Sous vide short ribs with red wine sauce

This Sous Vide Short Ribs recipe with a quick and easy red wine sauce or beef au jus makes rich, tender, and decadent sous vide beef ribs. They are as juicy as our Beef Plate Ribs and 3-2-1 Ribs.

This short beef short ribs recipe is perfect with creamy sous vide potatoes for your Christmas dinner.

Other Popular Sous Vide Recipes: Sous Vide Prime Rib, Sous Vide Tri Tip, Sous Vide Chuck Roast, Sous Vide London Broil, Sous Vide Ribeye, sous vide lamb chops, or sous vide pork fillet.

Sous vide ribs

Sous vide is our favorite way to cook short ribs, a notoriously tough cut of beef. Short beef short ribs are small cuts of meat that easily overcook and dry out. As such, it must be cooked low and slow to produce edible results.

Boiling beef short ribs in water provides restaurant-quality food at home, as this is the method many high-end restaurants use.

Sous vide beef short ribs

This sous vide short ribs recipe calls for using English cut short ribs, not flanks. If you are not sure about the difference, here is a nice overview with pictures.

Red wine Au Jus

The basis for the red wine sauce is the one we use to make Individual Beef Wellington. It’s made in two stages: the initial cook time, which creates the sauce that goes in the pouch with the meat, and then the final cook time, which contains all the delicious meat juices.

If you don’t cook with wine, you can always substitute our classic Prime Rib Au Jus or Prime Rib Sauce for the red wine sauce.

Sous vide beef ribs

Here are the main ingredients you will need to prepare these sous vide short ribs. See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients.

Short ribs

• Short ribs of beef, English cut

Red wine sauce

Aromatic ideas

For extra flavor, throw some flavoring in the bag if you like. Here are a few ideas: thyme, rosemary, oregano, onion, etc. Sous vide brings out the concentration of herbs, so use sparingly.

How to cook short ribs

Preparing sous vide short ribs is remarkably easy to master. It requires pre-planning as it takes a full 48 hours to cook (24 hours minimum). The preparation itself is child’s play.

Consult the recipe card below for all the details.

Step 1 – Preheat the sous vide water bath with a sous vide immersion circulator.

step 2 In a very hot preheated skillet, sear the ribs for 3-4 minutes per side.

Step 3 – Prepare the red wine sauce and place the sauce and ribs in a vacuum sealed bag

step 4 – Place the pouch in your sous vide machine and set the timer to the correct length.

step 5 – Remove from the water bath and place the ribs on a cutting board to rest while you use the juices to prepare the red wine sauce.

Timed coordination

The beef ribs will remain in the water bath for a minimum of 24 hours and a maximum of 48 hours, so plan accordingly.

temperature

Our preferred temperature is 149°F. At this temperature it is tender and buttery soft.

We’ve seen everything from 144°F – 150°F listed, but we found 149°F to be the sweet spot, especially since we don’t reverse sear, which raises the final temperature.

Boneless beef ribs

This sous vide short ribs recipe can also be used with boneless beef ribs. No changes to the recipe are required.

Back ribs versus short ribs

Quite a few differences between the two cuts. Back ribs come from the cow’s upper back, while short ribs are cut from the lower part of the rib cage. Short ribs have meat on the bones so it’s easy to tell which back ribs have the meat between the bones.

Sous Vide Equipment

• Sous vide immersion thermostat – Any brand will work! We use the Anova Immersion Circulator.
• Vacuum Sealed Bags – You can always use a ziploc bag and use the water displacement method versus a vacuum sealer with a sous vide bag if you wish.
• Sous Vide Food Containers – We use this sous vide food container for our sous vide beef recipes, but you can use any large stock pot.

How to reheat

The best way to reheat short ribs sous vide is to reheat them in a water bath! Heat the water to 5°F below the boiling temperature you used for the first run. Keep them in this for 30 minutes or until warm.

expert tips

• Reserve Seared Beef Short Ribs produces LOTS of smoke. Turn on the oven fans and/or open the windows before turning on the oven to get ahead of it.
• Be sure to blot the short ribs thoroughly with paper towels. To get a good crust in the pan, the ribs need to be dry.
• Make sure the meat is fully submerged in the sous vide bath. If the meat isn’t fully submerged, it won’t cook properly. Do not even try as food safety would not be guaranteed.
• If your sous vide bag is floating, try resealing it or use something to weigh it down in the sous vide bath. You can always add a couple of heavy spoons or pie crust weights to the bag before sealing, or invest in sous vide weights.

serving ideas

Serve with sous vide asparagus, sous vide carrots, or garlic mashed potatoes for a complete meal.

It also pairs well with everything on our “What to Serve With Prime Rib” list.

remnants of ideas

If you have leftover sous vide short ribs, here are some recipes to consider:

Short Ribs Chili (perfect complement to smoked chili)
Prime rib sandwich
Tri tip sandwich
French dip sandwich

drink pairings

Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Bordeaux, spicy Zinfandel, Syrah or Merlot