Beef Bourguignon

Simple Beef Bourguignon – Easy & delicious beef stew recipe. The perfect winter warmer dinner. Ideal for freezing, cooking in the pressure cooker or slow cooker.

This post is an ad, sponsored by Prestige Pressure Cookers. Thanks as always for supporting the blog.

Favourite things about autumn?

Cosy jumpers, log fires, leaves, crisp air, and all the stew and casseroles and Beef Bourguignon I can cram into our meal plans. Am I right or am I right?

I’m full on embracing all that is the season and loving the slow cooked dinners. BUT (and I’d like to point out that I realise how totally ridiculous this sounds) they are well, SLOW.

(As discovered the day I’d forgotten to put the slow cooker on in the morning so we went hungry that night. Arrrgh!)

So, when Prestige got in touch and asked my if I’d like to test out one of their pressure cookers, I was intrigued. Slow cooked, tender falling apart meat but in a fraction of the time? Got to be a winner.

Honestly, I was a little dubious as I can remember being terrified of my Mum’s hissing pressure cooker as a child.

This was so simple to use though, the lid locks in place, pressure builds (there’s a little indicator to let you know it’s working) and there you have it, delicious, meltingly soft and tender meat in a fraction of the time.

I used it to make my favourite, really simple and easy Beef Bourguignon recipe. I would normally cook it for 2 – 3 hours and this was ready in about an hour and was incredibly tender.

I’m a pressure cooker convert! (I was using the Prestige Smart Plus Pressure cooker – currently £59.99 instead of £70.00)

How do you make Beef Bourguignon?

Classic Beef Bourguignon is basically a French beef stew made with red wine. It usually has small pearl onions, mushrooms, carrots, beef stock (or beef broth) and some herbs too.

You simply brown off the meat and vegetables, add your liquids and herbs. Then cook long and slowly until the meat it tender and the sauce is thick and delicious.

To cook Beef Bourguignon in a pressure cooker, you follow that method, but just thicken the sauce at the very end of cooking.

What kind of beef is best for Beef Bourguignon?

This recipe for Beef Bourguignon uses braising beef, so any kind of beef suited to long, slow cooking is fine.

Braising beef (or braising steak as my Mum always called it) is actually a generic name for any type of beef (mostly cubed) that needs long slow cooking, include chuck, skirt, leg and flank.

I sometimes use beef shin for these recipes. It can be more fatty though, but is super tasty.

How do you cook beef in a pressure cooker?

Brown off your meat in the pan or the pressure cooker with a little oil, add vegetables and enough liquid (as directed by the recipe of your pressure cooker manual).

Then, after giving it a good stir, secure the lid, allow the pressure cooker to come up to pressure and when the time is up, release the pressure.

You’ll often find with pressure cooker recipes that the sauce is very liquid, this is because it doesn’t evaporate and thicken in the same way as traditional cooking. I just thicken with a little cornflour at the end of the recipe.

What can I serve with Beef Bourguignon?

Mashed potatoes work really well to soak up that delicious gravy. One of my favourite versions ever is this Colcannon recipe. It is SO delicious.

Orzo pasta, cous cous, or even baked potatoes work well too.

How long does it take to cook beef in a pressure cooker?

Generally the cooking time in a pressure cooker is about a third of the regular cooking time.

I cooked this Beef Bourguignon (once it had reached full pressure) for 45 minutes and it was perfectly soft and tender. Some of the meat had fallen apart into the sauce but I quite like it like that for a really meaty, rich sauce.

If you wanted more firm pieces of meat that all hold their shape, you could reduce this by 5 minutes.

Larger cuts of beef, like a pot roast joint (my next project!) would take about 60 minutes.

What is the difference between Beef Bourguignon and Beef Stew?

In the UK a Beef Stew (or any type of stew in fact) is usually cooked on the stove top in a lidded saucepan. Whereas a casserole (in the UK at least) tends to be a similar dish, but cooked in the oven in a lidded saucepan.

Beef Bourguignon is the name of a classic French beef stew, made using slow cooked beef and red wine.

Can I freeze Beef Bourguignon?

Yes. This dish freezes brilliantly. When it’s cold, I portion it up into takeaway containers (I buy them in bulk from Amazon, about £8 for 50).

I then defrost and warm through when needed. The sauce will thicken even more on reheating, just add a splash of water if you would like more gravy.

Tips for making this Pressure Cooker Beef Bourguignon:

• Be sure to dry your beef pieces with kitchen paper before frying. This will mean that they brown easily more in the pan.
• Make sure you follow the instructions on your own pressure cooker for safety, as they may vary.
• Life is too short to to peel a miniature onion in my opinion! BUT they really do make a difference in this Beef Bourguignon so, I use pre peeled frozen ones. These are available from Waitrose, Ocado and other big supermarkets.

Fancy some other slow cooked beef recipes that you could easily adapt to cook in a pressure cooker?

How about my Beef Stifado or my Beef and Guinness Stew?

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. I’d love to know how you got on and what you thought of it if you make this Pressure Cooker Beef Bourguignon recipe. Please rate the recipe and leave me a comment below if you do.

Also, if you fancy showing me a photo by tagging me on Instagram (@tamingtwins) I LOVE to see your creations.

How to make the Pressure Cooker Beef Bourguignon Recipe:

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