Apple cider braised short ribs with caramelized onions & thyme

There are dinners you make because everyone needs to eat. And then there are dinners that make the entire house smell so good for three hours that people mysteriously keep wandering into the kitchen asking when it’ll be ready. These short ribs are the second kind. They’re slowly braised with apple cider, beef stock, caramelized onions, garlic and fresh thyme until the beef practically gives up and falls off the bone. The cider reduces into the braising liquid rather than making the dish sweet, giving the sauce a subtle apple richness that feels very much like fall without involving a single pumpkin. Even better, most of the cooking happens while you’re doing absolutely nothing. My favorite kind of complicated-looking dinner. Why Apple Cider? Because red wine shouldn’t get to have all the fun. Apple cider brings sweetness and acidity to a rich cut of beef, and after several hours in the oven, it doesn’t taste like you’ve poured apple juice over your dinner. Combined with beef stock, Dijon, onions and herbs, it becomes a deeply savory sauce with just a hint of apple underneath. Use real apple cider, preferably unfiltered—not apple cider vinegar and not sparkling cider. Those would make for very different evenings. Apple Cider Braised Short Ribs Serves: 4–6 Prep: 20 minutes Cook: About 3 hours Total: About 3½ hours Ingredients 4–5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced 4 garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 cups apple cider 2 cups beef stock 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 6–8 sprigs fresh thyme 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 2 bay leaves 2 carrots, cut into large pieces 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, optional Fresh thyme and flaky salt, for serving Let’s Make Them Heat the oven to 325°F. Pat the short ribs very dry and season them generously with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches so you don’t crowd the pot, brown the short ribs on all sides. You’re not trying to cook them through. You’re building the first layer of flavor, so let them develop a genuinely deep brown crust before moving them. Transfer the browned ribs to a plate. About That Pan Do not wash it. Please. All those dark little bits stuck to the bottom are exactly what we want. Lower the heat to medium and add the sliced onions. Cook for about 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they’re soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for another minute or two. Let the tomato paste darken slightly. Pour in the apple cider and scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven thoroughly with a wooden spoon. There are our browned bits. Add the beef stock, Dijon and Worcestershire and stir everything together. Return the short ribs to the pot along with the carrots, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. The liquid should come roughly two-thirds of the way up the meat rather than completely drowning it. Bring everything to a gentle simmer. Cover the Dutch oven and transfer it to the oven for about 2½ to 3 hours, or until the short ribs are extremely tender and easily pull apart with a fork. Now Make That Sauce Worth It Remove the short ribs carefully—they may be trying to fall apart at this point—and put them somewhere warm. Discard the herb stems and bay leaves. If there’s a significant layer of fat on the braising liquid, skim some from the surface. Then put the Dutch oven back over medium heat and let the sauce simmer uncovered until it reduces to the consistency you want. Taste it. Salt. Pepper. Maybe another little dab of Dijon. If you want the sauce particularly glossy and rich, turn off the heat and swirl in a tablespoon of cold butter. Then return the ribs to the sauce and spoon it all over them. Finish with fresh thyme and a little flaky salt. What to Serve With Short Ribs I’m not going to pretend this wants to sit beside a sad pile of steamed vegetables. Give the sauce somewhere to go. Mashed potatoes are my first choice. Creamy polenta is a very close second. Buttered egg noodles are fantastic, too. Add roasted carrots, Brussels sprouts, green beans or a sharp green salad if you want something fresh alongside all that richness. And put some crusty bread on the table. You’re going to have sauce left on the plate, and abandoning it would be irresponsible. Make Them Ahead Here’s the secret: short ribs may actually be better the next day. Make the entire recipe, let everything cool and refrigerate the ribs in their braising liquid overnight. The fat will solidify on top, making it incredibly easy to remove. Then gently reheat the ribs in the sauce. So if you’re serving these for company, don’t spend the afternoon frantically cooking while everyone else is drinking wine in your kitchen. Make them yesterday. A Few Notes Before You Cook Use bone-in short ribs. The bones add richness to the braising liquid and help create that silky sauce. Don’t skip browning. Gray short ribs tossed directly into liquid will technically cook, but we’re trying to make dinner delicious, not merely safe to consume. Don’t boil the braise. Low and slow is the entire point. Use cider you actually like. We’re concentrating its flavor for several hours. And most importantly, don’t panic if the ribs aren’t tender at the exact time written in the recipe. Short ribs don’t own clocks. If they’re still tough, they need more time. The Kind of Dinner Fall Is For This isn’t a 20-minute Tuesday-night recipe. It’s a put-something-in-the-oven, let-the-windows fog a little, wander back into the kitchen every so often kind of dinner. The onions practically dissolve into the sauce. The cider becomes something deeper and richer than what went into the pot. And eventually the beef gets so tender that a knife becomes mostly ceremonial. That’s fall cooking to me. Something slowly bubbling away while the rest of life happens around it.