How to Cook with Wine

Everything is better with a glass of wine… and it’s even better if there’s some wine in your dinner! Get inspired to level up your dinners with these tips for cooking with wine, plus some recipes that highlight wine as an ingredient.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and buy something, Feast + West receives a small commission at no additional cost to you. All opinions are our own. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cooking with wine is surprisingly easy — add a little white here and there for an intensified flavor to a sauce, or go for a chocolate and red pairing for more complexity.

Either way, when you open a bottle to cook with, you might as well drink some, right?! So grab your corkscrew, some wine glasses and some other wine essentials along with your apron, and let’s get cooking!

How to choose a wine

It is best to select a wine to cook with that you would enjoy drinking. Also, you don’t need a premium wine — save those for drinking! Pick one of medium quality as it will leave the same fine flavor as a more expensive bottle.

Avoid cooking wines, like ‘cooking sherry,’ as these have added salt and other additives that might not taste good in your dish. You can do better than that!

If you don’t know what you like, don’t miss our guides to drinking white wine, red wine, rosé wine and sparkling wine!

What happens when you cook with wine

You won’t need a lot of wine when you cook. Most recipes usually call for just a splash, for flavor or for deglazing the pan.

So can food cooked with alcohol get you drunk? Not usually. If it’s cooked, the alcohol will evaporate, leaving behind the wine’s aromas and accenting the flavors of the food. It is great as a marinade ingredient, as a cooking liquid or as a flavoring in a finished dish. Of course, if it’s not cooked, the alcohol remains.

However, if you avoid alcohol for any reason, dishes cooked with wine do still contain trace amounts so you may not wish to partake in them. Wine vinegar, say for a vinaigrette, has residual alcohol, too.

White wine dishes

Wine works incredibly well in marinades, dressings and pan sauces for proteins. You can also use wine as a cooking liquid directly in the pot or pan, such as with a simple risotto dish.

You’ll want to use dry white wines with sauces for poultry, seafood and shellfish. It adds a delicate sweetness. This mustard chicken has a delicious sauce with white wine. Shellfish is great in a white wine butter sauce and this shrimp pasta is covered in a lovely white wine lemon sauce.

White wine is also great in a marinade, especially for grilled chicken. For something similar, this herb-roasted chicken gets basted with white wine and fresh herbs for tons of flavor.

Try: Sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot grigio

Red wine dishes

For beef and pork, a dry red wine pairs well with all kinds of marinades and sauces. Red wine is great for braising and can be used in soups like this beef stew, or you can use it in a sauce for dishes like short ribs and steak, and even vegetables.

Red wine is famously used in French cooking, especially coq au vin with mushrooms and boeuf bourguignon, usually with a red burgundy sauce.

A fortified red wine, like port, can be used, too — try it in this port wine vinaigrette. Fortified wine like vermouth or madeira is also great for cooking and adds a delicious sweetness along with the wine’s acidity.

Chocolate and red wine are a great pairing. These chocolate red wine cupcakes would be perfect for celebrating anything. We also love it in red wine brownies, but you can also use it in fruity desserts like poached pears or ones with berries.

Try: Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, burgundy, beaujolais, shiraz

Sparkling wine dishes

You can also cook dishes with sparkling wine. I have a whole guide to cooking with sparkling wine that goes over the details.

You can use it in everything from jello shots to salad dressings, and cupcakes to ice creams like raspberry champagne sorbet.

Try: champagne, prosecco, cava

How to store wine

Storing alcohol is all about keeping the temperature nice and steady. Think of wine like Goldilocks’ porridge: Not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

Aim for a cozy spot between 45°F and 65°F for your bottles. Too warm (over 70°F), and you might end up with some funky flavors. Too chilly, and the cork could dry out, letting in unwanted oxygen that can alter the flavor too.

Now, do you need a fancy wine fridge? Well, that depends on how much of a wine enthusiast you are! If you’re just keeping a few bottles around for the occasional glass, a cool corner of your home or in your basement will do just fine.

Once you’ve popped that cork, try to finish the bottle within a week for peak flavor. Oh, and champagne? She’s a bit of a diva and will lose her sparkle after about a day.

tl;dr: Store white wine and champagne in the fridge and red wine at room temperature. Once open, drink up within a week, or a day for bubbly.

Temperature considerations

Freezing it: Alcohol has a lower freezing point than water, which means it might not freeze properly. If you’re making a frozen dessert, too much wine might kill the ice.

Cooking with it: When you cook with any alcohol, the heat makes the majority of alcohol evaporate. Depending on the cooking method and temperature, the alcohol won’t burn off entirely, but your dish won’t be as potent as drinking straight alcohol. In general, the longer you cook anything with alcohol, the more will evaporate.

Want more? Catch more guides to cooking with sparkling wine and vermouth! And recipes, too!