Beef bourguignon is the ultimate make-ahead centerpiece for a dinner party — rich, wine-braised, and even better the second day. This version is fully gluten-free and built in stages, so all the deep flavor-building happens ahead of time, leaving just a quick finish for the day you serve it.
Building all that deep, layered flavor takes a few stages — searing in batches, reducing the wine, browning the vegetables separately — but every one of those stages happens well before your guests arrive. I’ve also worked out two make-ahead paths: refrigerate it one to two days out, or freeze it weeks in advance.
Use budget friendly wine with great results
You don’t have to use the most expensive wine to ensure great flavor with this dish. I use wine often in braises and stews, and I don’t use my best wine for cooking. I use left over red wine or under $20 wine for cooking (I do draw the line at two-buck chuck). To make even the brassiest of wines work for cooking, just boil them 15 to 30 minutes to reduce to about half their original volume. Not only does it concentrate the flavor, it removes most of the alcohol that can create a sour flavor. In addition, you can test it to make sure any sour or acrid flavor is gone prior to adding it in. Its a simple step to take to ensure you get the depth and richness from the wine you desire.
Wine Pairing
Original Pairing: Fool Hardy Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, WA
General Pairing: Cabernet, Syrah, Malbec (deep, hearty reds)
Special Ingredients
Which wine to use for Beef Bourguignon
We generally use cabernet or rich red blend wine keeping between $10 to $15 a bottle. Ideally you want a fruity, full-bodied red wine (Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah) to provide acidity to break down the beef.
Generally, using the same wine to cook as well as serve ensures the best possible harmony. However, you don’t have to go that route (especially if what you are serving is rather expensive). Here are three key tips:
- Match Body and Style: If you cooked with a bold, heavy red, serve a similar full-bodied wine at the table. If you cooked with a lighter, fruit-forward red, pair it with a similar style.
- Prioritize the Sauce: Choose your table wine based on the dish’s dominant flavors. If you are serving beef in a rich, acidic red wine reduction, you need a high-acid table wine to cut through the richness.
- Avoid Tannin Clashes: Highly tannic wines (like a young Cabernet) can become bitter when reduced into a sauce. If your dish has a tannic reduction, opt for a softer, fruit-forward table wine to avoid overwhelming your palate. You can also use the wine you are planning to serve with the dish itself. The flavor will change in the cooking process, but it should maintain much of the same notes that will pair well once served.
What Cut of Beef to Use for Beef Bourguignon
For Beef Bourguignon, you want a well-marbled, tough cut of meat loaded with connective tissue. As it braises for hours, the connective tissue melts, yielding an incredibly tender and flavorful stew. On the plus side, these cuts of meat are usually more budget friendly.
- Beef Chuck Roast: The absolute top pick. It has unbelievable marbling that breaks down perfectly during a slow braise. You can use a center-cut chuck or a chuck eye roast
- Beef Brisket: A classic choice that holds its shape beautifully while becoming fall-apart tender.
- Bottom Round or Flat Iron: Excellent alternatives if you prefer a slightly leaner meat.
Planning the dish – Fridge or Freezer Path
This is a dish that tastes better the day (or even two) after you make it, as the flavors meld together. This lets you make it ahead of time (1-2 days) and keep well in the refrigerator. Or, you can make this weeks (or up to 4 months) in advance and freeze, which I have done for larger parties. However, there is a slightly different process for refrigeration storage versus freezer storage.
I’ve included precise instruction on how to prepare beef bourguignon specifically for fridge or freezer storage prior to serving. The difference is mostly about when to add in mushroom, because they don’t freeze well. Either path, you get to focus on building each element of this dish with care for an absolutely delicious outcome.
Timing the Elements
1-2 Days Prior: Make dish and refrigerate overnight. If made earlier and in freezer, place in fridge for overnight defrost.
Day of Event: prep garnishes and prep what you need for companion sides (such as mashed potatoes).
1-30 min to serve: place stew in a large heavy bottom pot or dutch oven and reheat over stove top. (If you want to the fragrance of the dish to waft through your home, start early and let it simmer on low).
15 min to serve: if you have reserved some of the sauce for plating, heat this up over stove or microwave. Prep it for serving.
Serve: plate stew as planned (stand alone or with starch). Use an extra sauce under or over stew. Garnish as desired.
Plating Tips
There are a lot of elements in Beef Bourguignon. The critical ones you want to make sure each serving has would be are beef chunks, carrots, pearl onions and mushrooms.
