Coq au vin sounds like something you would order at a French restaurant, not something you would make on a Tuesday night in your own kitchen. But with a pressure cooker, you can. Martha Stewart’s Pressure-Cooker Coq au Vin browns flour-dredged chicken thighs in butter, sautees mushrooms and pearl onions, deglazes with cognac and red wine, and pressure-cooks the whole thing for just 10 to 14 minutes until the chicken is fall-apart tender and the sauce tastes like it simmered all afternoon.
I was intimidated by this Martha Stewart coq au vin recipe for a long time because the name alone felt above my skill level. It is not. This chicken coq au vin is one of Martha Stewart’s best chicken recipes for a cold winter night because the pressure cooker turns a traditional coq au vin that normally braises for hours into a 50-minute dinner. If you have an Instant Pot sitting on your counter collecting dust, this is the Martha Stewart chicken dish that will make you finally use it.
Try More Dinner Recipes:
Why You Will Love This Pressure-Cooker Coq Au Vin:
- French bistro flavor in under an hour: Traditional coq au vin simmers for 2 to 3 hours. This version gives you the same depth in about 50 minutes total. I could not believe how rich the sauce tasted the first time I opened the lid. It genuinely tastes like it braised all day.
- Cognac and red wine do the heavy lifting: You deglaze the pan with cognac and Cabernet Sauvignon, and those two ingredients build the backbone of the whole sauce. Do not skip the cognac. I tried it without once and the sauce was flat. Three tablespoons makes a real difference.
- Pearl onions and mushrooms braise right in: They go into the pressure cooker with the chicken and come out tender and soaked in the wine sauce. You do not have to cook them separately or worry about timing. Everything comes out of the pot together.
Pressure-Cooker Coq Au Vin Ingredients
- 6 large cloves garlic, 3 smashed and 3 minced
- 4 black peppercorns
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 2 thyme sprigs
- 7 flat-leaf parsley sprigs, stems and leaves separated
- 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 3 pounds total)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- Unbleached all-purpose flour, for dredging
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 12 ounces white mushrooms, halved
- 8 ounces pearl onions, peeled
- 3 tablespoons cognac
- 3/4 cup dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2 3/4 cups chicken broth (stovetop) or 2 1/4 cups (electric pressure cooker)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- Thyme leaves, for serving
How To Make Martha Stewart Pressure-Cooker Coq Au Vin
- Make the bouquet garni: Wrap the smashed garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme sprigs, and parsley stems in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie with kitchen twine.
- Brown the chicken: Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Heat the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a 6 to 8-quart pressure cooker over medium (or set an electric cooker to saute). Working in batches, cook the chicken until golden brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Cook the mushrooms and onions: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Increase heat to medium-high. Add the mushrooms, pearl onions, and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until golden, about 6 minutes. Transfer to the plate.
- Deglaze: Add the cognac and wine to the cooker. Scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon and cook until reduced by half, about 4 minutes.
- Pressure cook: Add the broth (2 3/4 cups for stovetop, 2 1/4 cups for electric), tomato paste, bouquet garni, chicken, and mushroom mixture. Bring to a boil. For stovetop: secure lid, bring to high pressure over medium-high heat, reduce heat to maintain pressure, cook 10 minutes, then quickly release pressure. For electric: secure lid, set to 14 minutes, let come to pressure, then quickly release when done.
- Reduce and serve: Transfer the chicken, mushrooms, and onions to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Discard the bouquet garni. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook until reduced by half, about 7 minutes. Return the chicken, mushrooms, and onions to the pot and cook for 2 minutes. Skim any fat from the surface. Season with salt, stir in the parsley leaves, top with thyme, and serve.
Recipe Tips
- Do not skip the cognac: Three tablespoons of cognac adds a warmth and depth that wine alone cannot match. I tried making this without it once and I could tell something was missing. If you do not have cognac, brandy works. Do not skip it entirely.
- Reduce the sauce after pressure cooking: The sauce is thin when it first comes out of the pressure cooker. You need those 7 minutes of boiling to concentrate it. Someone who made this recipe said the sauce was too liquid, and I am guessing they skipped this step. Do not serve it thin. Let it reduce until it coats the back of a spoon.
- The bouquet garni is worth making: Wrapping the aromatics in cheesecloth means you can pull them all out at once instead of fishing bay leaves and thyme stems out of the sauce. It takes 30 seconds to tie up and saves you from biting into a peppercorn.
- Use the right amount of broth: Martha gives two amounts: 2 3/4 cups for stovetop pressure cookers and 2 1/4 cups for electric ones like the Instant Pot. Electric cookers lose less liquid to evaporation. If you use the wrong amount, the sauce will be too thick or too thin.
