These Red Wine Braised Boneless Short Ribs and easy and delicious. Cooked low and slow, this is perfect Winter comfort food!
Happy New Year! Around here, the weeks following the new year are the coldest of the year. It’s the height of comfort food season and that’s definitely something to be happy about.
To celebrate, I picked up some beautiful boneless short ribs from the butcher and braised them low and slow with lots and lots of red wine and fresh herbs. There is just no competing with tender, wine and herb infused short ribs.
This time around, I added some mini potatoes and carrots half way through cooking, though I sometimes just use the carrots and serve these short ribs over mashed potatoes or polenta.If you are overdue for a pot of short ribs and a whole lot of comfort in a pot, I can’t recommend this dish more.
Cook’s Notes
When it comes to the wine, a dry red wine is where to start. Beyond that, chose the red that you would pick up to drink. In my case, that was a Cabernet Merlot. A Cabernet Sauvignon would be another great choice, if you enjoy that blend.
The reason short ribs are so lovely is that they are so fully marbled with fat. While that makes the meat beautifully tender, it also cooks off into the lovely gravy. So I like to get it out of the way after the dish is cooked. Here are a few ways to deal with the fat from the short ribs …
1) After taking out of the oven, remove the short ribs and vegetables to a separate bowl and let the pot sit undisturbed for 10-15 minutes. The fat will rise to the top, where you can spoon it off. Then simply return the ribs and vegetables to the gravy and reheat on the stove-top.
2) Remove the ribs and vegetables as above, then pour the gravy into a gravy separator and pour off the fat.
3) If you are making ahead, simply put the gravy in the fridge and the fat will solidify on the top, where you can scoop off and discard before reheating.
Top Tip! Tie your fresh herbs together with cooking-safe string or wrap in cheesecloth to make it easy to remove them all at the end of cooking.
Fresh herbs are lovely if you have them. If not, you can substitute with some or all dried herbs.
I prefer to use a good chicken broth, rather than beef broth, as I’m never happy with the flavour of store-bought beef broth. You can use either.
As noted above, you can add potatoes to the dish as it cooks, or skip the potatoes in the dish and serve this over potatoes or polenta instead.
Get the Recipe: Red Wine Braised Boneless Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 lb. boneless short ribs, about 4
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and quite finely diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cups dry red wine, *see notes
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, or beef broth
- 5 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, or 2 tsp dried parsley
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Vegetables:
- 8-10 mini potatoes, halved
- 1 large carrot, peeled, halved and cut into 2-inch slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a Dutch oven or large, oven-safe pot with a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add short ribs and sear on all sides until golden. Remove from pot to a plate.
- Remove most of the oil from the pot. Add the diced carrots and onions and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and tomato paste to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, for another minute. Add the wine to the pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low and simmer until wine reduces by half (about 20-25 minutes) *Don't rush this step! When the wine has reduced, add the broth and the herbs to the pot and stir to combine. Return the short ribs to the pot. Cover pot with lid and cook in preheated oven for 1 1/4 hours.
- After 1 1/4 hours in the oven, remove from oven and stir in the large pieces of carrots and potatoes (listed as "Vegetables" in the Ingredients), if using. Return to the oven, covered, for another 1 1/4 hours or until meat pulls apart easily and vegetables are tender. *Make sure there's a good bit of liquid in the pot at this point, to cook the vegetables. If not, add a bit more broth, wine or both.
- Remove from oven. Remove herbs and discard. Taste sauce and season with salt and freshly ground pepper, as needed. Remove short ribs and vegetables to a plate. Allow sauce to stand undisturbed for 10-15 minutes. The fat in the gravy should rise to the top, where you can spoon it off and discard. Return the short ribs and vegetables to the pot and re-warm on the stove-top with the gravy.
So delicious!! One of the best short rib recipes I’ve done.
So glad you enjoyed these, Pam! Thanks so much :)
My partner is obsessed with this recipe. And so am I. Made it a few times and will be revolving in our family dinners often. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you are both enjoying it, Penny :) Thanks so much!
Any changes to recipe if you double it? Will 5 lbs of beef short ribs fit in a typical large dutch oven?
Hi Jake and no changes if you double it. I’m not exactly sure if it will all fit, as I haven’t tried it and of course, depends on how large the Dutch oven is.
I made this with bone-in short ribs (about two pounds) but with the original amount of sauce. I made the recipe on the stovetop up until adding the chicken broth, then put everything in the slow cooker for 7 hours. As others have suggested, I pureed the sauce before serving with my immersion blender. I also thickened the sauce with cornstarch. I didn’t add larger pieces of carrot to the slow cooker. It was utterly delicious over mashed potatoes!
So glad you enjoyed it, Julie :) Thanks so much!