Boeuf Bourguignon Recipe
Published December 6, 2023. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This tasty French Boeuf Bourguignon is loaded with vegetables and braised chunks of beef in a seasoned red wine beef broth for the ultimate gathering meal. I love everything about this hearty classic stew and feel you will.
I don’t eat meat too often, but if I do, I make sure it’s loaded with flavor. If you’re similar to me, check out my Steak au Poivre or Salisbury Steak.
Boeuf Bourguignon
Boeuf Bourguignon is a French dish of beef braised in red wine and cooked with mushrooms and other vegetables. Bourguignon is a term which means as prepared in Burgundy. It is essentially a very hearty beef stew.
It was invented by the father of modern-day cookery, August Escoffier. He created and published the dish in the early 20th century, and as it evolved, it went from peasant food to an elegant recipe served at fine dining restaurants worldwide.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Beef – You can use beef chuck, round, top Sirloin, bottom round, or strip sirloin.
- Bacon – I used regular-cut smoked bacon. You can also use thick-cut bacon or pancetta.
- Flour – You will need all-purpose flour to coat the beef before cooking and to help create the roux.
- Wine – Any good French red wine, like Bordeaux, cote de Rhone, or Beaujolais, will work in this dish.
- Stock – Beef stock or brodo is good in this recipe.
- Herbs – I used a combination of fresh thyme, parsley, and bay leaves. You can substitute with 2 teaspoons of dry thyme and 1 tablespoon of dry parsley.
- Celery – This is used as part of the vegetables with the beef.
- Carrots – Large-cut carrots add a lot of flavor to this dish.
- Onion – I used a yellow onion and garlic cloves. However, you can substitute the yellow onion with a red, white, or sweet.
- Mushrooms – You will need button mushrooms. Substitute with baby Bellas.
- Potatoes – Baby red or yellow potatoes are best to use.
- Fat – Feel free to use olive or avocado oil, ghee, lard, beef tallow, or clarified butter.
How to Make Boeuf Bourguignon
Add the bacon to a large Dutch oven pot over medium heat and cook until crispy brown. Set the bacon lardons aside.
While the bacon is cooking, mix ½ cup of flour with salt and pepper in a small bowl and lightly dredge the cubed beef in it.
Immediately add the beef to the pot with the bacon fat and sear until golden brown on all sides, about 6-8 minutes. It’s ok to do it in batches.
Remove the meat and add 4 tablespoons of flour to the leftover bacon fat in the pot until a roux is formed. Add the beef, add the wine, and cook over low heat. The mixture should get very thick.
Add the beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, cooked bacon, salt, and pepper. Mix, cover, and simmer on low heat for 2 hours.
With about 45 minutes left in the cooking process, add the oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add celery, carrots, onions, garlic, and mushrooms and caramelize the vegetables until browned, about 6-8 minutes.
Transfer the vegetables to the Dutch oven pot, cover it, and cook it for 35 minutes more. Garnish the Boeuf Bourguignon with chopped parsley and serve alongside optional boiled, buttered, and seasoned baby potatoes.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 1 hour ahead of time. Keep it warm, covered over very low heat.
How to Store: Cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Cover and keep in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw for 1 whole day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add your desired portion to a small pot and cook over low heat until hot. Be sure to stir occasionally.
chef notes + tips
- In a classic recipe, the cut of beef needs to be lean, so if you have a favorite cut of beef that is leaner, I would recommend using it.
- When making the roux, scraping up all the browned goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan is important. That “stuff” is called fond and has lots of flavor.
- I don’t add vegetables at the beginning because they tend to turn overly soft and mushy, and I like my vegetables to be a bit firmer than that, so I add them in at the end.
- Beef burgundy is the same recipe as Boeuf Bourguignon. Boeuf Bourguignon got its name because of its recipe roots in the Burgundy region in France.
- Add the optional potatoes to a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until tender. Strain and toss with 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter—season with coarse salt and pepper.
More Beef Recipes
Delicious Classic Beef Bourguignon Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 strips of chopped-up bacon
- 3 pounds beef round trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2” to 2” cubes
- ½ cup + 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups Bordeaux or cote du Rhone wine
- 6 cups beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 10 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 small bunch of parsley
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 ribs of celery cut into 1” pieces
- 4 peeled carrots cut into 1” pieces
- 1 peeled and large diced yellow onion
- 2 finely minced cloves of garlic
- 3 cups button mushrooms
- 2 pounds boiled baby potatoes tossed in butter, salt and pepper
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the bacon to a large Dutch oven pot over medium heat and cook until crispy brown. Set the bacon lardons aside.
- While the bacon is cooking, mix ½ cup of flour with salt and pepper in a small bowl and lightly dredge the cubed beef in it.
- Immediately add the beef to the pot with the bacon fat and sear until golden brown on all sides, about 6-8 minutes. It’s ok to do it in batches.
- Remove the meat and add 4 tablespoons of flour to the leftover bacon fat in the pot until a roux is formed.
- Add the beef, add the wine, and cook over low heat. The mixture should get very thick.
- Add the beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, cooked bacon, salt, and pepper. Mix, cover, and simmer on low heat for 2 hours.
- With about 45 minutes left in the cooking process, add the oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
- Add celery, carrots, onions, garlic, and mushrooms and caramelize the vegetables until browned, about 6-8 minutes.
