Coq au Vin
Updated Nov. 17, 2025
- Total Time
- 2½ hours, plus marinating
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3pounds chicken legs and thighs
- 2½teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed
- ½teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
- 3cups hearty red wine, preferably from Burgundy
- 1bay leaf
- 1teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 4ounces lardons, pancetta or bacon, diced into ¼-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed
- 1large onion, diced
- 1large carrot, peeled and diced
- 8ounces white or brown mushrooms, halved if large, and sliced (about 4 cups)
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 1teaspoon tomato paste
- 1tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2tablespoons brandy
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8ounces peeled pearl onions (about 12 to 15 onions)
- Pinch sugar
- 2slices white bread, cut into triangles, crusts removed
- ¼cup chopped parsley, more for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Season chicken with 2¼ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. In a large bowl, combine chicken, wine, bay leaf and thyme. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or, even better, overnight.
- Step 2
In a large Dutch oven or a heavy-bottomed pot with a tightfitting lid, cook lardons over medium-low heat until fat has rendered, and lardons are golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer lardons to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving rendered fat in pot.
- Step 3
Remove chicken from wine, reserving the marinade. Pat chicken pieces with paper towels until very dry. Heat lardon fat over medium heat until it’s just about to smoke. Working in batches if necessary, add chicken in a single layer and cook until well browned, 3 to 5 minutes per side. (Add oil if the pot looks a little dry.) Transfer chicken to a plate as it browns.
- Step 4
Add diced onion, carrot, half the mushrooms and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt to pot. Cook until vegetables are lightly browned, about 8 minutes, stirring up any brown bits from the pot, and adjusting heat if necessary to prevent burning.
- Step 5
Stir in garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, then stir in flour and cook for another minute. Remove from heat, push vegetables to one side of pot, pour brandy into empty side, and ignite with a match. (If you’re too nervous to ignite it, just cook brandy down for 1 minute.) Once the flame dies down, add reserved marinade, bring to a boil, and reduce halfway (to 1½ cups), about 12 minutes. Skim off any large pockets of foam that form on the surface.
- Step 6
Add chicken, any accumulated juices and half the cooked lardons to the pot. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour, turning halfway through. Uncover pot and simmer for 15 minutes to thicken. Taste and add salt and pepper, if necessary.
- Step 7
Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons oil in a nonstick or other large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pearl onions, a pinch of sugar and salt to taste. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, shaking skillet often to move onions around. Uncover, push onions to one side of skillet, add remaining mushrooms, and raise heat to medium-high. Continue to cook until browned, stirring mushrooms frequently, and gently tossing onions occasionally, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove onions and mushrooms from skillet, and wipe it out.
- Step 8
In same skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat until bubbling. Add bread and toast on all sides until golden, about 2 minutes per side. (Adjust heat if needed to prevent burning.) Remove from skillet and sprinkle with salt.
- Step 9
To serve, dip croutons in wine sauce, then coat in parsley. Add pearl onions, mushrooms and remaining half of the cooked lardons to the pot. Baste with wine sauce, sprinkle with parsley and serve with croutons on top.
Private Notes
Comments
If you have time, I strongly recommend preparing this dish over three days to get the most intense and settled flavors. On the evening of Day One, marinate the chicken (Step 1). On the afternoon or evening of Day Two, do the cooking (Steps 2-6), let the pot cool and refrigerate it. On Day Three, reheat the pot on low heat for about a half hour, finish the job with Steps 7-9, and enjoy your feast. Melissa Clark alludes to this approach in the full version of The New Essentials of French Cooking.
Variant on Figaro's tip: I open both ends of the tomato paste can and push out the log into a plastic sheet. Cut out what I need and roll up the remainder and freeze. Next time I need tomato paste I remove the plastic and slice off what I need.
Open the can of tomato paste; use what you need; cover it with plastic wrap, secure with rubber band. Place it in the freezer. To re-use, take it out; let it thaw bit, and use what ever more you need, then put it back in the freezer. I've been able to keep on can going for quite a while using this method.
I vigorously adulterate this recipe.I hope I won't be shunned as a heretic. I cut boneless chicken into chunks and marinate at least overnight, with the thyme and bay leaf and garlic. Once I forgot what I was doing, and left the chicken in the fridge for 3 days. It did not suffer. I routinely (people make this routinely?) add green beans and potatoes, but this thanksgiving my daughter wanted to make mashed potatoes, so we'll be ladling the stew over that. I added another half cup of wine.
Now you can buy tomato paste in a tube. Refrigerate after opening.
This is a LEGIT coq au vin. I made it with 3 lbs chicken thighs and bacon instead of lardons. Otherwise I made this exactly as written. The result was a truly first rate dish, as good or better than any coq au vin I’ve had in France. Couldn’t recommend this one more highly!