Short ribs are one of the most heavenly things to cook sous vide. When cooked for 48 hours sous vide, the meat becomes fork-tender with that perfect edge to edge rosy color. It is truly the prime example of sous vide magic.
In this cook, we create a delicious red wine reduction sauce. Then we use the sauce to glaze the short ribs. The flavor profile on these red wine glazed short ribs is so wonderful, you do not want to miss out.
English Style Short Rib Cut
First things first, you want to make sure you buy the correct cut of short rib. This recipe calls for the English style cut, which means a thick piece of meat is sitting on top of one piece of bone (pictured below).
Note that English style is different than Flanken or cross-cut short ribs. If you use these cuts instead you will end up with very different results. If you want to make sure you are using the right cut, ask your local butcher and they will be happy to assist!
Packaging
An essential part of cooking sous vide is putting ingredients in an air-tight bag or container. The two most common techniques to package your ingredients are vacuum sealing and using the water displacement method.
A vacuum sealer removes all the air and seals the contents of a plastic bag through a vacuum. Ensuring the food is airtight and properly sealed prevents the bag from floating, which can result in uneven cooking. If you are in the market for a vacuum sealer, I’d recommend the Anova sealer.
The displacement method is a technique where you first place your food and marinades in a sous vide bag, submerge the bag in a container of water, and allow the pressure to force all the air out of the bag.
Time and Temperature
Through loads of experimentation, we’ve found that cooking the short ribs at 144F for 48 hours is the perfect combo. Leaving the ribs in for 48 hours breaks down the connective tissue (collagen), which results in an extremely tender meat. Also, cooking the short ribs at a temperature of 144F is the sweet spot for that perfect edge to edge rosy color.
Just make sure you have a reliable sous vide that accurately regulates the temperature of the bath or your results may vary (check out the Anova or Joule). For other time and temperature options, check out our cooking guide here.
Can You Sous Vide Frozen Short Ribs?
The quick answer is, absolutely! Cooking frozen foods sous vide is an ultra convenient, safe way to prepare your protein. Just take the food directly from the fridge, repackage it (unless you know the bag is sous vide safe) and let the sous vide work its magic.
Generally the only thing you’ll need to adjust is the cook time. However, since we are already cooking the short ribs sous vide for 48 hours there is no need to add on any additional time.
Best Way to Sear After Sous Vide
Searing is the most critical step in the sous vide process. Getting a deep, rich sear can make your food look like it is Michelin star quality. Failing to do so will make your dinner guests wonder why they let you cook again.
If you want an amazing sear, you’ve got to:
1. Pat the meat completely dry with a paper towel
2. Season generously with salt or seasoning of your choice
3. Sear at extremely high temperatures.
At this point you want to determine the best searing method. For short ribs, we suggest pan searing, grilling or using a searing torch. The trick is getting the pan, grill or torch extremely hot, then searing for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. This results in a quick, high-quality sear without overcooking the meat.
Special Equipment
Sous Vide Machine – This one is obvious. To cook sous vide, you’re going to need a device to precisely regulate the temperature of the bath water. The two best sous vide machines in the game right now are the Anova Precision Cooker and the Breville Joule.
The main difference between the two is that with the Anova you can control the device both manually and with a mobile device, and with the Joule you can only control the device by using your mobile device. Either way, both sous vide machines are top class and you can’t go wrong with either choice.
12-quart Container – Although you can use a basic stockpot for your sous vide cooking needs, I highly recommend buying a large plastic container. They are inexpensive and spacious, so you won’t have to worry about cooking a big roast in a small pot. I recommend a 12 quart Rubbermaid container, as it is BPA free, sturdy, and large enough for just about anything you will be cooking.
Container Lid – If you are going to buy a plastic container, I highly suggest buying a compatible lid for it. When you sous vide for a long duration, the heat of the water causes evaporation. With a lid, it eliminates a majority of the evaporation so you can cook for hours care-free.
Cast Iron Skillet – If you are looking to take your searing game to the next level, we recommend investing in a cast iron skillet. By using a cast iron in this recipe, you’ll achieve a deep sear on the protein. Cast irons are also extremely handy for searing just about any and all sous vide meat. Lodge offers the best quality and price, which is why it is our favorite cast iron brand.
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Check out our full list of recommended gear here.
Sous Vide Short Ribs with Red Wine Reduction
Ingredients
- 4 beef short ribs, bone-in (roughly 8 ounces each)
- 1 1/2 cups full bodied red wine, preferably Cabernet
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups beef broth
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparation
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Set sous vide machine to 62C/144F.
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Place short ribs in freezer bag and remove the air through a vacuum sealer or the displacement method. Drop the bag in the bath for 48 hours.
Finishing
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Remove bag from bath. Take short ribs out of the bag, pat dry and season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Heat butter in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir until softened and fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in the wine, bring to a boil and cook until it is reduced by half. Add beef broth and cook over medium-high until reduced and thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. Once reduced, taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.
