Easy & Delicious Red Wine Reduction Sauce Recipe (2024)

So, it's date night... and you want to wow your date with something delicious and "fancy" without it being too difficult, or too much work to prepare. Enter our recipe for this easy to make red wine reduction sauce. In just a few minutes, you will be ready to enjoy this delicious sauce as a great accompaniment to any meat or fish you might serve it with!

Table Of Contents

  1. Ingredients for Red Wine Reduction Sauce:
  2. Important Notes Before You Begin Cooking:
  3. How to Prepare Red Wine Reduction Sauce:
  4. Variations on Basic Red Wine Reduction Sauce Recipe:
    • For an Asian twist:
    • For a Mediterranean Flavor:

Ingredients for Red Wine Reduction Sauce:

  • 1 Cup of your favorite dry red wine (Cabernet, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah)
  • 1 Large Shallot, Medium Dice
  • 2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
  • Kosher Salt
  • 1 Tablespoon Organic Tomato Paste
  • Fresh Ground Black Pepper
  • 2 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock or Low Sodium Chicken Bone Broth
  • 1 3/4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cubed
  • Cast Iron Skillet (Do not use non-stick!)
  • Small Saucepan
  • Flat Sauce Whisk

Important Notes Before You Begin Cooking:

Please make sure to only use a low sodium stock or bone broth when preparing this recipe. As the liquid reduces, the sodium levels intensify greatly. Using low sodium stock or broth will guarantee that your final product doesn't come out being way too salty. You can always increase the salt level to your taste right before serving this sauce if desired.

Always cook with a quality wine that you would drink. Using low-quality wine in this recipe may produce very off-putting flavors. Remember if you wouldn't drink it yourself, then please don't cook with it!

How to Prepare Red Wine Reduction Sauce:

In a small saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to boil for approximately 15-20 minutes until the stock reduces by 3/4ths, or to about 1/2 cup. Remove from heat and cover the pot with a lid to keep warm.

In the cast-iron skillet, over medium-high heat, add in the diced shallots, tomato paste, and red wine. Whisk together, and cook for approximately 10 minutes. Continue whisking often until the mixture has reduced to approximately 1/3 of a cup and the shallots have completely softened. Add the reduced chicken stock into the skillet, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Cook for an additional 8-10 minutes or until the entire mixture reduces to approximately 2/3 of a cup. Remove from the heat. Add in a cube of cold butter one at a time, and whisk briskly until each cube melts completely. Ensure that all of the butter is fully incorporated. Season the red wine reduction sauce with kosher salt, and a good amount of fresh ground black pepper to taste. Serve the sauce hot spooned over your favorite meats such as pork tenderloin, steaks, chicken, fish, duck, venison, or wild boar.

Easy & Delicious Red Wine Reduction Sauce Recipe (2)

Variations on Basic Red Wine Reduction Sauce Recipe:

If you want to really enhance the depth of flavor, you can turn this sauce into a mouthwatering pan sauce for steak by searing your steaks in a cast iron pan (in place of the skillet). After searing, remove the steaks from the pan, and cover with a tent of heavy-duty aluminum foil to keep warm.

While your steaks are resting, add the stock to the hot cast iron pan and scrape all of those delicious loosened brown bits. This process is called deglazing the pan, continue making the recipe as directed above using the cast iron pan in lieu of the saucepan.

Chef's Tip: For a perfectly silky smooth sauce, pour your sauce through a fine-mesh strainer before serving to remove any particles. If you like a little bit of texture to the sauce, then straining isn't necessary.

For an Asian twist:

Toss in a 2-inch slice of peeled ginger, cut approximately 1/4" thick into the pan. Add one star anise to the chicken stock. This will add some nice notes of Asian spice and depth of flavor. Remove the ginger and star anise after approximately 5-10 minutes of cooking.

For a Mediterranean Flavor:

Toss in a handful of pomegranate seeds approximately 2 minutes before whisking in the butter. If you don't have pomegranate seeds, you can use a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses.

However, you choose to prepare this red wine reduction sauce, keep this recipe in your toolkit. This recipe is quick and easy that can easily be adapted to virtually any style of cuisine that you happen to be preparing.

From our kitchen to yours,

Happy Cooking!

Check out our other recipes, tips, tricks on the AWG Private Chefs Blog!
  • 3 Ways to Cook Lobster Perfectly Every Time
  • Pumpkin Spice Bread Pudding Recipe, Ready in Under 1 Hour
  • 9 Ways to Whole Roasted Cauliflower Splendor
  • Absolutely The Best French Onion Soup Recipe

About the Author:

Certified Master Chef Sean Andrade is Executive Chef/Owner of AWG Private Chefs, named the #1 Private Chef Company in California and winner of the Best Personal Chef and Best Caterer in San Francisco for 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Chef Sean has worked in the restaurant and hospitality industries worldwide for more than 25 years. AWG Private Chefs offers highly custom-tailored, private chef dining experiences, and event catering in over 30 countries around the globe.

