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The Best Wine for Cooking (Is Not What You Think)

By Steve Dunn Published

You’ve probably heard that you shouldn’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink, but we wanted to test that advice for ourselves. Our results turned the old adage on its head.

Many cooks—including some of us here at Cook’s Illustrated—have long followed the advice that any wine you cook with needs to be good enough to drink. But is this conventional wisdom really true? Can you really tell the caliber of a wine once it’s been heated for long periods in a dish, not to mention reduced? We decided to answer this question once and for all.

We made pan sauces and beef and chicken stews with red and white wines from a range of calibers and price points. Some wines were lovely to drink, some were uninspiring, and some were downright terrible.

Our results turned the old adage on its head. Not only did some cheap bottles (a $4 Sauvignon Blanc and a $4 Cabernet Sauvignon) make perfectly good additions to our stews and sauces, but a few very fine drinking wines (a subtly sweet Riesling, an oaky California Chardonnay, a tannic Bordeaux, and a sweet Italian Lambrusco) actually imparted flavors to the food that we didn’t like.

The important factor to consider isn’t price or even how nice a wine is to drink but whether it features distinct characteristics that will become concentrated through cooking and distract from the flavor of the dish. In other words, the best wine for cooking is an unremarkable one. Bright, balanced flavors are good. Distinctly tannic, sweet, or oaky flavors are not.

Overall, don’t hesitate to reach for the cheap stuff!

 

 

Our Recommendations for Wine to Cook With

Red Wines White Wines

A blend (such as Côtes du Rhône)

Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc

A medium-bodied single varietal (Pinot Noir, Merlot, or Grenache)

Pinot Grigio

General table wine

Albariño

Cook with Wine Using These Recipes

Recipe Red Wine Risotto with Beans (Paniscia)

Northern Italians put an unexpected spin on risotto for a satisfying one-pot meal.

Get the Recipe

Hearty Beef Stew

Recipe Hearty Beef Stew

Choose chuck, use a combination of broth and wine, and thicken at the beginning for a simple but intensely flavored stew.

Get the Recipe

White Wine Pan Sauce

Recipe White Wine Pan Sauce

Lighter and brighter in taste than its red wine sibling, white wine pan sauce makes plain pan-seared chicken breasts or pork tenderloin seem special.

Get the Recipe

Recipe Quick Chicken Fricassee

This classic French dish of poached chicken in cream sauce would have a lot going for it, if we could streamline the recipe and punch up the flavors.

Get the Recipe

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JC
JOHN C.
16 days

Absolutely the best chicken ever, even the breast meat was moist! It's the only way I'll cook a whole chicken again. Simple, easy, quick, no mess - perfect every time. I've used both stainless steel and cast iron pans. great and easy technique for “roasted” chicken. I will say there were no pan juices, just fat in the skillet. Will add to the recipe rotation. Good for family and company dinners too. I've done this using a rimmed sheet pan instead of a skillet and put veggies and potatoes around the chicken for a one-pan meal. Broccoli gets nicely browned and yummy!

Absolutely the best chicken ever, even the breast meat was moist! It's the only way I'll cook a whole chicken again. Simple, easy, quick, no mess - perfect every time. I've used both stainless steel and cast iron pans. great and easy technique for “roasted” chicken. I will say there were no pan juices, just fat in the skillet. Will add to the recipe rotation. Good for family and company dinners too.

MD
MILES D.
JOHN C.
9 days

Amazed this recipe works out as well as it does. Would not have thought that the amount of time under the broiler would have produced a very juicy and favorable chicken with a very crispy crust. Used my 12" Lodge Cast Iron skillet (which can withstand 1000 degree temps to respond to those who wondered if it would work) and it turned out great. A "make again" as my family rates things. This is a great recipe, and I will definitely make it again. My butcher gladly butterflied the chicken for me, therefore I found it to be a fast and easy prep. I used my cast iron skillet- marvellous!

CM
CHARLES M.
11 days

John, wasn't it just amazing chicken? So much better than your typical oven baked chicken and on par if not better than gas or even charcoal grilled. It gets that smokey charcoal tasted and overnight koshering definitely helps, something I do when time permits. First-time I've pierced a whole chicken minus the times I make jerk chicken on the grill. Yup, the cast iron was not an issue.