Coq au Vin
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This coq au vin recipe pairs tender chicken with mushrooms and pancetta in a rich red wine sauce—it’s French comfort food at its best.
Coq au vin (literally “chicken in wine”) is a classic French stew from the Burgundy region, made with chicken slowly braised in red wine with mushrooms, onions, and pancetta until tender, with a rich, silky sauce. Traditional coq au vin recipes usually call for a whole cut-up chicken, but I use bone-in thighs because they stay especially juicy and tender during braising.
There are a few steps involved, but none of them is difficult, and each one earns its keep—from browning the chicken and mushrooms to reducing the wine and finishing the sauce with beurre manié (a paste of softened butter and flour). It’s a wonderful weekend cooking project and, like my French beef stew, even better made a day ahead. Serve it over buttered egg noodles or with crusty bread for soaking up the sauce.
“Oh my goodness, this was off-the-charts good…We are living in Paris now and I have to say this is better than any other coq au vin we’ve eaten locally. Merci beaucoup!”
What You’ll Need To Make Coq au Vin
- Chicken thighs: I use bone-in, skin-on thighs rather than a whole cut-up chicken. They stay juicy and tender during braising, and the skin adds flavor and protects the meat as it cooks.
- Pancetta: Adds savory, porky flavor. It’s readily available at the deli counter or pre-cut and packaged in the refrigerated gourmet foods section.
- Onion, garlic & carrots: Form the aromatic and vegetable base of the stew, adding sweetness and depth.
- Red wine & Cognac: Pinot Noir, or Burgundy, is the traditional choice for coq au vin, but any dry, medium-bodied red will work. No need to use anything pricey; just something you’d enjoy drinking—no supermarket cooking wine! The Cognac adds another layer of flavor and helps loosen the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Chicken broth: Adds savory depth to the braising liquid without overpowering the wine.
- Tomato paste & balsamic vinegar: Tomato paste adds richness and body to the sauce, while a splash of balsamic adds brightness.
- Thyme & bay leaf: Give the stew its classic herbal notes.
- Cremini mushrooms: Browning them separately concentrates their flavor and helps them brown rather than steam in the stew.
- Butter & flour: Mashed together to make a beurre manié, which is stirred into the sauce at the end to thicken it and give it a silky consistency.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Coq Au Vin
Brown the pancetta and chicken: Cook the pancetta until crisp, then transfer it to a plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pot. Brown the chicken, skin-side down, until deeply golden. Don’t rush this step—the browned bits that build up on the bottom of the pot will add loads of flavor to the sauce.
Build and reduce the red wine sauce: Cook the onion until softened and lightly golden, then add the garlic. Deglaze with the Cognac, scraping up the flavorful browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the wine, broth, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, and seasonings, then simmer uncovered to concentrate the wine and deepen the flavor of the sauce.
Braise the chicken and brown the mushrooms: Return the chicken to the pot along with the carrots and braise until tender. Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms separately until nicely browned and their liquid has evaporated. Cooking them separately allows them to brown and develop flavor rather than simply simmer in the stew.
Finish the sauce: Mash the softened butter and flour together to make a smooth beurre manié. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the skin—it adds flavor and helps keep the meat moist during braising, but becomes soft as it cooks and is best discarded. Stir the beurre manié into the simmering liquid until the sauce is silky and lightly thickened.
Bring it all together: Return the chicken to the pot and simmer briefly in the finished sauce. Stir in the browned mushrooms and crisp pancetta just before serving. Serve right away, or cool and refrigerate until you’re ready to enjoy it. The stew also freezes beautifully.
Video Tutorial
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Coq au Vin
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 4 oz diced pancetta (or bacon)
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 4 lbs/1.8 kg), trimmed of excess skin (see note)
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup Cognac
- 2½ cups red wine, preferably Burgundy or Pinot Noir
- 2½ cups chicken broth
- 1½ tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into ½-in (13-mm) chunks on the bias
- 8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large (5-qt/4.8-L) Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until the fat has rendered and the pancetta is crispy, 5 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pancetta to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving the fat in the pan.
- Season the chicken all over with 2 teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and brown half of the chicken in a single layer, skin side down, until golden and crispy, about 5 minutes (brown on the skin side only). Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a plate; set aside. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat.
- Return the pot to the stove and reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the onions to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened and just starting to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add the Cognac and cook, stirring to scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, until the Cognac has evaporated. Add the wine, chicken broth, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, sugar, thyme, bay leaf, and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and gently boil, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Add the chicken and any accumulated juices from the plate back to the pot, along with the carrots. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, or until the chicken and carrots are cooked through.
