White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (2024)

Bright, dry, and buttery white wines are an ideal match for plenty of dishes, but cooking with white wine can be even better. Delicious pastas, seafood dishes, and plenty of chicken recipes are made even more flavorful when you add white wine. Chicken breasts with white wine sauce, garlicky linguine with clams, or brothy mussels make for the perfect dish with Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, or Pinot Grigio. Read on for some of our favorite ways to cook with white wine.

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Sauvignon Blanc-Steamed Mussels with Garlic Toasts

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (1)

A crisp, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc, such as Indaba, would be great in these mussels — and to drink with them.

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One-Pot White Wine Pasta with Mushrooms and Leeks

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This creamy, savory one-pot pasta dish comes together without the need to boil the pasta separately. Savory sautéed mushrooms and gently sweet leeks combine with cream, lemon juice, and white wine to create the rich sauce. Feel free to switch up the flavor by adding tarragon instead of dill.

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Linguine with Red Clam Sauce

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (3)

Pasta tossed with plenty of chopped clams, garlic, and tomato sauce is an iconic Italian-American dish. Here, a few simple touches enhance that homestyle taste: A dose of anchovies boosts the savory flavor of the clams, herby vermouth stands in for dry white wine (although you could use either), and a touch of butter tossed in at the end unites the pasta and sauce in a truly magical way.

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Lobster Thermidor

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (4)

This classic lobster thermidor stuffs gently cooked lobster meat back in its shell with a wine-based sauce and a touch of cheese before it goes under the broiler. The natural sweetness of lobster still shines through the rich, but not heavy, cremini mushroom and dry sherry-laced cream sauce. A touch of cayenne adds warmth, not spice, that brightens the whole dish, while Parmesan cheese gets bubbly and brown under the broiler to finish each impressive stuffed lobster tail.

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Chicken Breasts with White Wine Pan Sauce, Crème Fraîche, and Spring Herbs

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (5)

This simple white wine pan sauce enriched with créme fraîche and a generous handful of tender fresh herbs turns pan-roasted chicken breasts into a special meal. The sauce's delicate flavors are also a good match for thick fillets of trout, salmon, or halibut, which may be substituted for the chicken.

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Caramelized Onion and Bread Soup with Brûléed Blue Cheese

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (6)

In this vegetarian version of classic French onion soup, blue cheese and oloroso sherry bring new layers of flavor and depth. Notes of toasted nuts and fruit compote in the sherry pair well with caramelized onions, and its briny acidity cuts through the richness of the cheese.

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White Beans and Pork Sausage with Pistachio-Lemon Crumble

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (7)

Lemon zest and white wine give a punchy lift to this hearty one-skillet bean and sausage bake.

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Venetian Shrimp with Polenta

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (8)

"All you need to do is make a batch of polenta, which isn't hard at all; it just requires some stirring," says food writer David McCann. "And while the polenta simmers away, all you'll need to do is cook some garlic and white wine and stock, add butter, and, literally two minutes (at most) before you want to serve, toss in the shrimp."

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Classic Swiss Cheese Fondue

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (9)

This concoction of melted cheese is a decadent way to celebrate chilly winter nights. It features melted Gruyère with Emmentaler, Vacherin Fribourgeois, Appenzeller, and Raclette blended in. Splashes of kirsch and dry white wine and a bit of garlic are the traditional seasonings.

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Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Shallots and White Wine

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (10)

Pre-salting the lamb (the longer the better) will deepen its flavor and increase the moisture and tenderness. Afterward, a simple sear then braise renders fork-tender shreds of meat. A spoonful of garlicky gremolata heightens those long-cooked flavors.

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Pork Loin Roast with Caramelized Onions and White Wine–Dijon Sauce

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (11)

In this classic recipe from chef Alex Guarnaschelli, it's important to make sure the pork roast has enough air circulating around it (especially underneath) as it cooks; use a roasting pan fitted with a rack to elevate the meat.

