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This Instant Pot Coq au Vin recipe concentrates flavors with less effort and time than the traditional method! You’ll love this take on the beloved chicken recipe.
You may also enjoy this Sunday Pot Roast or Crockpot Red Wine Braised Short Ribs.
Why you’ll love it
This Coq au Vin recipe, while staying fairly true to the classic, really benefits from being cooked in the Instant Pot. This electric pressure cooker Coq au Vin is fast enough to make on a weeknight, but it’s also great for company. The leftovers are fantastic, so it’s something that you can enjoy more than once! It also freezes well.
What is Coq au Vin?
- Coq au Vin (chicken in red wine) is a classic French dish of braised chicken that’s then stewed. It’s normally a labor of love, but the Instant Pot makes this process quicker. The flavors get really concentrated without having to stew it for hours. Traditionally, bone-in, skin-on chicken is used.
What you’ll need
- Bacon – I love making it with thick cut, but regular bacon is good too
- Chicken – boneless, skinless chicken thighs are the way to go for this one
- Garlic and pearl onions – our tasty aromatics. Pearl onions taste much sweeter and milder than other varieties.
- Carrots and mushrooms – classic veggie component of this stew
- Red wine and chicken broth – the base of the sauce. Cabernet sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Burgundy wines (e.g. Pinot Noir) work well in Coq au Vin.
- Tomato paste – it adds rich, savory tomato flavor
- Thyme – this fragrant, woodsy herb is amazing with poultry
- Cornstarch – to thicken the sauce
Important notes
- When I first tested this recipe, I did use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, and that’s fine, but I like it better with boneless, skinless thighs. Why? It’s less effort, the sauce is less fatty, and I find the skin isn’t exactly edible anyway after pressure cooking it. If you go that route, brown the chicken in the Instant Pot for 7-5 minutes with the skin-side down and then drain the fat.
- I do not recommend using chicken breasts in this recipe. They will end up a lot drier. Chicken thighs are more flavorful and more forgiving when it comes to recipes like this one.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- I’ve got an older model, but you can pick up the newest Instant Pot if you don’t already own one.
- Mincing the garlic is a cinch with this garlic press.
- A pair of kitchen shears makes cutting up the bacon effortless.
- Save your leftover bacon grease in this bacon bin.
How to make Instant Pot Coq au Vin
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Prep the ingredients, and sauté the bacon in your Instant Pot until crispy. Discard most of the fat. Add in the garlic, red wine, chicken broth, and tomato paste. Stir, and scrape up the browned bits to avoid a burn warning.
Add in the chicken, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and thyme. Give it a stir, then pressure cook for 10 minutes. After the countdown and release, add in a cornstarch slurry to give the sauce more body. Season with salt & pepper.
What to serve with Coq au Vin
- It’s fabulous served over Mashed Potatoes or a Simple Baked Potato. Pasta (like egg noodles) or rice are also great starchy options to go with the sauce, or simply go with a slice of crusty bread.
- Steamed vegetables, Simple Sautéed Leeks, or learn How to Cook Asparagus for easy veggie side dish pairings.
- Craving a salad? Dress it up with my Creamy Balsamic Dressing (Easy, No Blender!).
Leftovers and storage
- Keep leftover Coq au Vin in the fridge in a covered container for 3-4 days.
- When reheating this dish, you may want to skim some of the fat off the top. That’s a totally normal thing to do! Warm it up over a low heat in a saucepan for best results.
- You can definitely freeze leftovers of this one.
If you made my Instant Pot Coq au Vin recipe, please leave a star rating and review below! Let me know if the post didn’t answer your questions. I’m also on Instagram.
Instant Pot Coq au Vin
Ingredients
- 6 strips bacon chopped into small pieces
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 large carrots chopped
- 10 ounces pearl onions peeled
- 7 ounces button mushrooms (leave them whole)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups red wine
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoons cold water
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep your ingredients. I use kitchen shears to make cutting up the bacon easier. You can always finish prepping the remaining ingredients while the bacon is cooking to save time.
- Add the bacon to your Instant Pot. Press the sauté button and fry the bacon until crispy (about 10-12 mins).
- Once the bacon is crispy, move the bacon to one side of the Instant Pot and scoop most of the grease out with a spoon. Discard the fat (or store it and save it for other recipes).
- Add the garlic, red wine, chicken broth, and tomato paste to the Instant Pot. Let it start to bubble, and scrape the browned bits off the bottom so you don't get a burn warning.
- Add the chicken, carrots, onions, mushrooms, and thyme to your Instant Pot. Stir it as best as you can. Close the lid and set the valve to "sealing". Set the timer to cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Once the countdown has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, and then do a quick release of the remaining pressure.
- Add the cornstarch slurry (mix the cornstarch and cold water together) to the Instant Pot. Press the sauté button and this will help the sauce sauce thicken a little bit (the sauce isn’t meant to be too thick) if you let it cook for a few more minutes. Season with salt & pepper if needed.
Notes
- I used about a pound of chicken thighs in this recipe. Anything around that mark (or even up to 1.5 lbs. or so) would work.
- Serves 4-6 depending on portion size.
- Inactive time = the time it takes your Instant Pot to get up to pressure.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This recipe was originally published on March 22, 2019. It’s been updated with new photos and better instructions but is the same great recipe!
What a tasty recipe. I let the alcohol bubble for a few minutes before putting under pressure. Finished product does not taste boozy. Had no desire to mash potatoes. So I spooned on top of several mini spuds. Nice meals for the next few days
Thanks so much, Danielle!
Best coq au vim I’ve made. No bacon, red onion in place of pearls, and added fresh rosemary.
Sauce was perfect, no corn starch needed.
Thank you, Lou!
the wine did not cook out – I believe it should be left bubbling for several minutes at least, rather than just ‘start to bubble.’
I used chicken thighs with bone in. Should it be cooked longer?
Hi! I can’t say for sure as it’s entirely possible they will be cooked in the allotted time. Adding on an extra couple of minutes might not be a bad idea.