4.9 of 35 votes

Prep time: 20

Cook time: 40

Zoom on a plate of mushroom bourguignon with potato mash

Today, I am sharing with your a traditional French recipe revisited in a vegetarian version: a Mushroom Bourguignon. Served with homemade mashed potatoes, this meatless bourguignon is a great comforting meal for cold winter days.

This mushroom bourguignon recipe is rich in flavor and so umami that any meat eater will forget that it is vegetarian!

What is a Bourguignon?

A boeuf bourguignon is originally a traditional French stew made with braised beef marinated in red wine, carrots, mushrooms and a bouquet garni (French herbs such as rosemary and thyme). It is a dish that simmers for a long time over low heat.

As its name suggests, it is a dish from Burgundy that combines two of the most famous specialties of this region: Burgundy wine (Pinot Noir) and Charolais beef.

Zoom on a dutch oven with mushroom bourguignon

List of ingredients

Mushrooms: To add more flavor to this beef bourguignon and vary the textures, I chose four different varieties of mushrooms:

Button mushrooms: Button Mushrooms or Champignons de Paris the easiest mushrooms to find, they are small but hold up well to cooking.
Portobello: Portobello mushrooms are large mushrooms with relatively firm flesh and meaty texture, perfect for a vegetarian meat replacement.
Shiitake: Shiitake are spotted brown mushrooms with a thin stem and a large head.
Oyster mushrooms: Oyster mushrooms are long mushrooms with relatively chewy flesh, also ideal to replace meat.

Carrots: I used fresh carrots cut into slices. You can also substitute them with baby carrots or add other root vegetables like parsnips.

Shallots: Ideally, this recipe is made with pearl onions. Since they are not always easy to find, I added peeled French shallots cut in half crosswise instead.

Garlic: It wouldn’t be a French recipe without a few cloves of garlic! I recommend fresh garlic cloves. If you don’t have any, you can replace them with garlic powder.

Red wine: This is one of the main ingredients of this recipe! I recommend a French red wine, of good quality but not necessarily too expensive for your budget. Traditionally, bourguignon is made with a Burgundy wine such as Pinot Noir.

Vegetable broth: I used vegetable broth or vegetable stock because I wanted a vegetarian recipe. You can replace it with chicken broth, beef broth or even miso broth.

Flour: The flour will help the sauce to bind a little. I use all-purpose flour.

Flour is all the more important as mushrooms do not contain any fat and therefore to obtain a creamy sauce, it is necessary to add a binding element.

You can replace the flour with cornstarch for a gluten free version. In this case, reduce the quantities by two because cornstarch is more thickening than flour.

Tomato paste: Tomato paste or tomato purée are concentrated tomatoes. It adds a decent tomato flavor to the dish.

Herbs: To add flavor to this mushroom stew, I added a French bouquet garni with fresh rosemary, fresh thyme and a few dry bay leaves.

Dark Soy Sauce: This is an optional ingredient. The dark soy sauce adds an umami touch to this dish and will also darken the sauce slightly.

Butter or/and olive oil: To sauté the mushrooms, you need fat: either butter or olive oil. Personally, I like to start by sautéing my mushrooms in olive oil and add a little butter at the end of cooking.

How to prepare a mushroom bourguignon?

CUT: Peel and slice the carrots. Peel the shallots and cut them in half lengthwise. Cut the mushrooms into strips or cubes according to their shape.

SAUTÉ: Heat the butter in a medium dutch oven or casserole on medium-high heat and brown the mushrooms in batches to allow them to brown. Personally, I sautéed each variety of mushroom individually, so in four batches in total. This is the most tedious part of this recipe, but well worth it!

Then, set the mushrooms aside in a small bowl and season with a good pinch of salt and a few turns of black pepper. In the same pot, sauté the carrots and shallots with the remaining butter. Add the chopped garlic after 5 minutes.

DEGLAZE: Add the flour and tomato paste and mix well. Deglaze with red wine and let simmer for 2 minutes.

SIMMER: Pour in the vegetable broth and dark soy sauce. Add thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Pour the cooked mushrooms back to the dutch oven and simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.

SERVE: Once the mushroom bourguignon has reduced and is the sauce has thickened, remove the bay leaves and the stems of rosemary and thyme with the slotted spoon. Served this mushroom bourguignon with a potato mash, pasta or polenta.

Géraldine’s tips

Make a vegan mushroom bourguignon by replacing the butter with olive oil or vegan butter such as margarine.
Don’t hesitate to add a variety of mushrooms : you can add porcini mushrooms or even chanterelles to add more texture to the dish.
To perfectly sauté my mushrooms, I like to use both olive oil and butter: I first sauté my mushrooms with drizzle of olive oil and add a small piece of butter at the end of the cooking to add some flavor.

More French traditional recipes

Frequently Asked Questions

I don’t have an ingredient, how to replace it?

Have a look at the section List of Ingredients, I explain how to replace some of them easily.

How long does this Mushroom Bourguignon keep?

This mushroom bourguignon keep for 4 days placed in an airtight container in the fridge.

Can I freeze this mushroom bourguignon ?

Absolutely, place it in an airtight container in the freezer and you can keep it up to one year.

Don’t hesitate to leave me a comment, it always makes me happy!

Portrait of Geraldine Leverd, author of La Cuisine de Géraldine, a blog of simple, healthy French recipes.

You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to see behind the scenes of my blog

Print Recipe