Braised Short Ribs
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Red wine braised short ribs are just the thing when you’re craving something cozy and a little special. They take their time in the oven, but the payoff is fall-apart tender beef in a rich red wine sauce that tastes like it came from your favorite restaurant.
Looking for a cozy dish to warm up winter nights or wow at holiday dinners? These braised short ribs are just the thing. Similar to my beef stew and goulash, the recipe starts with a deep golden sear on the short ribs, followed by a slow braise in a rich red wine sauce until they’re fall-apart tender.
Short ribs take a few hours in the oven, so plan ahead—but most of that time is hands-off. As they braise, your kitchen fills with the aroma of red wine, herbs, and slow-cooked beef. Serve them over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or creamy polenta to soak up every drop of the sauce.
“Easily one of the best beef meals I’ve had in ages.”
What You’ll Need To Make Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
- Boneless short ribs: This cut becomes incredibly tender and flavorful after slow braising. If you can’t find boneless, substitute 6 to 7 pounds of bone-in short ribs—the meat will fall right off the bone as it cooks.
- Onions and garlic: These aromatics create the flavorful base of the sauce.
- Tomato paste: Adds concentrated flavor and a subtle sweetness.
- Flour: A light coating thickens the braising liquid into a silky, velvety sauce.
- Red wine & beef broth: Together they form the backbone of the braising liquid. For the wine, use a bottle that’s inexpensive but still good enough to drink; a Pinot Noir or Merlot in the $8 to $12 range is ideal. Other dry, full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, or Malbec also work well if that’s what you have on hand.
- Bay leaf & fresh thyme: These herbs infuse the sauce with warm, aromatic layers.
- Carrots: Simmering with the ribs, they add natural sweetness to balance the richness of the meat and sauce.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Season the meat: Salt and pepper the short ribs generously all over—this is your only chance to season the meat itself before it’s swimming in braising liquid, so don’t be shy.
Brown the short ribs: Work in batches so the pot stays hot and the ribs actually brown instead of steaming. Let them sit undisturbed until a deep crust forms before flipping. The browned bits left behind in the pot will become the foundation of the rich braising sauce.
Pro Tip: It might seem odd to brown on just one side, but that’s intentional—you’re building flavor here, not cooking the meat through, and it saves real time without sacrificing much.
Cook the aromatics: Once the ribs are out, the pot is full of flavor left behind from searing. Cook the onions gently until soft and golden, then let the garlic and tomato paste cook briefly on their own to deepen the flavor. Stir in the flour until it disappears completely; this is what turns the liquid into a rich, clingy sauce later on.
Build the sauce: Add the wine, broth and herbs, scraping the bottom of the pot well as it comes to a boil; those browned bits are packed with flavor. Nestle the ribs back into the pot along with any juices that collected on the plate—don’t waste that liquid gold!
Braise the ribs: Braise until the meat is fork-tender and nearly falling off the bone, adding the carrots partway through so they soften without turning to mush. Serve right away, or let it cool and store in the fridge for a couple of days or the freezer for later.
Pro Tip: Don’t rely on the clock alone. If the meat still offers resistance when pierced with a fork, let it braise a little longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this in a slow cooker? Yes—make the recipe up to the point where it goes into the oven, then transfer everything (including the carrots) to a slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the meat is tender.
Can I make this in an Instant Pot? I’m not an experienced Instant Pot user myself, so I can’t say for certain, but based on similar recipes, cooking on high pressure for 45 minutes followed by a 15-minute natural release should work well. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Can I make this without wine? Wine adds real depth here, so this won’t taste quite the same without it, but if you’d rather skip the alcohol, substitute the wine with additional beef broth (3⅓ cups broth total in place of the wine-and-broth mixture) and add a splash of balsamic vinegar to help mimic some of the acidity and depth.
Short Ribs Recipe Video Tutorial
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Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless short ribs, trimmed of excess fat and silver skin, cut into 3-in (8-cm) chunks (see note)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1½ tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2⅓ cups red wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 large carrots, sliced ½-in (13-mm)-thick diagonally
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Season the short ribs all over with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or oven-safe pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half of the short ribs and cook, without moving, until well browned on one side only, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the beef to a large plate. Repeat with the remaining tablespoon of oil and short ribs. (Note: Browning the beef adds flavor. It might seem odd to brown on one side only but I find that it saves time and does the job just as well.)
- Pour off all but one tablespoon of fat, return the pot to the stove, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. (If the onions begin to darken too quickly, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the pan.) Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes more. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until fully absorbed by the onion-tomato mixture, about 1 minute.
