Braised Short Ribs
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Rich, tender, and slow-cooked in a flavorful red wine sauce, braised short ribs are the ultimate comfort food.
Looking for a cozy dish to warm up winter nights or impress at holiday dinners? These braised short ribs are just the thing. Like my beef stew and goulash, the recipe starts with searing the short ribs, then slow-braising them in a rich red wine sauce until they’re fall-apart tender. A heads-up: they need a few hours in the oven, so plan ahead. Serve over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or creamy polenta for a comforting meal that fills your kitchen with warmth.
“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 ribs, you can substitute 6 to 7 pounds of bone-in short ribs—the meat will fall off the bone as it cooks.
- Onions and garlic: These aromatics that add depth and complexity to the sauce.
- Tomato paste: Concentrates the sauce’s flavor, adding richness and a hint of sweetness.
- All-purpose flour: Thickens the braising liquid to make a velvety sauce.
- Red wine: Adds robust, complex flavors to the braising liquid. 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.
- Beef broth: Adds savory depth to the braising liquid and enhances the meaty flavors of the dish.
- Bay leaf and fresh thyme: These herbs add layers of flavor to the sauce.
- Carrots: Add natural sweetness to balance the richness of the meat and sauce.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by seasoning 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. Add half of the short ribs and cook, undisturbed, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
Transfer the beef to a large plate. Repeat with the remaining oil and short ribs.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat and return the pot to medium-low heat. Cook the onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
Add the flour.
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. Serve immediately or let cool, then store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The short ribs can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Video Tutorial
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Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
With a flavorful red wine sauce, this braised short ribs recipe is a comforting classic.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds boneless short ribs, trimmed of excess fat and silver skin, cut into 3-in 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-thick diagonally
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 325°F. 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.
- Note: It's very important to trim all excess fat off of the exterior of the short ribs (although leave the marbling that goes throughout the meat alone), otherwise your sauce will be greasy. It's also a good idea to remove any silver skin, which is the thin, white/silvery membrane on the surface of the meat.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: The short ribs can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. Reheat, covered, over medium-low heat on the stovetop or in a 325°F oven.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The short ribs can be frozen for up to 3 months. Before serving, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then reheat, covered, over medium-low heat on the stovetop or in a 325°F oven.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 680
- Fat: 47 g
- Saturated fat: 19 g
- Carbohydrates: 12 g
- Sugar: 4 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 41 g
- Sodium: 740 mg
- Cholesterol: 166 mg
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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This is the first Once Upon A Chef recipe that really didn’t turn out for me. The sauce was watery and had very little flavor and the meat never got that tender. I don’t know what went wrong! My husband was able to jazz it up a bit with bbq sauce but it still wasn’t so great.
Is it possible you left out the wine or other ingredient. These have a very rich broth that is delicious. I hope you will give it another try.
Fabulous. Just perfect. I wanted to lick my plate clean, but Scout is one very lucky dog. This is the only way I will make short ribs now. I hadn’t seen boneless before in store, but we moved to another state and there they were, lightly marbled choice grade, trimmed, no silver skin, and on sale. How easy. Then, I worried that they could turn out too dry. When I searched this website, I knew Jenn’s recipe would be a winner. The only change I made was to add a half lemon’s worth of juice with the tomato paste. I learned this from a chef in California a long time ago, and I’ve always included it. No idea if it made a difference.
Hi Jenn!
I bought bone in short ribs by mistake!
Ok to just follow the recipe and remove meat from the bone just before serving?
Or better to serve the ribs with bone in?
I’m cooking tonight and serving tomorrow night.
Love your recipes! Thanks a million!
~Joanne
You could go either way — it really doesn’t make any difference so whatever you prefer. Keep in mind they make take just a bit longer to cook. 🙂
Thanks for the quick reply! Just read your other notes too. Thanks again. All looks great so far!
I made this today and I’m sad. The sauce tasted amazing and was silky and flavorful, and the meat was tender but still, strangely, very dry. Overall a disappointing meal for my family after quite a bit of work and clean up for me. The ribs I got were VERY lean and already completely trimmed, so I suspect that’s the problem. I needed more fat. I also feel I would have had a better result with a bit of a cooler oven and shorter cooking time (maybe stopping at the 2 hour mark when I added the carrots). Having not made this before, I followed the recipe exactly. It was overcooked. I’m a novice with short ribs, so, live and learn. Still, very tasty sauce. Would love any feedback from Jen as I nearly never go wrong with her recipes. Thank you!
Hi Jen, So sorry this didn’t meet your expectations! I agree that the meat was likely the issue. Short ribs typically have lots of marbling/fat, so I’m surprised that they were so lean. Did you buy chance by grass-fed meat? It is typically leaner. Next time I would ask your butcher for a cut with good marbling, and make sure they don’t over trim. The cooking time is pretty typical for short ribs so I don’t think the timing is the issue. The only other thing I can think of is that your oven may run hot—cooking at too high a temp can cause the fat to render too quickly. Hope that helps!
I could use every adjective possible – suffice it to say this is the best meal I have ever made!
I could not find boneless short ribs so used the bone in and removed the meat from the bones before serving.
Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
Absolutely delicious and easy – I honestly don’t think I could have found anything better in any restaurant!!! Will be making this for Christmas.
Ummmm.
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My family of 4 loved this recipe!!! Both my children and my wife asked for seconds…We all much appreciate you and the recipe you have shared with us. The meat was out of this world as was the leftover broth! I did not have tomato paste, substituted a third of a jar Trational Spaghetti Sauce…..was wonderful.
These ribs were a huge hit for the dinner I hosted for our friends (two other couples). I usually use another recipe for short ribs that I had from a cooking class I took but decided to give this one a try. I had always used bone in ribs (for flavor) and browned all sides but used the boneless ribs and only browned on one side as Jenn suggested and as she said, I did not think it really makes a difference and honestly felt that the boneless ones I bought from Costco, were just way easier to brown and felt they didn’t have all that extra fat as I find with the bone in ones. I bought 5 lbs of the ribs and since other commenters had stated they wanted more sauce I increased the recipe by 50% and glad I did because the sauce is gold. I did add mushrooms as others suggested and about 2 hours in, I felt that it was missing something but wasn’t convinced it was salt and added 1 Tbsp of chicken bouillon powder and hoped I wasn’t ruining it by doing that but it actually gave me the results I wanted. My guests went back for seconds and some were even scraping the sauce off of their plates with some fresh sourdough bread I had also made! They could not stop raving about it. I was so glad I gave this recipe a try and this will now be the only one I use. Thanks Jenn for always giving us great recipes!
Absolutely fabulous. Thank you for the recipe.
I made this on a cold and snowy Ohio December day and it was perfect. At $11.99 a pound for bone in short ribs, this is an expensive, but very delicious recipe. My husband enjoyed the short ribs so much, I may add it to my Christmas Day menu. Would there be a less expensive cut of meat for this recipe?
Glad you liked it! I’m not sure how much cheaper it is, but you could also use Chuck roast cut into chunks.