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If you are making a steak, you must try my Red Wine Reduction Sauce! This sauce is flavorful, rich, and the perfect pairing to a pan-seared or grilled steak. It uses the drippings from the steak as the base and fresh ingredients that complement each other so well to bring it all together. And, it takes under 10 minutes to make!
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Best Red Wine Sauce for Steak
If you know anything about me, you know I love cooking steak for my family. It is a constant feature in my household, from grilled chuck steak to gorgeous pan-seared ribeye.
One of my favorite additions to steak is to make a mouth-watering sauce with it. This red wine reduction sauce is the result of wanting a beautiful sauce to serve with a cut of ribeye! All those delicious brown bits you scrape up from the bottom of the pan, and the drippings, are just what you need to make the base of a beautiful reduction sauce.
Garlic and shallots concentrate the flavors built up in the pan. The red wine reduces to thicken and intensify those flavors, and the balsamic vinegar adds the perfect touch of sweetness and tangy that pair so nicely with a perfectly cooked steak.
You will not believe how easily this sauce comes together! The lovely, rich deep red notes look fabulous in a dish on the table or ladled over sliced steak right on the plate. I guarantee you're going to love it.
Super flavor and easy! Made it with semi-sweet merlot in deer steak drippings. So Good! New go to wine sauce recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Carol on Pinterest
What type of wine should I use?
Depending on the type of wine you select, different notes are added to the sauce. I prefer to use a full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. These wines have rich and fruity notes of cherry, plum, and currants that work nicely with steak.
Some dry red wines also add spicy notes like that 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 that of 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.
Wine Sauce Recipe Ingredients
- drippings from steak
- 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
- beef stock
- parsley leaves
- butter
How to Make Red Wine Sauce
- Reserve 1 Tablespoon steak drippings from your cooked steak in the pan over medium heat. If you haven't cooked a steak, melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a cast-iron skillet. Then, add garlic and shallots and saute, stirring until tender, about 1 minute.
- 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 2 Tablespoons butter and let the sauce simmer.
- Add parsley and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve, and enjoy!
Steak Sauces FAQs
Red wine gives the sauce added richness and robust flavor. It is best to add red wine to a sauce after the vegetables (in this case, garlic and shallots) have softened.
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. 
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.
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 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.
Steak Sauce Recipe Tips
- A drinking wine rather than a cooking wine works best for red wine reduction sauce.
- 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.
Best Steak Recipes
- Best Grilled Steak
- Reverse Sear Steak
- Grilled New York Strip Steak
- Grilled Porterhouse Steak
- Pan Seared Steak
I always refer to this steak temperature chart in order to cook the perfect medium rare steak.
Best Sauces for Steaks
This recipe makes an amazing sauce for beef tenderloin too - see all of my Sauces for Beef Tenderloin!
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Amazing Red Wine Reduction Sauce for Steak
Equipment
- Cast iron skillet
- Knife
- Cutting board
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon 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
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme plus more for garnish
- 1 cup beef stock
- ¼ cup roughly chopped parsley leaves
- 2 Tablespoons butter
See our Beef Temperature Chart for helpful tips on cooking any cut of beef!
Instructions
- Reserve 1 Tablespoon steak drippings from your cooked steak in the pan over medium heat. If you haven't cooked a steak, melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a cast iron skillet. Then, add garlic and shallots and saute, stirring until tender, about 1 minute.1 Tablespoon drippings from steak, 1 Tablespoon minced garlic, ¼ cup minced shallots
- Add red wine, beef stock, balsamic vinegar, and fresh thyme sprigs. Bring liquid to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat.1 cup red wine, 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 2 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 cup beef stock
- 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 2 Tablespoons butter.2 Tablespoons butter
- Add parsley and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve, and enjoy!¼ cup roughly chopped parsley leaves
Notes
- A drinking wine rather than a cooking wine works best for red wine reduction sauce.
- 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.
Elaine says
This was a wonderful basis for a slightly modified version I created last night. My husband asked me to definitely save it for the future. We served it over nice grilled NY strip loin steak.
As my husband is allergic to garlic, I doubled the amount of shallots and added a touch of dried oregano. I chose to use short sprigs of rosemary instead of thyme, which is usually a good sub. I also added some ground dried porcini mushroom (about 3 to 4 Tbs). Since I didn't have fresh parsley, I used fresh lovage -- my husband's favorite herb. Delicious! My only other change, after removing the herb sprigs, was that I blended the sauce with my immersion blender to further thicken the sauce (pulverized shallots help with that). Then added the last bit of butter.
Em Beitel says
That sounds awesome, Elaine! We're so glad you and your husband enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing!
Nobu says
Solid. I’ve added a dash of Worcestershire sauce it it’s Ruth Chris quality. Thanks for taking the time to guide us.
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Nobu! that is awesome to hear. We're so glad you enjoyed it!
Jill says
Yum!! Perfect as written!
Em Beitel says
So glad you enjoyed it, Jill! Thank you!