Simple Beef Bourguignon – Easy & delicious beef stew recipe. The perfect winter warmer dinner. Ideal for freezing cooking in the pressure cooker slow cooker Instant Pot or oven.
Favourite things about autumn?
Cosy jumpers log fires leaves crisp air and all the stew and casseroles and Beef Bourguignon I can cram into our meal plans.
✅ Can be cooked on the hob oven slow cooker OR pressure cooker.
✅ Like a warming hug in a bowl!
✅ Freezes perfectly so great for those batch cooking days.
I’m full on embracing all that is the season and loving the slow cooked dinners. BUT (and I’d like to point out that I realise how totally ridiculous this sounds) they are well SLOW.
This recipe is so simple I used a pressure cooker but I have also included instructions for slow cooker and oven cooking this Beef Bourguignon recipe too!)
HOW DO YOU MAKE BEEF BOURGUIGNON?
Classic Beef Bourguignon is basically a French beef stew made with red wine. It usually has small pearl onions mushrooms carrots beef stock (or beef broth) and some herbs too.
You simply brown off the meat and vegetables add your liquids and herbs. Then cook long and slowly until the meat it tender and the sauce is thick and delicious.
To cook Beef Bourguignon in a pressure cooker you follow that method but just thicken the sauce at the very end of cooking.
WHAT KIND OF BEEF IS BEST?
This recipe uses braising beef so any kind of beef suited to long slow cooking is fine.
Braising beef (or braising steak as my Mum always called it) is actually a generic name for any type of beef (mostly cubed) that needs long slow cooking include chuck skirt leg and flank.
I sometimes use beef shin for these recipes. It can be more fatty though but is super tasty.
HOW DO YOU COOK BEEF IN A PRESSURE COOKER?
Brown off your meat in the pan or the pressure cooker with a little oil add vegetables and enough liquid (as directed by the recipe of your pressure cooker manual).
Then after giving it a good stir secure the lid allow the pressure cooker to come up to pressure and when the time is up release the pressure.
You’ll often find with pressure cooker recipes that the sauce is very liquid this is because it doesn’t evaporate and thicken in the same way as traditional cooking. I just thicken with a little cornflour at the end of the recipe.
WHAT CAN I SERVE WITH BEEF BOURGUIGNON?
Mashed potatoes work really well to soak up that delicious gravy.
One of my favourite versions ever is this Colcannon recipe. It is SO delicious.
Orzo pasta cous cous or even baked potatoes work well too.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO COOK BEEF IN A PRESSURE COOKER?
Generally the cooking time in a pressure cooker is about a third of the regular cooking time.
I cooked this Beef Bourguignon (once it had reached full pressure) for 45 minutes and it was perfectly soft and tender. Some of the meat had fallen apart into the sauce but I quite like it like that for a really meaty rich sauce.
If you wanted more firm pieces of meat that all hold their shape you could reduce this by 5 minutes.
Larger cuts of beef like a pot roast joint (my next project!) would take about 60 minutes.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEEF BOURGUIGNON AND BEEF STEW?
In the UK a Beef Stew (or any type of stew in fact) 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.
CAN I FREEZE BEEF BOURGUIGNON?
Yes. This dish freezes brilliantly. When it’s cold I portion it up into takeaway containers
I then defrost and warm through when needed. The sauce will thicken even more on reheating just add a splash of water if you would like more gravy.
TIPS FOR MAKING THIS BEEF BOURGUIGNON RECIPE:
- Be sure to dry your beef pieces with kitchen paper before frying. This will mean that they brown easily more in the pan.
- Make sure you follow the instructions on your own pressure cooker for safety as they may vary.
- Life is too short to to peel a miniature onion in my opinion! BUT they really do make a difference in this Beef Bourguignon so I use pre peeled frozen ones. These are available from Waitrose Ocado and other big supermarkets.
HOW DO YOU COOK BEEF BOURGUIGNON IN THE SLOW COOKER?
Brown your beef and bacon followed by vegetables (as detailed in the recipe below). Add in your liquid and pop on the lid of the slow cooker and cook on low for about 6 – 8 hours or high for 3 – 4 hours.
(Timings will vary depending on your slow cooker I always go on the side of caution and allow more time so that the meat is meltingly soft.)
HOW DO YOU COOK BEEF BOURGUIGNON IN THE OVEN?
Brown your beef and bacon followed by vegetables (as detailed below). Add in your liquid and pop on the lid of a casserole dish. Pop it into an oven preheated to 160C for 3 hours to 3.5 hours.
Check the liquid as it cooks and add a splash more beef stock if needed.
When cooking Beef Bourguignon in the oven you may not need to add in the cornflour if the gravy is already thick enough at the end of the cooking time.
FANCY SOME OTHER COMFORTING RECIPES…?
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. I’d love to know how you got on and what you thought of it if you make this Beef Bourguignon recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 kg Braising beef
- 200 g Smoked bacon lardons
- 4 Cloves Garlic Peeled and crushed
- 450 g Pearl onions See recipe notes 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 pressure cooker:
- Heat the oil over a medium heat in your pressure cooker and brown the beef in batches. Removing from the pan as they are coloured.
- After you’ve browned the beef and the pan is empty (apart from the beef bits stuck to the pan – keep these!) pop 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.
- (NOTE: PLEASE CONSULT THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR OWN PRESSURE COOKER AS THEY MAY DIFFER AND THOSE INSTRUCTIONS SHOULD TAKE PRECEDENCE!)