Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs
We were inspired by none other than Gordon Ramsay for this recipe. His YouTube video for slow cooked beef short ribs has got over 13M views! We’ve adapted this recipe for the slow cooker, but it’s worth watching the main man himself, to understand some of the techniques used and get inspired for this awesome dish!
Beef short ribs really benefit from being slow cooked. All good butchers will sell beef short ribs, and many large supermarkets will stock them too. One thing you need to be really aware of, is how many ribs you can fit in your slow cooker. Beef short ribs are large. Depending on how large and meaty your short ribs are, you may only be able to fit 4-6 in a 3.5L slow cooker, so don’t overbuy!

We adapted Gordon’s recipe a bit for the slow cooker. We cook the pancetta (or bacon lardons) upfront and add them to the slow cooker. We also leave out the mushrooms. It’s likely that you’ll also end up adding more liquid than Gordon’s recipe, to make sure the meaty sections of the ribs are covered. We highly recommend taking the time to cook this for 7-8 hours on low.
We served on a bed of creamy mashed potato and topped with plenty of chopped flat leaf parsley.

Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 4-6 Beef Short Ribs
- 100 g Smoked bacon lardons
- 1 Full bulb Garlic
- 2 tbsp Tomato puree
- 500 ml Red wine
- 500 ml Beef stock
- 1 tbsp Cornflour To thicken sauce after cooking
- Handful Parsley To serve
Instructions
- In a large pan, with a little oil, start to brown all sides of your ribs.
- Slice horizontally into a full garlic bulb a couple of centimeters down and place clove-side in the pan.
- Add the bacon lardons and tomato purée to the pan, and stir in.
- Add your wine. Let the mix bubble away until the wine reduces by half.
- Add everything from your pan to the slow cooker. Pour in the beef stock. Try to arrange the ribs so that the meaty parts are covered in liquid. Add extra stock if you need to
- Cook on low for 7-8 hours.
- Transfer the juices from your slow cooker to a sauce pan and bring to the boil to thicken. Slowly add cornflour (mixed with a little water so it’s paste-like) if you need to thicken further.
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