Beef bourguignon is a delicious French beef stew loaded with lots of red wine and amazing flavors. The key to a delicious bourguignon is making sure you are using the best quality ingredients (good quality stew meat, good wine, etc.).
In addition to the ingredients, there are a couple of steps that you do not want to skip when making this delicious dish.
Traditionally, beef bourguignon is made either on the stovetop or the oven and cooked for a long time. I really wanted to simply this recipe a bit by using the slow cooker which frees up some of my time from checking the oven or stove.
I really think the taste is the same! Just follow these simple but important steps below and you can’t loose.
Three important steps to making the best slow cooker beef bourguignon:
First, you want to sear your meat before it goes into the slow cooker. This is extremely important. This is going to give your meat that beautiful golden crust and also give your pan that brown bottom which is essential for deglazing and making a rich broth.
Second, although you are making this beef bourguignon in the slow cooker, it is important to also start most of your ingredients in a saute pan. The slow cooker is just for the slow cooking portion of making this dish.
You will be working in steps, cooking in one pan and then transferring to the slow cooker pan as you go until the everything is assembled!
Last, make sure the size of your vegetables is uniform and the right size that the recipe calls. This is important to prevent the vegetables from getting mushy. Some of your vegetables will go in at the beginning of the slow cooker process and others will go in towards the end.
You will have spent money on nice ingredients. You also spent time on assembling this amazing dish so we want to avoid mushy vegetables in the final product which will not be so pleasant.
What to serve with your Beef Bourguignon:
I really love serving beef bourguignon with some crostini. It is delicious and hearty and adds a little crunch to the meal. Sometimes I make my own ciabatta (if I have extra time) and sometimes I just buy store bought bread and toast up my own crostini.
This is a very easy dish to put together and requires no special skills. It just requires following steps and a little time at the beginning and at the end of the cooking process. It makes a wonderful Sunday supper or dish for entertaining.
Beef Bourguignon- A Slow Cooker Recipe
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 pounds good quality stew beef (like chuck) cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2-3 pieces of bacon we are using the fat from the bacon
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 4 large carrots peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch thick pieces
- 1 small bag of small red or gold potatoes (about 10 small potatoes) cut into halves and making sure they are all uniform in size. Some potatoes may not need to be cut in half if they are very small.
- 1 cup beef stock good quality
- 2 1/2 cups of good Pinot Noir
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp tomato paste I like to buy the tubes of tomato paste so I can refrigerate what is not used
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/2 large Spanish onion sliced thin
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped Italian parsley Optional
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms sliced
Instructions
- Clean and cut your carrots, onion and garlic.
- Get out your slow cooker and have it ready and set up
- Pre-heat a large saute pan on medium high heat
- Add your bacon and cook until crisp.
- When done, remove the bacon and save for another time but leave the bacon fat in the pan.
- Add your cubed stew meat and sear on all sides (about 5 -6 minutes, turning the meat to brown all the sides). If your meat sweats a lot of liquid out, drain that out by scooping it up with a large spoon so your meat is not boiling in the pan.)
- Once the meat is seared, pour the meat into your slow cooker.
- Add 1/2 cup of your wine to pan and deglaze it and cook off some of the alcohol for about 2 minutes.
- In the same saute pan over medium heat, add your onions a carrots and cook for 5 minutes.
- Next, add your garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt and mix well then pour the vegetables into the slow cooker.
- Bring the saute pan back to the heat and now add 1/2 cup of your wine and deglaze the pan and cook off the alcohol for about 2 minutes.
- Now add your tomato paste and mix it into your wine until it is smooth and no lumps remain.
- Now pour this into the slow cooker.
- At this point, your meat, carrots, onions, garlic and tomato paste should be in the slow cooker
- Next, into your slow cooker add your beef stock, the remaining red wine, bay leaf, a pinch of salt and pepper.Do not add your potatoes, parsley or mushrooms yet. Those will be added later!
- Cook in your slow cooker on high heat for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, turn your cooker down to low and add in your potatoes.
- Cook the potatoes for about 30 minutes or until they ar easily pierced with a fork.
- Once the potatoes are cooked through, ladle out a small amount of the broth into a small bowl.
- Mix the broth with your corn starch until there are no more lumps left
- Add this cornstarch mixture into the slow cooker and mix it in well
- Place the lid on the slow cooker
- In a saute pan over medium heat, heat your olive oil.
- Once that is heated, add your mushrooms and saute until just tender.
- Once cooked, add a pinch of salt, mix well and then pour your mushrooms into the slow cooker.
- Mix those in well.
- Once this is done, taste the broth and see if it needs any salt or pepper and adjust to taste
To serve
- Ladle two ladles full of your bourguignon into each bowl
- Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley
- Serve with a good bread or crostini for dipping
This dish tastes wonderful! People couldn’t believe I never made this before- they all loved it.