This post may contain affiliate links.
This elegant but hearty dish is a little more special than a bog standard stew, but it’s just as easy to make. This Beef Bourguignon recipe is filled with rich, red wine gravy and tender cuts of meat for a mouthwatering meal. Make it in the oven, slow cooker or instant pot – your choice!
This Beef Bourguignon recipe is simple but special.
By that I mean it’s a bit extra and more decadent than a normal beef stew (which obviously is always an amazing family favourite), but it’s also easy and low effort enough to not be a hassle to make.
It’s still got that classic and unmistakable depth of flavour and nourishment that makes it ideal for cooking for guests or when you want to cook for an occasion.
There are a few cooking options for your chosen convenience. Read more on these below.
Why you’ll love this Beef Bourguignon recipe
⭐️ Perfect for cooking in the oven, slow cooker OR pressure cooker
⭐️ Like a warm hug in a bowl
⭐️ Great for freezing leftovers or batch cooking
How we came up with this recipe
I wanted to create a version of this classic French style stew with red wine, pearl onions, mushrooms, carrots and beef stock, flavoured generously with herbs, as a way of making a rather special meal made easy.
Some recipes have lengthy lists of ingredients and take an age to perfect, which is understandable as this famous dish is known for its depth of flavour and richness.
However, we’re making this easy and simple, while making sure the flavour is still there.
The best thing about this recipe is that all the work is done initially and then your chosen cooking device does the rest, leaving you plenty of time in the kitchen to cook side dishes or enjoy yourself!
Ways to cook Beef Bourguignon
This dish can be made easily in the oven, in a slow cooker or in an instant pot (pressure cooker), depending on how you’d like to do it.
All three ways are easy and similar in methods, but just take different times to cook.
Details for each are in the recipe below.
Beef Bourguignon Ingredients Notes
- Beef – This recipe uses braising steak (or braising beef), which is any kind of beef that is suited to long, slow cooking. This includes chuck, skirt, leg and flank. I sometimes use beef shin for these recipes. It can be more fatty though, but is super tasty
- Bacon lardons – I use smoked for this recipe as they really add to the flavour
- Pearl onions – Life is too short to peel a miniature onion in my opinion! BUT they really do make a difference in this, so I use pre-peeled frozen ones. These are available from Ocado and some other big supermarkets
- Carrots – Peel and chop into large chunks so they keep some of their ‘bite’
- Other veggies – Garlic and button mushrooms
- Gravy – This is made up of red wine and beef stock. We’re also adding a little tomato puree
- Herbs – We’re using plenty of dried thyme here and fresh parsley to serve
- Cornflour – This will be used to make a ‘slurry’ to thicken up the sauce at the end
How to make Beef Bourguignon
1. Brown the chunks of beef and bacon lardons in oil in a suitable pan or casserole dish and remove them from the pan.
2. Add in the rest of the vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, stirring well to loosen the meat flavour from the bottom.
3. Add the meat back in, followed by the liquid ingredients. Pop the lid on and put the dish into the oven for 1.5 hours at 150C.
4. Thicken with cornflour according to the recipe notes, stir and serve.
NB. These instructions are for the oven method. See the recipe below for slow cooker and instant pot versions.
How to make a ‘slurry’
This is a trick to thicken the sauce without ending up with floury lumps.
First you add cornflour to a small bowl, mug or jug, then use a little liquid from a dish (a spoonful or two) to mix the cornflour into a paste consistency. Add that back into the dish’s sauce.
If you just sprinkle cornflour straight into the dish, it will form lumps that are almost impossible to get rid of. I promise this step is worth the extra dirty bowl!
Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully covered in the oven, microwave, or on the hob before serving.
In the freezer This is good to freeze for up to 3 months and reheat on the hob before you serve it again. The sauce will thicken even more on reheating, so just add a splash of water if you would like more gravy.
Recipe Tip
Be sure to dry your beef pieces with kitchen paper before frying.
This will mean that they brown easily more in the pan.
Serve this with…
Side Dishes
Colcannon Recipe
Side Dishes
Boulangère Potatoes
Side Dishes
How to Cook Couscous
Side Dishes
Cauliflower Cheese {Easiest Ever Recipe!}
FAQs
I would say it’s ideal for 6 hungry people, or 8 if you want to make the stew portions smaller, but you can always serve with plenty of mash to make up the quantity!
As with most of my recipes, I will say you could leave this stage out if you want to simplify, however for this one I would say it does add some flavour and it seems a shame to make something a little special like this (that involves using up wine!) and not doing it properly. It’s up to you though.
