Ratatouille maison et gratin de pâtes facile

What does “faire revenir” mean in French cooking?

In French recipes, “faire revenir” means to cook food in a little hot oil or butter until it softens and starts to colour — onions, garlic, or other vegetables. Treat it as one fixed cooking phrase. Word for word it says “to make (it) come back” (revenir = “to come back”), but that literal sense will not help you — it has nothing to do with the cooking meaning. It is one of the most common cooking verbs in French.

The cook says: “Après avoir fait revenir l’ail et les oignons dans une poêle avec de l’huile d’olive…” — “After frying the garlic and onions in a pan with olive oil…”. A little later she says it again for the zucchini: “Faire revenir les cubes de courgettes avec un peu d’huile d’olive.” Treat “faire revenir” as one fixed cooking phrase — the literal “come back” sense does not really help you here. You almost always use it with “faire”: “faire revenir des oignons”, “faites revenir la viande”. It usually means gentle cooking, not hard frying. Two more examples: “Faites revenir les champignons cinq minutes” (Fry the mushrooms for five minutes). “Je fais revenir les légumes avant d’ajouter l’eau” (I sauté the vegetables before adding the water). If you read French recipes, you will meet this verb in almost every one.