Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

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Introducing you to slow cooker beef bourguignon. The famous French beef stew in the slow cooker combining perfectly cooked beef stew pieces, mushrooms, bacon, carrots, onions, and a rich flavoursome red wine sauce.   

Whether you call it beef bourguignon, beef burgundy, boeuf bourguignon, beef casserole or simply French stew, it’s a delicious Sunday meal that is perfect for the slow cooker.

We originally shared how to cook beef bourguignon in the slow cooker back in 2015. We have updated it with more tips and tricks and new photos. We hope you enjoy the update.

slow cooker beef bourguignon recipe
Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon Recipe

Beef Bourguignon Slow Cooker

I don’t know about you, but a beef bourguignon is a reason in itself to go out and buy your first slow cooker.

In fact, the first thing I ever made in my first slow cooker was beef bourguignon.

I then went on to make more and more different beef stews in the slow cooker. But its always beef bourguignon that I go back to time and time again.

It reminds me of holidays to France. I have been to France many times both as a kid with my parents in the family RV and as a grown up with the hubby and our 3 kids.

But it was when I was at a French restaurant recently and Dominic ordered beef bourguignon with mashed potatoes and carrots, that I remembered that I must update our crockpot beef bourguignon for you and give you an easy way of bringing the famous French stew together.

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What Is Beef Bourguignon?

Beef bourguignon, is better described as the French take on a rich and creamy beef stew. Whilst the British make the beef stew with beef stock, beef bourguignon is heavy on the red wine. It is also really creamy.

This is our beef bourguignon that we had at a French restaurant earlier this year:

What Is Beef Bourguignon

Also referred to as beef burgundy because it uses red wine from the burgundy region of France.

Beef bourguignon or the proper French spelling of boeuf bourguignon if probably most famous because of its feature in TV shows and movies, such as the movie Julie Vs Julia.

What Is The Difference Between Beef Bourguignon & Beef Stew?

Beef bourguignon is simply a French version of a beef stew. Its like comparing a Big Mac vs a hamburger. They are one of the same just with a different spin on the recipe.

If you have cooked beef stew before and love to eat beef stew, then you will love beef bourguignon.

What Cut Of Meat Is Best For Beef Bourguignon?

The best cut of beef to use is any braising meat. This can be chuck roast, diced beef from the supermarket, or what is readily available. When we lived in Portugal we would use beef shin, but any will do the trick.

I love to save money on groceries and used the 2 for £7 packs of diced beef from Asda and they were delicious.

What Type Of Wine Is Used In Beef Bourguignon?

Traditionally a dry red wine from the Burgundy region of France would be used to make an authentic boeuf bourguignon.

But we don’t all have big budgets and many of our readers are on a small pension. With that in mind, I recommend whatever red wine you can afford or that you have in. I went with a cheap red wine that I regularly buy from Tescos.  

How To Make A Healthy Beef Bourguignon?

With a traditional beef bourguignon you will often have flour on the beef and corn flour to thicken the beef stew with.

In our French slow cooker beef casserole, we are using potatoes for thickening the stew and cutting out these two ingredients.

There is butter in this beef slow cooker recipe, but its also healthier and gluten free.

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Beef Bourguignon Slow Cooker Ingredients

Beef Bourguignon Slow Cooker Ingredients

Beef – I recommend any diced beef that you would use in a classic beef stew or a beef casserole. We used some diced beef from Asda.

Wine – Its all about slow cooker beef in red wine. After beef your most important ingredient is the red wine and I recommend any red wine, you like to cook with.

Stock – You will also need some beef stock. We used some frozen stock cubes from the freezer that we had previously made. They are amazing and can be dumped straight in the slow cooker with the other ingredients.

Mushrooms – Mushrooms is a big part of this beef bourguignon slow cooker recipe. Though because mushrooms cook fast, we add this ingredient last.

Onions – You can use any onions you have in. Whether that is red, white, or shallots.

Carrots – In a traditional slow cooked beef Bourguignon you will find baby carrots. They were out of season when I made this stew, so I opted for sliced carrots.

Bacon – a slow cooker recipe for beef burgundy is known for its bacon lardons. You can use these or just slice and dice some back bacon.

Seasoning – Then for seasoning your slow cooker recipe for beef bourguignon we used salt, pepper, frozen garlic, bouquet garni, thyme, and parsley.

Extras – Also to give your beef stew an even better taste we recommend adding some tomato puree and then some butter for the mushrooms.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this slow cooker beef bourguignon recipe it has just been our Crockpot. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of slow cooker recipes and also great for easy Sunday lunches.

Plus, we recommend you head over to our slow cooker recipes category as we have more than 100 tried and tested slow cooker recipes and have been using slow cookers for 18 years.

