Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Balsamic Sauce
Beef Steak or Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Balsamic Sauce: An easy, elegant entree that’s perfect for special occasions and will get rave reviews! This Filet Mignon Recipe tastes like it came from the kitchen of a five-star restaurant. It’s absolutely superb, yet you can make it at home!!
Grill or saute your steaks, then make a flavorful pan steak sauce that will knock your socks off!
Filet Mignon Recipe with a Red Wine Balsamic Sauce
My son, Nick, was on his senior high school retreat on Valentine’s Day…so we celebrated on the following Sunday with a meal of beef tenderloin steaks, brown butter, and Parmesan mashed potatoes and asparagus. My friend, Hilary, mentioned making a red wine, balsamic sauce with shallots to serve with beef so I decided to follow her lead.
The filets were seasoned with salt and pepper and sautéed in butter. Next, they were removed from the pan, and shallots, rosemary, red wine, and balsamic vinegar were added with some additional butter. Returned to the pan, the steaks were heated to the desired doneness, then served with the pan sauce. Nothing but raves for this exquisite Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Balsamic Sauce…the sauce was sheer perfection.
Another favorite beef recipe is this Gorgonzola Mushroom Stuffed Beef Tenderloin.
How to Cook Filet Mignon on the Stove
When the weather isn’t cooperating, it’s still easy to cook a steak on the stove and have it delicious!! Seasoning your beef well is key, then cooking in butter and monitoring the internal temperature will ensure a perfect result.
- First, season your steaks with kosher salt the night before. Sprinkle both sides generously, then park in the fridge overnight. This allows osmosis to draw the salt into the meat.
- Bring your steaks out of the fridge to let the warm up a bit before cooking.
- Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sear both sides of the steak for 4 minutes, then remove to a platter.
- Add your shallots to the pan and cook until soft, decreasing the heat if needed to prevent the shallots from browning too fast. Then deglaze the pan with the wine and vinegar and finally, stir in the rosemary.
- Check the internal temperature of the filets, then return to the pan to finish cooking, flipping at least once. Scroll down for the internal temperatures of rare, medium-rare, medium and well-done beef.
- Remove to a platter, cover with foil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- Keep the pan sauce warm and pour into a pitcher and drizzle over steaks to serve.
- NOTE: If you want to grill your steaks and make this sauce, you’ll want to sear your steaks in your skillet first. Quickly searing in butter will add some beef flavoring to the sauce.
Guide to Internal Steak Temperatures
My husband likes his steak very rare, and I’m more of a medium-rare gal. We have had many guests who prefer their steaks medium, so it’s good to have some guidelines on what internal temperatures are for what doneness of beef. Having an instant read thermometer is key!
Allow about 5-10 degrees for carryover cooking time. This is the time you let the steaks rest under foil so the juices can be reabsorbed.
The temperature for each degree of doneness, according to Certified Angus Beef, are as follows:
For a RARE Steak (cool red center), look for an internal temperature of 125 degrees but remove from heat at 120 degrees.
For MEDIUM RARE Steak (warm red center), look for an internal temperature of 135 degrees, but remove from heat at 130 degrees.
For MEDIUM Steak (warm pink center), look for an internal temperature of 145 degrees, but remove at 140 degrees.
For MEDIUM WELL Steak (slightly pink center), look for an internal temperature of 150 degrees, but remove at 145 degrees.
For WELL DONE Steak (little to no pink center), look for an internal temperature of 160 degrees, but remove at 155 degrees.
More Entree Recipes You’ll Love:
- Beef Teriyaki Kabobs
- Pot Roast with Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Red Wine
- Beef Barley Soup
- Instant Pot Short Ribs
- Italian Pesto Burger
- Easy Black Bean Chili
- Shredded Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- More Beef Recipes
- More Entree Recipes
This recipe was first shared in May 2012. Photos and text were updated in 2019.
Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Balsamic Sauce Recipe
An easy, elegant company worthy entree
Ingredients
- 4 8-ounce beef tenderloin steaks
- 4 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 large shallot, diced
- 2/3 cup dry red wine
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar (good quality)
- 2 tablespoons rosemary, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Remove steaks from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Season well with salt and pepper. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add fillets and sear on each side for 4 minutes, and remove to a platter.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and shallots. Saute a few minutes till shallots are tender. Add the wine and vinegar to deglaze, then add rosemary. Reduce sauce by half and add 1/2 teaspoon salt if needed.
- Return steaks to pan, and cook to desired doneness, flipping once during cooking time. Serve over mashed potatoes if desired with sauce.
Notes
Recipe inspired by Food for My Family
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 902Total Fat: 68gSaturated Fat: 29gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 29gCholesterol: 223mgSodium: 303mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 55g
81 Comments on “Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Balsamic Sauce”
This would be a real treat, especially with that glaze. The sandwiches I was planning for dinner pale in comparison to this. Thanks for the recipe and the tips.
Liz,
I am such a sucker for beef recipes! I could eat a huge steak right now after just looking your beautiful photos! I can’t wait to try the balsamic glaze sauce. I could drink that straight! I know that my picky husband would devour this!
Hugs,
Roz
This is somewhat like Susan and John Lester cook Filets although they don’t salt overnight which is a great idea. Plus no Red Wine Balsamic Sauce with their’s. This appeals to me and a great meal for One.
What a great “treat yourself meal”! We don’t have steak often bu this is the way to go. The Red Wine Balsamic Sauce really seals the deal.
I was curious as to how you cook filets, and the one photographed looks beautiful. the other night I had two girlfriends over, and they’re both medium gals, and I think we were just all gabbing too much and one steak I didn’t cook enough. But she survived, and I may have her hooked on medium rare! But where is this wine sauce? I don’t see it in the photos!
I know, Mimi! I was shooting these steaks while also serving them for a family dinner. I took a few quick photo with the sauce in the background, but need to make them again when the restless natives aren’t waiting for their entree!
While a Filet Mignon can never be ordinary, you have certainly created an extra special dish with that sauce.
That steak is cooked to perfection! It’s what I want for dinner! 🙂 ~Valentina
Cooking steaks, particularly tender ones like this, on the stovetop has become my favorite way to prepare them. Because it’s SO easy to then make a pan sauce! Yours looks wonderful — really nice Thanks!
I haven’t had a filet in… well, a very long time! This sounds amazing, even at 7AM:@)
Perfect! Beef is my favourite red meat and I could eat them every single day.
I can see the red wine balsamic complementing the filet mignon so well. I bet my guys would love it!
I would LOVE to pull up a seat to your table for this meal. Mmmm 🙂
Wow, what a meal! This recipe shows that you don’t need a long ingredient list to make a great meal.
Beautifully prepared filet…my boys would go mad for this! Love the sound of the wine sauce as well, so lovely!
My husband loves grilling the steak, and he’s the one who cooks steak all the time. He never made with balsamic vinegar, so this will be our new menu to try for sure!
just salivating!
Mmmmm….what a fabulous meal! I haven’t had filet mignon in ages and it is usually something we order when we go out. I’ll have to try this at home.
WOWZERS!!!
My all time favorite cut of meat. The filet had to be great with the sauce that you prepared.
What takes a great home cooked meal to the next level? A great sauce!!! It’s only breakfast time and you have me thinking about steak : )