Beef Bourguignon Pot Pie Recipe

When the nights are drawing in sooner and the days are getting colder, hearty, warming meals make everything feel better. There are few meals more comforting and familiar than a hot stew, and the classic French dish beef bourguignon is perhaps the king of rich and satisfying stews. Recipe developer Jennine Rye takes classic beef bourguignon and meshes it together with another all-time comfort classic, pot pie, to create a hearty dish that checks each and every cozy, warming, comforting box out there.

The combination of pork fat and beef chunks, stewed for hours in red wine until it is mouthwateringly tender, is what gives beef bourguignon its especially rich and decadent edge. Puff pastry adds wonderful texture and flavor to the rich beef bourguignon, and gives the dish an even more comforting and homely finish. While this beef bourguignon pot pie recipe is a labor of love, requiring both time and patience, it is well worth the wait if you are seeking a dinner that is incredibly satisfying and hearty.

To begin this beef bourguignon pot pie recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. For the beef bourguignon stew you will want bacon lardons, stewing beef, an onion, garlic, carrots, cornstarch, red wine, tomato puree, a beef stock cube, bay leaves, fresh thyme, and salt and pepper. To complete the stew you will also want cooking oil, button mushrooms, and either pearl onions or shallots. For the pot pie crust, you'll need a pack of ready-rolled puff pastry and whole milk.

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

Heat a large, oven safe pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

Add the bacon lardons and fry for 5 to 6 minutes until golden.

Remove the lardons from the pan and set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan along with the beef, allowing the meat to brown for about 5 minutes.

Remove the beef from the pan.

Add 1 tablespoon oil, the diced onion, crushed garlic, and carrots to the pan.

Saute for 5 minutes, until the onion has softened.

Add the cooked bacon, browned beef, and cornstarch to the pan. Stir well to coat the contents on the pan with the cornstarch.

Pour the bottle of wine into the pan.

Add the tomato puree, beef stock cube, bay leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper to the pan. Stir everything well.

Place a lid on the pan and transfer to the oven for 2 hours.

When the 2 hours are nearly up, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a clean pan to a medium temperature.

Add the pearl onions or shallots to the pan and fry for 5 to 6 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan along with the button mushrooms.

Fry the mushrooms for 5 to 6 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the pan.

Take the beef bourguignon out of the oven and add the onions and mushrooms to the stew. Mix well.

Return the beef bourguignon back to the oven for 1 hour.

Remove the stew from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 425 F.

Roll out the puff pastry.

Use a rectangular baking dish to cut out the rough shape of a pie lid from the pastry, allowing a little extra dough around the edges.

Transfer the beef bourguignon to your chosen pie dish, removing the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

Lay the pastry lid on top of the beef bourguignon.

Crimp the edges of the pastry with your fingers, make a cross in the center to let out steam, and use any leftover pastry scraps as you wish to decorate the pie.

Brush the top of the pastry with milk.

Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 minutes, until the puff pastry is risen and golden.

Remove from the oven and serve.

If you love a bourguignon, but you are looking to cut down on your red meat consumption or simply fancy a change, this dish is equally delicious when made instead with chicken. We recommend using chicken thighs and drumsticks for a wonderfully succulent meal. Alternatively, pork can also be used in place of the beef, for a different meaty and savory finish.

To switch up the pie element of this recipe, you can swap out the puff pastry for a short crust pastry topping to give the dish a different finish. Alternately, you can use potatoes to make the beef bourguignon into a shepherd's pie inspired dish. Cheesy mashed potatoes can be added on top of the stew, or thin slices of potatoes can be layered on top of the meat in a similar style to the classic Lancashire hotpot, to give you a crisp potato lid to your pie.

Finally, while carrots, mushrooms, and pearl onions are classically added to this dish, you can also add in other root vegetables to give the meal more nutrients. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and turnips can all be added to the stew, and greens such as beans or peas can be added in the later stages of cooking.

This beef bourguignon pot pie is wonderfully rich, and can be enjoyed as a meal by itself. However, it can also be served alongside a wide range of side dishes that will complement and contrast the flavors to give you an enjoyable full meal. For an incredibly simple side, slices of fresh crusty bread make a great accompaniment to this dish and can be used to mop up the lovely juices of the stew. For other simple sides, steamed greens such as kale, broccoli, or green beans add freshness as well as color to your plate, providing contrast to the hearty, decadent stew. Mashed or boiled potatoes or long grain rice both make great accompaniments to the beef bourguignon pie, absorbing the sauce and softening the richness of the dish.

For slightly more decadent pairings, roasted root vegetables, or a root vegetable mash makes a great accompaniment, or you can add a little more to simple sides such as green beans by sauteing them in a garlic and butter mixture and finishing them off with a little lemon zest and some almonds. If you are looking for a wine accompaniment, you'll definitely want to stick with red wine for this dish, and ideally choose a similar wine to the one you cooked with, to fully complement the flavors of the dish.