Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon without wine
The traditional French beef bourguignon is an easy dinner made quickly in the Instant pot. Cooked without wine or alcohol, perfect for the whole family.
Main ingredients:
 | Beef chuck or any other cut of beef |
 | Fresh or frozen white mushrooms (cremini), bella mushrooms or oyster mushrooms. |
 | Chopped or sliced white onion is preferable. |
 | Chopped fresh or frozen carrots |
 | Chopped fresh or frozen celery |
 | Bacon, chopped pieces to add a ton of flavor. |
 | (Optional) Potatoes, if you want to make it a one dish meal. |
 | (Optional) Spinach for that extra dose of vegetables |
Spices and flavoring ingredients:
 | Garlic powder or crushed garlic cloves |
 | Parsley |
 | Thyme |
 | Bay leaf |
 | Beef liquid stock or beef cube stock in water |
 | Pinch of salt and pepper |
Accents for the sauce:
 | Abricot, peach or pear juice for a touch of sweetness |
 | Apple cider vinegar |
 | Butter to sear the bacon |
 | Flour to thicken the sauce |
The traditional beef bourguignon is a classic French dish that has been around for centuries. It is quite similar to the French coq au vin which uses chicken instead of beef.
It has always been a go-to for busy families looking to put a meal on the table. Toss in the beef and plenty of vegetables, along with some spices in the slow cooker (or Instant Pot) and wait.
You can even make this in advance the night before and place in the fridge overnight to heat up the next day. It tastes better when all the sauces have melded together, making it the perfect week night meal.
In addition, don’t hesitate to use frozen ingredients if you have them (except for the beef). The Instant Pot heats everything up to the perfect temperature, and makes cooking this beef stew very simple.
Cooking tips
- You don’t need high-end cuts of meat, boneless beef chuck is perfect when making a stew, since it is affordable and ideal for long, slow cooking or pressure cooking.
- In a boeuf bourguignon, frozen ingredients are fine because the Instant Pot automatically lengthens the heating time. Since the dish is typically slow-cooked for several hours, allowing the juices to combine for a longer period of time will only make it more delicious.
- Beef bourguignon typically uses a bouquet garni, which is usually a range of herbs that you have at home. If you don’t have a bay leaf for example, you can substitute and compensate with other herbs.
- Since there is no alcohol in this recipe, apple cider vinegar gives the sauce a flavorful finishing touch. If you skip this step, the beef bourguignon may be overly sweet.
- While the bacon or pancetta is optional, it adds a lot of flavor to the dish.
- Celery and carrots are traditional ingredients in a French beef bourguignon, but don’t hesitate to throw in other vegetables like spinach, potatoes, etc.
Cooking without wine
Beef bourguignon is traditionally from the region of Burgundy (Bourgogne) in France. So it stands to reason that they would want to combine the two delicacies that they are most famous for in the boeuf bourguignon: Burgundy beef and Burgundy wine.
The slow cooking time is meant to assure that any alcohol has long been cooked off. Nevertheless, for various reasons you may not want to cook with alcohol. The tomato sauce (or tomato paste), along with a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar combine to add a similar kick to the dish, without any alcohol.
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Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon without wine
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 kg of beef chunk cut into medium-sized portions
- 6 strips of bacon sliced into small pieces
- 1 cup of sliced white or button mushrooms
- 1 onion chopped up
- 1 carrot sliced
- 1 chopped celery stick
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 1 cup tomato sauce or 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 6-8 baby potatoes (optional)
- 2 cups of spinach (optional)
Herbs & spices
- 1 garlic clove chopped up
- 4 sprigs of parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 2 cubes of beef stock bouillon mixed into 2 cups of water.
- 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup abricot, peach or pear juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the bacon and butter in the Instant pot and sauté for about 5 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients (except the flour), and set the Instant Pot to High Pressure for 45 minutes.
- Once the countdown has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes.
- Mix in the flour with a tablespoon of water to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the Instant Pot.
- Press the Sauté button again for 5 minutes to let the sauce thicken.
- Let the Boeuf Bourguignon rest for 10 minutes on the Keep Warm function.
- Taste to add salt and pepper if necessary.
- Serve while warm.
Nutrition
Please note: We are not certified nutritionists and these estimates written and produced for entertainment purposes only.
What to serve with it?
It can also be served with rice, steamed potatoes, mashed potatoes or tagliatelle pasta. If I am making rice, I tend to use a rice cooker, so it is simple enough to “set it and forget it”.
If you want steamed potatoes, a quick fix is to add baby potatoes directly into the Instant pot, instead of cooking them separately. But there are many other accompaniments that go very well with beef stew, such as brown rice, green lentils, polenta, or even bulgur.
How to store it?
Boeuf bourguignon is one of those recipes that tastes better the next day. You can easily put aside portions in a container and put in the freezer. Let it cool, and then place in an airtight glass container.
