13 Rich & Robust Red Wine Recipes
Love the wine you’re with! And if you don’t love it, cook with it!
Red wine adds a rich, sometimes fruity depth of flavor to a variety of dishes, making it a decadent way to braise, marinade, or slow cook your next meal. Whether it’s beef or pork, sangria or chocolate cake, red wine is a diverse culinary ingredient that deserves to be in your glass, and on your plate.
So pick up a bottle for yourself a bottle for the kitchen, and check out some of our favorite red wine recipes for an elegant meal in your very own home.
Photo Courtesy of Co+op
Red Wine Pan Sauce
If you don’t have time to slow cook chicken or steak in red wine, this quick pan sauce is a great alternative. You’ll still get a rich red wine flavor, but in a matter of minutes, rather than hours.
Ingredients
3 cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 small shallot, finely diced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
2 sprigs of thyme, leaves only, chopped
Salt to taste
Directions
Heat a cast iron or stainless steel pan over high heat until hot. Sear steak for 2-4 minutes per side or until desired doneness. When steak is nearing finish, add sliced mushrooms. Once steak is ready, take it out of the pan and let it rest while completing pan sauce.
Add 1 Tbsp. of butter to mushrooms in skillet and scrape up residual steak, or fond, left in bottom of pan. Add shallot and salt, and saute until mushrooms are browned.
Slowly add half of wine and deglaze the pan by scraping up any remaining fond. Be careful as alcohol can cause a flame to rise. Add remaining wine and beef stock, and let the sauce reduce for 10-15 minutes, until syrupy in consistency.
Add the remaining butter, turn off heat and stir to incorporate. Do not overheat the sauce at this point or the sauce will break. Add the thyme and spoon sauce over rested steak.
Photo Courtesy of Co+op
Red Sangria with Strawberries
A lighter, fruiter take on sangria, this recipe uses wine as the only alcohol source, making it even easier to toss together. But with that said, a splash of brandy is always welcome.
Ingredients
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup red wine
1 slice orange
1 strawberry, sliced
1 cinnamon stick and 1 mint sprig, for garnish
Directions
In a 12- 16-ounce juice glass, combine the orange juice, apple juice, red wine, orange and strawberry. Stir with a cinnamon stick and garnish with mint sprigs. Serve cold.
Photo Courtesy of Co+op
Chorizo Stewed in Red Wine
Tapas, anyone? Calling for just 3 ingredients, this red wine stewed chorizo is a perfect appetizer for a larger meal.
Ingredients
8 ounces chorizo links, pre-cooked
2 cups Spanish red wine
4 cloves garlic, peeled
Directions
Slice the chorizo into inch-thick slices, on the diagonal, if desired. Put the chorizo in a one-quart saucepan then add the wine and garlic. Over high heat, bring the wine to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Check and stir to make sure it doesn't boil dry.
When the chorizo is tinted and the wine is reduced to a syrupy liquid, transfer the chorizo to serving dishes and pour the syrupy wine sauce over them. Serve with sliced bread and toothpicks for fishing out the chorizo.
Photo Courtesy of Spend With Pennies
Coq au Vin
Translating to literally rooster in wine, Coq au Vin is a classic French dish that calls for braising bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, and drumsticks in a rich red wine sauce.
Chicken is browned and bacon is crisped up before being combined with a variety of veggies and slow simmered in red wine and beef broth.
Serve your coq au vin over a bed of wide egg noodles or homemade mashed potatoes. The perfect warm and cozy dinner for a cold weekend.
Photo Courtesy of Once Upon a Chef
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
Cozy, elegant, and easy to toss together, these red wine braised short ribs call for boneless short ribs, though you could certainly opt for bone-in if you’d like.
Short ribs are quickly seared in a Dutch oven before being combined with onions and garlic. Everything is then covered with red wine and beef broth and oven roasted for 2 hours.
Make sure to thoroughly trim your short ribs beforehand so that your sauce isn’t super greasy.
Find the full recipe at Once Upon a Chef
Lentil Bolognese
Think rich, robust Bolognese, but plant-based! This recipe from Feasting at Home was developed with red wine and coziness in mind: perfect for a cold winter night.
Blogger Sylvia was looking for a warm and cozy winter meal that would hold up well to a glass of red wine, all while being vegan friendly.
Here, black lentils are stewed with onions, carrots, celery, and garlic before adding red wine, veggie stock, tomatoes, and tomato paste to bring the whole sauce together.
Serve your Bolognese over pasta or polenta with a side of crusty bread.
Photo Courtesy of RecipeTin Eats
Beef Bourguignon
A classic way to cook with red wine, beef bourguignon is a traditional French dish made up of beef, bacon, carrots, onion, and mushrooms.
Beef chuck, thyme, bay leaves, carrots, and onions are marinated in red wine for 24 hours before being strained. The beef is then patted dry and seasoned before being quickly browned on all sides.
Bacon, onions, carrots, and mushrooms are cooked up before the reserved red wine marinade is added along with some beef stock and cooked down to a rich, meaty sauce.
Serve your beef bourguignon over homemade mashed potatoes for a satisfying, warm meal.
Photo Courtesy of Love & Olive Oil
Blackberry Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Don’t get us wrong, savory, beefy red wine recipes are delicious. But let’s indulge with something sweet and chocolatey!
In this recipe from Love & Olive Oil, red wine takes the place of coffee, which is sometimes added to chocolate cake recipes, and what you end up with is a deeply rich and subtly fruity cake.
Whip this cake up for a birthday party, Valentine’s Day, or enjoy it any day just because.
Find the full recipe at Love & Olive Oil
More Red Wine Recipes
Bottle-of-Red Wine Sauce from Food Network
Red-Wine Spaghetti with Walnuts and Parsley from Food & Wine
Shepherd's Pie from Bon Appetit
Slow Cooker Red Wine Braised Short Rib Pasta from Half Baked Harvest
Red Wine–Braised Chicken With Chorizo and Chickpeas from Epicurious