I am thrilled to share this recipe with you.
Seriously, I've been thinking about it for days. Cider-braised short ribs sound like a dream, right? Spoilers: they are.
I've been wanting to share more main meal recipes lately, since there's a sad lack of that on this site right now. In case you didn't know, I love meat, but that doesn't really show yet. So I'm on a quest to post recipes for the things I regularly eat instead of just treats and things like that (not to say that I don't eat the treats...I definitely do). But that isn't a realistic view of all the nutrient dense meals I normally have.
And man, is this one worth sharing.
I'll be honest with you: for a long time, I was afraid of any recipe that used words like "braise", "brined", "curried"...basically anything that I didn't inherently know how to do. That was a huge mistake of the first 24 years of my life. Since going paleo and spending more time in my kitchen, I've learned that those words are usually just fancy ways of describing common kitchen practices.
Still, I had never braised anything in my life. Things that were cooked slowly were just thrown in a crockpot when I was growing up. I've never (and still don't have) a dutch oven (but it's high up on my wishlist).
The first time I braised something, I was blown away by the simplicity and flavor explosion. I was hooked.

Even before I had braised for the first time, I had the idea for these short ribs. Why? Because cider-braised anything sounds good. And man, are these short ribs good! Slightly sweet and caramely, fall-off-the-bone tender...
The second time I made these (had to make sure the recipe was just right, of course!), I made some quick and easy garlic mashed potatoes for a truly comforting winter meal, and my brain practically exploded in bliss.
Now, I'll be the first to note that white potatoes are a grey area food in the paleo world. Some still avoid them like the plague. They are now allowed on a Whole30, though, and as a result more people are accepting. I eat them occasionally, partially because they're a nutritious starch and partially because my boyfriend loves them. We have opposite schedules, so when I'm making a meal we can actually eat together, I spoil him. If white potatoes aren't your thing, just sub for a thick, hearty caulimash.
Okay, let's talk about braising for a moment, since it scared me before I tried it and I'm sure you might be scared, too.

The above picture illustrates the before (on the left) and after (on the right). The picture on the left was taken after browning the meat (definitely enhances the flavor...don't skip this step!). The braising liquid (in this case, cider), should be covering ¾ of the food. On the right you'll see my dish looks burned, the onions and apples underneath are carmelized, and the short rib meat is literally falling off the bone. That's the sort of result you're looking for. There's still some liquid in the bottom, and I opted to spoon this over the meat and mashed potatoes like a gravy. Delicious.
The best part is that other than browning the short ribs, I all I did was put some tinfoil on top of this and pop it in the oven. A few hours later, I had one of the most delicious meals I've ever made. Psh, and I thought braising was hard.
Print📖 Recipe

Cider-Braised Short Ribs over Easy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings 1x
Ingredients
Cider-Braised Short Ribs
- 1-1.5 lb beef short ribs (4 single ribs)
- salt
- 1-2 Tb fat of choice
- 2 cups homemade apple cider OR hard cider of choice
- ¼ large red or sweet yellow onion, sliced
- 1 large apple, sliced
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- 2 large russet potatoes (about 2 ½ cups roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ c coconut milk
Instructions
For the Short Ribs
- Preheat oven to 350. If necessary, divide short ribs so each piece has only one bone. Salt the short ribs liberally and set aside.
- In a cast iron pan/dutch oven, add your favorite fat and heat on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Once the fat is heated, sear the short ribs on each side, about 1 minute per side. If there’s lots of smoke, you’re doing it right. You might want to turn a fan on or open a window to prevent the smoke detector from going off. Add more fat if necessary. The aim is just to brown the outside of the meat without cooking through to seal in the flavor. When finished, remove from heat.
- Add the onion and apple slices to your braising dish. If using a dutch oven, simply add the onions and apples to the short ribs. If using a baking dish (I used an 8x8), add the apples and onions to the bottom and arrange short ribs on top.
- Pour apple cider into the dish/dutch oven. Cover with tinfoil or dutch oven lid and put into the oven. After 2 - 2½ hours, remove tinfoil and cook for another 30 minutes. When done, the short ribs should be fork tender and easily fall away from the bone.
For the Mashed Potatoes
- After removing the tinfoil from the ribs, start preparing the mashed potatoes.
- Fill a medium-sized pot ⅔ to the top with water and bring to a boil. Roughly chop potatoes and add to the pot. Boil for 5-10 minutes or until they slide easily off a fork when pierced. Drain water.
- In the same pot, add garlic and coconut milk. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth and creamy. If you don't have an immersion blender, use a food processor!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup mashed potatoes, 4oz meat
Marla says
Hi Chelsea,
You out did yourself with this meal. It makes my mouth water. Love those garlic mashed potatoes and the short ribs with apple cider - Yum! Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & twitted.
Chelsea says
Thanks! Hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Marla says
Hi Chelsea,
Just a note to let you know that I choose your posts as one of my features for this weeks Real Food Fridays blog hop that goes live tonight @7 pm EST. Thanks for being part of Real Food Fridays.
Chelsea says
Thank you, Marla! I'm honored!
Robyn @ simply fresh dinners says
Hi Chelsea,
What a pleasure to find your beautiful blog. I'm visiting from Real Food Fridays and when I saw those delicious ribs featured I knew I had to come take a look! I love that this delicious meal is still healthy with strong, complementary flavors. Fantastic!
Chelsea says
Oh Robyn, thank you so much for your kind words! I'm pretty proud of this recipe! I hope you try it out and love it just like I did! 🙂
vegetarianmamma (Cindy) says
This sounds amazing! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays Party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 I can't wait to see what you share next time!
-Cindy
Chelsea says
Thanks, Cindy! 🙂
Paige says
Would it be possible to use boneless ribs? Would it change cooking time? Thanks - looks delicious.
Chelsea says
Hi Paige, thanks for stopping by! I've never seen boneless short ribs, so I'm guessing you mean boneless country-style ribs. Since that's a different cut, the cooking time might be different, but since I've never tried it I can't say for sure. Since the cooking time is so long on these, it's pretty flexible. If you use boneless ribs, I'd suggest checking it after 1.5 hours - 2 hours before removing the tinfoil/cover.
Paige says
Thanks for getting back to me. I am going to try it this morning and see how it works. Looking at the label on the meat and it says Beef Chuck Short Ribs, Boneless. We will see how it goes!
Chelsea says
Cool! I didn't know you could get them boneless. Let me know how it goes!