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Heat a large skillet on high and add oil. Sear for 90 seconds on each side, using a pastry brush to glaze the red wine reduction onto the short ribs as it sears. Remove from pan and place on plate to rest. Cut the short ribs into desired size, top with remaining sauce and serve with your favorite sides. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Please ensure that the short ribs you use in this recipe are English style, which is when there is a thick piece of meat sitting on top of one piece of bone. Please do not use Flanken or cross-cut short ribs.
Simply delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Can’t believe short rib can be this succulent and delicious. My mind has been blown. Also the red wine reduction sauce is to die for. Thanks for the recipe!
I was kind of surprised at the 48 hour cooking time but it’s absolutely worth it. I wasn’t ready to eat them right away so I put the cooked short ribs in the fridge for a few days in the same vacuum seal bag and they still came out great. The red wine sauce is amazing and worth the time to boil it down. Thank you for the recipe!
Wow this short rib is amazing! Everyone loved it.
Looking forward to making this recipe next week! I just ordered my meat (two 2lb slabs of chuck short ribs) and am curious how you suggest prepping these 3 bone in slabs. Is it best to sear and then vacuum seal the entire slabs? Or should I cut them into single bone pieces prior to cooking?
Thanks!
Hi Brian,
I’m excited for you! Can never go wrong with some sous vide short ribs. I’d recommend searing the entire slab and then vacuum sealing it. It could work either way, but leaving it as an entire slab will help retain more juices and flavor. Enjoy!
how did It come out Brian? I was going to make them myself!!
Will boneless chicken work in place of English style?
Chuck not chicken. Stupid phone
Hi James, if it is a boneless chuck cut from the rib area then it should work as a replacement. If you were to use a typical chuck roast though it likely would not turn out the same.
Hi there! I’ll need to refrigerate the short ribs for 6 hours or so after their bath. What is the best way to reheat? Thank you!
Hi Cyn, I’d recommend reheating the short ribs in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, but you can also heat them in a pan or microwave them. Hope this helps!
Thank you! My first attempt wasn’t everything I hoped for, but I’m going to give it another go next time the weather calls for short ribs.
Yes, the point is to cool down the wine before putting it in the bag. If it is too hot it may start cooking the meat prior to the SV. The reason I said to put in a bowl is cause the skillet will be too hot to put directly into the fridge.
Hi, I have approx 4 lbs of short ribs which is 6 ribs. Would I need to cook longer or is 48 hours still the suggested time? Thank you.
That time should still be perfect for that many lbs.
I prefer to vacuum seal as opposed to the displacement method. However, as you know, you can’t successfully vacuum seal a bag with liquid in it. What do you think about keeping the wine refrigerated until after the bath and joining the juices in the bag with the wine and making the reduction sauce.
Hey Leo, I’ve actually been toying around with this idea for awhile. I think that this is an effective alternative. Although the short rib won’t capture the wine flavor through the SV, the wine reduction will be more potent which should make up for it. Let me know the results when you finish your cook, curious how it turns out!
Hi I was wondering if I could use short rib steaks for this recipe or is just bone in?
Hey Nick, yes short rib steaks will work just fine. Just make sure that they are at least an inch thick (preferably around 2 inches) and not thin steaks.
I’m confused about the comment from g. Jenkins: “Pour wine in a bowl and place in refrigerator until cool” I can’t find this in the directions? The instruction seem to say the ribs are placed in the vacuum bag dry. I only see the wine reduction used in the finishing steps. What am I missing?
Hi Stan,
Please disregard that comment. In a prior iteration of the recipe I put the wine in the bag with the short ribs, but found that the acidity of the wine was making the meat tough during the long cook. Therefore I changed the recipe to make it much better, which is the one you see now.
Thanks for the quick reply. That sure clears things up!
Also, am I correct that you don’t season the ribs before cooking?
(I’m making these today!)
That is correct! I found that salting the meat right before cooking sous vide tends to suck the juices from the meat, which makes it dry. The meat should be full of flavor with a combination of salting after SV and the red wine reduction sauce.
Hey Jason, once I remove the short ribs from their 48 Sous Vide, how long do you think I can keep them at room temp before searing? I wanted to remove then bring them to our friends house to sear and server for dinner but not sure if that’s a good idea? These look amazing! Thanks 🙂
Hey Paul, That should be fine! Just follow standard food safety procedures in this case. If you have them out for an hour or two after the SV it will be fine, but if it’s any longer I’d recommend refrigerating them then searing and reheating once you get to your friends place. Hope you enjoy!
I usually cool all of my sous vide meat using ice water in order to get it out of the danger zone quickly and prep it to sear. Works great.
