french beef stew

Recipe video above. Considered by many to be the mother of all stews, Beef Bourguignon is a French dish made with beef, bacon lardons, carrots, onions and mushrooms slow-cooked in a rich red wine sauce. For the most magnificent stew of your life, start this 2 days before you plan to serve it, do not shortcut pan roasting ingredients individually, and use homemade beef stock if you can!

Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

800 grams/ 1.6 lb chuck beef (,

carrots

onions

bay leaf (, fresh (sub: dried))

thyme

milliliters/ 25 oz pinot noir or other red wine ((Note 3))

tbsp oil (, olive, canola or vegetable)

salt

tsp pepper

mushrooms (, halved (quarters if large))

50 grams/3 tbsp unsalted butter

garlic (, minced)

tomato paste

tbsp flour (, plain/all purpose)

beef stock (low sodium)

tsp salt

tbsp chopped parsley (, for garnish)

Marinate beef: Place the Beef Marinade ingredients in a large, non-reactive ceramic dish or ziplock bag. Marinate overnight in the fridge (minimum 12 hours, maximum 24 hours).

Strain liquid into a bowl, reserve marinade. Separate the beef, carrots and onion.

Reduce wine: Pour red wine into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Simmer vigorously, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface, until reduced by half. Set aside.

Marinate beef:

Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan).

Dry beef: Line a tray with paper towels, spread beef out, then pat dry with paper towels.

Season beef: Sprinkle beef with 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper.

Brown beef: Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large, heavy-based, oven-proof pot over high heat. Add 1/3 beef and brown aggressively all over. Remove into bowl, then repeat with remaining beef, adding more oil if needed.

Fry bacon: Add bacon and cook for 3 minutes until golden. Add to bowl with beef.

Sauté mushrooms: Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, or until golden. Remove into a new bowl.

Sauté onion: Add a bit of extra oil if needed, then cook onions for 5 minutes or until there are nice golden patches. Add to bowl with mushrooms.

Sauté carrot: Add butter into pot. Once melted, add carrot and cook for 3 - 4 minutes until there are golden patches. Add garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.

Tomato paste: Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.

Flour: Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.

Add wine and stock: While stirring, slowly pour in beef stock – this helps the flour dissolve lump-free into the stock. Then add wine and mix until flour mixture is dissolved and mostly lump-free (Note 6).

Add beef into pot: Add beef, bacon, thyme, bay leaf, 1/4 tsp salt and pepper into the pot, then stir well.

Brown beef and vegetables:

Oven 1 hour: Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven for 1 hour. (Note 7)

Mushrooms and onion: Remove from oven, stir in mushrooms and onion.

Oven 1½  hours: Cover with lid and return to oven for 1½  hours, or until beef is &quot;fall-apart tender&quot;.

Adjust salt: Remove from oven, taste sauce and add salt if needed. (Note 8 - important!)

Leave overnight (recommended): If time permits, leave the stew overnight before serving because as with all stews, it gets better with time! Reheat gently on a low stove.

Serve over mashed potato – Essential for mopping up every drop of that amazing sauce!

Slow-cook:

French beef stew is an easy version of the classic bourguignon recipe. Make this recipe to serve for Christmas or a comforting winter meal.

French Beef Stew (Bourguignon)

pancetta (or bacon lardons)

olive oil

lbs lean stew beef ((See Note 1))

tbsp all purpose flour

tsp salt and pepper

onion (sliced)

shallot (large, diced)

garlic (diced)

thyme (tied)

red wine ((750 milliliters))

beef stock

bay leaf

Cipollini onions

lb Crimini mushrooms

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Cut the pancetta into small bite size cubes and beef into 2-inch cubes. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet or casserole pot and render the pancetta low and slow over medium heat. Remove browned pancetta and set aside.

Add 2-inch beef cubes to rendered pancetta fat and brown on all sides. Season with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Set aside.

Add olive oil to pan and sauté the sliced onion until golden in color then add the diced shallot and crushed garlic. Cook for several minutes.

With spoon scrape up all the little bits on the bottom of the pan from the pancetta and beef.

Next, add the browned pancetta and beef, sprinkle with flour and stir, cooking for several minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to mix in.

Pour the red wine and beef stock in mixing thoroughly. Place the bay leaves and tied thyme bundle in the pot and stir.&nbsp;Cover and place in oven to bake for 2 hours.

After 2 hours check liquid and if more is need to just cover meat then add beef stock. At this point add the mushrooms and onions to the pot and stir to mix in. Cover and continue to bake for 2 1/2 more hours.

When time is up remove from oven, remove thyme bundle and stir.&nbsp;Serve with your choice of potato, rice or over pasta. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

This boeuf bourguignon is worth the work you put into it.  My husband's first bite, he said this is AMAZING!! Once he finished eating he said this was STUPENDOUS.  Thank you, Nagi!! I have tried many of your recipes, and they are just fantastic.

Made this many times now, always a winner with family and guests. I do change one thing, when browning the beef etc I always use goose fat. Readily available here in France.

Easy to follow the directions. Slightly less easy to execute. 
Well worth it in the end.

The best Beef Burgundy we’ve ever had. Thank you 😘🤌

Yes, great.  Good easy recipe.  Pearl onions we call french or brown shallotts

Do yourself a favour and cook this!! Oh my gosh it is SO good. So flavourful

Delicious recipe! Worth the effort. Highly recommended!

I love this recipe and often cook it in camp oven over a fire. Just wondering if this has been tried with Venison meat, or you think the flavour combo would be worth trialling before i waste a good bottle of wine ?

Worth the time investment. Absolutely loved it!

I used the insert of my slow cooker and unscrewed the plastic lid knob. Worked really well in the oven. I had to adjust initial cooking time in oven because I could not bring ceramic insert to a simmer on the stove because putting it in oven. But besides added oven time it did not change the flavor or the texture of the beef.
This recipe is fantastic!

Worth every minute you spend making this. Plus, it’s a prepare ahead dish - great for entertaining.

Made this exactly as written, home made beef stock and all!
All I can say is !Fantastic! The pinot noir was just the right body for this, and I never left the beef in such big chunks before, but it made such a big difference! This took our beef burgundy to the best, most complex flavor ever! This will be our forever go to recipe for beef burgundy from now on! Thanks again Nagi for another excellent recipe, you never disappoint!

This is one of my favorites!

I cheat and use 100% red wine and two teaspoons of Demi glacé.

This is soooo yummy! 
It is more steps than I had originally expected with 3 kids running around but so so worth it! 
The whole fam liked it
I would definitely make again

This truly is an excellent recipe! I followed it to a "T" with one exception - I used a semisweet red wine instead of Pinot Noir. I tried another recipe using Pinot Noir and was truly disappointed. So, with all the work and time that goes into this recipe I used the semisweet red wine. I am so, so glad I did! You should try it sometime!! Yours IS a fantastic recipe! Glad it is online for our use!!

I've made beef bourguignon soooo many times and it's always been good but this was next level good. Amazing good.

The ingredients are the same as I always use but somehow the process just made it taste that much better.

Mine was too salty (bacon I think) so I added more wine to balance it out and it was sensational.

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Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

French Beef Stew (Bourguignon)

Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

Top 4 french beef stew recipes from across the web

The most viewed french beef stew recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

French Beef Stew (Bourguignon)

Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

The most viewed french beef stew recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine