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My Red Wine Jus recipe is a must-have staple for your kitchen! It's flavorful, rich, and a perfect pairing for a pan-seared or grilled steak. My red wine reduction sauce uses drippings from steak as the base, complemented with fresh ingredients and herbs for an intensely satisfying sauce.
And, it only takes under 10 minutes to make!
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Red Wine Jus Recipe
This red wine reduction sauce is the result of wanting a beautiful sauce to pair with a tender, juicy steak! All those delicious brown bits are scraped up from the bottom of the pan, and the drippings are just what you need to make the base of a beautiful reduction sauce.
Making the perfect reduction is just as it sounds: the ingredients reduce as all the flavors intensify. The result is a perfectly silky and concentrated sauce, excellent for serving with steak and beef dishes, but also with lamb, pork, and even roasted vegetables (especially a grilled Portobello mushroom!).
Red Wine Sauce Ingredients
- drippings from steak or butter if you have no drippings
- minced garlic or garlic paste
- minced shallots or red onions
- red wine of your choice or equal amounts beef stock if not using wine
- balsamic vinegar
- fresh thyme plus more for garnish
- beef stock
- roughly chopped parsley leaves
- Â butter
How to Make Red Wine Jus
- Add steak drippings from a freshly cooked steak to a pan over medium heat. If you do not have steak drippings, melt butter in a cast-iron skillet. Then add garlic and shallots and saute, stirring 1 minute until softened.
- Add red wine, beef stock, balsamic vinegar, and fresh thyme sprigs. Bring liquid to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat.
- Allow the wine mixture to reduce until thickened, approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
- Remove the thyme from the sauce and turn the heat to low. Whisk in butter.
- Add parsley and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve, and enjoy!
Red Wine Sauces Recipe Tips
- Drinking wine rather than cooking wine works best for red wine reduction sauce. Trust me, you will taste the difference in flavor!
- If you are making this recipe and you do not have steak drippings, you can substitute 1 Tablespoon butter to melt in the pan before adding the garlic and shallots.
- When making a pan sauce, always monitor your heat. If the sauce breaks, it is likely because the smoking point of the fat was too high when the wine was added.
- If you notice the sauce starting to break, immediately remove from heat and begin to whisk vigorously.
Choosing a Red Wine for Sauce for Steak
Depending on the type of wine you select, different notes are added to the sauce. I prefer to use full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. These wines have rich and fruity notes of cherry, plum, and currants which work nicely with steak.
Some dry red wines also add spicy notes, like pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, anise, ginger, or cardamom. These wines typically come from Syrah, Grenache, Petite Syrah, Malbec, or Zinfandel grapes.
For the lightest version of this sauce, you can use a Pinot Noir, Chianti, or French Cotes du Rhone. These wines are typically lighter and have earthy notes, like oak or smoke because the skins of the grape are thinner.
Whatever flavors sound best to you are what you should use for your red wine reduction sauce!
Red Wine Jus FAQs
Simmering wine will remove some of the alcohol content, but not all. Generally, after 15 minutes of cooking time, only 40% of the alcohol is retained. If you need to omit the red wine, you could simply add ½ cup more beef stock and allow it to reduce. Alternatively, if you can find non-alcoholic red wine, you can use it for this recipe.
Red wine gives the sauce added richness and robust flavor. It is best to add red wine to a sauce after the vegetables have softened (in this case, garlic and shallots).
Reduction is the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture by simmering or boiling. It is best to reduce a sauce by not using a lid, as this will allow the vapors to escape the pan. The longer the red wine is left on the heat, the more it will reduce.
This sauce is thickened by reducing it, not by adding a thickening agent. Wine does not contain gluten, so as long as you are using a gluten-free beef stock, this is a gluten-free sauce recipe.
This red wine pan sauce can be stored in an airtight container and left in the fridge for up to 4 days or 6 months in the freezer. To reheat, it is best to use low heat over the stove and slowly bring it back to temperature.
Red wine reduction sauce can be stored in a freezer bag or airtight container to add to the freezer. Here's a useful tip: pour red wine reduction sauce into plastic ice cube trays, then freeze. Transfer frozen cubes into freezer bags. Red wine sauce can be frozen for up to 12 months.
What to Serve with Red Wine Sauce
If I am individually plating a meal, I think a little pool of red wine sauce on a plate with a juicy steak on top is as Instagram-worthy as it gets! This sauce also looks great in a gravy boat, so each person can add as much sauce as they like. Try pairing my red wine reduction sauce with some of these fabulous recipes!
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Best Red Wine Jus
Equipment
- Sauce pan
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons drippings from steak or 1 Tablespoon butter if you have no drippings
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic or garlic paste
- ¼ cup minced shallots or red onions
- 1 cup red wine of your choice or equal amounts beef stock if not using wine
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme plus more for garnish
- 1 cup beef stock
- 4 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley leaves
- 3 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Add steak drippings from a freshly cooked steak to a pan over medium heat. If you do not have steak drippings, melt butter in a cast iron skillet. Then add garlic and shallots and saute, stirring 1 minute until softened.2 Tablespoons drippings from steak, ¼ cup minced shallots, 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- Add red wine, beef stock, balsamic vinegar, and fresh thyme sprigs. Bring liquid to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat.1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 2 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 cup beef stock, 1 cup red wine of your choice
- Allow the wine mixture to reduce until thickened, approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
- Remove the thyme from the sauce and turn the heat to low. Whisk in butter.3 Tablespoons butter
- Add parsley and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve, and enjoy!4 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley leaves
Notes
- A drinking wine rather than a cooking wine works best for red wine reduction sauce. Trust me, you will taste the difference in flavor!
- If you are making this recipe and you do not have steak drippings, you can substitute 1 Tablespoon butter to melt in the pan before adding the garlic and shallots.
- When making a pan sauce, always monitor your heat. If the sauce breaks, it is likely because the smoking point of the fat was too high when the wine was added.
- If you notice the sauce starting to break, immediately remove from heat and begin to whisk vigorously.
Shannin says
This sauce is AMAZING! It’s quick and easy. I just wish I would have tripled the recipe- I’ll be making it again very soon!
em says
We're so glad you enjoyed it! This is so awesome to hear!