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.
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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.
Notes
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Made this for New Years Eve- added a diced parsnip, used a decent Zinfandel and served over some creamy polenta with added Parmesan. The aroma was heavenly and flavors delicious! Not as fatty as bone-in short ribs and we preferred that this time!
So glad you enjoyed it, Ingrid. Thanks so much :)
Will this work for bone in short ribs? Any adjustments I should make?
Hi Emily and yes, it should work just fine with bone-in ribs, as well! Enjoy :)
Hi! Hoping to make this soon but am halving the recipe— will that impact the cook time? Suggestions are appreciated!
Hi Emma and it shouldn’t affect the cooking time too much. Try and use a smaller pot if you can, so the liquid layer isn’t too thin, for best results.
Great recipe. I served it for 10 people and it was delicious. I served with mashed potatoes and carrots. Thanks!!
So glad to hear, Doris! Thanks so much :)
This was my first time preparing short ribs. We really enjoyed this recipe. Very easy and tasty!
So glad to hear, Michelle :) Thanks so much!
Wow, happened on short ribs on sale and found this recipe. Took longer than thought but was totally worth it! Made some changes and additions, garlic for one but also split potatoes with mixture of sweet and fingerling, roasted with garlic and herbs before adding half to ribs and saving half to cook with Asparagus, broccoli with more onions ! Superb with Cab Merlot and fresh sourdough bread!
Sounds lovely, Freddy! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much :)
Yes Freddy I added garlic too. Your additions sound great and I will add to mine next time!
This is for dinner tonight! I have some baby bellas that might be yummy in this.
Enjoy!
Would adding mushrooms to this hinder the scrumpious factor?
I don’t think so :) Use ’em if you’ve got ’em!
Excellent recipe. It turned out great. I just changed this recipe up a bit by adding fresh finely chopped garlic to the onion and carrot mixture
So glad you enjoyed it, Don :) Thanks so much!
Absolutely delicious!! I didn’t have and red wine and used Marsala. Was so good not sure I will used red wine when I use the recipe again today. I have never enjoyed a meal more
Sounds lovely, Susan! I love the flavour of Marsala, so I think I might just try it next time :) Thanks so much!
What kind of Marsala did you use? Sweet?
Hi Marilyn and no, I use Dry Marsala. Sweet is pretty sweet for a meat dish.
Im making this as you read and I type, When exactly am I supposed to add the seasoning? Im gonna guess that I season the meat with everything except the bay leaf and parsley and add them during with wine and remove after backing? But your advise would be great.
Hi Sondra, if you are asking about salt and pepper, you could lightly season the meat before cooking, but I tend to do most of the seasoning at the end of cooking. Slow cooking dishes can amplify salt, so it’s easy to end up with an overly salty dish if you season too early in the process. A little bit won’t hurt, but see what you have at the end of cooking and generously season then, to taste.
Awesome recipe. So much flavour. I tied my fresh herbs up in a cheese cloth to make it easier to dispense afterwards.
Thanks.
So glad you enjoyed it, Sonny :) Thanks so much!
The short ribs I have are thinner. Would it be better to cook it at 300 instread of 350 degrees?
Hi Nanette, you certainly could, as it won’t hurt anything to cook them at the lower temperature. Just cook until they are falling-apart tender. Enjoy :)
Absolutely delicious. Much better made the day before serving. Accompanied with Roasted Root Vegetables and Mashed Potatoes and an awesome Pino
So glad you enjoyed it, Robbie :) Thanks so much!
I followed the recipe with the exception of using dried herbs . I also chose to use beef broth. It was an easy recipe to follow and the results were amazing! Everything was delicious…smothered in the dark rich 🍷gravy sooo good ! I will never have to order these when I’m out for dinner again ❤️Bon appetit🍷🍷
Thank you
Jennifer 🤌❤️
So glad you enjoyed it, Katherine :) Thanks so much!