Braised Sriracha Short Ribs (With Oven and Slow Cooker Directions)

Perfectly spiced with just the right punch of heat, these braised sriracha short ribs will become a new dinner favorite. While these short ribs will surely impress anyone, they couldn't be easier to make, and you can prepare them ahead of time for easy entertaining.

I have a deep, true love for short ribs. Usually, I default to my favorite red wine-braised short ribs -- and for good reason. These short ribs make anyone feel like a fancy, accomplished home chef, and they never disappoint.

But sometimes it's fun to change it up, so I did a little at-home scouting to come up with a new short rib recipe. After a quick scan of my refrigerator contents, my eyes locked on that bottle of sriracha, and my short rib inspiration hit.

Besides, who doesn't love sriracha? I've never met a person who doesn't smother sriracha over everything in sight, so I knew combining that beloved red chile sauce with tender short ribs would make for a guaranteed crowd-pleasing meal.

How to Make Braised Sriracha Short Ribs

Now let's get to it. We start by dusting our short ribs with plenty of salt, pepper and flour to give our meat the perfect crust. Just a touch of flour will do.

With our short ribs dusted, we're ready to sear them in oil to turn that flour into our perfect brown crust and develop that beefy flavor. To properly brown our short ribs, we don't want to overcrowd the pot, so we'll have to do this in two batches. Once they're perfectly brown, we set the short ribs aside and start on our braising broth.

For this step, we begin by cooking chopped onions with garlic for a nice flavor base and then add beef stock, soy sauce, Chinese five-spice powder and sriracha.

If you don't have sriracha, you can substitute another red chile sauce, but you may want to add by taste since another brand will have a different heat level.

Oh, and don't skimp on the Chinese five-spice powder. The seasoning blend adds an incredible depth of flavor, and this recipe won't be the same without it. You can find it in the baking aisle with the rest of the spices and seasonings.

From here, we add our short ribs back to the Dutch oven, bring to a boil, put on the top and turn off the heat.

How Long to Braise

Now we move our short ribs to the oven to braise. This process generally takes about three and a half hours at 300 degrees, but don't judge doneness by time. Use the three and a half hours more as a guideline.

The short ribs are ready when they're fork tender and can easily separate from the bone. If we remove the ribs before they're ready, they'll be tough and sad. No one wants tough and sad short ribs.

How to Make Short Rib Gravy

Once our short ribs are ready, we're left with a delicious sauce, but it won't be very thick. While we could spoon on the sauce as is, you may want to thicken it up to make it like a gravy, though this step is optional.

To do this, we make a cornstarch slurry. This is as simple as mixing together cornstarch and cold water until the lumps smooth out. We then pour that into our sauce, give it a stir and let the mixture come to a boil. We continue to boil for a few minutes, and just like that, we have our sriracha short rib gravy.

Now we serve with coconut-lime rice, take our first bite and take a moment to feel thankful that food as delicious as these braised sriracha short ribs entered our lives.

Can You Make in Slow Cooker?

Braising short ribs in a Dutch oven is my favorite method. I truly believe something magical happens in the oven, but I get it. Sometimes you can't babysit short ribs for hours at a time. In that case, we can use our trusty slow cooker.

For the slow cooker, we still brown our short ribs and then throw everything in the slow cooker on low for about six to eight hours. If you'd like, you can even brown the short ribs the night before, so all you have to do is throw everything together the next morning.

Can You Make Ahead of Time?

You sure can! Braising short ribs may take time, but you can make them two or three days ahead of time, store in the juice and then reheat on the stove.

That's what's so great about braising short ribs for entertaining. Most of the cooking is hands-off time, and you can push the bulk of that work to another day. And if that's not enough, short ribs are always an impressive meal, so why wouldn't you serve this delicious meal at your next gathering?

Perfect Pairing

You'll love a saison when looking for a beer pairing. The yeast from the saison gives it a peppery, spicy quality that's a delicious match, and it's body is bold enough to stand against the rich ribs.

If you're in the mood for wine, I like a zinfandel with these ribs. Like the saison, I love how the peppery notes work with the sriracha and Chinese five-spice blend while the jammy fruit offers a nice contrast and cooling effect.

When you need simple but impressive meal, I hope you try these braised sriracha short ribs. Please let me know how you enjoyed this recipe in the comment section and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You can also catch me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Cheers!

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