef has their own version.
Use this recipe as a basis, then tweak it to your satisfaction. Planning will produce the best results and it is well worth the effort.
You will find several more French-style beef stews listed in this post and you will love mixing up the beef with my Appetizing Lamb Stew Recipe and Best Venison Stew Recipe.
It is suitable for family meals or entertaining, so it is a recipe to fall in love with!
📋Ingredients
- beef stewing meat is a dish to use cheaper cuts of beef
For the Marinade
- good red wine or a substitute (See notes below for substitutions.)
- olive oil
- small carrot
- chopped onion
- chopped shallots
- chopped garlic
For the Stew
- olive oil
- butter
- flour
- tomato puree
- minced garlic
- bouquet garni - three stalks of parsley, a sprig of thyme and one bay leaf
- Salt and pepper
- chopped parsley
- chopped parsley
- dried thyme
- bay leaf
- peppercorns
- clove
🔢Instructions
For Marinading the Meat
Step 1
Cut the meat into large pieces.
Step 2
Chop the onions, carrots, shallots, garlic.
Step 3
Place meat, vegetables, wine, and oil in a large bowl for the marinade and mix well. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight.
Cooking The Bourguignon
Start early on the day you are serving. Prepare to cook the beef bourguignon for 3-4 hours (if cooking on high heat) or 5-6 hours (if cooking on medium/low heat) before serving, depending 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 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.)
Step 6
Heat the oil right in your slow cooker or large heavy-bottomed pan, 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.
Step 7
Strain the vegetables from the liquid in the marinade and keep the juices and vegetable medley to add later.
Step 8
Add the vegetables from the marinade and 2 tablespoons of the butter. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir until well blended. Pour in the marinade, bring to a boil stirring frequently to prevent 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.) Add ½ cup (4 fl oz/125 ml) water, tomato puree, garlic, and bouquet garni, stirring in each addition.
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.
🥂What To Serve With This Dish
- Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until soft. Serve boiled or make Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
- Traditionally this stew is served in a bowl and the potatoes are served separately, but I always have mine together in a large shallow bowl.
- You could also have polenta (boiled cornmeal, best cooked in chicken stock) instead of the potatoes if you choose, or for a change next time. Yummy! Lovely recipe here at Love and Lemons.
- Or, Pilau Rice is easy to make as a side dish for any stew.
🔄Substitutions
Substituting Liquids
In any recipe if you do not want to use the type of liquid suggested you will still need to replace the liquid amount with something or your dish may turn out much drier than expected.
🍷For Red Wine
- alcohol-free red wine
- red wine vinegar (½ vinegar and ½ water)
- grape juice
- cranberry juice
- pomegranate juice
- cherry juice
- beef broth
- chicken broth
- water
🥣How To Replace Foods Successfully
Spoon a small amount of the dish you are making into a small bowl and add a little of the substitute you want to try. Try to use the same percentage amount of the substitute food item to the amount taken from the pot as the recipe. This method gives you the opportunity to test the taste of your substitution before mixing it into your entire dish and finding you don't like it, which will be harder to amend! 😉
🙌Similar Recipes To This One
- Another wonderful Beef Bourguignon for you to enjoy Beef Burgundy Recipe.
- Beef Carbonnade or Beef and Beer 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 and Beef Burgandy that will take the chill out of any winter evening!
🍴Equipment
- crock pot
- heavy-bottomed pan
- large stirring spoon
- serving spoon
- pot to cook potatoes
- knife for chopping
- chopping block
❄️Storage
Refrigerator
Beef Bourguignon can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freezing
This dish can be frozen in an air tight container for up to 6 months. (Potatoes do not freeze well, they will be "mealy' so if you are adding them to your stew only add potatoes to an amount you will not be freezing.)
Top Tip
Browning the meat ahead before adding to the stew in this recipe or any recipe you make with red meat will result in a much deeper, tastier, flavor.
❓FAQ
The biggest and most often the only difference is the wine added to Beef Bourguignon.
This dish gives you the opportunity to use a cheaper cut of meat like stewing beef, brisket, or skirt. Marinating the meat over night in a good fruity red wine and then cooking it slowly the next day will make the meat tender.
📖 Recipe
Classic French Beef Bourguignon In Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 4½ lbs 2kg stewing beef, or skirt, or brisket
For the Marinade
- 2 tablespoon parsley
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small carrot
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 shallots chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1 bottle of good red wine or a substitute see notes
For the Stew
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon 25 gram butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ½ cup water
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 bouquet garni
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 peppercorns
- 1 clove
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley for garnish
Serve With
- 2¼ lbs 1kg small potatoes
- 1 ½ cup cornmeal to make polenta Here is an easy polenta recipe from Love and Lemons.
Instructions
How To Marinate The Stew
- Slice the beef into large cubes and place in a large non-metallic bowl with all the ingredients for the marinade.
- Pour the wine over the ingredients in the bowl and stir together.
- Place in refrigerator until the next day. Easy!
Cooking The Bourguignon
- Prepare to cook the beef bourguignon 3-4 hours (if cooking on high heat) or 5-6 hours (if cooking on medium/low heat) before serving, depending on the temperature of the slow cooker you want to use.
- Drain the meat and dry it with paper towel (It will not brown if it is too wet).
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and brown the meat on all sides.
- Transfer to the slow cooker.
- Add the vegetables from the marinade and 2 tablespoons butter.
- Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir until well blended.
- Cover with the marinade liquid.
- Bring to a boil.
Then Stir In
- ½ cup (4 fl oz/125 ml) water.
- Add the tomato puree, garlic, and bouquet garni.
- Add remaining seasoning.
- Cover and simmer for about 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.
- Garnish with the chopped parsley.
To Serve
- Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until soft. Serve boiled or creamed.
- Traditionally this stew is served in a bowl and the potatoes are served separately, but I always have mine together in a large shallow bowl side-by-side.
- OR
- You could also have polenta (boiled cornmeal, best cooked in chicken stock) instead of the potatoes if you choose, or for a change next time. Absolutely yummy!
Notes
- Leftovers can be reheated up to 3 days after initially making.
- Place in air tight containers to freeze for up to 3 months.
Substitutions For Red Wine
(Always replace the liquid amount with something.)- alcohol-free red wine
- red wine vinegar (½ vinegar and ½ water)
- grape juice
- cranberry juice
- pomegranate juice
- beef broth
- chicken broth
- water
Nutrition
👩🏻🔬Food Safety
- Handle raw meat safely with freshly washed hands, counter, chopping block, and utensils.
- Wash hands after handling meat before touching other food.
- Cook thoroughly, internal temperature for red meat should be minimum 145° up to 170° for well done.
- Cooked meat should be refrigerated after 2 hours of being out.
Judith says
Some people might find this famous, classic French dish too intimidating to try. But it is simply an amazing stew, and because it has endured the test of time as a specialty meal, you know it is delicious to eat and doable for all! 😃