James Martin Coq AU Vin

James Martin’s coq au vin is a streamlined take on the French classic, braising skinless chicken pieces in red wine with shallots, streaky bacon and button mushrooms. There’s no overnight marinade and no flour, so it’s naturally gluten-free, the whole thing simmers in about 25 minutes, and it serves four with olive oil mash or good bread.

The recipe comes from his BBC show Housecall. This is deliberately his quick version: where a classic coq au vin marinates the bird in wine overnight and thickens with flour, Martin skips both. Even his own fuller recipe elsewhere does the traditional overnight soak, so this one is built for a weeknight rather than a project.

The technique that carries it is how the sauce is built and finished. You brown the shallots in butter, then layer in garlic, bacon and thyme before the wine, stock and balsamic go in. To thicken without flour, you lift the chicken out, reduce the sauce hard, then return it and finish with a knob of cold butter for gloss.

James Martin Coq AU Vin

Recipe by Pinch Perfect

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Dinner, LunchCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

540

kcal

Total time

55

minutes

James Martin’s fast, gluten-free coq au vin from BBC’s Housecall: skinless chicken braised in red wine with bacon, shallots and mushrooms, thickened by reduction rather than flour. A 25-minute French bistro classic, finished with butter and parsley. Serves four.

Ingredients

• 25g/1oz butter

• 150g/5½oz shallots, peeled but left whole

• 5 garlic cloves, crushed

• 150g/5½oz streaky bacon, cut thickly

• sprig of fresh thyme or a good pinch of dried

• 350g/12½oz button mushrooms

• 500ml/16½fl oz good red wine

• 500ml/16½fl oz chicken stock

• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 1 free-range chicken, cut into 8 pieces, on the bone but skin removed (or 6 chicken thighs)

• small bunch flatleaf parsley, chopped

• salt and crushed black pepper

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Directions

• Brown the shallots: Heat a thick-bottomed casserole on the stove, add almost all the butter (reserving a knob) and the whole shallots. Cook until just browned, then stir in the garlic.
• Add the bacon: Add the bacon and thyme and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Build the braise: Add the mushrooms, turn up the heat, then pour in the red wine, chicken stock and balsamic vinegar.
• Simmer the chicken: Add the chicken pieces, bring to the boil, then simmer gently for about 25 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
• Thicken (optional): For a thicker sauce, lift out the cooked chicken and keep it warm. Boil the sauce hard for a few minutes to reduce, then return the chicken to the pan.
• Finish: Stir in the parsley and the reserved knob of butter, season with salt and pepper, and serve with a dressed green salad and olive oil mash or crusty bread.

FAQs

How is this different from a classic coq au vin?

It’s much quicker and lighter. A traditional coq au vin marinates the chicken (originally a tough old cockerel) in red wine overnight, browns it in bacon fat, thickens the sauce with flour or a beurre manié, sometimes flambés brandy, and braises slowly for well over an hour. Martin’s Housecall version does none of that.

Instead he removes the skin, skips the marinade and the flour, simmers for just 25 minutes, and uses balsamic vinegar plus a hard reduction for depth and body. The lack of flour is what makes it gluten-free. Tellingly, his own fuller recipe elsewhere goes back to the overnight soak and flour, so treat this as his deliberately fast weeknight take.

What red wine should I use?

Martin simply calls for “good red wine,” and the guiding rule is to cook with something you’d happily drink. A full-bodied, dry red works best, with a Burgundy, Pinot Noir or Côtes du Rhône being the traditional choices for coq au vin, since the dish originates from Burgundy.

Avoid sweet reds, which throw the balance of the sauce off, and steer clear of anything harsh or very cheap, because the wine’s flavour concentrates as the sauce reduces. You’re using a full 500ml, so it’s a real backbone of the dish, not a splash, which is why the quality genuinely shows.

Can I use chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken?

Yes, and Martin offers it as an option: 6 chicken thighs in place of a whole bird cut into 8. Thighs are the more forgiving choice, since their darker meat stays juicy through the braise where breast can dry out, so they’re a good pick if you’re worried about timing.

Keep them on the bone, as Martin does with the whole chicken, because the bones add flavour and body to the sauce as it simmers. The skin comes off either way in this version. Bone-in thighs may need a few extra minutes to cook through, so check they’re done before reducing the sauce.

How do I thicken the sauce without flour?

By reduction, which is Martin’s built-in method. Once the chicken is cooked, you lift it out and keep it warm, then boil the sauce hard for a few minutes so the liquid evaporates and concentrates into something richer and glossier, before returning the chicken. No flour or cornflour needed.

The balsamic vinegar helps too, lending body and a subtle sweet-sour depth as it cooks down. Finishing with a knob of cold butter stirred in at the end adds shine and a silky texture, a classic French trick. Because there’s no flour anywhere, the finished dish is naturally gluten-free.

Why remove the chicken skin?

Because in a wet braise it doesn’t earn its place. Chicken skin only crisps under dry heat, so in a simmering wine sauce it turns soft and flabby rather than golden, adding little beyond fat. Taking it off gives a cleaner, lighter dish and stops excess fat pooling on the surface of the sauce.

If you prefer, you could brown skin-on pieces hard first and then braise them, but that adds a step Martin deliberately cuts. For his fast version, skinless is the simpler, tidier route, and you lose very little since the flavour is really coming from the wine, bacon and reduction.

What should I serve it with, and can I make it ahead?

Martin recommends olive oil mash or good crusty bread to mop up the sauce, with a dressed green salad alongside to keep it fresh. Mash is the classic partner, since the whole point is a generous, wine-dark sauce that needs something to soak into.

Like most braises, it’s a good make-ahead dish: the flavours deepen overnight, so it often tastes even better reheated the next day, gently until piping hot. It also freezes well once cooled, making it worth doubling. Add the final knob of butter and fresh parsley when reheating rather than before freezing, for the best finish.