You can serve it stand alone or over a starch such as mashed potatoes. During our Hyper Local party, we served it with a potato pave (brick of potatoes & cream) and roasted carrots.
I also reserved most of the sauce to plate separately. This makes it easier to see the pieces of stew you are plating (for even distribution) and then control over how much liquid per plate. Its also less messy. This is for a more controlled plating experience.
You can also serve this dish family style, placing it in a nice serving bowl with a large ladle.
(see Wares section for plating supplies & ideas)
Pairing Alterations
Reduce or Increase Smokey Flavor
Traditional Beef Bourguignon is often made with lardons, which are small strips or cubes of salted, cured pork belly. While not widely available in our grocery stores, many American recipes call for bacon. Generally, I have nothing against using fat, but I wanted to avoid using pork in this dish. So instead I call for a bit of smoked salt (I generally like hickory). Its not so much you can distinctly call out a “smokey” flavor. But, that is something you can increase if you feel it goes well with your wine, or remove all together if it is incompatible.
Intensity of Garlic
While there is quite a bit of garlic in this dish, it does cook down and blend well. If you feel a stronger garlic presence, try adding a few cloves, that are freshly minced, as you are reheating the dish. If you desire less garlic flavor instead, remove the 3 clove of garlic from the mushroom sauté step (keeping the other 3 cloves in the main stew). This should reduce the overall impact without losing overall balance of the dish.
Gluten-Free Beef Bourguignon
Equipment
- dutch oven (cast iron pot with lid)
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef cut into 1.5-inch chunks brisket (trimmed of fat), chuck steak, stew meat
- 1 tsp smoked salt hickory, applewood
- 1 tsp kosher flaky salt
- 3/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 6 cups red wine, about 2 bottles cabernet, merlot, or red blend
- 6 cloves garlic, minced divide in halves
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, high heat ie, canola
- 2 large carrots, sliced 1/2" thick
- 1 onion, large chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups beef stock, low sodium preferred
- 12 oz pearl onions, peeling & trimmed frozen package or fresh recommended
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp butter, unsalted divided in halves
- 1 pound fresh mushrooms, cleaned and quartered white or brown
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
Prep & Season Meat (2-3 hour prior to cooking)
- When cutting up meat, trim off large hunks of fat, leaving some fat marbling and edges that will render. Pat meat dry when done and put on a prep tray.
- Blend smoked salt, kosher salt, and ground black pepper together and sprinkle over all sides of meat.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Then bring meat out to rest for 30 minutes to come to room temp prior to searing (this is enable easier searing).
Prep Ingredients (1 hour prior to cooking)
- For the sake order of operation, I recommend getting ingredients needed for braising prepped at this time. (After seasoning the meat, before the reducing wine).
- Garlic: peel, mince and divide in half. Thyme, clean, dry and pull off the leaves from any rough stem parts. Carrots, peel & slice. Onions, peel and chop.Pearl onions, if frozen, put in a strainer and run under cold water to start defrosting. If fresh, peel and trim.
Reduce Wine (30 minutes prior to cooking)
- Pour wine into a large pot over medium-high heat. You want a wide pot rather than a tall pot, to allow greater amount of surface area to evaporate.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium. Keep an eye on it and reduce further if wine looks to get foaming or boil over.
- Keep at a good boil for at least 10 minutes and then until the wine is reduced to about half its original volume.
- Then turn off heat. Stir in thyme, bay leaves and half the minced garlic. Set aside until ready to use.
Searing Meat & Veg
- Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F. Make sure you have room for your covered pot to fit. Put rack on bottom lower and remove or raise any upper rack that may be in the way.
- Heat up a dutch oven (or thick bottomed pot) on stovetop. Add 2 Tbsp neutral oil (high heat tolerance, not EVOO). Allow to heat up so you see oil begin to shimmer.
- Working in batches, place pieces of beef in pan so they are not touching each other. Sear beef to a get some dark brown color all over, but not to the point of burning.
- If a lot of liquid accumulates in the pot, it is no longer searing. The fix this, remove any meat and let liquid evaporate. Scrape up the bottom of the pot a bit. Then add 1-2 tbsp oil and return beef to sear in smaller batches.
- Put fully seared beef in a prep dish/bowl and set aside (you want to catch any juices that release).
- Next caramelize carrots in same pot (add 1 Tbsp oil if needed). Allow to get a bit of color on them, about 5-7 minutes. Take out of pan and put into a prep bowl or dish.
- Next sear the chopped onion (not the pearl onions). Allow about 5-8 minutes to get some brown coloring.
