Hey you! Guess what? I made ya dinner. A real dinner! And it involves beer braised short ribs, cabbage cilantro slaw, pickled red onions, and Oaxaca Cheese! I hope you’re on your way… these babies won’t last long!
Let’s talk beer and short ribs for a moment!
We rarely keep beer in the house. The main reason for this is that we love beer. Well, that and because the whole self control thing never was our cup of tea, thus we maybe end up crushing a 6 pack (I just felt so college typing that) on a Sunday night and then end up very much so paying for it the following morning, making that all too familiar declaration of “I’m NEVER drinking again” slither from our mouths… even though we know it’s not true 😉 Will we ever learn?!
Probably not! But that’s ok. I have learned a new trick for putting my beloved brews to work – BRAISING! Ah, braising. It’s such a wonderful thing. And when you take an already amazing technique and add beef and beer… it’s like – HELLO FABULOUS.
These short ribs are cooked low and slow (you could probably do this in a crockpot I reckon, but I don’t own one – gasp – so I just quickly browned them in the dutch oven, then added the liquid and cooked them on the lowest possible flame; they turned out excellent) in a seductive liquid mix of beer, spices, garlic, and onion until they’re literally falling off the bone and apart.
You’ll have no problem shredding the ultra tender flavor packed meat with the simplest rub between the fingers… but you may have a hard time NOT eating it all before it goes in the tacos. The meat makes your entire house smell so good.
The other half of these tacos is where our cabbage cilantro slaw, pickled red onions, and Oaxaca cheese come in. They’re all painfully easy to prep, and you really don’t have to worry about them until the meat is 3/4 of the way done cooking. The slaw is a simple mix of shredded red cabbage, cilantro, lime, and salt – seriously simple stuff. The pickled red onions are just sliced red onions soaked in sugar and vinegar – again, easy stuff! And the cheese is, well, cheese! All you need to do is crumble. Heavily of course 😉
This recipe makes 12 tacos, lightly stuffed, and I say with 100% honesty we ate all 12 in a matter of minutes and could have gone another round… so double (or triple) up if you’re feeding a crowd. Also, a dash of hot sauce. Do it!
Beer Braised Short Rib Tacos with Cabbage Cilantro Slaw and Oaxaca Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef short ribs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon coriander
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1/4 red onion, cut into two large pieces
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup of your favorite beer (this is basically one bottle with a nice big swig or two taken from it), I used Brooklyn Lager
- 12 taco tortillas
- 1/2 head (get the tiniest one you can find) of red cabbage, thinly sliced
- 2 limes, zested and juiced
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 ounces oaxaca cheese, crumbled
Instructions
- *The short ribs take between 6-8 hours to cook, so keep this in mind when planning to cook.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once sizzling, add short ribs and sear on all sides until golden brown; about 1 minute on each side. Remove and place in the dutch oven.
- In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chipotle powder, cumin and coriander; mix well. Sprinkle the mixture over the short ribs, gently rubbing it into the meat. In a separate bowl combine beer and vinegar, then pour mixture in to the dutch oven.
- Finally heat the dutch oven over LOW flame, and cook for about 8 hours, or until the meat is literallt falling off the bone.
- Once meat has finished cooking, remove carefully using kitchen tongs and transfer to a large clean cutting board. Let the ribs cool until you can touch them for an extended time without getting burnt, then remove the meat from the bone. This should be very easy and just involve you using your fingers to sort of rub the meat apart.
- When your meat has cooked about 7 hours, make your slaw and onions!
- In a large bowl combine cabbage, lime zest, lime juice with a pinch of salt; toss well.
- In a separate large bowl combine thinly sliced onions with vinegar, salt, and sugar. Mix well, then let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
- Crumble cheese and place in a small serving bowl.
- To serve, warm tortillas in the oven for a few minutes, then assemble tacos with meat first, then cabbage, then crumbled cheese. And EAT 🙂
Stefanie @ Sarcastic Cooking says
OMG I am so trying these in a crock pot! Also, we cannot keep beer in our house for very long either. It always turns into “So we only have one beer left. How did that happen?” the next day.
Alyssa (Everyday Maven) says
Perfection. Those tacos have everything I want in them. I never, ever get sick of tacos!
Norma | Allspice and Nutmeg says
Yum! These look so good.
yummychunklet says
Great looking tacos!
Nicole ~ Cooking for Keeps says
AHHHHHHHH!!! If you can’t tell that’s me singing. I’m so in love with these, everything about them; from the braised short rib, to the oaxaca cheese to the slaw. I’m really into tacos lately for some reason, weird, because normally I’m an enchilada girl all the way, but whatever these babies are calling my name!
Kelli @ The Corner Kitchen says
You had me at beer braised short ribs! Totally gushing over these tacos!
Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen says
Yum! Now I want these for breakfast. I’ve never made short ribs before, but this definitely made my mouth water!
Tieghan Gerard says
Yay!! I love short ribs, they always turn out SO good! These look amazing!
Ali @ Inspiralized says
Yum! I love beer braised short ribs! I had them once at a restaurant in NYC and I haven’t been able to remember the name of the place to go back – this means I’ll have to try this recipe!
Becky @ A Calculated Whisk says
These tacos have all my favorite things in them! I’ll definitely make them. Love the color of those pickled onions!