Coq Au Vin, or chicken in wine, is a popular classic French Chicken Stew made easy with crispy chicken pieces!
An easy chicken recipe with crispy chicken drumsticks, chicken thighs and bacon. This Coq au vin gets everybody talking! Serve with creamy mashed potatoes, rice or cauliflower mash smothered with butter! The most delicious chicken dinner is ready on the table!
COQ AU VIN RECIPE
Coq Au Vin, translated as Rooster In Wine, is traditionally made with chicken on the bone and red wine (traditionally Burgundy. But any wine could be used, with Riesling being a popular choice).
Similar to a well-known Beef Bourguignon, both recipes include bacon (lardons) sautéed onions and garlic. Browned meat needs enough wine to cover and simmer, while mushrooms sautéed in butter are added at the end. Slowly braised until the meat is tender on the inside, our version includes crispy skin on chicken pieces for the best flavour and incredible texture!
Pot or Dutch oven
This recipe is easiest when prepared in a Dutch oven or a heavy based pot (or casserole dish). It starts on the stove and gets finished in the oven, however you can certainly make it without an oven if needed.
Normally, the longer you cook it, the richer the flavour. With this version, we managed to shave off an hour of cook time from the traditional Coq Au Vin recipe, while still getting tender and flavourful chicken.
What wine do you use for coq au vin?
Which wine to use? An authentic coq au vin is made with a red Burgundy wine, like a good quality Pinot Noir. I use Shiraz for ours and love the flavours that develop when cooked in with the flavours in the chicken juices and the stock.
Most cooks, however, are beginning to use a dry white wine for their coq au vin, and during testing, we didn’t mind using either! I’d recommend a Pinot gris or Sauvignon blanc.
How do you make coq au vin?
- Start with frying your bacon first. When your bacon is done, keep the bacon grease in the pan to sear your chicken pieces. If your bacon has released too much oil, you can drain some of it before adding in your chicken.
- For the sake of keeping this recipe as simple as possible, we use drumsticks and thighs (bone in and skin on), but feel free to use any chicken pieces you have.
- When adding your thighs, make sure you sear them skin side down first so that the fat renders and the skin becomes a crispy, golden browned.
- Once your wine, stock and thyme has been added into the pot, you can continue cooking it on the stove over low heat until the chicken is completely cooked through. Or, follow the recipe below for the oven method. We have tried both versions and do prefer the oven method for the depth of flavour.
- Mix your butter and flour into a paste with a fork or the back of a spoon. When adding it into the sauce, the paste will look lumpy like it won’t dissolve through the sauce. Keep it simmering because it will dissolve and thicken your sauce beautifully!
Sautéed mushrooms
You can leave them out if you wish! BUT sautéing them in butter while the chicken is in the oven — then adding them in at the end to simmer with the rest of the ingredients — adds another dimension of flavour. You will LOVE them! If you love garlic mushrooms, add 1-2 teaspoons of garlic to the softened mushrooms in the pan! Y.U.M!
What do you eat with coq au vin?
Mashed Potatoes, Mashed Cauliflower, noodles or plain rice.
Looking for more recipes like this? Try these!
Crispy Beer Chicken with a Creamy Beer Mushroom Gravy
Beef Bourguignon
Chicken Cordon Bleu & Dijon Cream Sauce
COQ AU VIN NOW ON VIDEO
Coq Au Vin
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 ounces (120g) diced bacon
- 8 chicken pieces (4 drumsticks and 4 thighs), skin on, bone in
- 2 teaspoons salt (plus more to season)
- 1/2-1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (plus more to season)
- 1 onion, diced
- 8 oz (250g) carrots cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup brandy (OPTIONAL)
- 350 ml good quality red wine (Burgundy, Pinot Noir, Shiraz)
- 1 1/4 cups low sodium chicken stock or broth
- 5 sprigs thyme
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 8 ounces (250g) frozen small whole onions (pearl onions)
- 8 ounces (250g) cremini (brown) mushrooms thickly sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F | 175°C.
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook until crispy (about 8 to 10 minutes). Transfer bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon.
- Pat chicken pieces dry with paper towel and season with salt and pepper.
- Add the chicken pieces in batches of two to the leftover bacon grease (skin side down for chicken thighs). Sear for about 5 minutes each side, until skin is rendered, crispy and browned. Transfer chicken to the plate with the bacon. Set aside.
- Add the onions, carrots, salt, and pepper to the pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, while stirring occasionally, until the onions are transparent and lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute).
