How to Make the Sacred 7 Slow Cooker Mushroom Bourguignon
Boeuf bourguignon is one of the great French dishes. Beef, red wine, aromatics, time. The logic is simple: low heat turns cheap cuts tender, wine loses its rawness and becomes sauce, and the whole thing becomes more than the sum of its parts. It has been made the same way for a long time because the approach is correct.
This is not that recipe, but it borrows everything useful.
This vegan mushroom bourguignon uses cremini mushrooms, portobello, and shiitake slow cooked in a cup of red wine with pearl onions, shallots, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and three tablespoons of Sacred 7 Mushroom Extract Powder folded into the braise. It is a slow cooker recipe that takes about twenty-five minutes of active prep time. The crockpot does the rest. The result is a deeply savory, wine-dark sauce that satisfies the same thing boeuf bourguignon satisfies — comfort food at its most functional, served over mashed potatoes while it's still steaming.
Meat eaters who are skeptical of vegan recipes tend to come around on this one. The mushrooms do real structural work here. They aren't a placeholder.
Why Mushrooms Work
The case for beef in traditional bourguignon is mostly a case for collagen and fat. Collagen breaks down into gelatin over long cooking and gives the sauce its coating texture. Mushrooms don't have collagen, so the sauce needs other help — tomato paste, a cornstarch slurry at the end, the natural starch from the veggies. But what mushrooms do have is glutamates, the same compounds responsible for umami in aged cheese and miso, and they concentrate dramatically when slow cooked.
Cremini mushrooms are the workhorse. Dense and mild, they hold texture over long cooking better than button mushrooms, which go soft too quickly. They're also high in potassium and calcium, which isn't why you use them here, but it's worth noting. Portobello adds body and a meatier chew. Shiitake or chestnut mushrooms bring the deepest savory note — closest in character to what dried porcini add when rehydrated into a broth. If you can find dried porcini, soak them in warm water for twenty minutes and add both the mushrooms and the soaking liquid to the pot. The liquid is flavor. Don't skip it.
Pearl onions and shallots go in instead of a large diced onion. Shallots are milder and sweeter, more traditional to the French dish. Pearl onions stay intact through the long cook and add something texturally that a diced onion can't. Neither is essential, but both improve the result.
On Sacred 7
Sacred 7 is a hot water extracted mushroom powder — seven species (Chaga, Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane, Maitake, Reishi, Shiitake, and Turkey Tail), USDA organic, 100% fruiting bodies, third-party tested. Hot water extraction is the method used for centuries to draw out water-soluble compounds from mushroom fruiting bodies, including beta-glucans. It's also why cooking with this powder works: the extraction process already applied heat, so adding it to a braise doesn't degrade what's in it.
Three tablespoons across six servings is half a tablespoon per serving. That's a real, functional amount — not a symbolic pinch added so the label can say "mushroom extract." Whisk it into a small amount of warm vegetable broth before adding it to the pot. This distributes it evenly and prevents clumping. Once it's in, it becomes part of the sauce. It adds earthiness and depth. It does not taste like a supplement.
How to Build It
The most important step happens before the crockpot. Sear the mushrooms first — cremini, portobello, and shiitake — in a hot skillet with olive oil, in batches, without crowding them. Crowded mushrooms steam instead of brown, and a steamed mushroom has half the flavor of a seared one. Get a real crust on the cremini and portobello before anything else goes in.
After the mushrooms, drop to medium heat and sauté the pearl onions, shallots, and garlic cloves in the same pan until soft. Add tomato paste and stir until it darkens slightly — two minutes, but it matters. It removes the raw edge and deepens the color of the final sauce. Then the cup of red wine goes in. Scrape up everything stuck to the pan. Let it reduce by half before it goes into the slow cooker.
From there: seared mushrooms, wine base, large carrots, celery, soy sauce, balsamic, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, vegetable broth. Sacred 7 whisked into a half cup of warm broth, then in. Lid on. Low heat, six to eight hours.
