These braised beef short ribs cook low and slow in a Dutch oven with a whole bottle of red wine, a head of garlic, and fresh rosemary and thyme. After three and a half hours the meat gives way at the touch of a fork, and the wine has reduced into a dark, glossy sauce you will want to mop up with bread. It is almost entirely hands-off, and like every good braise it tastes even better the day after you make it.

Close-up of fall-off-the-bone braised beef short ribs in glossy red wine sauce

Overview

Why you’ll love these braised short ribs

The texture is the whole point. Three and a half hours of low, slow heat breaks the connective tissue down into gelatin. The meat turns silky rather than stringy, and the sauce thickens on its own as it goes.
It’s almost entirely hands-off. About thirty minutes of actual work at the stove, then the oven does the rest while you get on with your day.
It’s better on day two. Braises improve overnight, which makes this one of the easiest dinner-party mains there is. Cook it the day before and reheat.
One pot. Sear, sauté, braise and serve, all from the same Dutch oven.

What are beef short ribs?

Despite the name, short ribs are beef, not pork. They come from the lower rib section of the cow — the plate, chuck, and brisket end — where the muscle works hard and carries a lot of connective tissue. That’s exactly why they’re wrong for a hot, fast cook and perfect for a long, slow one.

You’ll find them cut two ways:

English cut — a single thick bone with a solid block of meat sitting on top. This is what you want for braising, and what this recipe is written for.
Flanken cut — sliced thin across several bones, so each strip has a row of small bone cross-sections. Great on a hot grill, Korean galbi style, but too thin to braise.

Ask your butcher for bone-in English cut, and ask for the thickest, meatiest pieces they have. They shrink noticeably as the fat renders.

Here is what you need

A bottle of wine, carrots, celery, short ribs, onion, garlic, herbs, stock, olive oil, tomato paste, bay leaf and chili flakes on a wooden surface — ingredients for braised beef short ribs

Bone-in beef short ribs — English cut, thick and meaty. The bone adds body and gelatin to the sauce as it cooks.
Extra virgin olive oil — for searing. Use a good olive oil, it’s a real part of the flavor here.
Garlic — a whole head, cloves separated and peeled. It melts into the sauce over three hours and turns sweet.
Onion, carrots and celery — the base of every good braise.
Tomato paste — cooked out until it darkens, which builds enormous depth.
Dry red wine — a whole bottle. See the section below on which one to choose.
Broth — beef, chicken or vegetable.
Thyme and rosemary sprigs and a bay leaf — fresh sage or oregano also work. Dried is fine in a pinch.
Chili flakes — Greek boukovo if you have it. Some goes into the sauce, a little more over the top at the table.
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

The best red wine for braised short ribs

A whole bottle goes into this pot, so the wine matters more here than in almost any other recipe. You want something dry, medium to full bodied, with real acidity and a bit of tannin — the acid cuts the richness of the fat, and the tannin gives the sauce its backbone.

My Greek picks:

Agiorgitiko from Nemea — soft, dark-fruited and gently spiced. The friendliest choice and hard to get wrong.
Xinomavro from Naoussa — high acid, firm tannin, with tomato and dried-olive notes that are made for a braise like this. If you’ve ever cooked with Nebbiolo, this is the Greek equivalent and it is superb here.

Also excellent: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chianti, or a Côtes du Rhône.

Avoid: anything sweet, anything heavily oaked, and anything sold as “cooking wine.” Three hours of reduction concentrates whatever is in the bottle, including the flaws. The old rule holds — cook with a wine you’d happily drink. It doesn’t need to be expensive.

Making braised short ribs without wine? Swap the bottle for an equal amount of beef broth, then stir in two tablespoons of red wine vinegar or balsamic at the same point. You need that acidity to keep the sauce from tasting flat and heavy.

If you love these braised short ribs, try Greek Lamb Chops – Paidakia, Greek Beef Stew – Stifado, and Kokkinisto – Greek Braised Beef in Red Sauce.

How to make braised short ribs

Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F.

Three short ribs searing in a dutch oven.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Pat the short ribs dry and season them all over with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Sear on all sides until deeply browned, working in batches of 6 to 8 minutes so the pan stays hot — crowding it will steam the meat instead of browning it. Transfer each batch to a large plate as you go.

Carrots, celery and onions in a dutch oven.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the chopped onion, carrots and celery along with the peeled garlic cloves, and cook until softened and fragrant, about five minutes.

A wooden spoon, stirring tomato paste with carrots, celery and onions in a dutch oven.

Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add the tomato paste and stir. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato paste has started to darken and caramelize, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Short ribs, wine broth, bay leaf and herbs in a dutch oven.

