Braised Beef Short Ribs with Red Eye Gravy

Why go to a fancy restaurant for Braised Beef Short Ribs when you can make them at home.  Beef short ribs are the perfect cut of meat to use the braising technique of cooking.  Preparing them in a flavorful spiced tomato “red-eye” gravy, low and slow in the oven until they are fall-apart tender.  Served over homemade egg noodles.  Make sure to have a roll to get all of that sauce!

When I go to a restaurant and see short ribs on the menu, I immediately quit looking and I order them.  They never seem to disappoint, with their fall-apart tenderness and typically they are served with some sort of flavorful sauce over a comforting carb, like polenta, mashed potatoes or egg noodles.  

This recipe for Braised Beef Short Ribs with Red Eye Gravy hits all of those aforementioned notes.  Tender beef short ribs, braised in a flavorful gravy and served over thick homemade egg noodles.  

I have always wanted to try making them at home, but for whatever reason I just never did. That, of course, was until today.

Freaky Friday Blog Hop

Why is today so special you ask? Well, that is because today is Freaky Friday!  No, not the movie where the mom and daughter switch places, but a good old fashioned blog hop with some of my favorite food blogger buddies!

We secretly get assigned one another’s blogs to make a recipe from, and then we all reveal who we had and what we made on the same Friday, and that is today!

I was super excited to get to cook from my friend, Michele’s blog, West Via Midwest! Michele and I have gotten to know each other really well over the last couple of years, and are involved in a Mastermind group where we meet a couple of times a year to work together, inspire and learn from one another.  It’s one of the best business decisions I have ever made.   

West Via Midwest Blog

Michele and I have a lot in common, which makes me feel like I have known her forever.  For one, she is a native Nebraskan girl, and we have the same favorite football team! She loves to entertain, she learned to cook from her Mom, and we both love to share those tried and true family recipes that bring us comfort.  

Michele lives in the Los Angeles area, with her hubby and her two dachshunds. Our love of our dogs is something that always brings a smile to my face.  I can always count on her to tag me in a great dog video or meme, or to call me when I am worried about something that is happening with one of my boxer dogs.  She is an amazing friend, with a huge heart, as well as a fantastic cook!

Not only did she grow up learning from her Mom, but Michele also got all fancy and went to culinary school.  But she didn’t stop there, nope.  She decided to get her Sommelier Certification so she could pair the perfect wine, beer or cocktail to her delicious food.  

West Via Midwest has all sorts of recipes, but the meat dishes are EPIC.  I really planned to make one of the amazing lamb recipes to surprise her.  (we don’t each much lamb unless it’s in the way of a gyro) but in the end, I chickened out.   

I can tell you that I have prepared her French Onion Chicken and her Spicy Beef Brisket with Horseradish Sauce multiple times.  Deciding what to make was difficult! So many choices! I was debating between her Crispy Southern Fried Chicken and her Ham and Cheese Frenchee when I saw the Braised Beef Rib recipe.  It was time to make my dream of making one of my favorite dishes at home.

The Art of Braising Meats

The art of braising is simply sauteeing an otherwise tough cut of meat in a fat, then slowly and gently in a liquid until it is transformed into a tender, succulent, fall-off-the-bone goodness. If you have the choice to select bone-in meats for this process, do.  It adds a ton of flavor.  

Aside from beef short ribs, like we are making here, some other great cuts of meat to braise are lamb shanks or shoulder, chicken legs & thighs or a nice pork shoulder.

I marinated the beef short ribs overnight in a little olive oil, fresh basil, and a whole bunch of minced garlic. 

Begin by dredging the meat in seasoned flour.  I seasoned mine with Cayenne pepper and paprika.

Sear the meat on all sides in your dutch oven, in the fat of your choice.  I used butter. 

A cast-iron Dutch oven comes in handy for recipes like this, as they easily move from the stovetop to the oven.  

Make sure they get nice and brown on all sides.  Then remove them while you prepare the sauce.  

To that hot butter with all of those amazing bits – add some chopped onion and saute it until it’s tender.  

Next, I added some red wine.  You’ll want to make sure to use a drier wine, nothing sweet.  Cook it a couple of minutes to let some of the alcohol burn off. 

Time for some veggies – I went the easy route and bought carrot sticks at the store.  Adding veggies gives a whole other dimension to the sauce.  

Then I added diced tomatoes, cumin seed and bay leaves.  Finishing it with some beef stock and strong black coffee. 

Red Eye Gravy

Adding some strong black coffee is what gives this gravy the “Red-Eye” name.  Coffee added to the pan drippings to make gravy, many times using fried ham and serving over biscuits.  

Once your sauce is made, place your browned beef ribs back into the pot.  You don’t need to cover them completely.  Cover them and place the pot in the oven, and let the aromas take over while you let it bake low and slow.  

Carefully remove the beef short ribs from the pot.  I also removed the carrots to serve on the side and used my emulsion blender to blend the sauce.  You can leave the carrots in and blend those, too, if you want.