The slow cooker is not a shortcut here — it's the method. Slow cooked is the point. That said, if you prefer a Dutch oven, brown everything as directed and cook covered at 325°F for two and a half to three hours. Either way, don't rush it.
The Recipe
Ingredients
Mushrooms
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3 cups cremini mushrooms, halved (about 14 oz)
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2 cups portobello mushrooms, cut into chunks (about 7 oz)
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1½ cups shiitake or chestnut mushrooms, sliced (about 5 oz)
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½ cup dried porcini mushrooms, optional
Aromatics and veggies
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1 cup pearl onions, peeled
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3 shallots, halved
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6 garlic cloves, minced
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3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
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3 celery stalks, sliced
The braise
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1 cup red wine (Burgundy or Côtes du Rhône)
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2 cups vegetable broth or vegetable stock
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2 tbsp tomato paste
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2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
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1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
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5 thyme sprigs
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2 bay leaves
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3 tbsp olive oil
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Salt and black pepper
To finish
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2 tbsp cornstarch
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3 tbsp cold water
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2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (garnish)
Instructions
Step 1 — Soak the porcini (if using) Soak dried porcini in 1 cup of warm water for 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the soaking liquid. Add both the mushrooms and the liquid to the crock pot when you load it.
Step 2 — Sear the mushrooms Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add cremini and portobello in a single layer. Don't crowd them. Let sit untouched for 2 minutes until browned. Flip and repeat. Work in batches. Season with salt and black pepper. Transfer to the crock pot. Repeat with shiitake or chestnut mushrooms.
Step 3 — Sauté the aromatics Reduce to medium heat. In the same pan, sauté pearl onions, shallots, and garlic cloves until softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir for 2 minutes until it darkens slightly. Pour in the cup of red wine and scrape up any brown bits. Let reduce by half, about 4 minutes.
Step 4 — Load the crock pot Add the wine and aromatics mixture to the crock pot. Add large carrots, celery, soy sauce, balsamic, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Pour in the vegetable broth, reserving about half a cup. Whisk Sacred 7 into the reserved half cup of broth until fully dissolved, then add to the pot.
Step 5 — Low and slow Set the crock pot to LOW. Cook for 6 to 8 hours. The mushrooms will shrink, the broth will deepen, and the sauce will consolidate into something glossy and wine-dark.
Step 6 — Thicken About 20 minutes before serving, whisk cornstarch with cold water until smooth. Stir into the crock pot and switch to HIGH. Cook uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves.
Step 7 — Finish and garnish Taste for seasoning. Adjust salt and black pepper, add a splash of balsamic, or a pinch more Sacred 7 if you want more depth. Scatter fresh parsley over the top. Serve immediately.
What to Serve It With
Mashed potatoes are the right answer — they absorb the sauce in a way other side dishes don't. Creamy polenta is a close second. Wide egg noodles or crusty bread also work. For a full spread in the spirit of the original French dish, add a simple green salad and pour the same red wine you cooked with.
For a heartier version that leans into vegan recipes territory, stir in one cup of cooked French green lentils during the last hour. They hold their shape, add protein, and don't change the character of the braise. This is a standard addition to vegan mushroom bourguignon and it earns its place.
Reheating and Storage
This mushroom bourguignon recipe is better the next day. The flavors consolidate overnight in a way that doesn't happen in real time. Make it Sunday and eat it through the week.
Reheating: stovetop over low heat with a splash of vegetable broth to loosen the sauce. Microwave works but stovetop is better. Freeze for up to three months — thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Notes
No alcohol: Replace the cup red wine with 1 cup of additional vegetable broth plus 1 tbsp extra balsamic and 1 tsp red wine vinegar. The braise will be slightly less complex but still good.
Button mushrooms: If cremini aren't available, button mushrooms work — they'll just soften more over the long cook time. Still worth searing them well first.
On the Sacred 7: Hot water extracted, 100% fruiting bodies, USDA organic. Whisk into warm broth before adding to the pot. It won't taste like a supplement — it becomes part of the sauce.