Cooking with Leftover Wine

Ingredients That Pair Well With Wine

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Before getting into the recipes let's talk about why wine goes well with these recipes. It has to do with the tannins and acidity that good wine is able to add to a dish and help highlight its flavors. Dry white wines with high acidity such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Grigio work well, especially for braising mushrooms, meat, and mussels. They can be used to deglaze the brown bits for a pan sauce with shallots for sautéed fish, chicken, pork, or mushrooms. It can also be used as a marinade when steaming a pot of shellfish or to add an extra bit of acidity to a risotto.

Dry red wines with moderate tannins such as Pinot Noir, Chianti, Merlot, and a light Cabernet are great for a slow stew, tomato sauces, and for making pan sauces. 

California Chardonnays that have strong oaky flavors don't tend to work as well as crisp examples.

In order to get the most out of these flavors, wine is usually added at the beginning of the cooking process, which allows the alcohol to evaporate, rather than adding it later, which leaves a stronger raw wine taste. 

Regardless of whether you are using red, white, or rosé, what works best is a young wine with good forward fruit notes.

Common Wine Recipes

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3-Ingredient Pasta Sauce

This first recipe is a buttery pan sauce for pasta that requires only three things: butter, parmesan cheese, and white wine. The pasta water is also incorporated into the dish to help thicken the sauce with starches.

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New York Strip Steak with Red Wine Sauce

The New York strip steak is a flavorful, tender cut from the short loin of the cow and pairs great with red wine, especially something like a Bordeaux or a Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Creamy Chicken in White Wine Sauce

Heavy whipped cream is used to make this wine sauce extra creamy. The chicken gets partially cooked and is reintroduced to the dish with the cream sauce until fully cooked.

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Chicken Marsala

Marsala wine is actually a brandy fortified wine and is required for making chicken marsala. If you are out or don't want an entire bottle of it, just mix 1/4 cup of dry white wine and a teaspoon of brandy. When serving, a little extra acidity from lemon juice helps brighten the flavors.

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Beef Braised in Red Wine

Wine helps add a robust flavor to meat when used to braise. Vermouth, due to its high acidity, works exceptionally well for this.

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Coq au Vin

Coq au Vin is a classic French stew that braises chicken with wine and includes crispy bacon, pearl onions, and mushrooms. Burgundy is usually used for this dish, but Riesling is also a popular choice. 

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Poached Pears

Poire à la beaujolaise or pear in wine is a traditional dessert that has roots in Beaujolais, a wine-growing region in France. This delicious recipe is an eye-catching dessert after dinner as the pear, after sitting in syrup overnight or longer, develops the wine's deep red color. This can also be made using white wine, which is what Italian chefs prefer to use. When served, it goes well with whipped cream.

Fun Wine Recipes

Cheesy Bread

Bread, cheese, onion, ham, and wine all in one pan made in under 20 minutes. What isn't there to love? It only requires 3/4 cup of red wine and serves three to four.

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Red Wine Chorizo with Crunchy Bread

Here is another simple recipe, only requiring four ingredients olive oil, chorizo sausage, a fresh loaf of bread, and 3/4 cup of red wine. Once you've gathered those ingredients, use two tablespoons of oil for cooking the 16 oz of chorizo over medium-high heat. Once lightly brown, add wine, bring it to a simmer for 10 minutes or until the wine has reduced. Serve with some fresh bread to enjoy.

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Armenian Pizza

This dish has bold flavors and only requires two tablespoons of dry red wine; a Chianti would really compliment the flavors of the lamb.

Grilled Cheese

The key to this recipe is a red wine you enjoy the taste of to make a glaze for your grilled cheese and to sip on while you make it. When choosing your cheeses, make sure to stay away from American cheese and flavored ones such as pepper jack, smoked, and dill.

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Seitan Steak

To make this recipe of seitan, also known as vegan "wheat meat," a full-bodied wine is needed. Here a Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec or Merlot, would be best in bringing out the flavors of this meat alternative.

Wine Sundae

This recipe can be as simple or creative as you'd like it to be the key is to make sure the ice cream and the wine are paired nicely. This comes down to acidity, sugar, and tannins, so bitter dry wines such as a Cabernet Sauvignon may be overwhelming the ice cream's sweetness. To give you an idea of which wine to splash on your favorite frozen treat, here is a list of ice cream flavor pairings—looking to make toppings too? Well, take a cup of a light-bodied sweet wine like a Zinfandel, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, and some rinsed, stemmed, and sliced strawberries to sit together for an hour. Make sure to stir occasionally and serve on your sundae!

Wine Float

Prefer a float over a sundae? Well, make sure to keep how to pair the ice cream and wine in mind. This recipe uses chocolate raspberry ice cream, half a bottle of wine, and seltzer.

Closing

The different varietals wines can have a significant impact on the tastes of the dish, so it's important to keep their taste profile of acidity and tannins in mind when cooking. The most important rule of thumb being that you enjoy the wine when you're not cooking with it, so make sure and have a glass before starting the cooking process.

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