Coq Au Vin

Coq Au Vin is a famous French chicken dish where chicken thighs are braised in red wine, vegetables and aromatics to make a rich chicken that falls off the bone. The meat is super moist, rich from the red wine, and saucy perfection.

I have been making Coq Au Vin for years and have adapted my recipe many times to get to this one. It is shockingly easy, and only takes about an hour and a half total. I like to make this dish to impress guests, and it never disappoints!

For this recipe you must use chicken thighs, not breasts. Breasts are too low of fat and would dry out, where as thighs will stay nice and moist. I also recommend using a dry pinot noir that is decent quality. When picking wines to cook with, you always want to use wines you would also like to drink.

This dish is great served with a potato dish to cut through the richness. I serve it with my burnished potatoes recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb skin on, bone in chicken thighs
• Salt and pepper
• 3 cups burgundy / pinot noir
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-4 sprigs thyme
• 4 oz bacon, diced 
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 leek, white part only, diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 6 oz button mushrooms, quartered
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1.5 tsp tomato paste
• 8 oz pearl onions, peeled
• 1-2 tbsp arrowroot starch + 2 tbsp water (optional to thicken)
• ¼ cup parsley, chopped

Preparation:

STEP 1.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Marinate chicken with wine, bay leaf and thyme overnight in a ziploc bag.

STEP 2.

Preheat the oven to 375*F. Remove chicken from wine marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Reserved the marinade. Add chicken to medium heat dutch oven, skin side down, until golden brown. Flip and brown the other side. Set aside.

STEP 3.

In the same pot, cook the bacon until crispy. Add the onions, leeks, carrots and mushrooms. Saute until translucent, salting as you go, around 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and coat all the vegetables. Cook for another 5 minutes. Deglaze with the wine from the bag of marinade.

STEP 4.

Add the chicken, and pearl onions. Make sure there is enough liquid to come up half the side of the chicken. Bring up to a simmer and transfer to the oven to braise for 1 hour, uncovered. 

STEP 5.

Remove from the oven and if the sauce is thick enough, serve. If you want it thicker, remove the chicken. In a bowl whisk together 1 tbsp of arrowroot starch with 1 tbsp of water. Bring the pot up to a simmer and whisk in the mixture, this should thicken the sauce. If you want it thicker, do this step again. Serve the sauce over the chicken and top with parsley.