- Pour in the Cognac/brandy, wine and chicken stock; stir to combine. Add the thyme, bacon, chicken, and any juices leftover from the plate into the pot. Bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid or foil and transfer to the oven for 20-30, or until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the middle.
- While chicken is in the oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan over medium heat. Cook the mushrooms for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and browned. Set aside.
- Remove casserole from oven and place on stove. Mash the remaining butter with the flour and stir into the casserole (the heat will cook any lumps out). Add the pearl onions; bring the casserole to a simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes, until sauce has thickened. Season to taste, if desired. Garnish with parsley and any extra thyme leaves, and serve immediately over mashed potatoes.
Lori Kurochkina says
First, I want to say THANK YOU for including the ingredients in grams, mls, metric version, and Celcius. I am an American living in Europe, so it makes it so much easier when I go to the grocery store to purchase the ingredients 🙂
Second, I hate making changes to a recipe when trying it the first time, but I am not sure that I will be able to find pearl onions in my little Russian grocery stores 🙂 Do you think using regular yellow onion and regular white button mushrooms would alter the taste too much?
Thank to so much!
tom says
Made it for easter dinner. It was better than sex.
Only made some slight changes …. I couldn’t find any
pearl onions so I used some green onions instead and
I was lazy and just added a can of mushrooms instead of
using fresh mushrooms and frying them in flour and butter.
I used merlot as the wine and made it in a cast iron dutch oven
on a weber charcoal grill.
The leftovers were even better today.
Imelda says
Just savored the wonderful flavors from this recipe the detailed steps were great to follow. My only concern/complaint is the mushroom step seems to be missing at the end, I just added them after the pearl onions, they all tasted amazing!
Jessica says
This looks great and I can’t wait to try it! This might be a silly question but does anyone know if the alcohol content is too much for a toddler?
annalisa smith says
Alcohol content burns off while cooking. Only the flavor or the wine/cognac subtly remains.
Alex says
Made this for a french themed dinner. Was delicious – what a flavour filled recipe! I think it will become a regular in my house during the winter months.
Gabi Ziegler says
Made this recipe for Easter this year. My family loved it so much we doubled the recipe. The sauce was to die for! The only thing I’d do differently next time I cooked this is using a lid on the pan when cooking the bacon & searing the chicken because so much grease was splattered!
Angela Ceberano says
This was AMAZING! Thanks so much. I followed the recipe and it was easy and delicious. Great depth of flavours.
Karina says
That’s so great Angela! Thank you for sharing!
Susan says
No oven so I have to cook it on the stove. Do I cover with lid while cooking on stove and not transferring to an oven? How much additional time do I cook on the stove? and do I use low heat or a simmer ?
Would like to try this maybe for Christmas
Susan says
Made this tonight for dinner and it was just ok. Needed more flavor to me. Maybe it was because I did it all on stove stop and not in the oven. I left out the brandy and used the wine.
John Hanrahan says
I don’t seem to be able to keep the skin from sticking to the pan, any advice for me?
Excellent recipe, everyone loved it.
Karina says
Hello John,
I have learned that sometime lowering the temperature just a little can help with this. I am so glad that everyone loved it. It really is a great recipe! Thanks for following along!
Doug says
Turn the heat down a bit. If you’re searing the chicken on max, try 3/4 or 2/3 on the dial.
Kris says
What would you change if using boneless chicken breast?
Karina says
You will want to reduce the cooking time for chicken breast. Hope that helps! Enjoy! XO
JOHN TROMBLY says
The recipe does not say when to add mushrooms
Kimberly Sierman says
That’s is what I was wondering too. Going to just add them at the end. Cooking it right now.
Victoria T. says
Prepared it for thankgiving dinner, and substituted the chicken for Morning Star Veggie grillers (had a few vegetarian guests). Everyone enjoyed the dish so much! Very flavorful, even without thr bacon qnd chicken. Thank you for the recipe!
Julie says
I made this last night…truly one of the most amazing, flavorful, perfect recipes I have ever made! I have gluten issues so I substituted tapioca starch for the flour and didn’t use the brandy, only added red wine. The house smelled amazing and tasted even better! Thank you!
Karina says
That is great to hear! I am so happy that you loved it! Thank you so much for sharing! XO
Ingrid miller says
Love this recipe to speed this up I’ve cheated and used a rotisserie chicken boned and removed the skin only you’ll know happy holidays
Joni Haugse says
This recipe looks delicious! I can’t wait to cook it for my family. I’m sure it’ll be a keeper. Your pictures are amazing too! Thank you for sharing.
Violet Sackmann says
How much wine in cups?
Karina says
It is about 1 1/2 cups of wine.