Quintessentially French, Coq au Vin (literally “rooster in wine”) is a mastodon of our cooking repertoire. Made from a whole chicken cut in 8 pieces, with bacon, mushrooms and carrots, it is traditionally cooked using red wine resulting in a purple-ish sauce. But its “Blanc” version, using dry white wine, is lighter, with brighter flavors and is just a little bit more elegant, if you ask me.
The Origin of the Dish
“Coq au Vin” was originally developed to cook the tough meat of an older rooster – and to make it more enjoyable. In many ways, the dish reminds me of “Beef Bourguignon” – a staple recipe of the Burgundy region – as the meat is braised low and slow in wine. But several French regions are claiming paternity of the Coq Au Vin dish – including Burgundy – but also Auvergne, Alsace and Champagne. All around France, the basic components of the Coq au Vin remain the same: chicken on the bone and wine – with each region using their own local wine, making it an even greater classic of French cuisine, in my opinion.
The Recipe
This Coq Au Vin Blanc is one of my favorite chicken recipes. I am sharing here my authentic recipe for Coq Au Vin Blanc, with bone-in chicken pieces braised low and slow in white wine and brandy. You will find all the traditional fixings around it, including salty bacon, sweet onions and carrots, plump little button mushrooms, whole glistening shallots and herbs.
This dish has a big reputation, and I am going the very traditional route here. But, you will quickly realize how it is a very approachable recipe. All the ingredients, techniques and instructions are straightforward and easy to complete. Read the cooking notes, take it step-by-step and you’ll be all set for success.
This is a truly delicious, hearty and comforting recipe– yet a little more impressive than your average chicken stew. I think it is perfectly suited for hosting, as it tastes even better the next day. You can make this recipe the day before, and re-heat it before serving. It’s best served over mashed potatoes, large tagliatelle pasta, or white rice. A crusty baguette on the side is mandatory for dunking into the sauce.
Cooking notes:
- I recommend you buy the best quality bird you can find. A locally raised and free-range one is ideal.
- A Coq Au Vin is meant to use a whole bird, cut into pieces. Bone-in pieces truly impart so much flavor to this dish, so I recommend you go this route. You can ask your butcher to cut the chicken into 8 pieces: 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings and 2 breasts. Or you can do it yourself (it is much easier than what you think!) – you can watch this video to guide you. Make sure you keep the carcass to make chicken stock.
- I recommend you take the chicken pieces out of the fridge at least 2 hours before you cook them, to allow them to get close to room temperature. Pat the chicken dry very thoroughly, which will make for an extra-crisp skin when cooking.
- In France, “lardons” are used in this recipe. Lardons is slab bacon sliced into matchsticks. We’re using bacon here to recreate lardons sticks.
- For the white wine, I recommend you choose one that is dry and crisp, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc. Although in Alsace, they make “Coq Au Riesling”, using slightly sweeter Riesling wine – and it is truly delicious too!
I hope you’ll love this Coq Au Vin Blanc recipe as much as I do!
You may also like:
- Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts in Grape Sauce
- Simple Chicken Marengo with Mushrooms
- Braised Chicken Thighs with Garlic and Onion
- Slow-Cooker Beef Bourguignon
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to know how it turned out! Please let me know by leaving a comment below, rate the recipe and/or share a photo on Instagram: tag @pardonyourfrench and hashtag it #pardonyourfrench. Bon Appetit!
80 comments
I love this dish. The best wine to use is a dry Riesling from the Alsace or Pfalz region. That’s why I’ve always known this dish under the name of coq au riesling (Hahn in Riesling). If you know a local farmer or butcher, it’s worth getting an old rooster from them. It’s not as tender but much more flavorful than young chickens. The wine will tenderize it and counteract the gaminess, just like with venison or wild pig.
Hi Tim! Coq au Riesling is absolutely delicious too! And agreed for the old rooster, this is why Coq au Vin was created initially (to make old rooster meat more edible).
Hi Audrey. My name is Isabella, I live in South Africa…a homecook and cookbook author. I open my house for lunches twice to three times a month and absolutely love your recipes. With the constraints of the Corona virus I’m cooking take away meals and the Coq au Vin Blanc is in the oven as I speak. Thank you so much for sharing. Take care.
Amazing! Thank you, and stay safe!
hi audry…my wife and I are cooking this right now…it’s been a great experience so far…we both read your recipe twice(we love the wine and the brandy ingredients)some of which we have consumed…can’t wait for the final outcome!!!!
dawn and mike in Kansas city, mo
Thank you Dawn and Mike, enjoy!
