Red Wine Reduction Sauce

Sliced steak on plate drizzled with red wine sauce.

Course: Sauce

Cuisine: French

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 35

Servings: people

Calories: 228kcal

Author: Platings and Pairings

Add elegance to home-cooked meals with a reduced Red Wine Sauce. This classic French steak sauce is ideal for beef tenderloin, filet mignon, and other juicy cuts of premium beef, lamb, pork, and game meats.

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Ingredients

1 cup dry red wine
½ cup shallots minced (1 large or 2 medium shallots)
¼ tsp dried thyme (or ½ teaspoon fresh thyme)
1 bay leaf
2 cups beef bone broth or beef stock
1 tbsp butter melted
1 tbsp flour all-purpose
kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

To a small saucepan, add wine, shallots, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the mixture reduces by half, about 10 minutes.
Add the broth and bring to a boil again. Continue cooking until this mixture reduces by half, 15-20 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer and discard the solids. Return the strained sauce to the saucepan and heat over medium-low heat.
In a small bowl, combine the melted butter and flour until smooth. Add this mixture to the saucepan and whisk until thickened. Enjoy immediately.

Video

Notes

How to make ahead & store

You can make red wine reduction up to 4 days ahead of time. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge until it’s time to reheat and serve.
It also freezes well for up to 6 months. Thaw the frozen sauce in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.

Tips and tricks

Be patient as the wine and broth reduce – Keep an eye on the liquid level in the pot and only simmer until it’s reduced by half. Most of the alcohol will cook off before the liquid begins to thicken into a vibrant, syrupy consistency.
Be careful not to overheat – The sauce will break if it’s heated past the smoke point. To avoid this, keep the liquid at a low boil and continuously whisk it as it starts to reduce.
To save an overheated broken sauce – If the sauce gets too hot and begins to separate, immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk vigorously until it’s smooth again.

Customize it

Add other flavor elements – Reduce the wine with shallots and other savory aromatics like diced carrots, mushrooms, celery, and leeks. Adding a splash of balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, or soy sauce is also a reliable way to boost the flavor.
Make it without alcohol – Leave the recipe as-is but use an alcohol-free dry red wine instead. Do not substitute red wine vinegar for red wine.
Gluten free red wine sauce – Use 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour to make the roux instead of regular flour. The remaining ingredients should be gluten free, including the red wine and beef stock, but always double-check the labels just in case.

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