- Transfer the vegetables to the Dutch oven pot, cover it, and cook it for 35 minutes more.
- Garnish the Boeuf Bourguignon with chopped parsley and serve alongside boiled, buttered, and seasoned baby potatoes.
I had a yearning for a meat stew so decided to make this recipe. The only changes I made were to add some beef marrow bones and some puréed fresh tomatoes (skinless and seedless). I used a full bodied Portuguese red wine from the Alentejo region (Esporão for those interested). The result was stunning. I was surprised at how flavorful it was despite adding the vegetables so much later, but it did indeed ensure that they did not disintegrate. Fantastic recipe, Billy! Five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Two thumbs up! 👍👍
Many thanks!
I love your recipes. There’s somewhat like what I make, but yours has a little different touch that I think would intensify mine. I love that about your cooking. Thank you so much for the recipes.
This was a big hit with my family and friends. Everyone asked for the recipe!
This by far is the best and most flavorful beef dish I have ever made!!! Thank you 👨🍳 chef Billy
Only thing I did different was to use plain old Italian red wine – you know the kind that comes with a basket attached to the bottom of the bottle- cannot remember what its actually called. Anyway, it was a gift sitting around for a while so why the heck not use it I thought? Worked fine ad the dish was delicioso!~. Thank you Bilie
L0VE……LOVE your work I have successfully used plenty of your recipes and will continue.
Fabulous tasty recipe awinner recipe if ChefBilly 😁👋😋🤩
many thanks!
Happy holidays Chief Billy so be trying tasty Recipe thank you 😁😋🤩👋🎶
Fabulous so looking forward to this recipe also 😋😁🤩thank you ChefBilly😁😋🤩👋
Delicious
so good!!
This classic French stew came out magnifique! Wish I could post a pic.
love it!
Loved it!!!!!
Thank you so much!!
my pleasure!
Thank you ChiefBilly loved it 😁👋😋
Soon as we go shopping 🛒 it be fantastic recipe thank you ChefBilly 😁😁👋🎶
Made it for a dinner party and my guests loved it. I threw a handful of peas in it and served with crispy bread, salad.
This is a home run!
fantastic!
Love this recipe. My family loves it too.
Thank you, appreciate you trying it!
I’ve made this several times now and have to say it never disappoints. I prefer your recipe over many others out there, specifically because of how you handle the vegetables. I often use pearl onions (because they’re awesome) and have found success using a good Cabernet here as well. Thanks for another solid recipe!
FYI, this is a duplicate review so I could include the 5 stars for you!
This was delicious! The only ingredient I didn’t have was the bacon but followed the rest of the recipe to the t. My bf said-“ oh, stew?☹️” but when he tasted it he loved it and had 3 servings!!! Will definitely be making this again very soon. Thanks, Chef!
love it!
Love this! I’ve made it twice now and both times my husband who does not eat. Leftovers has asked if we have more!
Love it!
I made this for the first night my son came in from Chicago for a few days at Christmas. He’s used to the fabulous restaurant fare in the Windy City, so I had a high standard to reach! Your recipe did not disappoint, it was wonderful, and now will replace the old one I had used for quite a few years.
Love this!
Happy holidays Billy,
want to try and make this but trying to do it all at once might be a bit much with a house full of guests. how about I complete recipe through step 6, chill and then bring to room temp and proceed with steps 7-complete prior to eating? Pros/cons. Please advise
Without doing it myself it’s hard to give you a perfect answer. I theory yes I believe it could work.
I’m excited to try this! My son in law and I made Julia Child’s version several years ago. I think I counted 35 or so steps. This sounds much more doable!
I’ve made this several times now and have to say it never disappoints. I prefer your recipe over many others out there, specifically because of how you handle the vegetables. I often use pearl onions (because they’re awesome) and have found success using a good Cabernet here as well. Thanks for another solid recipe!
Thank you (and I mean it) for not being one of those people who think Julia Child’s recipe is the real thing. No tomato in Bourguignon!
Not sure about the celery though, as it adds a very distinctive flavor to the sauce that seems to take away from the other aromatics.
The roux is a great trick to thicken the sauce. I use oxtail to add some well needed gelatin because I can’t find beef cheek very often and featherblade is very lean.
My grandmother also added a few anchovies (or a tablespoon of anchovy paste) to the braise and it definitely punched up the umami in the dish without distracting from the flavor. These days, I just use a few dashes of fish sauce because I have it on hand.
This is definitely a great dish and you do it justice.
can I use a bourdeux?
sure
I made this tonite. Bravo, it was excellent.
My notes:
Add double carrots
Add double Cippolini onions
Add double fingerling potatoes
And maybe a few extra mushrooms
For me, the broth was sufficient to add more bulk. As it was, it was barely enough to feed my family of two adults and two teens.
But very tasty!
This is my fave dish!!!
Looks really good! I’m going to try it in the next few weeks. Thanks for sharing!
hello am chef john ,
first time here an i enjoy these recipes am trying this one out ,i post on my facebook page
YUM!
This was my first time to your site. I wanted comment on every single recipe, but have gotta say that this one looks the best to me! Maybe I am just hungry for beef right now or low in iron. 🙂
I will try to hop into the twitter chat tomorrow on pots and pans. I don’t know how to look for one of the pots that you can put in the oven and on the stove (you can see that I don’t cook much).
Cheers,
Tia