HI. I made this dish last week and it is fantastic. i did not have any brandy and I substituted Grand Marnier. Turned out great!
Thanks so much Tom!
Hi making it now but had no brandy or substitute. Missed that ingredient when I went shopping. From South La so added the taste of the region. Will definitely use this again!
Thank you, Enjoy the recipe!
Cooking in the oven right now. Smells amazing already. Didn’t have brandy or substitute. Can’t purchase liquor where I live because quarantine is still in effect. Luckily, i had a bottle of white wine. Can’t wait to dig in! Cheers from Davao, Philippines!
Amazing, thank you!
I will be making this for a big luncheon this weekend, probably a triple batch. If you make this the night before and chill over night, do you stop at a certain point? For instance, do you not thicken the sauce and add the mushrooms until the next day, or do you complete the recipe and then just reheat before serving? Looking forward to this on a chilly afternoon in Australia!
Hi Emilie. You can absolutely make it the day before, and re-heat it the next day. Simply make the entire recipe (until the end), and let the dish cool to room temperature before you chill it. The next day, simply re-heat before serving (in the oven or on the stove-top). Enjoy!
Fortunately, in Montréal it is easy to find lardons. Since you live in southern Ontario, wonder if you’ve ever travelled here and specifically to Marché Jean-Talon? I live nearby.
Yes, some recipes I’ve seen (in English, never in French) actually suggested using boned chicken breasts! That would be utterly horrid.
bonne journée de Montréal,
Maria
Hi Maria, thank you for your comment! I have been to Montreal a few times, but never had the chance to visit Jean Talon market, although I heard great things about it. Next time, hopefully!
Hi Audrey, could you tell me what size pan/pot you use to make this dish (surface area and volume)? I am shopping for a new braising pan for other dishes and would like to make sure that the size I have in mind would also fit all 8 pieces of a chicken, so that I could try making this dish. Thank you!
Hi Jenny! This is a 3.5 Quart enameled braiser. The brand is President’s choice, but Staub and Le Creuset make some great ones too, with glass or enameled lids. I use this size very often, it’s really great.
Can I use a dutch oven?
Hi Bianca! Yes as long as it is large enough to fit everything nicely. Happy cooking!
Thanks Audrey. I was wondering if I needed to go up a size, but guess not! I assume that if I wanted to substitute the 8 chicken pieces with 4 chicken quarters, it’d still fit in a 3.5qt braising pan? Thank you very much!
Yes it will fit – in my Chicken Provencal recipe, you can see how 4 chicken leg quarters fit in a 3.5qt braising pan (https://www.pardonyourfrench.com/chicken-provencal-with-olives-and-cherry-tomatoes/). Happy cooking!
I made this on Sunday night and it was just awesome! Big hit in our home. Will repeat soon! Easy to pull together, your cooking notes are a big help!! We had this with some bread! While this was cooking in the oven, I was cooking the apples for the tarte tartin – which turned out awesome as well!!
Thank you so much!
This was amazing. I agree that it would be best with bone-in chicken, but as I wa snaking for 4 people with 4 chicken breasts, I performed all the steps but just not the pan frying of the breasts (skinless) and so just followed all the steps but not cooking the chicken. I then cooked the chicken when we were ready to each for 30mins in the sauce. Was really lovely and thick man tasty
Great, thank you for your feedback James!
Hi Audrey,
Is there any way to make this without bacon but any other meat substitutions will work? Thanks! Big big fan, I make your crepe recipes at least once a week! Love all of your work!
Hi! You can simply skip the bacon for this recipe; just cook the chicken in butter to start. You may need to adjust seasoning at the end (especially salt) as the bacon provides lots of salty flavor. Happy cooking!
We are cooking this in November in lovely Devon. We killed a young rooster as we could no longer have 3 roosters crowing in our village. This leaves us with a tiny bantam rooster who is never going into the pot and a larger rooster who may or may not be eaten according to neighbour complaints!
Thank you and bon appetit!
Hi Audrey, cooked this dish for the first time this evening and am delighted with my first effort. Used thigh bone in pieces as I was only cooking for one. Omitted brandy and used a Sauvignon blanc as recommended and served with mashed potatoes. It’s the perfect dish when having either friends or family over to dine and entertain. Would consider using the whole carcass of a chicken on an occasion like that.