- Turn heat down to low and add tomato paste to onions. Stir around for about minute, making sure you are scraping up from bottom of pot so it doesn’t stick and burn. It should turn a dark red/brown color in just 1-2 minutes.
Add Liquids
- Add in beef stock while continuing to stir the tomato paste and onions. Scrape up all the bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Turn up the heat to medium-high and spend a few minutes continuing to scrape and stir from bottom and sides as the liquid heats up – you want all those flavorful caramelized bit to dissolve in the hot stock.
- Next add the reduced red wine (with the added herbs) and carrots. Giving it all a good stir to combine.
- Add the beef back into pot and gently stir everything together. Allow liquid to come to a simmer then cover and turn off stove.
- Save Pearl Onions & Mushrooms for later! We will add those at a later stages so they don't overcook.
Braise in Oven
- Place the covered pot in the oven at 180°C/350°F on the bottom rack. The temp should be just hot enough to stay at a very low simmer. If your oven runs hot, consider reducing down to 325° – 330°.
- Allow to cook for about 1 hour. While you are waiting, prepare the pearl onions.
Prepare & Add Pearl Onions
- Prepare all the pearl onions by trimming and peeling if fresh. If frozen, they should be defrosted to room temp, drained and patted dry.
- Heat a large pan or skillet over medium high heat with 1 tb olive oil and 2 tb butter mixed together.
- Add pearl onions and sauté them to get a nice golden color (stir occasionally to allow to get brown on most sides).
- Once done, remove from heat. Bring beef dish out of oven, remove lid and carefully add pearl onions to pot, gently mixing everything together.
- Recover pot and place back in over for another hour.
- The next steps depend on how you are planning to store the dish. To finish the recipe, pick either the Refrigeration Path (directly below) or scroll down to the Freezing Path.
Refrigeration Path (1-2 days make ahead)
- These are the steps to completing the dish for storing in the fridge a day or two prior to serving. If you want to freeze it, follow the Freezing Path instructions below.
Prepare & Add Mushrooms (refrigeration path)
- Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel, making sure to get all dirt off around bottom. do not directly wash them in water, as they will absorb the liquidCut any tough parts of stem off and quarter each mushroom evenly, slicing from the top down through the stem.
- In a large pan (can be same ones used for onions if doing same day), heat up 1 Tb oil and 2Tb butter over medium heat.
- Add the remaining 3 cloves of minced garlic and stir into the oil for a few seconds.
- Next, add in the mushrooms and allow to cook, stirring occasionally to get all sides. Cooks for about 5-8 minutes. They may absorb all the oils and begin to shrink and smell aromatic. These are ready to use.
- Add mushrooms directly to the dish.
Finish Braise (refrigeration path)
- In about 1 hour, check for beef tenderness. It should hold shape but easily fall apart when prodded. If not tender enough, put back in oven and continue to check every 30 minutes until tender.
- Once the beef is very tender, take pot out of oven and let it rest for 15 minutes with the lid off, allowing it to cool slightly prior to handling.
Strain to Separate Sauce (refrigeration path)
- Place a large colander over large bowl and carefully strain the liquid out, catching the beef and solids in the colander. Make sure to scrape out everything from pot.
- Pick out bits of bay and any herb stems that would be inedible. Place solids in a lidded storage container, large enough to allow some liquid in and around it.
Reduce Sauce (refrigeration path)
- Return sauce into the pot and heat on stove over medium-high heat to get to a boil, then reduce to medium to allow it to simmer.
- Allow it to simmer for a few minutes, skimming off any fat which rises to the surface. If sauce is quite thin, allow to cook down to get to a thicker sauce. However, periodically check for salt levels. If the sauce is quite salty, you don’t want to reduce further (as it will get even saltier). This is why we don't add too much salt in the early stages and work with low-sodium broth.
- Once the sauce looks rich and thicker, taste test. Add any salt and/or pepper to taste – a bit at a time.
- Create a cornstarch slurry of 4 TB cornstarch with 4 TB cold water. Stir to dissolve in a small bowl. Then add a Tablespoon of slurry to the sauce and stir in. Give it a few minutes to see how well it thickens. Add 1 TB more at a time to reach desired thickness. Turn off heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Store & Refrigerate (refrigeration path)
- Add the sauce to the beef & vegetable container to cover most of it. Any leftover sauce can be stored in a separate contain and used for plating. Or added back in when reheating.
- Store everything in the refrigerator overnight (or up to 2 days) to allow flavors to meld.