Return the short ribs to the pot. Pour in the red wine and the broth, then add the thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and chili flakes. Arrange the ribs meat side down so they are fully submerged in the liquid. Bring everything to a simmer, then cover and transfer to the oven.
Cook for 3 hours. Check them — the meat should be tender and giving, but not yet collapsing off the bone.
Uncover and cook for a further 30 minutes, which deepens the colour and reduces the sauce.
Fish out and discard the herb stems and the bay leaf before serving. See the tips below if you’d like to thicken the sauce further.

Braised beef short ribs in red wine sauce with carrots and herbs served with olive oil mashed potatoes

Pro tips

Buy the thickest, meatiest ribs you can find. They shrink a good deal as the fat renders, and thin ones can dry out over three hours.
Pat the meat dry before searing. A wet surface steams instead of browning, and the browning is where most of the flavour comes from.
Don’t crowd the pot. Two batches with space between the pieces beats one crowded batch every time.
Cook with a wine you’d drink. It doesn’t need to be expensive, but three hours of reduction will concentrate whatever is in the bottle.
The most common mistake is pulling them too early. Tough short ribs are almost always undercooked, not overcooked. If they resist the fork at three hours, put the lid back on and give them another twenty to thirty minutes. It is very hard to overcook a braise.
To thicken the sauce: carefully move the short ribs to a platter and cover with foil. Using oven gloves, set the pot on the stove over medium heat and simmer to reduce. If you want it thicker still, put about a third of a cup of the cooking liquid in a small bowl, sprinkle over a teaspoon of flour, and whisk thoroughly until completely dissolved. Stir it back into the pot and simmer until it coats the back of a spoon.

Make ahead, storage and reheating

Make ahead. This is the ideal do-ahead main. Cook it up to two days in advance, cool, and refrigerate the ribs sitting in their sauce. The fat sets in a firm layer on top overnight and lifts straight off with a spoon, which leaves you a cleaner, glossier sauce than you’d get on the day.

To reheat a whole batch, cover and warm in a 160°C / 320°F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until heated through.

In the fridge. Store in the sauce in a sealed container for up to 4 days. Always keep the meat submerged — it dries out fast once exposed.

In the freezer. Freeze in the sauce for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

Reheat gently. A hard boil will tighten the meat and undo three and a half hours of work. Low and slow, always.

Braised shorts ribs with carrots and herbs served in a dutch oven

What to serve with braised short ribs

Potatoes. My olive oil mashed potatoes are the obvious partner, they soak up the sauce beautifully. Roasted lemon potatoes, crispy country potatoes and potato fritters with feta all work too.
Something green and sharp. A rich braise wants acidity next to it. Try maroulosalata, Greek lettuce salad, roasted cauliflower with parmesan, lemon and capers, or our cauliflower broccoli salad.
Bread. Homemade olive oil bread with oregano for mopping the plate. This is non-negotiable in my house.
Rice. Plain basmati is lovely. For something more of an occasion, our pilafi with chestnuts, pine nuts and cranberries.
Pasta. A wide ribbon like pappardelle is exceptional here , the broad surface holds the sauce well. Add shave parmesan over the top.

A Greek cook’s take on braised short ribs

Short ribs aren’t a traditional Greek cut. You won’t find them on a taverna menu, and there’s no yiayia’s recipe for them that I can point you to.

What is Greek here is the instinct, and it’s the same one behind kokkinisto and stifado: take a tough, cheap, hard-working cut, give it wine and time, and let it become something far better than the sum of its parts. That’s how Greek home cooking has always treated beef.

So the Greek touches in this pot are simple, a Greek olive oil for the sear, a whole head of garlic rather than a cautious clove or two, a pinch of boukovo for warmth, and a Greek red wine in the braise. Cook it the way you’d cook a kokkinisto and it will taste like it belongs on a Greek table, even if the cut came from an American butcher.

FAQ

Short ribs are beef. The name refers to the length of the rib section they’re cut from, not the animal. Pork ribs are a different cut entirely and cook in a fraction of the time.

Yes, and don’t skip it. Searing builds the browned crust and the fond on the bottom of the pot, and both dissolve into the sauce. Skipping it costs you most of the depth of flavour and leaves the sauce tasting thin.

They almost certainly need more time. Toughness in a braise is a sign of undercooking, not overcooking — the connective tissue hasn’t broken down into gelatin yet. Cover them and give them another 20 to 30 minutes, then check again.

A covered Dutch oven in a low oven is hard to beat. The oven surrounds the pot with even, gentle heat, so nothing catches on the bottom and nothing needs stirring. A stovetop braise works but demands more attention to keep the simmer low and steady.

This recipe is written and tested for a Dutch oven in the oven, and that’s the method I’d point you to. A slow cooker will get the meat tender, but it doesn’t reduce liquid, so you’d need to sear on the stove first and then reduce the sauce separately afterwards.

Yes. Replace the bottle with an equal amount of beef broth and add two tablespoons of red wine vinegar or balsamic. The acidity is doing real work in this recipe and the sauce falls flat without something standing in for it.