If you’re cooking this in the oven, a big one that will fit everything in and also go in the oven! I used a large ‘safe for hob and oven’ casserole dish as I could transfer straight into the oven.
I recently tasked myself with trying out a variety of one-pan pans in a quest to find out which ones were up to the important job of making an all-in-one meal. Read my pan review here. I hope it helps!
In the UK a beef stew (or any type of stew) is usually cooked on the stove top in a lidded saucepan, whereas a casserole (in the UK at least) tends to be a similar dish, but cooked in the oven in a lidded saucepan.
Beef Bourguignon is the name of a classic French beef stew, made using slow cooked beef and red wine.
The Morphy Richards Sear & Stew Slow Cooker is my all-time favourite because you can use it for initial browning on the hob and it’s really light.
I wrote up a whole slow cooker review though, where you might find another one to suit your needs. Have a read here.
Something along the same lines (special but easy) is my Marry Me Chicken recipe, Mushroom Wellington or Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.
A great impressive side dish is my Boulangere Potatoes or Cauliflower Cheese!
For dessert, has to be my Slow Cooker Chocolate Orange Pudding or a no bake cheesecake.
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Beef Bourguignon {Oven, Slow Cooker or Instant Pot}
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 kg Braising beef
- 200 g Smoked bacon lardons
- 4 Cloves of garlic, Peeled and crushed
- 450 g Pearl onions, I use frozen
- 5 Large carrots, Peeled, trimmed and cut into big chunks
- 400 g Button mushrooms
- 400 ml Red wine
- 350 ml Beef stock
- 2 tbsp Dried thyme
- 3 tbsp Tomato puree
- Salt and pepper
- 3 tbsp Cornflour
- Chopped fresh parsley to serve.
Instructions
To cook in the oven:
- Heat the oil over a medium heat and brown the beef and bacon. Remove from the pan but keep the bits in stuck to the bottom for flavour.
- Add the garlic, onions, carrots and mushrooms to the pan and stir for about 5 minutes to loosen the bits of the bottom from browning the meat.
- Add the bacon and beef back into the pan. Put the lid on and cook in the oven for about 1.5hrs at 150C.
- Towards the end of the cooking time, make a cornflour slurry to thicken (see notes below). Serve.
To cook in the slow cooker:
- Brown your beef and bacon in the slow cooker pan (if yours allows it) OR use a pan on the hob.
- Add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on LOW.
- Towards the end of the cooking time, make a cornflour slurry to thicken (see notes below). Serve.
To cook in the pressure cooker:
- Heat the oil over a medium heat in your pressure cooker and brown the beef in batches. Remove from the pan but keep the bits in stuck to the bottom for flavour.
- Put in the bacon pieces and fry on a high heat until starting to go brown and crispy.
- Add in the garlic, onions, carrots and mushrooms and fry for a couple of minutes until just starting to colour.
- Put the browned beef back into the pan, along with the red wine, beef stock, dried thyme, tomato puree and plenty of salt and pepper. Give everything a good stir.
- Lock on the lid of the pressure cooker, turn the pressure to II (or whichever regular setting your pressure cooker uses), wait for the pressure indicator to show you that it has reached pressure and then reduce the heat until it reaches a low, regular hiss.
- Cook for 45 minutes and when the time is up, quick release the pressure (making sure it’s away from your face/hand).
- Spoon a ladle or two of cooking juice out of the pan into a small bowl and whisk in the cornflour to make a smooth paste with no lumps. Add back into the pressure cooker and stir well.
- Allow this to bubble for 5 minutes to thicken and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I let my partner loose in the kitchen with this recipe (with some discreet supervision) – and wow!!! Absolutely delicious!! Used cheaper stewing steak and pressure cooked for 45 minutes on low in the Instant Pot. It really was just perfect. Thank you. (My partner thinks he’s a real chef now 😂)
Just made the bourguignon cut back on ingredients so it’s for two cooked it in our ninja lovely thanks for the recipe
I just finished making it, and it’s AMAZING! Great recipe.
Thank you for sharing 💗
Sooo good. Couldn’t find any pearl onions, fresh or otherwise, here in Perth Australia so just used an ordinary onion. Cooked this in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high. So tasty. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi if I want to make double the amount so I can feed more please. Would u just double up on all the ingredients.
Cook in oven please American measurement please
160 C = 320 F
I never measure it’s a pinch of this & a pinch of that, also don’t go totally by the recipe I do to a certain extent then I put my own touch in whatever I’m fixing ☺️