Sharing is caring!

Classic Coq au Vin has all the rich flavors of the vintage recipe but easy enough for a weeknight dinner. With a little prep work, this is on the table in under 45 minutes.

I have made Coq au Vin before for my blog. It was quite a while ago and quite an interesting experience. It’s not that I didn’t know, but making it the first time really made me aware of the quality of the wine used in making this dish. I made that recipe once before and the wine pretty much turned everything purple. The second time I made that one, I selected a better wine and it was a rich red color.

I had a similar experience with this recipe. I made it once before and that wine was deliciously perfect for it. I used a local Malbec that was dry and delicious. The second time, for this recipe, I used a lesser quality wine, and I could taste the difference. It’s not that I wouldn’t drink that second wine, it’s that the first wine had better flavor and quality. So that being said, make sure you truly choose a wine that you would honestly drink and ENJOY!

What is a Classic Coq au Vin?

Coq au vain is rooster braised in red wine. It was a way to cook a rooster or older bird and have it be tender. The classic recipe calls for lardons (cubes of bacon fat), mushrooms, onions, and sometimes garlic. And, of course, wine. The traditional wine is a Burgundy, but I’ve used a few different reds and they all taste delicious in this dish. There’s even a recipe that uses white wine called poulet au vin blanc. Some recipes call for a young wine aka coq au vin jaune. Finally, there’s even a version that uses champagne.

I couldn’t find anything that resembled lardons so I used a thick cut bacon. In my previous recipe I found some cubed pancetta which was delicious, too. I wouldn’t use salt pork because of all that salt in there. Maybe a pork belly would work, but I wouldn’t know. I haven’t actually cooked pork belly before outside of store bought bacon.

I have it in my head that there’s carrots and pearl onions in classic coq au vin. I think it’s from that movie about the girl that goes to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day. You know that one? Anyway, she, of course, finds another man and falls in love with him instead.

Anyway, I use frozen pearl onions that I thaw before adding to the pan. If you’re adventurous enough and have them, try your hand at fresh ones. I hear they’re a pain to peel so I never bothered. And since we LOVE carrots, I put a ton of those in there. Feel free to cut back if you’re not as much of a fan as we are.

How do you make Classic Coq au Vin?

Since this is a recipe that has been made for centuries but wasn’t actually written down until the 20th century, there’s a huge range of ways to make this dish. You can toss the chicken in flour before browning. Some call for cooking the chicken in the oven and then returning it to the pot. And there are other recipes where you marinate the chicken in the wine. I made mine as simple as possible so you can make this any night of the week.

I browned the bacon in the pan to render the fat and removed it when it was crispy. The chicken thighs went in skin side down for at least 5 to 7 minutes. I wanted my skin to still have that crispy-ish texture when it comes out of the pot. I flipped and browned them on the other side for 5 minutes. I removed those to the same plate as the bacon and tented the plate with foil to keep them warm.

Next, I added the carrots and mushrooms. I wanted the mushrooms to get some flavor from the bacon and chicken fat in the pan. I knew the carrots wouldn’t cook at all in this short time. But they got some color from being sauteed in the pan.

Do you use cognac or brandy?

Now, some people use cognac or brandy and some don’t. I think Julia Child’s original recipe has it in there, but it’s not required. I had neither on hand, but I did have marsala so I used some of that to deglaze the pan. No, the dish doesn’t taste like marsala. But it was just enough layer of flavor to add depth to the sauce. And it deglazed the pan and pulled up the fond to be part of the sauce.

In went the tomato paste. I’ve gotten into the habit of cooking it a little bit before adding the rest of the liquids to the pan. That’s the case with this and all recipes where I use tomato paste. It changes the flavor and makes it not as sharp or as bitter. After a few minutes in the pan, I put the rest of the liquids into the pan, stirred in the thawed pearl onions, added the aromatics, and topped everything with the chicken and bacon. Make sure the chicken is just sitting on top of everything. You don’t want that crispy skin to go to waste!

Simmer covered or uncovered?

You can cover your dish as it simmers, but I didn’t. Simmering uncovered allows some of the liquid to evaporate and make the sauce more concentrated in flavor. I let mine simmer for 15 minutes. Depending on the size of your thighs you might want to cook them for less or more time. Just make sure the center is at least 160 before thickening the sauce.

A classic coq au vin uses a beurre manie to thicken the sauce. That’s basically a combination of uncooked butter and flour. The cooked version is a roux. The next version of this recipe I might try the roux route and see how that turns out. But that’s another post for another day. Make sure to use a whisk to stir the beurre manie into the sauce. Then continue to simmer until the sauce thickens. For me, that was about 5 to 7 minutes. It’s not gravy thick. It’s just sauce thick. If that makes sense. According to Julia, you want to sauce to just coat the chicken not thick like gravy.

What does Classic Coq au Vin taste like?

The first bite of chicken is tender and flavored with all the elements in the braising liquid. You can taste the onion, garlic, thyme, and of course the wine in the chicken. The carrots are sweet, the mushrooms have all the flavor of the sauce in them.

And the sauce. It’s layered with so much flavor! You can taste the wine, of course. The chicken stock and tomato paste add layers of richness to the sauce. The garlic and herbs round out the sauce. It’s a lick your plate clean sauce. You won’t want to waste a single drop of it. So, make sure to sure this with some crusty bread to sop it all up!

I said this recipe can be made any time. And I mean it. Most of the recipe is hands off. And if you have everything chopped and ready to go then it’s that much easier to make any night of the week. Use whatever chicken you like, but I prefer chicken thighs. They stay tender and juicy and absorb all the flavors in this dish. Leg quarters would be good, too, but they might take longer to cook.

If you want to use chicken breasts, I’d try bone in breasts so they don’t get too dry. And if they’re larger breasts, try splitting them in half. It will lessen the cooking time and hopefully keep them moist and delicious, too.

I served mine with mashed potatoes, but feel free to try some egg noodles with Classic Coq au Vin. Or maybe some polenta. All delicious vessels to serve this dish. I’m usually a rice person, but for some reason this dish seems too rich and delicious for rice. But feel free to serve your chicken on top of whatever you want!

Retro Recipes

• Beef Stroganoff from That Recipe
• Beer Cheese Fondue from Art of Natural Living
• Classic Coq au Vin from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Classic Swedish Meatballs from Blogghetti
• Neptune Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Old Fashioned Cherry Cheesecake from Jen Around the World
• Shepherd’s Pie from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you’re at it, join our Pinterest board, too!