🇫🇷 French
Beef Bourguignon
⏱ 3 hours (mostly hands-off)
🍞 ~13g (kid-default portion, no potatoes)
🍽 6 servings
⭐ 4/5
⚠️ Estimates only — not medical advice. Carb counts vary by brand and portion. Always verify with your endo or CDCES.
🌍 Cultural note
Julia Child made beef bourguignon famous in America, but it's been a Burgundian peasant dish for centuries — beef simmered slowly in local red wine until it falls apart. This is Sunday dinner food. Make it in the morning, ignore it for three hours, and you've got the most comforting meal of the week. The wine cooks off completely — it's pure flavor by the time it hits the table.
Why this recipe is T1D-friendly
- Beef + bacon + butter base = high protein, high fat, very low carb
- Long slow-cook means stable glucose response, not a spike
- The wine reduces to flavor — the alcohol's gone, the sugar minimal (~2g per serving)
- The traditional carb sides (potatoes, noodles) are the only variables — easy to portion
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs beef chuck, cut into 2-inch chunks (~0g)
- 6 oz bacon, diced (~0g)
- 2 cups dry red wine like Burgundy or Pinot Noir (~20g total, ~3g per serving)
- 2 cups beef broth (~0g)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste (~6g total, ~1g per serving)
- 1 large yellow onion, diced (~14g total, ~2g per serving)
- 2 large carrots, sliced (~12g total, ~2g per serving)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (~4g, negligible)
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms, halved (~16g total, ~3g per serving)
- 1 cup frozen pearl onions, thawed (~14g total, ~2g per serving)
- 2 tbsp butter (0g)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (0g)
- 2 bay leaves (0g)
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried) (0g)
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (0g)
- Salt + black pepper to taste (0g)
- 1 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch (~7g total, ~1g per serving)
Bread / potato / base options
The beef + sauce is ~13g per serving. Base options stack on top:
- Cauliflower mash (default, +4g = 17g total): Buttery cauli mash. Soaks up sauce beautifully.
- Mashed potato kid portion (+15g = 28g total): 1/3 cup mashed potato — traditional.
- Buttered egg noodles kid portion (+22g = 35g total): 1/2 cup cooked noodles — biggest carb hit.
- Roasted turnip mash (+5g = 18g total): Sweet, French-country alternative.
- Crusty bread for dipping (+14g per slice): Small slice of baguette, count carefully.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C).
- Mise en place — cube beef, dice bacon, slice carrots and onion, halve mushrooms. Pat beef VERY dry — wet meat won't brown.
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy, 6-8 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon, leave fat in pot.
- Season beef generously with salt and pepper. Sear in batches in bacon fat — don't crowd the pot. 3-4 minutes per side until deep brown. Remove and set aside.
- Add diced onion and carrots to pot, cook 5 minutes. Add garlic, cook 30 seconds.
- Stir in tomato paste, cook 1 minute (deepens flavor).
- Pour in red wine, scraping up browned bits from the bottom. Let it bubble 3 minutes.
- Add beef broth, thyme, bay leaves. Return beef and bacon to pot. Bring to a simmer.
- Cover, transfer to oven. Braise 2 to 2.5 hours, until beef shreds easily with a fork.
- Meanwhile, in a skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter and sauté mushrooms 5-6 minutes until golden. Add pearl onions, cook 3 more minutes.
- Add mushroom and pearl onion mixture to the pot for the last 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Whisk arrowroot with 2 tbsp cold water, stir into sauce. Simmer on stove 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens.
- Stir in remaining 1 tbsp butter. Remove bay leaves. Top with parsley before serving.
Dash's kid tips 🐆
- Dash says: "This is a 'put it in the oven, do something else for three hours' meal. T1D moms need those wins."
- The alcohol fully cooks off after 2 hours of braising — safe for the whole family.
- Shred or chop the beef before serving younger kids — easier than chunks.
- Make a double batch and freeze portions with the carb count labeled — future-you will thank present-you.
- Tastes even better day 2 — sauce thickens, flavors deepen, carbs stay the same.