Reheat & Serve (refrigeration path)
- The day of your dinner, take stew out of fridge about 30 minutes prior to serving. Heat over medium heat and allow it start bubbling. Once bubbling, give it about 15 minutes to fully heat through all components.
- If you have extra sauce you wish to use for plating, heat this up over a stove or in the microwave a few minutes until steaming.
- To serve: Ladle out the beef bourguignon onto a plate or bowl with desire accompaniment (such as over mashed potatoes, rice, or with a Potato Pave). Use any additional sauce to create a pool under or glaze over dish.
- Garnish with sprinkling of fresh parsley.
Freezing Path (3 days to 4 months ahead)
- This is how to best freeze and then finish off the dish if you need to make it well in advance. This process will ensure you get the best results possible across all the ingredients.
Finish Braise (freezing path)
- You will finish braising the meat without adding any mushrooms at this time.
- After another 1 hour (2 hours total since adding in the pearl onions, check for beef tenderness. It should hold shape but easily fall apart when prodded. If not tender enough, put back in oven and continue to check every 30 minutes until tender.
- Once the beef is very tender, take pot out of oven and let it rest for 15 minutes with the lid off, allowing it to cool slightly prior to handling.
Strain to Separate Sauce (freezing path)
- Place a large colander over large bowl and carefully strain the liquid out, catching the beef and solids in the colander. Make sure to scrape out everything from pot.
- Pick out bits of bay and any herb stems that would be inedible.
- Store the meat and solids in a freezer safe container with a lid. Pour about 1/2 cup of the sauce to ensure it stays moist. Reserve the remaining liquid and store in a separate freezer safe container.
- If everything is very hot still, allow to cool in a fridge for a few hours and then place in the freezer (so you do not bring up the temp of your freezer).
Defrosting (freezing path)
- The day before you plan to serve the dish, bring the frozen containers into the fridge to begin safely defrosting overnight.
- About 2 hours prior to serving, take container with sauce out. Scrape out the layer of fat on top and dispose. Place sauce in a large pot. Take the container of meat & veg out and place in a clean dutch oven (or large, heavy bottom pot) with lid. Set aside or place on stove for now.
- Heat up sauce (it may still be frozen in the middle) in a large pot over medium-high heat.
Prepare & Add Mushrooms (freezing path)
- While the sauce is heating up, begin preparing mushroomsClean mushrooms with a damp paper towel, making sure to get all dirt off around bottom. do not directly wash them in water, as they will absorb the liquidCut any tough parts of stem off and quarter each mushroom evenly, slicing from the top down through the stem.
- In a large pan (can be same ones used for onions if doing same day), heat up 1 Tb oil and 2Tb butter over medium heat.
- Add in 3 cloves of minced garlic and stir into the oil for a few seconds.
- Next, add in the mushrooms and allow to cook, stirring occasionally to get all sides. Cooks for about 5-8 minutes. They may absorb all the oils and begin to shrink and smell aromatic. These are ready to use.
- Once the sauce is simmering, add the sauté mushrooms and continue to simmer for 30 minutes. Turn down to low if its bubbling too much.
- Then strain the mushrooms out of the sauce and place in dutch oven pot with the meat and vegetable. Place the pot on stove and begin to heat up on medium heat.
Reduce Sauce (freezing path)
- Allow the pot of sauce to simmer for a few minutes, skimming off any fat which rises to the surface. If sauce is quite thin, allow to cook down to get to a thicker sauce. However, periodically check for salt levels. If the sauce is quite salty, you don’t want to reduce further (as it will get even saltier). This is why we don't add too much salt in the early stages and work with low-sodium broth.
- Once the sauce looks rich and thicker, taste test. Add any salt and/or pepper to taste – a bit at a time.
- Create a cornstarch slurry of 4 TB cornstarch with 4 TB cold water. Stir to dissolve in a small bowl. Then add a Tablespoon of slurry to the sauce and stir in. Give it a few minutes to see how well it thickens. Add 1 TB more at a time to reach desired thickness.
Finish & Serve (freezing path)
- Add reduced sauce (reserving some if you want extra sauce for plating) into pot with beef and gently stir everything together. Bring to a gentle boil.
- Lower heat to low and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes to ensure everything will well reheated. Let rest about 10 minutes prior to serving.
- To serve: Ladle out the beef bourguignon onto a plate or bowl with desire accompaniment (such as over mashed potatoes, rice, or with a Potato Pave). Use any additional sauce to create a pool under or glaze over dish.
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