‘Quick’ and ‘easy’ are not normally words you would use to describe Coq au Vin, a traditional slow-cooked French recipe. After all, Coq au Vin was a recipe originally developed to make the oldest, toughest poultry melt-in-your-mouth delicious. The name translates literally to Rooster in Wine.
Peeling tiny shallots, browning chicken pieces, sautéing bacon and flaming the dish before it is stewed make it a rather high maintenance dish. My version of the recipe gives you all the flavour of a slow-cooked Coq au Vin in a fraction of the time with much less effort. It’s a great recipe to serve to friends mid-week, or halve the recipe for date night. If you use gluten free stock, the recipe is also gluten free.
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Quick and Easy Coq au Vin is Versatile
I first blogged this recipe back in 2013. Back them my favourite way to serve my Quick and Easy Coq au Vin was with new potatoes crushed with butter and steamed green beans garnished with flaked almonds. Now I’m more likely to serve it with mashed sweet potato, although a green vegetable is always good alongside. You can also serve Coq au Vin with rice.
The Story Behind My Quick and Easy Coq au Vin
Coq au Vin is known as ‘chicken in a lorry’ in our house. It’s a play on words with ‘vin’ implying ‘van’, which leads to the (now rarely used) old fashioned British word for truck – ‘lorry’.
The most memorable instance of this dish being served in our home was one night before we moved house. I decided to use up what was left in the brandy bottle (surely a couple extra tablespoons wouldn’t hurt?) and I nearly set fire to the kitchen. Luckily I had kept the pan lid nearby so the flame was quickly extinguished! A word to the wise – follow the recipe!
Is Coq Au Vin Gluten Free?
Provided you use a gluten free stock and serve the recipe with rice or potatoes, my Quick and Easy Coq au Vin recipe is gluten free.
Hints and Tips for Making Quick and Easy Coq au Vin
It’s a good idea to prep all your ingredients for this recipe ahead of time. It makes the recipe even quicker and easier!
Further to the story above, please do make sure you have the lid of the casserole to hand when you flame the dish. Also, if there are children running around the kitchen, or the idea of setting anything alight is just too much for a weeknight, you can skip the flaming part. Just pour the brandy over where it’s called for and allow it to cook into the recipe a bit without flaming it. The chicken will still pick up a lovely brandied flavour.
Use good red wine for this recipe, a wine you would be happy to drink. I normally open a fresh bottle of wine to make this recipe, and serve the remainder of the bottle with the Coq au Vin. It makes a great accompaniment, as the taste of the wine echoes the flavours in the dish. The quality of the recipe is definitely affected by the wine you use. Please never, ever, use anything labelled ‘cooking wine’.
Speaking of brandy and wine, I have served this recipe to children with no ill effects. This is socially acceptable (and legal) in the United Kingdom and Europe. However, despite the flaming, all the alcohol does not cook off when you make this dish. If you have reason to be concerned about this, do save Coq au Vin for adults only dinners.
Bon Appétit!
Quick and Easy Coq au Vin – Printable Recipe
Quick and Easy Coq au Vin
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter use unsalted butter if possible
- 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup of chopped bacon ‘streaky’ bacon works best, or buy ready chopped 'lardons'. Chopped pancetta will also work.
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 4 boneless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup brandy
- ¼ cup chicken stock
- 1 cup good red wine
- 1 teaspoon dried Herbs de Provence
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- scant ¼ teaspoon nutmeg freshly ground nutmeg is lovely if possible
- 1 tablespoon corn flour corn flour is also known as corn starch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons dried flat leaf parsley
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a thick bottomed casserole (with a lid) on the stove top. Sauté the onion and mushrooms for a minute or two. Grate in the garlic and add the chopped bacon. Continue to sauté for three to four minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and cook for a moment or two. Remove the onion, mushrooms and bacon from the pan and set aside to keep warm.
- Add the remaining butter to the pan and sauté the chicken breasts on both sides until they are just beginning to turn golden brown. Return the onion, mushrooms and bacon to the pan.
- Pour over the brandy. At this point, you can carefully ignite the brandy with a match and allow it to flame for a moment or two before popping the lid on to extinguish it. However if there are kids running around or working with open flame feels a bit too stressful for a weeknight, it’s totally okay just to cook this for a few moments at high heat allowing the brandy to permeate the other ingredients while reducing at the same time.
- Add the chicken stock and the red wine, along with the Herbs de Provence, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Lower the heat, clamp on the lid and allow to simmer together for about fifteen to twenty minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and no pink remains inside.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm. Blend the corn flour with the water and add to the sauce in the pan. Stir to mix thoroughly and cook for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens up nicely. Taste for seasoning and adjust with a bit more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir through 1 teaspoon of the dried flat leaf parsley.
- Serve the sauce over the chicken breasts garnished with the remaining flat leaf parsley.
did you make this recipe?
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Comments & Reviews
Cindy @Hun... What's for Dinner? says
What a lovely day to prepare chicken. YUM! Thank you for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.
April Harris says
Thank you, Cindy 🙂
Linda (Meal Planning Maven) says
I have actually never made Coq au Vin so thank you so much for providing a recipe with easy to understand instructions! I’m very excited to try your version!
Heather says
I’d never heard of this, but it sounds so good! We love mashed sweet potato, so I think that’s a great way to serve it! We will need to try this!
April Harris says
Thank you, Heather! It’s a dish that is very popular in France, and it’s kind of made it’s way across the English Channel over the years 🙂 I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!
Miz Helen says
This is a great recipe and looks delicious. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday. Come to next weeks Thanksgiving party on Tuesday at 8:00 am, CST, see you then!
Miz Helen
April Harris says
Thank you so much, Miz Helen! Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!
Claire says
Whoo this sounds nice and tasty April. I would love to try some. Thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays 🙂 Hope you can join us tomorrow.
April Harris says
Thank you so much, Claire 🙂