Easy & Delicious Red Wine Reduction Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make reduction sauce quickly? ›

Remove fully-cooked and tender meat from the pan and let it rest while the sauce cooks over medium heat. Once the sauce has reached your desired consistency, add the meat back in and rewarm it over gentle heat, spooning the sauce over. The more surface area your sauce has to do its thing, the quicker it'll reduce.

What kind of red wine is used for red wine reduction? ›

To make four servings of an excellent red wine reduction, here are the essential ingredients you will need: Olive Oil. ½ Cup of Dry Red Wine (Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, etc.) 2 Cups of Roasted Chicken Stock.

How do you thicken red wine reduction sauce? ›

Add the red wine and stock and simmer until reduced by half. Add up to 1 tablespoon of flour to thicken the sauce, if desired. Remove from heat and add the butter, garlic and rosemary. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

What is reduction sauce made of? ›

A reduction sauce is often a sauce made with the drippings and juices left over after cooking meat. These drippings are dense in flavor and make a sauce that is intense with the cooking flavors from the dish.

What is the first procedure when making a reduction sauce? ›

Cooking is the first step: remove the cooked meat and place the pan on a high flame. As soon as the liquid starts to bubble, it has to be stirred constantly with a wooden spoon. The principle is simple: the water will evaporate, concentrating the existing fats and proteins to create a delicious sauce.

What is the best red wine for reduction sauce? ›

If you're making a red wine reduction sauce, some of the best choices are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chianti, or Barbera. The amount of wine you use depends on the recipe and your desired intensity.

What is the best red wine for red wine sauce? ›

Choose a Cabernet that's not too oaky and a Pinot Noir that's more acidic than sweet. White wine can be used in reduction sauces, too. You'll want to stick to the same general rules here, choosing something dry (that you know you like) and on the acidic side.

What is the best red wine for sauce? ›

Use merlot for a pan sauce or a reduction. This process involves heating the red wine with a few other seasoning ingredients in sauté pan on low heat until it simmers. This thickens the wine and makes those bold flavors much more concentrated. It produces a rich sauce when finished.

Does butter thicken red wine sauce? ›

Red wine pan sauce is an amalgamation of fond (those browned bits left in the pan after searing meat), shallots, broth, good-quality red wine, and a few pats of butter to bind it all together and thicken it to a syrupy consistency.

Can you reduce wine too much? ›

When you reduce either the wine or the sauce it's in by boiling or simmering, you will be concentrating the sourness as well, so be mindful of how far you reduce a sauce after adding the wine. It can easily become unpleasantly sour.

How long can you store red wine reduction sauce? ›

Pour reduced wine into plastic cube trays; freeze. Transfer frozen cubes into freezer bags. Can be frozen up to 12 months.

How do you thicken a reduction sauce? ›

Combine a small amount of cornstarch with cold water to form a slurry, and then mix that into your simmering sauce. You can also make a slurry with other starches, like arrowroot or tapioca, especially if your sauce is acidic, since acid interferes with cornstarch's thickening ability.

Should you reduce sauce with lid on or off? ›

To thicken a soup, stew, or sauce, leaving the lid uncovered is ideal. "It must be off, or semi-covered, if you are slowing down the reduction process," says Stephen Chavez, chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education.

How long does it take to make a reduction sauce? ›

Depending on the amount of liquid you are reducing, the process typically takes 15 to 30 mins. Keep in mind that reducing the liquid is often just one step of many necessary to make a sauce. For example, making a rich and flavorful Demi-Glace starts with whipping up a classic Espagnole sauce to serve as the base.

How long does it take to reduce alcohol in sauce? ›

It usually takes around 2 to 3 hours for the alcohol to evaporate completely when added to a dish that is cooking on a low heat. When cooking at high heat, e.g. frying or sautéing, it can take as little as 30 seconds for the alcohol to evaporate.

Does stirring speed up reduction? ›

Stirring does not reduce the heat per se. It accelerates the loss of heat that occurs whether you stir or not. To reduce heat you have to get it from where it is to someplace else.

How long does it take for tomato sauce to reduce? ›

Reducing is a classic cooking technique. It means bringing the sauce to a boil, reducing the heat, and letting the sauce simmer gently until it reaches your desired consistency. That might be 20 minutes or an hour—perhaps even longer.

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