If you’re tired of barbecue sauce and meats with overly sweet sauces, then you’ve clicked on the right ribs recipe.
These are elegant, tender, and have just the right touch of sweetness. If you want to stay away from recipes that depend on lots of really sugary sauces…but want a recipe that’s more fresh and interesting than classic French-style ribs with red wine…make beer-braised ribs!
(If French-style braised in red wine does sound good to you, this recipe is amazing, just don’t shred the beef).
Don’t worry if you don’t like beer. You won’t really taste it, it just does a really great job of getting the meat to the right tenderness.
If you want to make ahead and freeze, take them out of the freezer the night before and let them thaw so they don’t need to be rewarmed for so long.
What kind to use? I like short ribs, which are a different cut than spare ribs. They’re thicker and more cube-like in shape. Some butchers call these English ribs, they’re just cut smaller than a typical English rib.
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 3 lbs short ribs
- Salt and pepper, for sprinkling
- 1 onion, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- ¼ cup flour
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 (12 ounce) bottle beer
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 3 cups beef stock, or to cover
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. When oil is hot, add ribs and sear on all sides. Remove and set aside.
- Add onion and garlic and saute until soft. Stir in flour and cook for a couple minutes. Stir in brown sugar and paprika and cook for another couple minutes. Add beer and bring to a boil. Stir in molasses and mustard.
- Return ribs to the pot. Cover with beef stock.
- Cover pan and bake for 2 - 2 ½ hours. Check towards the end to make sure there’s enough liquid in the pan. The sauce will get thick during this time. Add a bit more water or beef stock if you’ll be rewarming.
- Serve warm with sauce. (Note that if you cook this at the lower temperature suggested in the introduction, the sauce won’t thicken as much. You can remove the ribs and cook the sauce on the stovetop to thicken it further at the end.)
Looks delicious!
Would this recipe work well with boneless spare ribs?
I never tried with boneless. No reason why it wouldn’t work, but I don’t know what the cooking time would be.
Can I use maple syrup instead of molasses??
I need to know this too!
Yes! I was out of molasses recently and used silan. So I’m sure maple syrup would be perfectly fine as well!
Would this recipe work with a whole roast?
I never tried with a whole roast, but I frequently use my ribs recipes when preparing roasts. So there’s no reason why this wouldn’t work as well. Of course, adjust amount of stock so there’s enough (I imagine you’d be using a bigger pan), and cooking time.
I really need to buy a Dutch oven- need a bigger kitchen tho first 😉 I was in Epsteins today and asked them what would work instead for a crowd- he said to buy a second cut brisket. I guess I’ll have to cook it a few hours…
Let us know how it works with the brisket!
Looks yum! What can I substitute for the beef stock? (I live in Israel and have never seen that sold here…)
water. maybe add a glug of soy sauce if you feel like it.
Water + beef consomme
Have had greater success with a specific type of beer? Like an ILA vs a lager?
Thanks for a what looks like a great new recipe!
I made this for YT just now and it was a hit! I used silan, plain water instead of the broth, and brisket. I cooked it in my Instant Pot for 1.5 hours (from frozen). So easy and special!
I made this with brisket it was delicious! I’m sure with the ribs it tastes even better, but it was soft and so flavorful…!
What can I use instead of molasses?
Silan, maple syrup, honey
What type of beer should be used?
Any substitute of beer ? Want to make this for pesach
No. Make a different recipe for Pesach.
Can I use a regular pan instead of a Dutch oven?
What’s a regular pan? A pot is fine, as long as it’s deep enough.
Like a tinfoil roasting pan ? Thank you!
NO!!!! You are searing meat and starting this on the stovetop. Only real pans!
Will this recipe work for spare ribs?
Can I do this in a crackpot? Also on low for so many hours?
You probably could, but I haven’t tried it so I don’t know how long.