What Goes Well With This Coq Au Vin
Martha says smashed potatoes or noodles, and I go with mashed potatoes every time because they soak up the wine sauce. You want something starchy to catch all that liquid gold at the bottom of the pot.
A loaf of sourdough bread torn into chunks is my other move. Between the potatoes and the bread, not a drop of sauce goes to waste.
How To Store Leftovers
Store the chicken, mushrooms, onions, and sauce all together. The wine sauce gets richer overnight as the flavors continue to develop. Keeps 4 days in the fridge. Freezes well for 3 months since everything is already braised and tender.
This is one of those recipes that tastes better the next day. I reheat it in a covered saucepan over medium heat and the sauce thickens slightly as it warms. I sometimes shred the leftover chicken into the sauce and serve it over egg noodles for a completely different meal.
FAQs
- What is coq au vin? It is a classic French dish where chicken is braised slowly in red wine with mushrooms, onions, and herbs. Traditionally it takes hours. Martha’s pressure cooker version gives you the same flavors in about a third of the time. If the name sounds fancy, do not let it scare you. It is braised chicken in wine sauce. That is it.
- Can I use a regular pot instead of a pressure cooker? You can braise this in a Dutch oven on the stove at a low simmer for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the chicken is very tender. The pressure cooker just speeds things up. I have done it both ways and the flavor is equally good.
- What wine should I use? Martha says dry red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon. Use something you would actually drink. Cheap cooking wine with added salt will make the sauce taste off. I keep a decent bottle of Cab in the kitchen for recipes like this.
- The chicken came out mushy. What happened? Pressure cooking can overcook chicken if the timing is off. For stovetop, Martha says 10 minutes at high pressure. For electric, 14 minutes. If your chicken is falling apart, you may have cooked it too long or your thighs were smaller than 3 pounds total. I check the timing carefully and use an actual timer.
More Dinner Recipes:
Nutrition Facts
(1 serving, serves 6)
- Calories: 440
- Total Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Cholesterol: 165mg
- Sodium: 580mg
- Total Carbohydrates: 12g
- Protein: 38g
Martha Stewart Coq Au Vin Pressure Cooker Recipe
Description
Coq au vin sounds like something you would order at a French restaurant, not something you would make on a Tuesday night in your own kitchen. But with a pressure cooker, you can. Martha Stewart’s Pressure-Cooker Coq au Vin browns flour-dredged chicken thighs in butter, sautees mushrooms and pearl onions, deglazes with cognac and red wine, and pressure-cooks the whole thing for just 10 to 14 minutes until the chicken is fall-apart tender and the sauce tastes like it simmered all afternoon.
I was intimidated by this Martha Stewart coq au vin recipe for a long time because the name alone felt above my skill level. It is not. This chicken coq au vin is one of Martha Stewart’s best chicken recipes for a cold winter night because the pressure cooker turns a traditional coq au vin that normally braises for hours into a 50-minute dinner. If you have an Instant Pot sitting on your counter collecting dust, this is the Martha Stewart chicken dish that will make you finally use it.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Make the bouquet garni: Wrap the smashed garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme sprigs, and parsley stems in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie with kitchen twine.
- Brown the chicken: Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Heat the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a 6 to 8-quart pressure cooker over medium (or set an electric cooker to saute). Working in batches, cook the chicken until golden brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Cook the mushrooms and onions: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Increase heat to medium-high. Add the mushrooms, pearl onions, and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until golden, about 6 minutes. Transfer to the plate.
- Deglaze: Add the cognac and wine to the cooker. Scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon and cook until reduced by half, about 4 minutes.
- Pressure cook: Add the broth (2 3/4 cups for stovetop, 2 1/4 cups for electric), tomato paste, bouquet garni, chicken, and mushroom mixture. Bring to a boil. For stovetop: secure lid, bring to high pressure, reduce heat, cook 10 minutes, then quickly release pressure. For electric: secure lid, set to 14 minutes, let come to pressure, then quickly release when done.
- Reduce and serve: Transfer the chicken, mushrooms, and onions to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Discard the bouquet garni. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook until reduced by half, about 7 minutes. Return the chicken, mushrooms, and onions to the pot and cook for 2 minutes. Skim any fat from the surface. Season with salt, stir in the parsley leaves, top with thyme, and serve.
Notes
- Do not skip the cognac: Three tablespoons adds a warmth and depth that wine alone cannot match. Brandy works as a substitute.
- Reduce the sauce after pressure cooking: The sauce is thin when it comes out. Boil for 7 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon.
- The bouquet garni is worth making: Wrapping aromatics in cheesecloth means you pull them all out at once.
- Use the right broth amount: 2 3/4 cups for stovetop, 2 1/4 cups for electric. Electric cookers lose less liquid.