Gateaux1

These easy Braised Short Ribs are my shortcut way to enjoy crazy tender oven-braised short ribs with just 15 minutes of prep. Try them today!

I love easy Beef Recipes including my delicious recipe for Ultimate Beef Stew that makes you feel like you’ve stepped off a plane and into Paris.

Sabrina’s Braised Beef Short Ribs Recipe

Easy Braised Short Ribs are my go to comfort food dinner when I’m looking for a shortcut but still need an amazing presentation. Instead of creating the braising sauce from scratch, I use my favorite BBQ sauce recipe and a small amount of beef broth with just a few vegetables for the easiest, most delicious meltingly fork-tender short ribs you’ll ever eat.

How to Cook

The only other thing to truly ensure amazing short ribs is salt, pepper, and flour on each piece. Then tap off the excess flour and brown it in your Dutch oven on all sides. YES, all sides, including the bone (this helps add flavor, I promise). Then when it braises, it will become this beautiful, crust-covered tender piece of meat.

The Trick to Braising

The trick behind the perfect braising is the searing of the beef before it goes into the oven. First, you’re going to season the ribs with salt and pepper and toss it in all-purpose flour. Then you’re going to sear the ribs on high heat until they are a dark brown with a good crust on all sides before they cook low and slow in the oven in your dutch oven.

How to Pick Short Ribs

The most important tip I can give you about making short ribs is simple: you are looking for the English cut of short ribs. They look like a cube, one bone per piece. Now here is where you get obnoxious. When you get to the grocer completely avoid the prepackaged stuff. They give you one nice piece and about four pieces that are 80% bone. So you end up spending ten dollars a pound on mostly bone. Here is what you do, walk up to the meat guy (or gal) and inform them that you want x number of short ribs, and that you need them for an event, and they all need to be this thick (hold your fingers apart at least three inches) since they are going to be a single piece per serving. Let him know that you’re trying to avoid pieces that are mostly bone.

You can absolutely request bone-in ribs if you’d like them, but I always request boneless short ribs, as you braise them the bone will always fall off the rib leaving fatty connective tissue behind.

Chef’s Note

Since we’re using a thick BBQ sauce as the base I’m adding some beef stock to the recipe to give it some additional liquids to cook low and slow until the beef short ribs are super tender. If the heat is too high in your Dutch oven (or the lid is not on firmly enough) you may need to add more liquids during the cooking time. The first time you make this recipe, check on the beef a couple of times while cooking to be sure you’re not running too hot.

Best ever BBQ Sauce Recipe

By using BBQ sauce we avoid using red wine, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and any other homemade sauce ingredients. So be sure you’re using a high-quality BBQ sauce, follow the old saying they use for wine: use one you’d drink.

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1. Add all the ingredients into a saucepan and whisk until combined.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 45 minutes.

Serving Ideas

Short Ribs are best served with a glass of red wine, Mashed Potatoes, egg noodles, Creamy Polenta or French Fries, and a salad like a Wedge Salad topped with Blue Cheese Dressing.

Slow Cooker Short Ribs

Brown the short ribs well on all sides in a Dutch oven then add to your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours with the BBQ sauce. Do not add any additional beef stock.

Italian Version

You can certainly make the flavors from scratch next time. I’ve made an Italian version with garlic, tomato sauce, dry red wine, fresh thyme, bay leaves and garlic cloves. Just season with salt and pepper to taste.

Photos used in previous versions of this post.