These braised beef cheeks are slow-cooked with red wine, stock and aromatics until tender but still holding their shape and served with a rich sauce made from the braising liquid and a red wine reduction. This is the kind of dish that quiets the whole table at a dinner party.
Beef cheeks are one of those cuts that really reward a slower approach. With just a handful of ingredients, this braise develops a deep, savoury flavour as the meat becomes tender while still holding its shape. Reducing the cooking liquid at the end brings everything together into a rich, balanced sauce.
In this Post
- Ingredients
- How to cook red wine braised beef cheeks
- Variations & Substitutes
- Storing & Reheating Leftovers
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Recipe
Ingredients
Beef cheeks: A well-marbled cut that becomes tender when slow-cooked, while still holding its shape. The key is to take the time to brown them properly before braising. This step builds a lot of the flavour in this recipe.
Stock: Use a proper stock with good collagen content, but lower salt, as it helps give the sauce body. I recommend buying your stocks from a butcher, or making your own.
Red wine: Choose a dry red wine that you would drink. I use a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon blend for this recipe.
Tomato paste: Use a low/no added salt tomato paste. The long cooking time and reduction of the sauce concentrates the salt, so it’s best to keep salt lower in this recipe.
Mirepoix: This is the combination of onion, celery and carrot used as the flavour base for this recipe, as with many sauces or slow cooked dishes.
How to cook red wine braised beef cheeks
ONE: Brown the beef cheek in a skillet over medium – high heat. Don’t move them too much, this step will take about 15 minutes.
TWO: In a large dutch oven, heat a tablespoon of cooking oil and cook the carrots, onion and celery until soft, before adding the tomato paste and garlic.
THREE: Remove the meat from the pan and deglaze with red wine.
FOUR: Layer bay leaves and thyme, then the beef cheeks followed by the deglazed pan juices and finally the stock into the dutch oven on top of the vegetables.
FIVE: Bring the liquid to the boil then transfer to the oven preheated to 150ºC for 2.5 hours.
SIX: Remove the meat from the pot and strain off the vegetables and herbs. Reduce red wine and vinegar in a pan, then add the cooking liquid and reduce until glossy and viscous, coating the back of a spoon. Add the chives to the sauce just before serving.
Variations & Substitutions
Different cuts. You can try this recipe with different cuts of beef, or even different meat. Try beef short ribs, or lamb shanks. You may need to adjust the cooking time depending on the size of the cuts.
Rosemary. You can substitute the thyme for rosemary for a stronger aromatic flavour.
Storing & Reheating Leftovers
Store leftover beef cheek in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheat in a cool pan over medium heat then add the sauce, or in the microwave until heated through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! In fact, I recommend making it ahead of time and allowing the beef cheeks time to rest and then reheating.
Put a sharp knife into the meat and it should be tender enough to go through without much pressure. Try not to cook to the point where it falls apart for this recipe.
The Recipe
I’d love to hear how you get on with making this recipe if you try it and how much you enjoyed eating it! Leave a review below for me to read, or tag me on Instagram if you share a photo.
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Red Wine Braised Beef Cheeks
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 4 serves 1x
Ingredients
- 500–600 grams beef cheeks dried and salted at least 1 hour ahead
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil divided
- 1 carrot diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 stick of celery diced
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 250 millilitres dry red wine divided
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 small handful thyme
- 500 millilitres beef stock
- 60 millilitres red wine vinegar
- 5 grams fresh chives finely chopped
Instructions
Brown the meat
- Bring the beef cheeks to room temperature and cover with 2 tablespoons of the cooking oil. Preheat oven to 150ºC.
- Heat a skillet or heavy pan over medium to high heat and brown the beef cheek. Leave it for about 3-4 minutes before turning to each side. It will take about 15 minutes to brown properly.
- Once the beef is fully browned on all sides, remove from it from the pan/skillet and turn off the heat. Deglaze the pan with 125 millilitres of red wine.
Build the aromatics
- While the meat is browning, in a large dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion and celery to the oil and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften and begin to colour.
- Add the tomato paste and garlic and cook for a further two minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Layer the herbs on top of the cooked vegetables, then the meat. Add the deglazed pan juices to the pot and the beef stock. You want the liquid to cover half to three quarters of the meat. You may need to add some extra water.
Braising time!
- Turn the heat up to bring the liquid to the boil then cover the dutch oven with its lid and transfer to the oven for 2.5 hours.
- The beef cheeks are done when you can pierce with a sharp knife with little resistance. You don’t need to cook it until it falls apart. Remove the meat when it is cooked and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Strain the solids from the cooking liquid and discard them, saving 250 millilitres of the liquid to make the sauce.
To make the sauce
- To make the sauce, in a saucepan or pan, reduce the rest of the red wine and red wine vinegar until it becomes a syrup consistency.
- Add 250 millilitres of the cooking liquid to this and reduce until glossy and viscous, coating the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.
- Season to taste (I rarely need to add salt to this dish) Add the chives to the sauce just before serving.
To serve
- Slice the beef cheek into 1 centimetre slices and reheat in a hot pan with remaining cooking oil. It should go a little crispy on the edges, but again, you don’t want it to start falling apart.
- Serve the beef cheeks with the sauce spooned over the top.
Notes
- Salting the beef. Salting the meat in advance will help to season it from within. As it is a large piece of meat, you cannot rely on a brief surface seasoning. Salt it at least 1 hour before cooking or up to a day ahead.
- Browning the meat. This step is really important to add a depth of flavour that cannot be replicated otherwise. If a lot of fat renders during this process, remove some of it as it will inhibit the browning.
- Making the sauce. When reducing the sauce, you are aiming for a glossy, viscous, almost sticky consistency. If it begins to reduce too much, add some water to dilute it. It pays to stop reducing before you think it is ready, as the residual heat will continue to evaporate some of the liquid.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Resting time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3.5 hours
What to Serve with Red Wine Braised Beef Cheeks
Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
These are the creamiest rosemary mashed potatoes, perfectly seasoned and enriched with butter and cream. They’re taken up a level by infusing the cream with rosemary, giving them a subtle savoury and aromatic depth, and topped with crispy potato skins for a contrasting texture.
Annie says
Super easy recipe that looks really impressive at a dinner party. Pairs perfectly with the rosemary mash.
If you cook it a little longer, it also shreds really well and make a great pasta sauce or base for other dishes.