^Love it? PIN IT!^

Love this recipe?  Can’t wait to try it? Make sure you pin it to your favorite Pinterest board before you go, so you can find it when you’re ready!

Look how fall-apart tender that meat is! It turned out perfectly.  

Initially, I planned to serve it over polenta.  I  grabbed it out of the pantry and guess what? Expired.  I could have gone the mashed potato route, but I had a great idea. 

For a couple of months now, I have had Homemade Egg Noodles on my list to make and add to the blog.  I decided that that was the perfect option! And since my beef short ribs were braising away in the oven all afternoon, I had plenty of time to whip some up.  

Make sure you serve it with a roll or a biscuit.  You’ll want to sop up every drop of that sauce!

Can I just tell you that my whole family absolutely FLIPPED OUT over this recipe?! From the homemade noodles to the tender beef short ribs and the sauce … it was like a fancy restaurant meal.  On a Monday night at home.  

I may have even taken a mental bow. Thank you, Michele, for the fantastic recipe!

What did everyone else make?

Okay — so you know all about my winning Freaky Friday recipe.  Now it’s time to see what all of the other participating bloggers made! Check it out!

Take a look at all of our 2020 Freaky Friday Winter Edition Recipes:

1. An Affair from the Heart – Braised Beef Short Ribs with Red-Eye Gravy
2. Aunt Bee’s Recipes – Slow Cooker Ranch Chicken Tacos
3. Bowl Me Over –  Honey Sriracha Chicken
4. Hostess at Heart – Chicken Marsala
5. House of Nash Eats – Broccoli Cheese Soup
6. Lemoine Family Kitchen – Vegetarian Pot Pie Soup
7. Life Currents – Pepper Jelly Cheese Balls
8. Soulfully Made – Alice Springs Chicken (Outback Copy Cat Recipe)
9. Take Two Tapas – Chocolate Spoons
10. The Fresh Cooky – Sweet Molasses Brown Bread Rolls
11. The Speckled Palate – Valentine’s Day Dessert Board
12. West Via Midwest – Grasshopper Pie
13. Who Needs a Cape? – Air Fryer Loaded Mini Meatloaf

I’m starving — let’s get to the recipe! 

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Print Recipe

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Red Eye Gravy

Why go to a fancy restaurant for Braised Beef Short Ribs when you can make them at home? Beef short ribs are the perfect cut of meat to use the braising technique of cooking.  Preparing them in a flavorful spiced tomato "red-eye" gravy, low and slow in the oven until they are fall-apart tender.  Served over homemade egg noodles.  Make sure to have a roll to get all of that sauce!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time3 hours hrs

Additional Time8 hours hrs

Total Time11 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Beef

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Beef short ribs, Braised, How to braise beef short ribs., oven braised ribs, Red-Eye Gravy, Wine sauce

Servings: 5 servings

Calories: 1688kcal

Author: Michaela Kenkel

Equipment

• Lodge 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. Classic Red Enamel Dutch Oven (Island Spice Red)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

For the Marinade

• 15 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 pounds bone in beef short ribs

For the Beef Short Ribs and Red Eye Gravy

• Marinated beef short ribs
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
• 1 stick butter 1/2 cup, divided
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 12 ounce package carrot sticks (or baby carrots)
• 2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 1 32 ounce carton beef stock
• 1/2 cup strong black coffee
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin seed
• 3 Bay leaves

Instructions

• Add garlic, fresh basil leaves and olive oil to a gallon zippered bag. Add in beef short ribs. Seal and place in the fridge overnight to marinate.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Combine flour, paprika, and Cayenne pepper in a bowl.
• Heat 4 Tablespoons of butter in a cast-iron Dutch oven on your stovetop over medium-high heat.
• Remove ribs from the marinade, dredge in flour and place in hot butter. You will have to do these in batches so they all fit and are able to brown and crisp on all sides. Set browned ribs aside on a plate.
• Add in the other 4 Tablespoons of butter, and the chopped onion to the drippings in the Dutch oven. Caramelize the onion in the drippings. (for about 5 minutes)
• Add in the red wine, cook for about 5 minutes to reduce the alcohol.
• Add in the cumin, carrots, and tomatoes.
• Add in coffee and beef stock. Stir.
• Place ribs back in the pot. Add in bay leaves.
• Cover and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 3 hours.
• Remove ribs and carrots. Using an emulsion blender, blend sauce.
• Add ribs and carrots back into to keep warm until serving over homemade egg noodles.

Notes

Adapted from West Via Midwest

To speed up the marinating, marinate for two hours at room temperature.

If you'd like the sauce to be spicier, adjust the Cayenne and Paprika to taste. We went for a lower spice. The original recipe calls for jalapeño also. I omitted it.

Use a drier red wine. Sweet reds will not work for this recipe.

Alternatively, you can cover and simmer this dish on low on the stovetop for approximately two hours.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 1688kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 105g | Fat: 117g | Saturated Fat: 52g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 63g | Trans Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 428mg | Sodium: 650mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 4g