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Yogurt-Marinated Pork Chops with White Wine–Shallot Sauce

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (12)

A pan sauce of dry white wine, shallots, butter, and Dijon finishes these tender marinated pork chops beautifully.

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Risotto with Boquerones and Fish Sauce Caramel

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (13)

Beurre blanc, white anchovies, and an umami-filled caramel fortified by fish sauce give deep flavor to this elegant and unexpected risotto.

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Pappardelle with White Bolognese

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (14)

This cozy, meaty pasta is full of flavor from the blend of pork, beef, and veal, as well as the mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. Make sure you give yourself enough time to reduce the white wine and the stock; it's worth it for the super tender meat and depth of flavor that develops.

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Bouillabaisse

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Chef Ludo Lefebvre’s bouillabaisse starts with a quick-cooking, but deeply flavored, seafood broth. Layering a base of aromatics with fresh snapper, scallops, shrimp, and a mix of Pernod and dry white wine creates a long-simmered flavor in under an hour.

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Coq au Riesling

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (16)

In this creamy take on coq au vin, the chicken is braised in dry Riesling. Silky, rich crème fraîche is stirred in at the end, making it extra decadent.

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Chicken with Roasted-Garlic Pan Sauce

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (17)

This dish is inspired by the rotisserie chicken and sauce from El Asador de Nati in Córdoba. The base for the rich, extremely flavorful pan sauce comes from the chicken pan drippings and a whole head of luscious roasted garlic.

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Summer Squash Gratin

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (18)

Recipe developer Laura Rege puts abundant summer squash and zucchini to good use in this beautiful and very simple gratin, which gets fantastic flavor from white wine, leeks, and Gruyère cheese.

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Seared Scallops with Pinot Gris Butter Sauce

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (19)

Chef Hugh Acheson flavors shallots with butter and Pinot Gris to create a sauce for scallops: "Pinot Gris loves shellfish," he says.

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Poached Salmon with Corn and White Wine-Butter Sauce

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (20)

Poaching fish in wine is an easy way to infuse it with subtle flavor. Since some of the seasoning inevitably washes off, serve it with a sprinkling of coarse salt.

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Broccoli Rabe Risotto with Grilled Lemon

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (21)

This vegetarian risotto is enriched with a flavorful broccoli rabe that's stirred in before serving. The method is a little simpler than the one for traditional risotto: Instead of stirring in hot stock by the cupful, it's added in just two batches.

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Baked Clams with Bacon and Garlic

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (22)

This ultimate version of baked clams has chopped clams in the filling, doubling down on briny clam flavor. Bacon, parsley, lemon, and a touch of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese add a savory, herby kick.

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Sherried Mushrooms with Fried Eggs on Toast

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (23)

Chef Cindy Pawlcyn sautés mushrooms and onions with the Spanish dry sherry oloroso to make a fabulous topping for a fried egg on toast.

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Asparagus and Potato Salad with Riesling-Tarragon Vinaigrette

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In this recipe from chef David Bouley, simply cooked asparagus and Yukon Gold potatoes are made magnificent with a flavorful vinaigrette. To prepare it, chopped fresh herbs and ground coriander seeds are combined with Riesling, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil until perfectly emulsified.

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Rustic Garlic Chicken

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (25)

Yes, three heads of garlic. You don't have to peel the cloves first; they soften during cooking and take on a subtle sweetness. At the table, each person squeezes the garlic out of its skin onto the plate to eat with the chicken.

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Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone Ice Cream

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Chef Daniel Humm infuses roasted peaches with honey-rosemary syrup and displays a strong Italian influence by using mascarpone in this ice cream.

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Choucroute Garnie

White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (27)

Families in Alsace generally eat choucroute garnie during the wintertime, because it's such a hearty, filling dish. Chef Jacques Pépin has adapted the recipe to make it quicker and easier — calling for store-bought sauerkraut instead of the homemade kind, for instance, and suggesting peanut oil as a substitute for duck or goose fat, which may be less accessible.

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