Coq au vin means rooster in wine. Au vin is French for in wine, and the dish is chicken slowly braised in red wine with bacon, mushrooms and small onions. It started as farmhouse cooking in Burgundy, where a long simmer in pinot noir made tough old birds tender. Today we use chicken pieces and still pour a French red beside the pot.
We are The French Carousel, an Australian shop for French wine. This is a coq au vin recipe you can cook on a warm weekend, with two French reds from our shelves for the glass and the pan.
What is coq au vin?
At its simplest, coq au vin is chicken cooked in red wine until the sauce turns glossy and deep. Bacon or lardons bring smoke. Pearl onions and mushrooms soak up the wine. Thyme, bay and garlic perfume the pot. The classic home is Burgundy, so a pinot noir is the traditional pour. A lighter gamay from Beaujolais also works if you want something cooler in the glass on an Australian summer evening.
For more chicken and wine ideas, see our guide to what wine goes with chicken.
Coq au vin recipe
Serves 4 to 6. One heavy pot or Dutch oven.
You need: about 1.5 kg chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks hold up best), 150 g thick bacon or lardons, 250 g mushrooms, 200 g pearl onions or chopped brown onion, 2 carrots, 3 garlic cloves, a bottle of red wine (pinot noir is traditional), 250 ml chicken stock, 2 tbsp flour, thyme, 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper, a little oil or butter, parsley to finish.
- Crisp the bacon in the pot. Lift it out.
- Season the chicken and brown it in the bacon fat. Lift it out.
- Soften onion, carrot and mushrooms. Stir in garlic and flour for a minute.
- Pour in the wine and scrape the brown bits. Add stock, thyme, bay, bacon and chicken. Liquid should almost cover the meat.
- Simmer gently, lid on, for about 45 to 60 minutes until the chicken is tender. Uncover for the last 10 minutes if you want a thicker sauce.
- Taste for salt. Scatter parsley. Serve with mashed potato, buttered noodles or crusty bread.
Slow cooker coq au vin: brown everything first, then cook on low for 6 to 7 hours.
On a hot day, cook earlier and reheat gently so the kitchen stays cooler at dinner. For another French comfort plate from our kitchen, try hachis parmentier.
French red wine to pour with coq au vin
Cook with a bottle you are happy to drink. Keep a second bottle for the table.
Domaine Louis Claude Desvignes Beaujolais l'Aube à Javernières 2024 is gamay from a vineyard bordering the family's Javernières holdings in Villié Morgon, first made in 2020. The shop page pairs it with roast pork, charcuterie or coq au vin. Juicy and digestible, with real structure and depth, it is the Beaujolais to tip into the pot and pour beside it.
Rêverie Pinot Noir 2024 is a light pinot noir from the Pays d'Oc, with cherry, wild strawberry, rose petal, forest floor and a touch of clove. Save it for roast chicken, duck or a mushroom dish on the nights the pot stays in the cupboard.
Browse more in our Burgundy wines, Beaujolais wines and French red wines.
Please enjoy responsibly.
