Mushroom Bourguignon
Prep Time 20 minutes 
Cook Time 40 minutes 
Total Time 1 hour 
Servings 4Ingredients
- 500 gr white button mushrooms
- 500 gr brown chestnut mushrooms
- 3 carrots
- 3 shallots
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 25 gr unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1½ tbsp plain flour
- 300 ml red wine preferably Burgundy Pinot Noir like for example the "Mme. Claude Parmentier Pinot Noir"
- 500 ml vegetable stock
- 2 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- salt and black pepper
- 1 handful parsley fresh chopped to garnish
Equipment
Instructions
1. Prepare the vegetables
- Prepare the vegetables and mushrooms. Slice the carrots and shallots thinly. Clean the mushrooms and cut them into bite-sized pieces. and mince the garlic.
2. Brown the mushrooms
- Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the mushrooms in batches to avoid overcrowding and sauté until they are golden and their juices evaporate. Remove and set aside. This step develops deep mushroom flavour through caramelisation.
3. Cook shallots, carrots, and garlic
- In the same pan, melt the butter. Add the shallots, carrots, and garlic and gently cook for 5-7 minutes until softened and beginning to caramelise. This soft sweetness forms the flavour base of the dish.
4. Add tomato paste and flour
- Stir in the tomato paste and plain flour, cooking for a minute to get rid of the raw flour taste. This thickens the sauce and adds richness.
5. Deglaze with wine and add broth and herbs
- Slowly pour in the red wine while stirring and scraping up browned bits from the pan. Add vegetable broth, bay leaves, thyme, and rosemary. Return the mushrooms to the pan. This creates the classic bourguignon sauce.
6. Simmer gently
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Let it cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and the carrots are tender. This slow cooking melds all the flavours beautifully.
7. Final seasoning and garnish
- Remove the bay leaves and herb sprigs. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley before serving to add a fresh note!
Notes
- You can serve this Mushroom Bourguignon over creamy mashed potatoes, fresh egg noodles, or polenta to enjoy every drop of the luscious sauce!
About this recipe
I always find that recipes with wine are completely addictive, and this mushroom bourguignon is no different. I was so happy when I realised there was a vegetarian alternative to the famous boeuf bourguignon, and now this is what we make for comfort food when it’s cold outside. I’m lucky to have all my herbs growing in the garden, so the bay leaves, thyme, and rosemary I pick in summer and let dry in the shed ready to use all winter.
I don’t even know how to explain the taste of this vegetarian beef burgundy. It’s rich and earthy, with the mushrooms giving a meaty, almost silky texture and a strong umami flavour. Slow cooking makes everything taste rounded and a little sweet underneath. You’ll have to try it and tell me if I’m describing it well.
Where boeuf bourguignon comes from
I have to explain where the orginal Boeuf bourguignon comes from as this vegetarian boeuf bourguignon is a derivative from it. The original was born in Burgundy, obviously, in eastern France, where almost everything in the kitchen starts with two things: good red wine and Charolais cattle. The original version was just sensible farmhouse food, tough inexpensive cuts of beef that needed time and patience to become tender, braised slowly in local wine with aromatics.
It was actually first recorded in Pierre Larousse’s Grand Dictionary in 1867 as an example of “bourguignon,” meaning anything cooked with Burgundy wine, and it was being served in Parisian restaurants and bouillons from the 1880s onwards, long before Burgundy itself really claimed it as a regional speciality.
Famous chef Auguste Escoffier codified the recipe in his Guide Culinaire in 1903, which is what really spread it through French restaurants and beyond. And there’s a lovely side note to its history too: boeuf bourguignon is thought to be the origin of oeufs en meurette (similar to the oeufs a la couille d’âne) the famous Burgundy poached eggs dish, because when all the beef had been served and only the wine sauce was left in the pot, the tradition was to poach eggs in it rather than let it go to waste. So it’s basically two dishes in one!
From beef to mushrooms
The move from beef to mushrooms works really well here, and that’s because mushrooms are naturally built for this kind of slow cooking. They soak up the wine and aromatics as they simmer, gaining a depth of flavour that quick frying never delivers, and they release their own juices into the pot, which enrich the sauce in much the same way as meat does.
The best mushroom bourguignon uses a mix of mushrooms rather than just one type. Plain white button mushrooms make a good base. Chestnut mushrooms add more flavour and keep their texture during a long braise. If you can get hold of dried porcini, soaking them and adding them in with their strained soaking liquid brings a deep savouriness that pushes the sauce even closer to the richness of the original.
The wine
With no beef in the pot, the wine becomes even more important in this vegetarian bourguignon, so it’s worth using something you’d actually drink. A Burgundy like a Beaujolais Villages, or a good Pinot Noir, is the natural choice. The wine reduces and concentrates during cooking, so anything slightly off in the glass will be very noticeable on the plate. The usual rule applies: if you wouldn’t pour yourself a glass of it, don’t pour it into the pan!
As the mushroom bourguignon cooks, the alcohol cooks off and what remains is the fruit, the gentle tannins, and the structure that give the sauce its backbone. That slow reduction is where most of the flavour is built, so don’t rush it.
The aromatics
The French herbs base stays faithful to the original: thyme, bay leaves, rosemary, and garlic. I grow all of these in the garden and dry them in the summer, which is why I feel quite strongly about not skipping them. They’re what make the kitchen smell incredible while this is cooking, and that smell alone is worth the effort.
How to cook your vegetarian beef burgundy
For this slow, generous mushroom bourguignon dish, you want something that heats evenly, keeps a steady simmer without catching on the bottom, and can go from hob to oven if needed. A heavy cast iron cocotte is ideal for all of that. It holds the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly rather than boiling hard, and the weighty lid keeps moisture inside, effectively basting everything as the steam rises, condenses, and falls back into the pot.
When the vegetarian boeuf bourguignon is ready, take the whole pot straight to the table, with a good piece of bread to mop up every last drop of the sauce.
How to eat Mushroom Bourguignon
This is proper comfort food, so you can serve it with creamy mashed potato which is the way we do it in our home, because the sauce soaks straight into it and you get a bit of everything in each mouthful. Fresh egg noodles or tagliatelles work really well too, which is actually quite traditional in Burgundy. Polenta is good if you want something a bit different, it has that same soft, yielding quality that lets the sauce do what it needs to do.
A thick slice of good bread on the side is non-negotiable, because the sauce is the best part and you’ll want something to mop the plate with when everything else is gone.
It’s also a dish that’s actually better the next day, once everything has had time to settle and the sauce has deepened overnight. So if you can hold off, it’s worth it. If you can’t, that’s completely understandable too!
Last tip: Pour the same wine you cooked with. That’s the rule with bourguignon!
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If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turns out! Leave a ★★★★★ rating and your thoughts in the comments, it helps fellow French foodies discover this recipe too. Snap a photo and tag @obviously.french on Instagram. Come talk about it in our Facebook group. And don’t forget to save this recipe to Pinterest so you’ll always have it handy for your next French-inspired meal!
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