Coq au Vin
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Learn how to make traditional coq au vin, a classic French recipe with tender chicken braised in a rich red wine sauce. This flavorful stew is the perfect dish to warm you up on a chilly day.
If you’re craving something cozy and a little special, this coq au vin recipe is just the thing. A classic French stew from the Burgundy region, coq au vin (literally “chicken in wine”) features chicken braised in red wine with mushrooms, onions, and crispy pancetta until tender and full of rich, savory flavor.
Like my traditional French beef stew, it’s the perfect weekend cooking project—comforting to make, satisfying to eat, and even better the next day. Serve it with buttered egg noodles, mashed potatoes, creamy polenta, or a good crusty bread to soak up every bit of the luscious red wine 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
- Pancetta: Unlike American bacon, which is smoked, pancetta, or Italian bacon, is cured with salt and spices before being dried. It’s readily available at the deli counter or pre-cut and packaged in the refrigerated gourmet foods section.
- Chicken thighs: While traditional recipes call for a whole cut-up chicken (a coq is an old rooster), I prefer to use only bone-in chicken thighs only. The thighs remain tender and succulent when braised for a long time, whereas white meat/chicken breasts tend to dry out.
- Onion and garlic: These aromatics form the flavor foundation for the stew.
- Cognac: A type of French brandy, cognac adds complex flavor (similar to how it used in other French-style dishes like chicken pot pie, steak au poivre, and turkey gravy).
- Red wine: The classic choice is a Burgundy or Pinot Noir, but any light or medium-bodied red wine, such as Merlot or Zinfandel, will work. You don’t need to use an expensive bottle; just make sure it’s a wine you’d enjoy drinking—no supermarket cooking wine!
- Chicken broth: The base of the sauce.
- Tomato paste: Brings depth, richness, and a subtle tang that keeps the flavors bright and balanced.
- Fresh thyme sprigs and bay leaf: Infuse the dish with herbal notes.
- Carrots and cremini mushrooms: These classic vegetable additions add sweetness, earthiness, and texture to the dish.
- Butter and all-purpose flour: Combined to form a paste (called beurre manié or kneaded butter) used to thicken the sauce.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Cook the pancetta. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and it’s nice and crispy, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving the fat in the pan—you’ll add it back at the end.
Step 2: Brown the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then brown over medium-high heat until golden and crispy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Step 3: Cook the aromatics. Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or so, just until fragrant.
Step 4: Build the sauce. Pour in the Cognac and cook, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until it’s almost evaporated. Add the wine, chicken broth, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, sugar, thyme, bay leaf, and salt, then bring everything to a boil.
Step 5: Simmer the stew. Reduce the heat to medium and let the sauce gently boil, uncovered, for about 15 minutes to thicken and concentrate the flavors. Return the chicken, any accumulated juices, and the carrots to the pot. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes, until the chicken and carrots are tender.
Step 6: Cook the mushrooms. While the stew simmers, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they’re golden brown and any liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
Step 7: Make the beurre manié. In a small bowl, mash together the softened butter and flour until it forms a smooth paste—you’ll use it to thicken the cooking liquid into a silky sauce.
Step 8: Remove the chicken skin. Pull the chicken out of the pot and use a fork and knife to remove and discard the skin—it slides off easily. It adds great flavor and helps keep the meat moist while cooking, but it turns soggy, and the dish is more appealing without it.
Step 9: Thicken the sauce. Increase the heat in the Dutch oven/pot to medium and stir in three-quarters of the beurre manié. Gently boil until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes, adding the remaining paste if needed to make the sauce thicker.
Step 10: Finish the dish. Return the chicken and any juices to the pot and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes to let the flavors come together. Stir in the mushrooms and pancetta just before serving, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve right away, or cool and refrigerate for up to 2 days (it only gets better with time). The stew also freezes beautifully for up to 3 months.
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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A perfect football Sunday dinner. It does take time but we’ll worth the effort. Recipe is easy to follow with every day ingredients. Delicious combination of flavors.
This was beyond amazing! The flavors were outstanding & I received a double thumbs up from all 3 of my kids. My husband loved it too!
I made this today and it was very , very good! You are my go to for recipes and when I saw this I just had to make it!!! So happy I did , it’s a winner! Thank you Jen got making me a great cook!
I have been eating coq au vin since I was a child and have been making it with different recipes since I became an adult (many decades ago). This is it! Best ever!
My husband is going out of town for the week so I prepped everything last night and cooked mid-morning so it was ready for lunch. What a delicious way to start a long week for him!
My son and daughter in law will be coming by tonight after their honey moon and I’ll send them home with the leftovers!
Delicious, delicious!
I’m looking forward to making it again soon.
Thank you!
Hi Jen,
Would white wine work? If yes how much? I am really enjoying your recipes. I have made tons of them and have not been disappointed. Keep those recipes coming😁
Hi Janelle, The taste will be different but I do think white wine would work well (same amount). Please LMK how it turns out!
I made this dish today and it was delicious. Even my husband raved about how delicious it was. Served it with mashed cauliflower and sautéed green beans. Thank you Jenn!!
This 86 year old foodie has never eaten Coq Au Vin and it was on my bucket list. so…with bad weather coming, I did my shopping yesterday and spent hours in the kitchen today. Jenn, it is incredible, one of the best things I’ve ever made. Used a good pinot noir and Courvoisier. Made exactly as written with the addition of some sauteed pearl onions Removing the chicken skin is ingenious. My only problem was lifting the full Le Cruset pot from the stove…too heavy for me. Good thing I live in an apartment building with an around the clock doorman. (Gave him a taste of the sauce and he swooned.) Serving it tomorrow with the roasted beet salad. Reheating, which is easier, stove top or 275 degree oven? I can hardly wait to eat it
So glad it turned out well, Carol! I think it’s easiest to reheat on the stovetop. 😊
finally making for company and want to check my timing for reheating so that the noodles will be ready when the chicken is hot…how long should it take
Hi Carol, It’s hard to give an exact number, but I would guess that it might take about 5 – 10 minutes over medium heat. Please LMK how it turns out!
Would this work with skinless chicken thighs?
Technically it would, but you’d skip the browning step for the chicken. (You will get a much richer flavor in the finished dish if you use skin-on thighs and remove the skin before serving.)
Loved it
I just made this exactly as written and it was so delicious. I feel like a French cooking genius! Thanks for sharing.
Is a good Scotch a possible sub for Cognac?
No, I wouldn’t recommend scotch here (but you can just leave the Cognac out if you don’t have it). Hope you enjoy!