Easy Apple Cider-Braised Short Ribs

Hearty and comforting, Cider-Braised Short Ribs make an incredible cold weather meal.

After roasting short ribs low and slow in a bath of apple cider, these ribs shred easily after they've cooked.

The leftover liquid creates a slightly sweet sauce for these rich ribs. Served over mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables, this meal is all about comfort cooking!

Cooked low and slow, these apple braised short ribs have all the flavors of fall. If comfort food like this calls your name, try Plantain Gnocchi with Savory Short Ribs or Braised Chinese Short Ribs with Ginger & Scallions!

Serve these short ribs with Savory Roasted Garlic Herb Sweet Potato Mash or Simple Oven-Roasted Brussels Sprouts for a complete meal.

What's to love about Cider-Braised Short Ribs

Braised short ribs make for a relatively hands-off meal, requires just a handful of ingredients, and creates a meal that's hearty, satisfying, and perfect for leftovers. There's a lot to love about cider-braised short ribs!

Braising = low and slow, hands off cooking

So what is braising, anyway? The cliff notes: it's a way of cooking meat or veggies through a combination of liquid heat (stewing) and dry heat (roasting).

At the end of the day, it's a perfect way to cook otherwise tough cuts of meat that benefit from slow cooking that melts the fat and breaks down the connective tissue to create tender, fall-off-the-bone meat.

And, even better: braising is largely hands-off! You'll prep everything, pop it in the oven, and let it do its thing for a few hours.

Short ingredients list

You won't need a laundry list of ingredients to make super-flavorful short ribs. The braising liquid is only 5 ingredients!

Feeds a crowd or makes great leftovers

One great thing about braising is that you can make large portions in one pot, with very little extra work.

It's relatively easy to adjust this recipe for even larger portions, too!

And one of the best things about braising? The leftovers are arguably even better!

Ingredients needed for Cider-Braised Short Ribs

While the ingredients list is relatively short, I have a couple important notes for selecting short ribs for this recipe.

Plate short ribs vs. Chuck short ribs

Similar names, but these cuts come from different parts of the cow.

Plate ribs are larger, typically 2-5 ribs sold together as one large rectangle.

They're also called Dino Ribs because, when cooked, they have that Flinstones-style look of plump, succulent meat with bone sticking out on each side.

Plate ribs can be cooked as-is, in one giant slab, or cut crosswise for braising if necessary (which I had our butcher do for us, as the larger ribs would never fit in our Dutch oven).

On the other hand, chuck short ribs are the budget-friendly version of short ribs.

Chuck short ribs come from the chuck (aka the shoulder area) and aren't technically ribs at all, but they look similar to plate ribs and are similarly rich and meaty.

Both are best slow-cooked for moist, tender meat.

Should I use plate ribs or chuck ribs for this recipe?

Use either!

Honestly, if you're picking up short ribs at your local butcher, you're probably getting Chuck short ribs, as they're typically cheaper and therefore more appealing to most folks.

But, I wanted to mention the distinction because I special-ordered short ribs with my local butcher - and I didn't know there were multiple "types", which created some confusion.

Chuck short ribs will be just as delicious as plate short ribs, but if you want to use the REAL cut, plate short ribs are the way to go.

(That said, I'll probably pick up chuck short ribs for this recipe in the future!)

Should I use boneless or bone-in ribs?

Bone-in, for sure!

I'll always recommend bone-in cuts for low-and-slow cooking like braising, because the bone does a couple things:

(1) helps prevent the meat from overcooking

(2) enhances the meaty flavor over boneless versions

Plus, the bones are very easy to remove after cooking for this Cider-braised Short Ribs recipe!

How to make fall-off-the-bone ribs

The secret to easily shreddable, fall-off-the-bone short ribs? Braising.

This low and slow cooking method not only creates a rich, flavorful sauce for the short ribs and whatever you serve it with, but it breaks down the otherwise tough connective tissue in the meat.

The liquid helps insulate the meat from overcooking, but since you aren't completely covering the meat, you don't end up with a stew.

Crucial steps to braising

Braising involves 4 crucial steps!

Brown the meat: Browning locks in the flavor for low and slow cooking methods.

Saute the mirepoix/aromatics: Onions, herbs, and other ingredients that help to flavor the meat and sauce.

Deglaze the pot: Once the aromatics have softened, deglazing the pot means adding a bit of moisture (in this case, apple cider vinegar) and scraping up any browned bits. Building flavor!

Braise: Add the meat and the rest of the liquid back to the pot, covering up to ¾ of the food. Cook low and slow in the oven.