Coq au Vin

September 30, 2018 12 Comments

There are days when I get really nostalgic for culinary school and classic French cooking. It was such a fun, crazy and life changing time in my life. I absolutely fell in love with crafting mother sauces and classics like cassoulet, choucroute garni and of course, coq au vin. I don’t think it gets much better than fall off the bone tender chicken in an incredible stewed wine sauce. It takes some time, but most of it is just inactive.

I know chickens aren’t really pretty in their raw form, but I wanted to show it sitting in its gorgeous marinade. It was a whole bottle of wine with lots of aromatics, herbs and seasoning. I let it sit for two hours but it can even sit overnight if you wanted to get a head start the night before.
Once the chicken finished marinating I separated everything out but nothing was discarded or wasted. My fine mesh strainer helped with that job to strain the wine from the solids. Then in the quintessentially French fashion, I browned up bacon first and then cooked everything in that glorious bacon fat. It gave the whole dish such incredible flavor throughout.
Once everything browned, it all just simmered low and slow in the dutch oven for 2 hours. I really recommend using a sturdy dutch oven for this recipe because of the way it conducts heat. If you don’t already have one, you can get one reasonably cheap here! Let me tell you, the whole house smelled like a French restaurant and I was NOT mad about it.
Again, this is not the prettiest shot of chicken but I had to show you how it completely fell off the bone when it was done. I didn’t really need to carve it at all, I just pulled it apart. Oh, and pro tip to save the carcass to make some amazing chicken stock. This was some seriously tender and juicy chicken.

While I pulled apart the chicken I let the sauce reduce by half. That really thickened it and concentrated its flavor. Then I just served the chicken over buttered noodles with a generous amount of sauce on top! Oh my goodness, it took me right back to my culinary school days and also made me want to book a flight ASAP to France. Hope you all love it too, mes amis! Bon Appetit.

Coq au Vin
Coq au Vin
5 from 2 votes
Coq au Vin
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Coq Au Vin
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
2 hrs 30 mins
Marinating Time
2 hrs
Total Time
2 hrs 45 mins
 

This is such a wonderful, one pot version of the French classic coq au vin with lots of salty slab bacon and veggies for big flavor! 

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: French
Keyword: Chicken, Coq au Vin
Servings: 6
Calories: 872 kcal
Author: Jeanie and Lulu's Kitchen
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken 5 lbs
  • 1 bottle red wine
  • 1 whole onion diced
  • 2 whole carrots peeled and sliced into thin rounds
  • 2 stalks celery diced small
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 1/2 pound slab bacon cut into small cubes
  • 2 pinches salt
  • 2 pinches black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 8 ounces cremini mushrooms thinly sliced
Instructions

  1. First, marinate the chicken. In a very large, deep bowl combine the chicken, red wine (all of it), onion, carrots and celery. Get a small patch of cheesecloth and tie the peppercorns and cloves up in it tightly with kitchen twine. Place that sachet in the bowl as well, along with the thyme and rosemary sprigs. Let it sit covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or even up to overnight. When it is done marinating, remove the chicken to a plate and pat it dry with paper towel. Set it aside. Remove the herb sprigs and the sachet of spices as well and set them aside. Then strain the wine through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and reserve it, as well as the vegetables held in the strainer.

  2. Get out a large dutch oven and put the slab bacon cubes into it. Heat it up over medium high heat and let the bacon cook and crisp up completely for about 10 minutes while all of the lovely fat renders out. When it is cooked, remove it to a plate. Add the butter to the pot and let it start to melt. Salt and pepper the chicken generously inside and out, then place it in the pot and let the skin get nicely brown for about 5 minutes on each side, using tongs to move it. Remove the chicken to the plate with the bacon when it is browned on the outside. The mushrooms go in next to soften for a couple of minutes, followed by the reserved vegetables from the marinade. Let them get fragrant. Finally, pour in the reserved wine from the marinate and put the chicken, bacon, herbs and spice sachet back into the pot. Bring it to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce it to a simmer.

  3. Let the coq au vin cook for 2 hours. When time is up, remove the chicken to a carving board. It will basically fall apart for you it is so tender so you won't even need to carve much, mostly just pull it apart. While you pull the chicken, remove the herbs and spice sachet from the pot and turn the heat back up on the wine sauce. Let it gently boil and reduce by half to thicken and concentrate the flavors. Place the chicken on a large, deep platter and spoon the sauce all over it. Serve immediately with buttered noodles and/or crusty bread!

Nutrition Facts
Coq Au Vin
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 872 Calories from Fat 489
% Daily Value*
Fat 54.3g84%
Saturated Fat 17.9g112%
Cholesterol 251mg84%
Sodium 1050mg46%
Potassium 404mg12%
Carbohydrates 9.1g3%
Fiber 1.5g6%
Sugar 3.5g4%
Protein 54.5g109%
Calcium 60mg6%
Iron 3.8mg21%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Coq au Vin
Coq au Vin

12 thoughts on “Coq au Vin”

  3. I am officially hungry. I will try this hopefully on Sunday and surprise my mother. Can you tell when which wine would be best?

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5 from 2 votes (1 rating without comment)