Jason, the picture in this recipe does not look like a traditional short rib- do you debone the ribs before serving? If not do you leave them the original size or cut them in half before serving?
Hi Joanie, for the picture I cut the meat from the bone and sliced it into pieces. This was primarily for presentation purposes since I wanted to show the texture and color of the meat, but I do enjoy serving it sliced like this as well. I’d recommend searing the short rib with the bone on, then from there you can serve it however you like, whether it’s sliced like mine, whole, halved, etc.
Here were my results:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_sWdfHktA/?igshid=1oewchzi4d5s5
Looks amazing Jimmy, glad you enjoyed!
Thanks for this recipe. This was my first ever try at the sous vide. The meat turned out mouthwateringly perfect! My sauce didn’t reduce, so I added a bit of cornstarch, otherwise, I followed your directions exactly.. yum.
I tried this for the first time last night, and it was delicious!! Meat fell right off the bone and it was extremely tender! All I needed was a fork to cut the meat. I ended up cooking for about 5 extra hours in the sous vide, just because I couldn’t get home earlier. The meal was great and I’ll definitely use this recipe again! Thanks!!
How would you adjust for boneless short ribs? Or would you not consider using this recipe for boneless short ribs? Thanks!
Hi Kim, this recipe will work for both bone-in and boneless English style short ribs. I would still SV them at 144F for 48 hours. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
I made this over this weekend, absolutely delicious. I did make a couple of minor modifications to the red wine reduction out of necessity, first, I used Ruby Port , didn’t have Cabernet, second was that I made a double recipe of the short ribs, I had 8, and vacuum sealed 2 in each bag, wound up with enough juice from the meat to use in the wine reduction..
Hi! Can this be made with frozen short ribs? How would it affect the time/temperature?
Hi Kristin, yes it can be. Generally you would increase the cook by one hour when dealing with frozen protein, but since we are already cooking for short ribs for 48 hours you are good to go as is. Enjoy!
Brian,
Prior to putting it in the SV, do you salt and pepper the short rib? I understand the red wine comes after the SV process. Thanks!
Sorry. Jason not Brian! Sorry.
Hi Andrew, it makes such a small impact during the sous vide cook that I tend not to just to conserve salt. The reason is because the liquid that comes off the meat will wash off all the salt and seasoning from the meat anyways so you’ll have to salt and season again after too.
Would beef bone broth work or does it need to be regular Jeff broth?
Beef bone broth works too!
I think I got the wrong cut of ribs, not the English style, what can I do with them?
Kirsten
Reduction is a delicious staple. I was worried about the temp @ 144 because the last ribs recipe I used called for 134… I split the difference and was disappointed…. Cooked through. NOT pink end to end. Also a little tough and dry on some pieces.Still good. Just overcooked. I used the ANOVA with specific ANOVA tub. I read these comments, too, and wonder what I did wrong?
Hi Thomas, glad you enjoyed the flavor of the dish, but I’m sorry the texture came out overcooked for you. When you say you split the difference between 134F and 144F, does that mean you cooked it at 139-140F instead of 144F? That may be the difference maker. I’ve cooked short ribs at this time and temp many times and it always comes out like this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEej_K267-I, so I’m trying to figure out what went wrong as well.
Help! My short ribs came out not at all how I was expecting. The closest thing I can compre it to is corned beef (not a fan). I did cook them at 132 for a more medium rare, I’m guessing that was it since it’s the only variable?
Thanks!
Hi Jared, I’m sorry the short ribs weren’t the texture you were hoping for. The temperature of the bath is the main determining factor for the texture of the meat, especially for a traditionally tough cut of meat like a short rib. For a more tender short rib texture, please give it a try at 144, like in the recipe.
I hope this helps you get the desired outcome!
So…I bought Flanken cut short ribs. Curious, what will the outcome be like if I use this recipe? How should I adjust for that cut?
Hi Randy, it really depends how thick the cut is. If they are less than 1 inch, you may be better off cooking them in a traditional manner since the texture does not come out the same.
Do you suggest using the drippings from the sous vide short ribs in any way?
You could strain the drippings and use them as beef broth for an au jus or any beef broth base sauce.
The short ribs turned out perfect. However, I followed the recipe, but could not get the wine reduction sauce go thicken despite how long I cooked it. What did I do wrong?
Sometimes the amount of sugar in the wine used impacts the sauce thickening. If you have any troubles next times just add a touch of flour to thicken it up.
We do not use alcohol – can you suggest any changes to the sauce?
Hi Marsha, you could try either pomegranate juice or red wine vinegar.
Thanks for sharing the awesome recipe. I did not have much success with sous vide a few years back and my device went on cold storage. I took it out last weekend and decided to give it a try with this recipe and I was blown away, It was my very first attempt at beef short ribs and it was simply tender and yummy. I am so glad to chance upon this site and will definitely look forward to trying out other recipes.