Thanks for your feedback Esther! Using a whole chicken if you’re making this recipe for friends or family is absolutely the way to go 🙂
Audrey — Love your recipes, I’ve had a great time working through them. Your Chicken Tarragon was the latest hit in the house. Quick question for you–is there any reason why you don’t suggest marinating the chicken in white wine for a few hours or overnight? I’ve noticed that most Coq Au Vin (red, not blanc) recipes ask for this step and was wondering if not marinating was something unique to using a white wine instead. Thanks again!
Hi Andrew! Thank you for your great feedback! The wine here is used the braise the meat, rather than for being used for a marinade. Coq Au Vin is such a popular recipe, and there are countless variations of it, and I believe there is no wrong way to do it 🙂
Hello! We´re in João Pessoa – Paraiba – Brazil, the most easterly point in the Americas. It was delicious, accompanied by a demi-sec. When in doubt, the flour we used was wheat flour. Thanks!
Great, thank you for your feedback!
I haven’t made this yet, but reading through the ingredients it sounds delicious and just the ticket. Previous attempts at coq au vin weren’t that great. For one thing, red wine dyed the chicken and veggies and unappetizing shade of purplish. (Perhaps a better quality wine wouldn’t do that.) Also, most recipes for coq au vin call for an entire bottle of wine, which we find a bit overpowering. This recipe sounds perfect.
Thank you for your comment, and happy cooking!
Delicious recipe. The carrots and cognac are two ingredients other recipes did not include and why I chose this one. I did make a few changes: shallots instead of pearl onions and I cooked the mushrooms before adding them (which I made the night before). Also, I live in a moderate sized house with an open floor plan so I like to have all my ducks in a row by the time company comes. I completed the coq au vin about an hour before people arrived, set on the stove top on low, then put it back in the oven to reheat with the smashed potatoes (also done ahead of time and just needed warming up on my baker’s pan). The finished product got rave reviews. Thanks so much!
Fantastic, thank you for your feedback Lynne!
I’ve made coq au vin a few times, and prefer the blanc version. What I appreciate about your recipe is adding the mushrooms at the end. It always seemed odd to me to follow recipes that called for mushrooms to be added before the cooking time in the oven, so I tried this method of adding the mushrooms at the end and it’s great. Thanks!
Thank you for your feedback Kim!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was absolutely fabulous! I ordered your cookbook and I can’t wait to cook more of your recipes.
David
Fantastic, thank you!
Inexpensive, yet opulent meal. Fresh herbs infuse the air while dish is in the oven. Wonderful stewed texture of the chicken, and vegetables retain a crisp aspect. My wife says put in in the ‘keep’ file. Thank you.
Tell you wife thank you! Of course, thank you to you as well for the wonderful comment. I am so glad you enjoyed it!
And you’re absolutely correct – a delicious and “opulent” meal doesn’t need to be expensive, by any means.
Great recipe, it’s delicious, didn’t have to adjust anything… I used almond flour instead but it turned out perfect.
It will be tomorrow’s dinner
Almond flour to thicken the sauce? Can’t say I’ve ever tried that, but I’m intrigued…
I’m happy you enjoyed the recipe and appreciate the feedback!
This looks delicious and comforting! If I use a Dutch oven to make this, how would the cooking time change?
I don’t know if it would change too much, honestly. But the lid of a dutch oven generally radiates much more heat than the type of lid on mine, so maybe I would give it a check about 10min earlier just to make sure nothing is getting overcooked. But the cook time on this isn’t too long to start with, so I don’t think it’d make too much difference, if just a few minutes.
Made this a few days ago for my partner. She’s a really good cook and even she was impressed with what I served up! This should keep me in the good books, at least for a short while!
As there was just the the two of us, I made it with a couple of leg/thigh joints and they were tender and tasty in the lovely sauce produced during the cooking process. I used a decent Sauvignon blanc, a glass (or two!) of which went really well with the meal.
Thanks, Audrey, for another great recipe and I agree that the vin blanc version is more elegant than the vin rouge.
Santé!
So glad to be of service… Not much better than being in someone’s good books, especially during the holidays! I need to make this dish again soon.
My grandmother was Quebecois, her people from Brittany.
Your recipes resonate with my memory of her kitchen.
Jim, that’s a lovely comment. For me, absolutely nothing brings back fond memories like food does. And memories of mom and/or grandma’s kitchen sits at the top. Enjoy your stay and hope the recipes comtinue to bring you back.
Hi Audrey, I love your site and recipes! Quick question about the coq au vin blanc: if you make it the day before serving, do you add the buerre manie the previous day already or only on the next day before serving? Also, for how long and at what temperature do you reheat it? Thank you!
