Coq au Vin
Red-wine-braised chicken, bacon lardons, mushrooms and pearl onions.
Maui's an app that plans a whole week of dinners like this one. See how it works ↓
The wine matters more than you think - use one you'd actually drink (a real Pinot Noir or basic Burgundy). 'Cooking wine' has added salt that throws the sauce off. The leftover bottle? That's tomorrow's dinner reward.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 6 servings.
- 3 lbbone-in skin-on chicken thighs and legspatted very dry
- 6 ozthick-cut baconcut into 1/2-inch lardons
- 1 lbcremini mushroomshalved or quartered if large
- ¾ lbpearl onions (fresh or frozen)peeled (if fresh, blanch 1 min then peel)
- 1 mediumyellow oniondiced
- 2 mediumcarrotdiced
- 4garlic clovesminced
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 3 tbspall-purpose flour
- ¼ cupcognac or brandy
- 3 cupsdry red wine (Burgundy or Pinot Noir)
- 1½ cupschicken stock
- 4 sprigsfresh thyme
- 2bay leaves
- 3 tbspunsalted butter
- 1 tbspolive oil
- ¼ cupfresh parsleychopped
- 2 tspkosher salt
- ¾ tspfreshly ground black pepper
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 640calories
- 48gprotein
- 14gcarbs
- 36gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Pat chicken very dry. Season all over with 1.5 tsp salt and the black pepper. Let sit while you prep the rest.
- Cut bacon into 1/2-inch lardons. Dice onion and carrot. Mince garlic.
- Halve or quarter the mushrooms. Peel pearl onions (blanch fresh ones 1 min first, then the skins slip off).
- Chop the parsley. Tie thyme and bay together with kitchen twine if you have it (easier to fish out later).
Render bacon
Heat the dutch oven over medium. Add bacon lardons and cook 6-8 min until deeply golden and the fat is rendered. Lift out with a slotted spoon to a plate - leave the fat in the pot.
8 min · hands onSear chicken
Increase heat to medium-high. Working in 2 batches, sear chicken skin-side down 5 min until deep mahogany, then flip and sear 3 min on the other side. Transfer to a plate. Don't crowd - crowding steams instead of sears.
16 min · hands onSoften aromatics
Pour off all but 2 tbsp of fat. Reduce heat to medium. Add diced onion and carrot, cook 5 min until softening. Add garlic, cook 30 sec. Stir in tomato paste, cook 1 min to darken - it should smell jammy.
6 min · hands onFlambé and deglaze
Add cognac and let it bubble vigorously 1 min to burn off the raw alcohol. Sprinkle in the flour and stir 1 min to coat. Pour in the red wine, scraping up every bit of fond from the bottom - that's pure flavor. Add stock, thyme, bay, and 0.5 tsp salt.
5 min · hands onBraise
Nestle the chicken back in skin-side up. The liquid should come about 3/4 up the chicken. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover, and braise gently 75-90 min until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender. Skim any foam halfway through.
80 min · hands offBrown mushrooms and onions
In the last 20 min of braising: melt butter with olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Add mushrooms and pearl onions, season with a pinch of salt, and brown 8-10 min undisturbed first, then toss and finish browning 5 min more.
15 min · hands onFinish and serve
Lift chicken to a platter. Discard thyme and bay. If the sauce is thin, simmer uncovered 5-10 min to tighten. Swirl in remaining butter. Return chicken, mushrooms, pearl onions, and bacon to the pot. Spoon sauce over and scatter parsley. Serve.
5 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Boneless thighs need only 35-40 min in the braise instead of 75-90. Saves about 30 minutes.
Boil 2 lb yukon golds and mash with butter and a splash of cream while the chicken braises. Adds about 20 minutes.
Warm a baguette in the oven the last 5 min - you want something for the sauce.
Skip the butter finish; sauce will be less glossy but still rich.
What keeps
Coq au vin is the rare braise that tastes better day 2 - the wine sauce deepens overnight. Keeps 4 days, freezes 2 months.
Reheat covered on low so the chicken stays tender.
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