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Give your meals an extra dose of flavor by learning how to cook with wine! There are many easy techniques for using wine in your favorite recipes. Fins some basic tips along with 60+ delicious recipes using wine!
Always use a good-quality wine that is fairly fresh – if you wouldn’t drink it on its own, you shouldn’t add it to your food.
Think of wine as a spice, and use it accordingly: intense red wines will require longer cooking times than light, delicate white wines.
Don’t cook with expensive or rare wines. Though you want your wine to be good quality, it’s a waste of money to dump a fine bottle into a pot of stew.
Some alcohol will be left in the final dish. People who cannot have any alcohol at all should avoid cooking with wine.
Most Common Ways of Cooking with Wine
There are four common ways of using wine in cooking.
Using wine as a stock in soups or stews or for braising
Making a marinade with wine
Deglazing and making a quick wine sauce
Using wine in desserts
I’ll discuss each method in more detail below, and the recipes below include all four ways of using wine.
Wine in Stocks for Soups, Stews and Braising
Wine is frequently used as the base of stocks along with water or as a replacement for it. Follow the general rule: use red wine for red meat stock and white wine for poultry and fish stocks.
Sweeter, fortified wines are also used in stocks. For example sherry and Madeira work particularly well with chicken and turkey stock.
However be sure to use about half has much fortified wine as you would regular wine. These wines are thicker and more concentrated in flavor and alcohol.
Stocks are used for many dishes, mainly soups and stews, but also casseroles, risottos, lentil and bean dishes, and pasta dishes. They are also excellent for braising meats that have a long cooking time.
Using Wine in Marinades
Marinating with red wine is best done with red meats; similarly, you’ll want to stick to white wines with white meats like chicken and fish.
Vegetarians and vegans can marinate tofu, Portobello mushrooms and root vegetables in red or white wine. Generally these need a shorter marinade time than meat.
To use wine as a marinade, pour the wine over the meat, add spices, herbs and any other seasoning, and let it steep for several hours or overnight. The thicker the cut of meat, the longer it should marinade.
Even a short marinading time can make a huge difference in flavor of the final dish! Keep in mind, though, that red wine will turn food bluish-purple, so use it sparingly on light colored foods.
It’s best to stick to dry, full-bodied wines for marinades, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Malbec for red wines, or Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, or dry Riesling for white wines.
Making Sauces and Deglazing with Wine
Deglazing is simply the addition of a liquid to a panin which something has been roasted or sautéed.
This liquid absorbs the remaining solid particles and flavors in the pan, and is usually brought to a boil and reduced to make a sauce that is added at the final stage of cooking.
You can pour straight wine into the pan, anywhere from 1/2 a cup to two cups’ worth, depending on the sauce.
Red wine should be reduced by about half, white wine by about a quarter. The longer a sauce is cooked, the bolder the wine used should be.
Fruity wines work very well for deglazing and sauces; try something like Chilean Merlot or Californian Pinot Noir. Good white wines to use include New Zealand Sauvignon blanc or Alsatian Pinot Gris. Avoid very tannic or oaky wines.
Using Wine in Desserts
Adding a wine to a dessert is one of my favorite ways to be creative with wine! Sweet dessert wines like port, sherry, Sauternes, ice wine, and vin santo increase the complexity of a dessert’s flavor.
The good thing about using these wines in cooking is that you don’t need to add very much to get a rich taste – just add a small dash to icing, cake batter, brownies or cupcakes.
Wine in Stocks
1
Instant Pot Lamb Shank
Make easy wine braised lamb shank for a delicious restaurant worthy dinner.
This easy chicken cacciatore combines juicy chicken and earthy mushrooms in a rich, aromatic tomato sauce. It makes for an irresistible one pot dinner the whole family will love!
Vietnamese Beef Stew Pho Noodle Soup (Pho Bo Sot Vang)
This noodle soup features tender beef, flavorful broth and amazing aroma from pho spices. You can cook it on stovetop, in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot.
Lentil and Mushroom Stew over Potato-Parsnip Mash is a hearty vegetarian meal the whole family will love. Fiber-rich and decadently delicious, this recipe will satisfy even the most devout meat lovers.
Make this easy homemade venison meatballs recipe in just a few steps. Use fresh cranberries, cranberry jam, port and wine to make the tasty berry sauce.
Fix this thick & hearty chicken pot pie in one skillet on the stovetop and while that's simmering away, bake a batch of quick & easy cheddar garlic drop biscuits to serve on top.
This Creamy Tomato Basil Tortellini Soup is made with ground chicken, veggies, aromatics, fresh basil and mint leaves, and pillowy ricotta and spinach tortellini. Everything is simmered with wine in a velvety and rich tomato cream broth!
Perfect for a family dinner this traditional Cuban Picadillo Recipe is easy to make with only a handful of ingredients for the ultimate comfort food dish.
This Spanish ropa vieja with garbanzos is an authentic dish straight from the Canary Islands. Different from its Cuban counterpart, it’s made with chickpeas and shredded meat for a classic taste of the Canaries.
This chicken marinade is easy to make at home and has simple ingredients, such as wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, prepared mustard, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
This easy recipe for chicken piccata pasta is smothered and a lemony buttery wine sauce and packed with healthy green beans for an easy, delicious, and inexpensive meal.
These Strawberry Rosé Cupcakes are a dense vanilla sponge cake spiked with rosé. These cupcakes are filled with a fresh strawberry compote and topped with a whipped vanilla buttercream.
This luxurious red wine & mocha tart recipe is perfect for a vegan Valentine’s day treat. Dairy-free, vegan, refined sugar free – yet sinfully delicious!
Raspberry Syllabub with Chardonnay Vanilla Biscuits – Summer in a Glass
Whipped cream with Chardonnay and vanilla sugar layered with crushed raspberries and more wine make for a delicious if decedent summer dessert. Crisp buttery vanilla biscuits made with Chardonnay wine are the perfect pairing.
The combination of almonds, citrus, and white wine really elevates this bread pudding and makes it more sophisticated than your standard bread pudding.
This Champagne Vanilla Bean Layer Cake is perfect to celebrate the holidays or any birthday! Perfect bakery-like layers of Champagne and Vanilla Bean Cake with a Champagne and Vanilla Bean Buttercream.
Fresh, sun-ripened apricots and crisp, dry rosé pair up with fragrant Thai basil in this light and refreshing Blushing Apricot Sorbet With Fresh Thai Basil.
This sauce is a boozy, spiced prune plum compote. This plum sauce is traditionally served with fluffy pancakes but Iit is also delicious as a topping for cheesecake or ice cream!
A simple yet decadent and elegant dessert – these Red Wine Poached Pears enhance the natural sweetness of the fruit with delicious red wine and beautiful spices.
I love to cook and I want to share my recipes with you. I believe cooking should be approachable and fun, not a chore. I want to make simple recipes using everyday ingredients that you can make again and again, whether it is for a busy weeknight, a summer cookout or a special dessert. Read more...
