Made without flour this heavenly delicious and easy beef bourguignon recipe with red wine gravy is a gluten-free, keto and low carb take on a traditional French beef stew dish.
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Ingredients you'll need
Bacon - If you want your dish to be more authentic, you can use lardon bacon. But regular uncured sugar-free bacon will do, too!
Beef - Any lean stewing beef like chuck steak, brisket, or round steak will do well in this keto beef recipe. Personally, I chose chuck steak to make my beef bourguignon.
Onions, garlic, and carrots - These three are staples of any beef stew out there and our beef bourguignon recipe is no exception. We will need, however, two types of onions - yellow for sauteing and pearl onions to add to our stew.
Mushrooms - You can use white button or baby Bella mushrooms. For this particular recipe, I prefer to buy very small ones so I can keep them whole, solely for presentation reasons. You can, of course, buy any size you want and cut them into halves or quarters before frying.
Cognac and wine - Let me introduce you to the main ingredients 🙂 Jokes aside, this recipe is named after a dry red wine from the Burgundy region in France - and we're going to use a lot of it (almost a whole bottle!) If you're not fond of Burgundy wines, you can also go with chianti or cabernet sauvignon. The wine doesn't have to be expensive at all, but make sure that it's of good quality. As for cognac (or you can use brandy), I used just a little to deglaze my Dutch oven after frying all the meat and vegetables. All the alcohol will evaporate during the cooking time - and it’s a very long cooking time!
Beef stock - Alternatively, you can use chicken stock.
Spices and herbs - Salt, freshly ground black pepper, and fresh (or dried) thyme leaves and dried bay leaves will make our boeuf bourguignon recipe extra flavorful.
Xanthan gum - Traditionally, beef Burgundy - or boeuf bourguignon, if you will - calls for some flour to help the sauce thicken during cooking, creating a delicious and smooth gravy. However, I prefer to gently simmer my sauce for an extra 10-15 minutes to make it thicker. The other way is to use around ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum during the simmering process. If you do, add the xanthan gum gradually (¼ teaspoon at a time) to not overdo it. If the powder doesn't dissolve properly, use an immersion blender or regular blender at the very end of cooking to break down all the lumps.
Step-by-step instructions
Yes, this easy beef bourguignon recipe takes 2 ½ hours to make, but you’ll only spend 30 minutes actually standing and cooking. For the rest of the time our beef will be in the oven, slowly cooking while becoming super soft and tender. But first, let's start by preheating the oven to 350F (175C) and browning our meat and veggies.
BROWNING THE MEAT
Before browning the meat, we need to cut it into 1-inch cubes and season everything with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside while we fry the bacon.
Heat a Dutch oven over a medium-high heat, add the bacon, and cook until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the Dutch oven onto a paper towel to remove the excess fat.
Add olive oil to the same Dutch oven, if needed, and brown the meat in several batches (to avoid overcrowding and ensure all of the beef gets a nice browning) until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oven onto a plate and set aside.
PREPARING THE VEGETABLES
Add the olive oil, if needed. Then add the yellow onions and carrots. Season with salt and black pepper, then cook until the onions are golden. Next, add the garlic, pearl onions, thyme, and tomato paste and cook for another 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the cognac or brandy to deglaze and cook for 1 minute or until the liquids are almost evaporated.
PUTTING EVERYTHING TOGETHER
Return the beef and bacon to the Dutch oven and mix with the vegetables. Add the wine and the beef broth, stir well, and bring to a simmer. Cover with the lid and put into the oven for 2 hours or until the beef is fork-tender. Of course, the cooking time will vary depending on the meat you use. Generally, 2 hours will be enough for 1-inch pieces to become tender. If not, add an extra 30 minutes to your cooking time.
Right before the beef is done, prepare the mushrooms. Heat the olive oil and butter on a skillet over a medium heat and add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook until softened and golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
HOW TO MAKE SAUCE
When the beef is done, discard the bay leaves and drain the sauce into a large bowl using a sieve. Return the sauce into the Dutch oven and place the meat with vegetables into a bowl or onto a large plate or a dish you’re going to use for serving.
