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Oxtail is beloved in dishes around the world. In African and Caribbean cuisines, this beef cut is prepared in stews and braises and served with starchy accompaniments like fufu, root vegetables, rice, and beans. The cut also plays a key role in Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Thai soups and braises, which showcase its intense meaty flavor. In European cultures, oxtails show up in dishes like borscht, as well as in classic Spanish and Italian recipes.
Cut from the tail of a cow, oxtails are easily recognizable: The bone is crosscut into one- to two -inch-thick sections, revealing the marrow center that’s surrounded by fat and meat segments in a wagon wheel–like arrangement. A tougher cut with lots of connective tissue, oxtails require slow cooking to transform the meat into succulent, savory bites.
Try these recipes that showcase how this rich meat is showing up in empanadas, pasta, stews, and more flavorful dishes.
Trinidadian Oxtail Stew
Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling / Prop Styling by Priscilla Montiel
Oxtails are used in dishes around the world, but chef Osei “Picky” Blackett notes that Trinidadian-style oxtails have two major distinctions: green seasoning and caramelized sugar. Green seasoning is a puree of fresh aromatics, including culantro, ginger, and garlic, that is used to both marinate the meat and season the stew. After marinating and before braising, the oxtails are browned and coated in a caramelized sugar mixture to impart the stew with a rich color and faint caramel-like sweetness.
Oxtail Cheesesteak Empanadas
Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling / Prop Styling by Priscilla Montiel
Osei “Picky” Blackett pulls the meat from stewed oxtails to make the filling for crisp, flaky empanadas. The shredded braised oxtail meat gets an added flavor boost from sautéed onions and peppers, plus melty pepper jack cheese. Better yet, this recipe features store-bought empanada dough, which makes it easy to prep ahead.
Oxtail Soup
Food & Wine / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Emily Nabor Hall / Prop Styling by Tucker Vines
For this homey and hearty one-pot soup, F&W recipe developer Liz Mervosh simmers bone-in oxtails with aromatics like carrots, then stirs in egg noodles and pearl onions. When it’s time to serve the soup, the meat gets picked from the bones and stirred back into the pot. Red wine and sherry vinegar add an acidic balance that offsets the oxtails’ fattiness.
Oxtail and White Sweet Potato Stew
Less sweet than the orange variety, white sweet potatoes are paired with oxtails in chef JJ Johnson’s hearty stew. The base of this stew is a combination of red wine and veal stock that has an underlying warm spice note from cinnamon and bay leaves.
Oxtail Noodle Soup
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
Kare kare, a popular Filipino beef stew, is the inspiration for this noodle and oxtail soup from F&W recipe developer Liz Mervosh, which is filled with hearty udon noodles. While the traditional stew features a thick peanut sauce, this silky and savory soup achieves a similar flavor with the addition of peanut butter. Added in at the end of cooking, bok choy and daikon balance out the textures of the tender meat and soft noodles with their crisp finish.
Jamaican Braised Oxtails with Carrots and Chiles
Tapping into his Jamaican roots, novelist Bryan Washington looks at oxtails as an Old Faithful level meat cut. He warmly recalls the beloved oxtail stews of his upbringing, with their intense spicy heat from Scotch bonnet chiles, warm allspice, and tender slow-cooked meat. This Jamaican oxtail stew with butter beans is his homage to these memories.
Oxtail Noodles
Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling / Prop Styling by Priscilla Montiel
“I just love oxtail. I love the fattiness of it,” says chef Osei “Picky” Blackett. “I love the excess.” Blackett’s enthusiasm comes through in his rich and intensely savory Trinidadian Oxtail Stew that he deconstructs for this comforting pasta dish. Pulling the meat from the bones and transforming the slow-cooked braising liquid into a velvety sauce to toss with fettuccine noodles will absolutely level up your pasta game.
Spiced Beef Pho with Sesame-Chile Oil
Marcia Keisel based this pho on a version that’s a specialty in Hanoi, Vietnam. Keisel simmers oxtails (or beef short ribs) with charred onion and ginger, plus warming and vibrant spices like clove, star anise, and fennel. The soup making steps yield a flavorful broth and tender oxtails that rest separately overnight in the refrigerator. When it’s time to eat, cold-soaked rice vermicelli and the reheated meat and broth are served with an array of garnishes including basil, cilantro, onion, and chiles.
Oxtail Soup with Daikon and Ramen Noodles
2010 F&W Best New Chef Roy Choi puts a spin on ramen with oxtail and peppery daikon radishes. Seasoning and browning the oxtails, then cooking ginger until golden and fragrant, leaves a savory fond (the little browned bits on the bottom of the pan) that Choi deglazes with sake before retiring the oxtails to the pot with beef stock. The soup simmers until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender.
Rabo de Toro
Cordoba, a city in Spain’s Andalusia region, is known for a comforting dish called Rabo de Torro (bull’s tail). Chef José Andrés prepares this traditional recipe with tomatoes, celery, and garlic — aromatic vegetables that add flavor and aroma as the dish cooks along with red wine and sherry. The oxtails simmer to become very tender, and a saucy gravy builds in the pot.
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