How to Make Beef Bourguignon

Beef bourguignon is a French beef stew braised slowly in red Burgundy wine with bacon, carrots, onions, and mushrooms until the meat falls apart and the sauce turns rich and dark. You sear the beef hard, build the sauce from the browned fond, then let everything simmer together for hours until it's tender.

It comes from Burgundy, the wine region that gives the dish its name and its braising liquid. Like most great peasant dishes, it began as a way to turn a tough, inexpensive cut of beef into something worth serving, using long, slow, wet heat and the region's own red wine to do the work.

Julia Child made this dish famous in America, but the technique underneath it is older and simpler than the reputation suggests. Get the sear right and the rest is mostly patience.

What Actually Matters

Searing the beef in batches, without crowding the pot, is what separates a great bourguignon from a gray, boiled-tasting one. Crowd the pot and the meat steams instead of browning, and you lose the deep fond that becomes the backbone of the sauce. Dry the beef thoroughly, sear in small batches over high heat, and resist the urge to speed this step up.

Beef Bourguignon Recipe

Serves 4 | Prep time: 25 minutes | Cook time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total time: 2 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients

1.5 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2 inch cubes
4 ounces bacon, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 cups dry red wine, preferably Burgundy
1.5 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme
8 ounces pearl onions, peeled
8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for serving

Method

Pat the beef completely dry and season with salt and pepper.
In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Sear the beef in the bacon fat in small batches, without crowding, until deeply browned on all sides. Remove and set aside.
Add the carrot and onion to the pot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute, then sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat.
Stir in the tomato paste, then pour in the red wine, scraping up the browned bits.
Add the beef stock, bay leaf, and thyme. Return the beef and bacon to the pot.
Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook in a 325 degree F oven or over low heat for 2 hours, until the beef is fork-tender.
In the last 20 minutes, saute the pearl onions and mushrooms in butter in a separate skillet until browned, then stir into the pot.
Remove the bay leaf and thyme stems, taste and adjust seasoning, and garnish with parsley before serving.

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

Calories	Protein	Fat	Carbs
560	42g	30g	16g

This is a calculated estimate based on standard ingredient values, not a lab-verified figure.

Tips and Variations

Bourguignon is a make-ahead dish by nature. It tastes noticeably better the next day, and it freezes well for up to 3 months. A heavy enameled Dutch oven is worth the investment here, since it holds steady, even heat through the long braise far better than a thin pot.

If your beef is still tough after 2 hours, it needs more time, not less heat. Chuck breaks down at its own pace and no amount of extra wine will speed that up.