Bring the sauce to a light simmer and remove the excess fat on the surface, if its appeared, with a spoon. At this point you can adjust the seasoning, if needed. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to your taste. Alternatively, gradually add xanthan gum to make the sauce thicker. Use an immersion blender or regular blender at the end to break down xanthan gum lumps, if they have appeared.
Return the meat with vegetables into the Dutch oven or transfer everything (the sauce and the meat and veggies) into a large casserole pan or another deep serving dish. Add mushrooms, garnish everything with freshly chopped parsley, and serve!
Serving ideas
Despite the amount of carrots, onions, and mushrooms we use here, they aren’t enough (at least for me) to replace a side dish. So, I prefer to add something else to accompany this French beef recipe. If you like mashed potatoes with your stews, but follow a low carb keto lifestyle, you'll definitely like my CREAMY KETO CAULIFLOWER MASH instead. Also, this OVEN ROASTED RUTABAGA RECIPE (which is low in carbs, too!) will go amazingly with beef burgundy, as root vegetable pairs well with stews.
How many carbs in beef burgundy
This dish has a lot of ingredients that aren’t very low in carbohydrates. However, I did my best to make this recipe as low carb as is possible, reducing the amount of wine, onions, and carrots. The result is 9g net carbs per portion, assuming you'll divide the whole pot into 6 servings!
More low carb recipes
HEALTHY KETO ZUPPA TOSCANA SOUP
Recipe
Easy beef bourguignon recipe
Equipment
- Dutch oven (4qt/4lt)
Ingredients
- 7 strips (140g) bacon, diced
- 2.5 lb (around 1.1kg) boneless beef chuck steak, brisket, or round steak with the fat trimmed, cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) chunks
- 1 small (50g) yellow onion, diced
- 9 oz (250g) or 5 small carrots, chopped into thick ¾-inch (2cm) pieces
- ¼ cup (50ml) cognac or brandy
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 9 small (100g) pearl onions, peeled
- 2 cups (480ml) dry red wine, like pinot noir or chianti
- 1 cup (240g) beef stock
- 2 bay leaves dried or fresh
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum, optional
- 250 g white button mushrooms, cut in halves or quarters if large
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil for frying
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter for frying mushrooms
- Fresh parsley for garnishing, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
- In a mixing bowl, season the meat with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then set aside.
- Heat a Dutch oven over a medium-high heat, add the bacon, and cook until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the Dutch oven onto a paper towel.
- To the same Dutch oven, add olive oil if needed and brown the meat in several batches until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oven onto a plate and set aside.
- Add the olive oil, if needed. Then add the yellow onions and carrots. Season with salt and black pepper, then cook until the onions are golden. Next add the garlic, pearl onions, thyme, and tomato paste and cook for another 2-3 minutes while stirring occasionally. Add the cognac or brandy to deglaze and cook for 1 minute or until the liquids are almost evaporated.
- Return the beef and bacon to the Dutch oven and mix with the vegetables. Add the wine and the beef broth, stir well, and bring to a simmer. Cover with the lid and put into the oven for 2 hours or until the beef is fork-tender.
- Right before the beef is done, prepare the mushrooms. Heat the olive oil and butter on a skillet over a medium heat and add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook until softened and golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- When the beef is done, discard the bay leaves and drain the sauce into a large bowl using a sieve. Return the sauce into the Dutch oven and place the meat (with vegetables) into the bowl or onto a large plate or a dish you’re going to use for serving.
- Bring the sauce to a light simmer and remove the excess fat, if it’s appeared on the surface, with a spoon. Adjust the seasoning if needed. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to your taste. Alternatively, add xanthan gum to make the sauce thicker.
- Return the meat with vegetables into the Dutch oven or transfer everything (the sauce and the meat and veggies) into a large casserole pan or another deep serving dish. The add mushrooms, pour the sauce on top, garnish everything with freshly chopped parsley, and serve!
Notes
This website, https://heretocook.com, offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. This information is a product of online calculators such as Cronometer.com and MyFitnesPal.com
Ira
I made it for my BD dinner and it was absolutely perfect. My husband liked it too.
Anna
Thank you for sharing this, Ira!