Hello, Stephanie! For me, I’d make the recipe exactly as written the day prior, and then day of, I would either reheat in the oven at 350 for 15-20min, or on the stovetop, on medium-low heat for about the same amount of time. It’s hard to be exact with reheat times as it depends on the material of your vessel, the depth etc. But in general it reheats fairly quickly.
If you find the coq au vin blanc needs a touch more liquid AFTER reheating, you can add a splash of wine or water, but it shouldn’t be necessary. The sauce should “loosen” as it reheats.
Thank you so much for the thorough response Audrey, much appreciated!
You’re very welcome. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
I’ve made it once already for my husband and I, and we both absolutely loved it! I’m now planning to serve it for a family dinner – I’m confident everyone else will love it too!
Oh, lovely! Even better then, knowing it’s already well liked. Good luck, I’m sure it’ll be delicious!
I made this dish for my birthday. I used Chardonnay. Delicious! All my life I have been making Julia’s recipe. Your coq au vin blanc is now a regular on my menu. I love your website and I have your book and receive your newsletter. . Audrey. merci for your fabulous recipes.
Alicia, thank you so much for the kind words and for all the support! It really means a lot. I am so happy you chose my dish to celebrate your birthday with and even happier it turned out great!
This is delicious. The bacon gives it a mild smoky taste set off by the brandy and wine in a great sauce, Thank you!
So happy to hear you enjoyed this dish, Mike! I always appreciate your feedback! 🙂
Love this recipe! Sometimes red wine base is too heavy for me but this white wine is always a hit!
I agree, Robin! While both are delicious, I always know I’ll be able to handle a dish of the vin blanc. 🙂
Bon soir, Audrey,
Coq au vin blanc is now a real favourite in this household! It is such a satisfying meal and oh so tasty. My mother made it a lot when I was a child and I think I can say I do her proud when recreating it now. Also, as an adult, I think I appreciate it much more now, too!
Merci beaucoup!
Andrew
I’m honored, Andrew, thank you. I’m so glad this dish brought back those great memories for you, and no doubt your recreation would put a smile on her face. I hope you’ll continue to enjoy this dish for many years to come.
I made this exactly according to instructions, but added a few flakes of red pepper flakes for a little heat. It was outstanding served it with some risotto Milanese for a nice Italian fusion dinner.
Love to hear it, Bruce. My husband also loves to add a little heat to nearly all my dishes, so I get where you’re coming from. The risotto Milanese side sounds absolutely delicious. Great pairing!
Hi Audrey, I’m making the Coq Au Vin Blanc for 250 people at a fundraising gala. I’m used to this since I have a small catering business. I like to use recipes that step up my offerings and make it extra special for folks. Thanks so much for your help!!
Martha Lynn, did I just read 250!? Wow. Super impressive. I couldn’t even imagine for cooking for more than a dinner party, so kudos to you for commanding the kitchen like that! I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes and hope you’ll find more to inspire your servings! Merci!
The recipe/notes do not mention a specific type of Brandy/Cognac. I have Benedictine which I use for Steak Diane. Would that be authentic?
Any brand should do just fine, Janice! So long as it isn’t a flavored brandy, it will do the trick!
Hi there! I am probably going to seem not too bright but after you make the mushroom sauce do you just pour it over the chicken? In the pot?
Not a bad question at all, Jane. So in step 5, you cook the mushrooms and shallots OR pearl onions for 10min. Also, in a small bowl, mash together 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour.
Remove the chicken from the oven, and add the mushrooms and onions/shallots and the butter/flour mash into the pot with the chicken and simmer over medium heat so the sauce thickens. The lumps from the flours mixture will dissolve as it heats and you stir. Should take about 10min!
Hope this is clear!
Another hit from Pardon your French! I absolutely loved making, serving and eating this dish. I used a sauvignon blanc from the South of France. I paired it with a kale salad (fresh from the garden) and mashed potatoes. (I riced the potatoes after cooking, added cold, cubed butter and warm whipping cream, then used a whisk to mix it.) It was my first time butchering a chicken – don’t be intimidated! Delightful!
Congrats on your first time butchering a chicken, sounds like it was a total success! You obviously nailed the recipe too, everything sounds perfect, especially the sides. Nothing better than loads of butter and warm cream in your potatoes.. And kale is a major favorite of mine. What a meal! 🙂
This is a delicious recipe. I served it over wide egg noodles. The broth is incredible. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you, thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, Maggie! Served over egg noodles sounds absolutely divine, and oh so warming. 🙂