- While the chicken cooks, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and ¼ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are golden brown, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Also while the chicken cooks: In a small bowl, mash the softened butter and flour to make a smooth paste. Set aside.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked chicken to a plate.
- Increase the heat in the Dutch oven/pot to medium and stir in three-quarters of the flour and butter paste. Gently boil until the sauce is thickened, 5 to 7 minutes; add the remaining paste if you'd like the sauce a little thicker. Fish out and discard the bay leaf.
- Using a fork and knife, pull the skin off of the chicken and discard.
- Add the chicken and any accumulated juices back to the pot and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Right before serving, stir in the browned mushrooms and pancetta. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary, then serve.
Notes
- Sometimes chicken thighs have excess skin and/or fat. Before cooking, using kitchen shears, trim any skin that extends farther than the edges of the chicken thigh, and snip off any excess fat.
- Make-Ahead/Freezing Instructions: Prepare the stew as directed, then cool it to room temperature before refrigerating for up to 2 days. Reheat over medium-low heat on the stovetop before serving. (For best results, store the sautéed mushrooms and crispy pancetta in separate containers in the refrigerator and add before serving.) If you want to freeze the dish, transfer it to an airtight container once it has cooled and for up to 3 months. Before serving, defrost the stew in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then reheat on the stovetop over medium-low heat until hot.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Love this recipe – such great depth of flavor. Perfect for a weekend meal! I followed the recipe exactly, and it was well worth the process!
Such a classic recipe that is easy enough to make during the week but feels like a fancy Sunday dinner. My family loves it!
I love this recipe. It is easy and has such great flavor. I usually use bacon because I always have that on hand. I always freeze part of this as I am usually cooking for two. It freezes well and I am never organized enough to take it out 24 hours ahead. I just heat it slowly from frozen and it’s great!
My husband is recently retired and wants to learn more about cooking. I prepped for him( we used his smoked bacon) and he made this. He followed every step and it came out fantastic! I now have a fancy Sunday dinner chef!!
Great recipe for Coq au Vin! Sautéed my mushrooms in the same dish instead of adding at the end. The flavor really brought back memories, hadn’t had Coq au Vin in forever!
I love your recipes and this is one of my favorites. I can’t wait to make it again. It is the perfect cold weather dish. My whole family devoured it and had second. It made the house smell amazing too. Thank you!
This recipe was scrumptious! I took pride in the process and results. Each bite very rich and comforting. Look no further and make this one. It’s worth it!
Made this delicious and rich tasting dish a few weekends ago for a weekend cottage getaway with my sweetheart. Made it a day in advance to allow the flavors to build. Key to add the mushrooms and pancetta (I used bacon I had on-hand), during the reheat to keep the mushrooms from losing to much firmness. I served it on a bed of mashed potatoes which was great with the rich sauce. The dish travels well and paired with a good bottle of red it was the perfect compliment after a day of outdoor winter fun.
I made this recipe and shared some with my French colleagues, who sadly could not visit home due to the pandemic. I love this recipe but I messed up the first couple of times because I treated this like a normal stew, where there’s some flexibility. There’s much less flexibility and more sensitivity in this recipe – you really need to follow the instructions to the letter and not take liberties (for example, you have to use the cognac to deglaze the onions, not just add in when you throw in the liquids) and be careful not to burn the pancetta!
One alter that I do perform is I’ll remove the chicken thighs and strip the meat from the bone. I’ll also chop up the skin and throw it back in the pot. Discarding the bone means you can eat this stew with just a spoon (no hands).
Jennifer- I’ve been a fan for a few years now and have made dozens of your recipes. While I’ve been incredibly pleased every time, I’ve never felt compelled to write a review until now. Tonight I made your Coq ou Vin and without a doubt, it is one of the most amazing dishes I’ve ever made. I take NO credit as all I did was follow your recipe. I just can’t believe that I was able to make something that tasted like this. It was AMAZING!!! My wife (typically a very classy lady) was literally licking her fingers at the table as she sopped up the gravy on her plate with the homemade biscuits. Both our children (11 and 9) cleaned their plates as well (a rare occurrence).
My only question is, why isn’t this in your cookbook??? We’ve made most of the recipes in there and this is by far our favorite of anything we’ve made of yours. Thank you and please keep saving the rest of us armatures from looking as such.
Take care and stay safe!
Tim
So glad you and your family enjoyed it, Tim! You’ll be happy to know it’s in cookbook #2, which is coming out in October 😊.