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Slow braised and cozy, crockpot Short Rib Bourguignon. Tender beef short ribs slow-cooked in red wine with onions, garlic, and herbs until the beef caramelizes around the edges and is falling off the bone. Mushrooms cooked in butter with sage are served overtop. Enjoy with mashed potatoes or even just crusty bread for mopping up all the yummy sauce. We love that this is such an effortless dinner to create.
This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is always the most special. Holiday parties, holiday shopping, end-of-the-year craziness, and all while continuing to care for our families and ourselves!
It’s a lot, but I still find this time to be magical. The nights are long and meant to be slowly enjoyed. And this short rib bourguignon is wonderful for that!
It’s an easier way to create a French-style stew recipe!
Beef Bourguignon is a French beef stew slow braised in red wine. The process isn’t too tricky, but I wanted to share something even easier and maybe even yummier.
Instead of using a large cut of chuck roast that can turn out tough (even when slow-cooked), I wanted to try using short ribs instead. Short ribs are amazing because as long as you cook them slowly, they almost always turn out tender and delicious. By the time they finish cooking, they should be falling off the bone and shred easily.
We love short ribs. And with all my brothers in town for the holiday this past weekend, I knew this would be great to try on them. Let’s just say they loved this meal!
Step 1: start the ribs
This process could not be easier. Use your crockpot or your Dutch oven, it really doesn’t matter much. I like to use a cast iron braiser, I think it cooks the meat perfectly and gets such a nice caramelization on the meat.
Add everything to the crockpot/pot, no searing, no pre-cooking, nothing like that. Just add lots of sliced onions, the beef short ribs, shallots, garlic, and so many chopped-up carrots (we love the carrots). Then pour over the red wine, beef broth, and cognac. The cognac is optional, but I do like the additional flavor it adds when paired with the rich red wine.
Cover the pot, and let the crockpot or oven work their magic. I skipped searing the ribs because I knew they would caramelize naturally in the braiser after a while of cooking. By the time I uncovered my pot, the ribs were perfect, caramelized, and falling off the bone.
If you use the crockpot, the ribs won’t have as much caramelization. If this is desired, you can broil the ribs in the oven on the top rack for 3-5 minutes after cooking.
Step 2: the mushrooms
I didn’t want soggy mushrooms. I knew that caramelizing them would be best. So instead of slow-cooking them, I found it best to cook them in butter just before serving.
Add the butter and all those mushrooms to a big skillet. Get them golden and caramelized. Then add a pat more of butter and fresh sage. Let the butter brown around the mushrooms.
Then get them a little crispy and season well with salt, and that’s it! If you want to add garlic, use the whole garlic cloves that are hidden in the red wine sauce.
Step 3: discard the bones
Pull the bones away from the rib meat. Then toss the meat in the sauce.
At this point, you want to serve the meat and sauce while steamy. Spoon the mushrooms and butter over the ribs.
I love serving this with mashed potatoes and bread for enjoying with the yummy sauce! Egg noodles are also a delicious option.
Everyone will really enjoy this crockpot short rib bourguignon. It’s exactly what we want during these cold winter nights.
Looking for more seasonal dinners, these are favorites:
Smothered Chicken in Mushroom Wine Pan Sauce
Crockpot Thai Short Ribs with Coconut Rice
Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice Tortilla Soup
30 Minute Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen
Lemony Garlic Chicken and Orzo Soup
Creamy Gnocchi Soup with Rosemary Bacon
Lastly, if you make this Crockpot Short Rib Bourguignon be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Hi! Doing the crockpot method. How do I drain the excess grease from the sauce? It’s all in the crockpot so I’m not sure how to separate! Thank you!
Can I use boneless short ribs?
Hi there! Yes, you definitely can! xT
Help! I forgot to grab a bottle of red wine- can I make this recipe without it? What can I do instead?
Made this for a dinner party, served in big bowls over your cream mashed potatoes! Excellent!!!
Hi Kathy! Thank you so much for trying out the recipe and leaving a comment! Have a wonderful week! xT
Zero idea where a few others found this bland. Another HBH mega hit! This was over the top fabulous and flavorful. Everyone in the family raved about it. I did double the tomato paste just because I didn’t want waste a larger can I had. Also used a good bottle of wine. Cooked in the oven. Per the suggestion of another reviewer I did use my immersion blender a bit at the end to thicken the sauce. So so yummy! And those sage mushrooms? OMG Thanks for keeping us all so well feed Tieghan!
Hi Beth! Thank you sooo much for giving this recipe a try! I hope you enjoyed it! xT
Can you provide more details or clarification on the crock pot step 2?
Made this for Christmas dinner last night, and it was fantastic! Cooked for a little over 3 hours in our large Le Creuset Dutch oven and included the cognac. Went to remove the bones, and they literally fell off as I lifted the meat! So yummy over my husband’s mashed potatoes. Sauce was bit thin, so think I will use a bit less than a full bottle of wine next time. Thank you Tieghan and merry Christmas!
Hi! Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try! Hope you have a wonderful New Year! 🙂 xT
This looks delicious. How could I make this in my Instant Pot pressure cooker?
Made this for Christmas dinner tonight and it was amazing! Used my Dutch oven but had one change, we couldn’t find bone-in short ribs so used boneless and cooked for three hours. It was perfect! We served with mashed potatoes and kale and brussel sprout side salad. Highly recommend!
Hi! Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try! Hope you have a wonderful New Year! 🙂 xT
We made this….really good. We used a cast iron Dutch Oven, we don’t have a crock pot. We’re testing recipes to use when we have family or guests for dinner. Thanks.
Thank you so much for giving this recipe a try! So glad to hear you enjoyed it! xT
I followed this recipe exactly as written and the meat was tough, not tender, and there was way too much wine used. I think the oven temp should be lower and maybe they would fix the issue with the meat being too tough.
Hi Amy! Thank you so much for this feedback, I appreciate it! xT
This may be a silly, but it looks like polenta under the short ribs in the photo? Now I’m wondering if polenta would be good?
Hey Laura! Yes you can definitely make a polenta if you’d like! xT
This sounds like something I would like to make for Christmas dinner, so we can come home to a lovely dinner after going to the movies.
There are just two of us. If I cut the recipe in half, would any of the liquid measurements be OK halved as well?
I love your blog and have been following you about the first day you started!
Hi there! Yes, that should work just fine! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas dinner! xT
Ha, whoa, some of these past reviewers need to chill. I’ve been making at least one HBH recipe a week for over a year. And while this might not make my Top 10 List, it was certainly very good and I will be making again.
Thank you so so much Liz! xT
This was really yummy. I used a braising dish in the oven. At 3 hours the meat was still tough so I baked it for another 45 minutes and it was perfect. I only used two cups of wine in addition to the broth as I ran out of room. Also, strained and thickened sauce as that was my preference. I served it with your make ahead mashed potatoes and it was amazing.
Thanks so much Angela! xT
How did you thicken the sauce?