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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I ended up using a white burgundy as I didn’t have a Pinot Noir and was afraid the other reds I had were too heavy. It was very good. It was so good that I have to make it again so I can try the Pinot Noir to see how it could be better. The consistency of the sauce made it for me – the beurre manié made a huge difference. Loved it. Also, thanks for the tip of removing the skin, I agree with that move and I even think next time I would remove the bones after cooking (even though that’s not the traditional way) just because the bones are a little annoying. Thank you so much for this wonderful coq au vin. I’ve been wanting to make one for ages and I’m really happy I chose yours.
Pretty sure this was the best recipe I’ve made in a long time!
Followed recipe as written except based on what I found at the store, I had to use split chicken breasts that I took off the bone, prior to searing.
Flavor was amazing. Served over mashed potatoes but egg noodles would have been great too.
Thanks Jen…you did it again!
Thank you for a lovely fall meal idea. I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of adding 2 more carrots and next time I would add a few more to up the veggie content and they were delicious. One question: my dish was a sad brown vs. your lovely red. I used $12 Pinot Noir for the wine. Any thoughts?
Hi Brenda, I’m looking at the photos and mine looks somewhat of a sad brown, too. 🙂 That’s just the nature of it. You could try replacing some of the chicken broth with more wine for a deeper color, but it will change the flavor.
Beautiful recipe. On-site cooking for two couples this evening and serving the Coq au vin with roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Prepared this morning and four hours later it is rich in flavor and will buerre manie and add mushrooms before service. I added rosemary to Thyme bouquet Garnier and is perfect. Thanks Jen, you are a Star.
Outstanding recipe that I’ve made many times. It was a “once upon a chef feast”, as I paired it with Jenn’s mashed potatoes, green beans with shallots and buttermilk biscuits for a fabulous New Year’s Day dinner! For dessert, we had leftover Christmas cookies that included her ginger spice cookies, toffee almond sandies and crave worthy sugar cookies. Thank you for all of your delicious recipes and happy new year to you and your family 🙂
💗
I cooked the chicken (breasts cut in cubes cooked in olive oil) and bacon separately. Didn’t want all the fat. The carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms I sauted). Then added in the rest. This simplied the process. The end result was magic! I let it simmer for 2 hours. Also mixed the flour and butter before adding to thicken the soup
Could you make this with chicken breasts? Thanks, we prefer white meat!
Sure, Mary – just be careful not to overcook or they will dry out. 🙂
I can’t wait to try, but would recipe work if I added a few chicken breasts?
Hi Jean, You can definitely add some chicken breasts; the cook time should be about the same but you’ll just have to be more careful about overcooking them. Please LMK how they turn out!
What if I skip the cognac? Is that an essential ingredient that will really impact the taste?
We have followed your recipes to a T and have had great success over the past year. Our family absolutely loves your cooking!
Hi Tiffany, The cognac adds nice depth of flavor but you can get away without it. So glad you enjoy the recipes!
What can this be served with?
I serve it with noodles, rice, or crusty bread.
I made this recipe for Coq Au Vin last month for a dinner party and received rave reviews. Making again this weekend. Followed the recipe exactly with one exception- I used white wine instead of classic red because I don’t care for the color red wine imparts on the dish. I especially enjoyed the flavor cognac gives when deglazing. Thanks Jenn! Delicious.
I made your Coq au Vin recipe as written, and we loved it! We are having a larger group for the holidays, and I plan to double the recipe. Some of our guests prefer ‘white meat.’ What’s your opinion on adding chicken breasts along with the thighs?? Also, you picture Pinot Noir for the wine; would a Merlot or other dry red wine work just as well? Thank you for a great recipe, and taking the time to answer our questions!
Hi Cathy, You can definitely add chicken breasts; the cook time should be about the same but you just have to be more careful about overcooking them. And merlot would work beautifully. Happy holidays!
Many thanks Jenn! My family loves your recipes and cookbooks!
This is the most delicious chicken dish I have ever had! It looks quite elegant. I served this for guests and it was a total hit! The only change I made is that I added 2 extra chicken thighs. This recipe was easy to follow and as suggested, I made this the night before, which was a good idea as the flavours really had a chance to meld nicely together and it kept my kitchen tidier on the night it was served. This will definitely be a go-to recipe for dinner guests in the future!