How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?

slow cooker beef bourguignon step by step
  • Peel. Start by peeling and dicing your potatoes. Load them into the slow cooker with butter, or margarine along with mixed herbs and salt and pepper. Let them slow cook for 90 minutes.
  • Prep. Just before the mash is ready, peel and dice carrots and onion and slice any bigger mushrooms into smaller pieces.
  • Sauté. Remove the potatoes from the slow cooker and load into a mixing bowl. In the meantime (no need to clean first) add your diced beef to the slow cooker with a little extra virgin olive oil and brown on all sides. Remove the beef onto a plate and next sauté the mushrooms, onion, and garlic with butter. Place the garlic mushrooms on a 2nd plate.
  • Bacon. Next add a little extra virgin olive oil back in the slow cooker and sauté the diced bacon. Then add in carrots, beef, red wine, beef stock, tomato puree, and seasonings.
  • Slow. Place the lid on the slow cooker and slow cook for 3 hours on high.
  • Mash. When the slow cooker is back on add margarine and any extra seasonings and some milk to the bowl with the potatoes and mash until you have creamy mash.
  • Mushrooms. When the slow cooker has done 3 hours on high add in the garlic mushrooms and a heaped tablespoon of mash and stir.
  • Finish. Cook for a further hour on high and then serve with mashed potatoes.

And I am sure you can see why this beef bourguignon slow cooker recipe is a true favourite of mine.

How Long To Cook Beef Bourguignon?

You will be pleased to know, that it takes JUST 5.5 hours on high in the slow cooker to cook a tender beef bourguignon. This also includes making delicious mashed potatoes that you can also use as a natural thickener in your stew.

Though add an extra 10 minutes to this cook time to account for sauteing some of the ingredients in the slow cooker prior to cooking the stew.

Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon & Dumplings

You can also add a little British to your beef bourguignon in the slow cooker by serving it with dumplings.

You can make a side of our suet dumplings or go suet free with our dumplings without suet.

Or follow our slow cooker lamb stew and dumplings.

More Slow Cooker Beef Recipes

slow cooker beef Bourguignon

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slow cooker beef Bourguignon
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5 from 2 votes

Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Introducing you to slow cooker beef bourguignon. The famous French beef stew in the slow cooker combining perfectly cooked beef stew pieces, mushrooms, bacon, carrots, onions, and a rich flavoursome red wine sauce.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time5 hours 40 minutes
Total Time5 hours 50 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Slow Cooker
Servings: 4
Calories: 1197kcal

Ingredients

Slow Cooker Mash

Bourguignon

Kitchen Gadgets:

Instructions

  • Peel your potatoes and dice them and load the potatoes into the slow cooker with half the butter or margarine, salt, pepper, and mixed herbs. Allow to slow cook for 90 minutes on high to create soft mashed potatoes.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • Whilst the potatoes are cooking in the slow cooker, do your stew prep work. Peel and dice carrots and onions. Wash and quarter your mushrooms. Slice your bacon rashers into chunks.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • When the slow cooker is done, put the potatoes to one side in a suitable bowl and add the milk and other half of the butter and mash to make mashed potatoes.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • Then into the slow cooker add your beef and sauté for a couple of minutes with extra virgin olive oil and brown the beef on all sides. Transfer the beef to a plate.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • Same again and sauté the onion, mushrooms, and garlic but this time with the butter. When the mushrooms are nicely coloured and the butter is melted, move them to a spare plate too.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • Next add the bacon into the slow cooker with a little extra virgin olive oil and sauté for a couple of minutes to give bacon flavour to the slow cooker pot.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • Take the slow cooker from the stovetop and move to the slow cooker unit. Then add to the bacon the carrots, beef, tomato puree, tablespoon of the just cooked mash, red wine, beef stock, seasonings, and seasonings. Cook for 3 hours on high.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • When the 3 hours are up add in garlic mushrooms, stir and add in a little extra mash to make it extra creamier if not creamy enough already.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?
  • Slow cook for a final hour before serving with leftover mashed potatoes.
    How To Cook Beef Bourguignon In The Slow Cooker?

Notes

Mash. Mashed potatoes are amazing for naturally thickening a stew. I always have some frozen potato cubes in the freezer for this and used two of these, plus a little of the mash from the just cooked mashed potatoes. If you have some mash leftover, I highly recommend doing this.
Sauce. Its all about the thick sauce, so always give it a good stir prior to adding in the mushrooms.
Taste. Do a taste test of the beef when adding the mushrooms. If you feel like it needs more seasonings, then add in a little more.
Thanks for reading our beef bourguignon slow cooker recipe on Recipe This. We have many more slow cooker recipes for you to check out next. Though if you would like more slow cooker dinner recipes, do check out our slow cooker sausages and onion gravy recipe next.

Nutrition

Calories: 1197kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 51g | Fat: 66g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 28g | Trans Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 187mg | Sodium: 643mg | Potassium: 2697mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 8449IU | Vitamin C: 65mg | Calcium: 226mg | Iron: 11mg
Nutrition InfoPlease Note: Nutrition values are our best estimate based on the software we use at Recipe This and are meant as a guide. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
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slow beef bourguignon @ recipethis
Recipe This

Hi! I am Sam and along with my chef hubby Dom we love sharing with you easy everyday recipes using kitchen gadgets. We are also the authors of The Complete Air Fryer Cookbook, an amazing air fryer cookbook filled with 140+ everyday air fryer recipes. Beyond the air fryer we also love the instant pot, slow cooker, soup maker, ninja foodi, pie marker and several other kitchen gadgets. CLICKING HERE →

3 thoughts on “Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon”

    • Hi Cindy,

      I reckon the Americans call it skim milk, it is basically milk but with alot of the fat taken out of it, so a healthier version of ordinary milk.

      Reply

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