Coq Au Vin Meatballs

I’m back with another meatball recipe, and now I know what you must be thinking. “But Jonathan, do we really need more meatballs recipes? When is it enough?” To which I reply, yes we really do need more and it’ll never be enough. Ever. You can’t stop me, but I secretly wish/hope that you don’t want me to stop. This time around, I’m tackling on the classic French dish and giving it that meatballs spin that I love so much. These Coq Au Vin Meatballs are everything. It comes together in a fraction of the time of the original, and tastes just like the real thing. Making this the perfect weeknight meal.

To make the meatballs, in a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, bread crumbs, a large pinch of salt and pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, and thyme. Form into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet or platter. Set aside.

**Note: You can also make these with ground turkey or even ground beef if you’d like. Not traditional but the sauce would be just as delicious with beef as well.**

Set a large dutch oven over moderate heat. Once hot, add the bacon and cook until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon onto a plate lined with a paper towel.

Place the meatballs into the skillet with the bacon grease and cook until browned on all sides. They don’t need to be fully cooked at this stage, we’re just browning at this stage. Remove onto a plate and set aside.

Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook until browned. Deglaze the pan with cognac, scraping up the bottom browned bits. Then stir in the red onion, chicken stock, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

**Tip: If you are feeling brave, you can ignite the cognac as soon as you add it to the pan by using a long match or lighter. Carefully light the booze on fire and shake the pan until the flames subside.**

Return the meatballs to the pan along with the bacon, and pearl onions. Lower the flame and bring to a simmer.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour and butter until smooth. Then add to the sauce, stirring to dissolve.

Simmer on low until the sauce has thickened and the meatballs have fully cooked through. If you find the sauce to be too thick you can thin it out with a bit more chicken stock.

I like to serve this with mashed potatoes because I find that the sauce pairs really well with potatoes. Although it isn’t traditional, you could also serve it with rice or couscous if you’d prefer.

This is the type of dish that gets better the next day. So if you want to make the dish ahead of time, you can most definitely make it a day or two before as it’ll be even better the longer it sits.

A rule worth mentioning when cooking with wine is that you don’t have to break the bank necessarily when buying wine to cook with. In fact, you don’t want to spend too much but at the same time, you also don’t want to buy something really cheap either. If you don’t like the taste of a certain wine then most likely you won’t like the taste of the dish. So try to find some thing mid price point and something that you enjoy drinking as well. And plus you’ll have leftover wine to pair with when you serve the dish, so it’s a win win.

If you’d been wanting to try coq au vin but have always found it daunting for some reason, then this meatball version is a great way to dip your toes. It brings all of the classic ingredients but cooks in half the time without sacrificing on flavor or taste. Let me know what you think below and as always, thank you so much for reading and following along!