Long before she became a household name, Ina Garten discovered one of her all-time favorite recipes in the most unexpected place—a two-star campsite in France. In a recent episode of the podcast Your Mama’s Kitchen with Michelle Norris, Ina shared the story of how coq au vin became a staple in her cooking repertoire, all thanks to a generous campsite host and a meal she never forgot.
Shortly after getting married, Ina and her husband, Jeffrey, set off on a four-month journey across Europe, traveling in a tent and budgeting their way through with some inspiration from Europe on $5 a Day, Arthur Frommer’s famed travel guide. Despite their limited funds, Ina never felt restricted—if anything, the adventure deepened her love for French cuisine and its emphasis on simple, flavorful ingredients.
One evening, while staying at a campsite, the woman running the site offered them a dish she had just prepared: coq au vin. The aroma was irresistible, and though Ina had never heard of it before, she and Jeffrey eagerly accepted. Once she took her first bite, she knew she had to learn how to make it herself. “That’s country French food,” she explains in the episode. “It’s not some fancy French restaurant.”
Ina’s go-to coq au vin recipe is inspired by Julia Child’s version—the first one she tried making herself—and remains one of her most beloved dishes. It’s featured in her cookbook Barefoot in Paris, and she’s even demonstrated it step-by-step in a YouTube video. The dish, a hearty blend of chicken braised in red wine with mushrooms, bacon, and aromatics, perfectly captures the rustic elegance of French cooking.
As you may have guessed, you’ll need a nice chicken and some red wine for this recipe, plus pancetta—or bacon, if you can’t find it—veggies like carrots, onion, garlic, mushrooms and pearl onions as well as olive oil, flour, butter, chicken stock, thyme and some Cognac. It’s a big bunch of ingredients, but making the coq au vin might just be simpler than you think. Here’s how Ina does it.
Garten starts by heating olive oil in a large Dutch oven, then adds the diced bacon or pancetta and cooks it until browned and crisp. She removes the bacon and sets it aside. Next, she pats the chicken dry, generously seasoning it with salt and pepper, and browns it in batches, ensuring a beautiful golden crust before transferring it to a plate. Be sure to take care in drying your chicken—that will help you get the golden brown skin you want.
She then sautés the carrots, onions, salt, and pepper in the same pot, stirring occasionally. When they begin to soften, she adds the garlic and lets it cook briefly before deglazing the pot with Cognac, creating a rich, aromatic base. She returns the bacon and chicken to the pot, pours in the red wine and chicken stock, and tucks in fresh thyme sprigs before covering the dish and placing it in the oven.
After about 40 minutes, Ina removes the pot from the oven and prepares a classic roux by mashing butter with flour. You might be used to making a roux in a pot on the stovetop, but this one comes together easily, as long as your butter is soft. Garten stirs it into the stew to thicken the sauce.
Then, she adds frozen pearl onions, saying that the thought of peeling fresh baby onions alone would have kept her from making the recipe—frozen works just as well, she assures. She separately sautés the mushrooms in butter until golden brown before folding them into the dish. Finally, she lets everything simmer together for another 10 minutes or so before serving.
Ina’s love for coq au vin is more than just about the dish itself—it’s about the memories it brings back and the formative experiences that led her to a lifelong passion for cooking. From an unexpected campsite meal to a cherished classic, this simple dish remains one of her all-time favorites. If you, just like Ina, fall in love with this classic recipe, consider trying some other French recipes next. Our Beef Bourguignon and Slow-Cooker French Onion Soup with Gruyère Toasts are pretty delicious choices, and Meringues make a lovely sweet treat to cap the night off.