This Coq Au Vin with Mashed Potatoes is a popular French dish is made with chicken braised in red wine with mushrooms, onions and green beans, lots of herbs, perfect for fall!
It’s freezing cold outside and spring is nowhere to be seen. When the weather is like this, it’s time for stews of slowly braised meats in yummy sauces and mashed potatoes. It’s time for comfort foods and sweaters and hot cocoas. It’s time for coq au vin!
What Is Coq Au Vin
Coq au vin simply means chicken in wine, and no I didn’t take out that French dictionary or bring up google translator to figure that out, but those French classes in grade school and high school are finally paying off. Plus, it’s a dish I’ve been making for years and it’s really one of our favorites.
It’s my kind of soul food. Eat a plate of this with some hot mashed potatoes and you’ll be happy, your belly will be happy, it’s all good!
How Do You Make Coq Au Vin
Coq au vin is really the classic one pot dish, however it’s also a labor of love. Braise the chicken in red wine and chicken broth, until it falls off the bone. Use chicken with bone in and skin on for that extra flavor. Trust me this dish has many layers of deep rich flavor.
Make sure you savor this slowly. Put some French music on and open a bottle of red wine as you’re eating. Go for the full experience, my friends. In classic coq au vin there are no green beans, which is why I’m not claiming this is a classic recipe. However, I wanted some more veggies, so I threw in some haricots verts which were perfect! See, I know my French!
This truly is my kind of weekend cooking, though I totally make this during the week as well and serve it with creamy mashed potatoes. Best part is you have leftovers for the rest of the week which makes for some awesome lunches.
Did I mention there’s bacon in this? Oh yeah, there’s bacon!
What Wine Do You Use for Coq Au Vin
Traditionally Coq Au Vin is made with a Burgundy wine, a Pinot Noir or a Shiraz. While the purists will swear by Burgundy wine, I’m here to tell you that the red wine doesn’t matter quite as much.
However, my advice to which wine to cook with is always to cook with the wine you drink, not the cheap cooking wine. So if you buy yourself a good bottle of Pinot Noir, then by all means use Pinot Noir in this recipe.
Try These Other French Dishes:
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Coq Au Vin with Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon chopped
- 8 chicken drumsticks *
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
- 1 cup cipollini onions cut in half or 1 large onion, chopped **
- 1 lb mushrooms cleaned and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 cup red wine ***
- 2 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 3 sage leaves
- 8 oz green beans
- 8 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
For Mashed Potatoes
- 3 1/2 lb potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F degrees. In a large Dutch oven fry the chopped bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pot but leave the fat there, if you have more than 1 or 2 tbsp of bacon fat, discard the rest.
- Season the chicken drumsticks generously with salt and pepper and add to the pot. Cook the drumsticks on both sides over medium-high heat, until they start to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. The chicken doesn’t have to be cooked through as we will braise it later on and will continue to cook. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside together with the bacon.
- Add the cipollini onions and the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until the onions start to caramelize and the mushrooms start to brown. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until the garlic starts to get aromatic.
- Deglaze the pan by stirring in the red wine, scraping all the brown bits as you go along. Stir in the chicken broth, then add the bay leaves, thyme, rosemary and sage leaves. Add the bacon and chicken back to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a medium, cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes.
- Add the green beans to the pot. Whisk the melted butter with the flour and stir it into the pot. Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper as needed. Place the pot without the lid into the oven and cook for another 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Remove the bay leaves, thyme, rosemary sprigs and sage.
- Garnish with parsley.
For Mashed Potatoes
- While the chicken is braising in the wine you can make the mashed potatoes. Boil the potatoes in water with a bit of salt until fork tender, should take about 15 minutes, but depends on size of potato cubes.
- Drain the water from the potatoes and add them to a large bowl. Add the butter to the hot potatoes, and the butter should start to melt right away. Add the heavy cream, salt and pepper. Using a potato masher or electric beater, slowly mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy.
- Serve the Coq au Vin over the mashed potatoes.
Recipe Notes
- *Any part of the chicken can be used here, even chicken breast, but to get the ultimate flavor, I recommend leaving the skin on and bone in.
- **Cipollini onions literally mean “little onions” in Italian and are great for caramelizing and roasting.
- *** You can use pretty much any red wine, usually a Burgundy wine would be perfect, but even a white wine can be substituted
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Going to make this tonight! By “oven fry” (for the bacon) do you mean on the stovetop, or inside the oven itself?
You can do it either or! Putting your bacon inside the oven keeps it shape and doesn’t shrink up as much! If you’ve never tried it, it’s an awesome way to make it.
Husband likes it! I did some tweaks, add mustard according to one suggestion from the comments and used chicken breast bite sizes. Thank you so much for the recipe.