If there’s one comforting recipe you need during this festive season, it’s these cranberry braised short ribs.
Fall-off-the-bone tender after being slowly cooked with cranberries, red wine, and all the aromatics, you’ll be drooling at your oven door. Serve with latkes for your Hanukkah menu, or mashed potatoes for Friendsgiving. (Or just hide in the closet with the remaining wine and eat these straight out of the pot so you don’t have to share with your partner or children!)
Cranberry braised short ribs take a bit of work right at the beginning, but then you throw everything into the pot, and let it cook in the oven to perfection. The initial searing of the meat and sweating of the vegetables help to bring out the flavors of each ingredient as well as seal in those beautiful juices to keep the meat ultra tender. Then you get to walk away for 3 hours to do everything else on your checklist.
Maybe the best part about this recipe is that it calls for 2 cups of red wine, that’s about half the bottle. So you get to enjoy the other half while you’re waiting! (Or while you’re hiding in the closet away from your family.)
Cranberry Braised Short Ribs
Fall-off-the-bone perfection.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 6 pounds beef short ribs, bone-in or boneless
- kosher salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 white onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 2 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- Optional: 1 teaspoon cornstarch, to thicken the braising liquid for serving.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the short ribs generously with salt and pepper, then add to the hot oil and sear on all sides.
- Remove the short ribs to a plate, lower the heat to medium, then add the onions, garlic, and carrots. Sweat the vegetables until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat all the vegetables.
- Add the short ribs back to the pot. Pour in the red wine, beef broth, and add in the remaining ingredients.
- Cover the pot, place in the oven, and cook until the beef is tender and falling off the bone, about 3 hours.
- When the ribs are finished cooking, remove the rosemary and bay leaves from the pot. Transfer the vegetables and ribs to a serving platter.
- Optional: Strain the braising liquid into a small pot, whisk in 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, and whisk constantly over high heat until thick.
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