- Add the wine, broth, sugar, bay leaf and thyme sprigs; increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen browned bits. Add the short ribs and any accumulated juices to the pot and return to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid, transfer to the oven, and cook for 2 hours.
- Carefully remove the pot from the oven. Stir in the carrots. Cover and return the pot to the oven and cook 45 to 60 minutes more, or until the carrots and meat are tender. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Skim any grease off the surface of the sauce, if necessary. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Spoon the short ribs and sauce into bowls over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or creamy polenta.
Notes
Pair with
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Had today for Christmas dinner. Was excellent! Garlic mashed potatoes, brown butter carrots, and a nice cabernet.
I made this yesterday for today’s dinner, using boned ribs. OMG, what a hit this meal was! Another home run from Once Upon a Chef recipes. Thanks,Jenn
Great recipe! The meat was so tender. My family loved it. Thank you!
Love it!!!
Made this last night and it was SO good. My local grocery store only had bone-in short ribs which I agree are so fatty, so I used chuck under blade steak instead, trimmed and cut into 2×4 pieces. I otherwise followed the recipe exactly. The flavors were incredible, and the meat was so tender. I served over mashed potatoes—the sauce was great with the potatoes. My house smelled amazing. Thank you, Jenn!
This recipe is the “bomb!” I’ve made it several times and it’s always a hit. I buy the prime boneless short ribs from Costco, brown the meat in a pan then transfer the meat, sauce and carrots into a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. We have it with mash potatoes or rice!
DELISH!
Hi Jen,
Can the short ribs be replaced with beef cheek? If this is possible, do we keep to the same cooking time and temperature?
Thanks.
Hi Joyce, I haven’t ever cooked with beef cheeks so I can’t say from experience, but have read online that beef cheeks could be a suitable substitute for boneless short ribs without adjustments to time or temperature. If you can get beef chuck, I’d go with that. Just make sure either the chuck or the cheeks are cut into pieces that are about 2 inches wide by 4 inches long. Please LMK how it turns out!
Tried this for the first time today and so glad I did. It is OUTSTANDING!! Everyone loved it. I was not able to find boneless short ribs, so I just bought more than 4 lbs and cut the bone off myself, trimming away the silver skin and extra fat. It was an easy process. Followed the recipe exactly – wouldn’t change a thing. This will be a family favorite Sunday dinner, and it is nice enough to serve to guests. Paired it with mashed potatoes. Thank you Jen for a wonderful recipe.
I had this same dish at a place called Big Cedar Lodge and have always wanted to make it ever since. Their version had peas in it. If I wanted to incorporate peas, I’m thinking a cup of frozen peas, thrown in during the last five minutes of cooking. Would that work here?
Yep, that should work nicely. Hope you enjoy!
This was way too bland for my taste. If I make it again I’ll have to come up with additional seasonings to give it more flavor. I added many more carrots as I wanted more vegetables with my meat. I served with garlic mashed potatoes. So not the best.
Hi Jean! My short ribs are currently in their last few minutes of cooking, so we’ll see how it goes, but I’m confident because I’ve made Jenn’s BBQ short ribs and they were amazing. I’m no sure how much cooking you’ve done in the past but I truly believe in “seasoning as you go.” Every time I introduce a new ingredient, I add salt & pepper. If you wait to the end and never add seasoning, 99.9% of recipes will be bland. I taste as I go and season as I go. Some may object and think “you’ll add too much salt!” but I don’t find this to be true. I add far less salt than if I happen to forget and need to add it at the end. It’s best to layer the flavors and cook the seasoning in as you go. I also use Kosher Sea Salt and even though my husband has a history of high blood pressure, I’ve done research and sodium from processed foods is far more likely to impact HBP than kosher sea salt added by cooking homemade meals. I hope that helps. Try it! Taste and season as you go – this is my number 1 tip for new cooks! It makes ALL the difference. No more bland food.
Hi Jenn! I was looking for a good braided in red wine short rib recipe to serve at a nice dinner party. I checked here first since I trust your recipes and this looks perfect. BUT I am intrigued by the bbq short ribs you have on your site as well. I’ve never seen or tried short ribs cooked this way! Honest opinion….which would you recommend for my party of 12??! Thank you so much!
Hi Julie, They are both delish, but this one is more elegant. I’d stick with this recipe for a dinner party. Hope everyone enjoys!
That’s what I was leaning toward but I really wanted your opinion, so thank you for responding so quickly!!