Classic Oxtail Stew with Red Wine
Beautifully tender oxtail that falls off the bone, served on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes. This is one of our absolute favourites.
Oxtail is a relatively underused cut of meat, but after a long slow cook with red wine, it transforms into something incredible. You should be able to get oxtail from all good butchers and it will usually be cut into large pieces.
With this recipe, the work is done upfront in the pan. You need to brown the oxtail, before bringing together most of the other ingredients and reducing the red wine. As always with slow cooking, don’t use an expensive bottle of wine – it’s not worth it!
We highly recommend a low and slow cook for oxtail, for 8 hours. For full instructions, follow the recipe below – with a picture guide for every step.
Slow Cooker Classic Oxtail Stew
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Frying Pan
Ingredients
- 1 kg Oxtail pieces
- 2 tbsp Plain flour
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 stalk Celery
- 1 Onion Diced
- 2 cloves Garlic Minced
- 2 tbsp Tomato puree
- 187 ml Red wine 187m = 1 UK miniature bottle
- 500 ml Beef stock
- pinch Salt
- pinch Pepper
- 5 sprigs Fresh thyme
- Handful Parsley Chopped, to serve
Instructions
- In a bowl, lightly coat the oxtail pieces in flour. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
- In a large, hot pan with a little oil, brown the oxtail well on all sides. Do this in batches if needed and add more oil if needed.
- Remove the oxtail and lower the temperature. Add onion, garlic, celery, carrot and tomato purée. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes or until slightly softened.
- Add the oxtail back to the pan. Pour in the red wine and reduce by half.
- Add the beef stock and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Carefully transfer the contents of the pan to the slow cooker. Add 4-5 sprigs of thyme. Cook for 7-8 hours on low.
- Serve on a bed of creamy mash and top with freshly chopped parsley.
