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5 from 1 vote

Best Southern Oxtail Stew Recipe (Pressure Cooker)

This Jamaican Style Oxtails Recipe is flavorful, rich and easy to do on the stove top, in the oven or in a pressure cooker/ Instant Pot.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: main
Cuisine: American
Keyword: oxtails recipe
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 742kcal
Author: Wendi Spraker
Cost: $30

Equipment

  • measuring cups and spoons
  • pressure cooker or dutch oven
  • knife
  • cutting board

Ingredients

Marinade

  • 2-3 lbs oxtails 5-6 larger pieces of oxtails
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp salt

Oxtail Stew

  • 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon browning
  • 1 whole yellow onion chopped
  • 1 bunch green onions chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 whole carrots chopped chopped large
  • 1 whole bay leaf
  • 1 habanero or scotch bonnet pepper with the seeds and membrane removed and chopped
  • 3 Tablespoon ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Add After Cooking

  • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 16 oz Cannelloni Beans or butter beans or baby limas (1 can)
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Cleaning Oxtails

  • (Optional Step) If you want to wash off the oxtails: In a large bowl place 1/2 gallon of water and 1/4 cup vinegar. Soak the oxtails and swish around in the water for a few minutes. Then carefully rinse dry using care not to splash water out of the sink. Place oxtails onto paper towels and allow to dry very well.

Preparing Oxtails

  • Using a sharp knife, remove as much of the fat as possible from the outside ring of the oxtails. Oxtails are very fatty when cooked and while usually you'll find that I leave fat in my recipes, for this one, it's best removed.

Marinade

  • In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, all-spice powder and browning until well mixed. Pour mixture into a gallon sized plastic zip top bag. Place the dry oxtail pieces into the bag and mix well until all pieces are coated. Place bag into the refrigerator for 1 hour up to 24 hours.

Searing

  • Set Pressure Cooker on Sauté and add vegetable oil. When the saute is hot inside your pressure cooker add your larger pieces of oxtails to the pot giving space between each for heat to circulate. Brown on both large flat sides and as much as possible on the outer edges.
  • Remove oxtail after browning and place aside in a bowl or plate.

Cooking in Pressure Cooker (see notes for other types cooking instructions)

  • Keeping the saute function going, deglaze the pressure cooker bowl by adding about 1/2 cup of beef broth to the insert. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up the bits of cooked on goo from the bottom of the pot. Then add the yellow onions, green onions, carrots, garlic, and pepper.
  • Add italian seasoning, bay leaf, remaining beef broth, remaining marinade from the marinade bag and ketchup to the pressure cooker insert.
  • Add the oxtails back to the bowl of the pressure cooker with all of their accumulated juices.
  • Press “Cancel” on your Instant Pot to stop the saute function. Check the seal on your pressure cooker to make sure it is in place and ensure that the little sliding button will go up and down well. Place the lid on your pressure cooker and set to cook for 45 minutes. Once timer is done, allow pressure cooker to fully naturally release.

After Cooking

  • Once all pressure has released and the button has slid back down, open lid carefully to allow any extra steam to escape. Using tongs, carefully remove oxtails (they might be about fall apart stage) and any larger vegetables, leaving liquid in the bowl. Remove the Bay leaf and discard. Turn Pressure Cooker on sauté. Once liquid begins to simmer, mix together cold water and cornstarch in a separate small bowl. Slowly pour this mixture (should resemble milk) into simmering liquid and mix well as you do so. Add drained canned beans into pressure cooker and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, until liquid is slightly thickened and beans are warmed. Add lime juice and then salt and pepper to taste
  • Gently Add the oxtails and veggies back to the pressure cooker back to the pressure cooker and spoon the stew over the oxtails. Serve and enjoy

Video

Notes

    • After you've looked at several packages of oxtails (unless you are at an old fashioned butchery where you can see an entire tail), you'll notice that some of the pieces are larger than others. Usually those pieces are mixed up in the package and you get some large and some small. It's personal preference which to choose, but at my house, we prefer the larger ones.
    • When choosing a package, I always choose the package with the most large pieces. The small pieces are a lot of gristle.
    • I find it easiest to open the package of oxtails the day before I plan to use them and cut the extra fat from the pieces (as much as possible) and mix up the marinade and put them in a plastic bag and put them in the fridge. Then the next day, it is simply a dump and cook (mostly) - with the searing on the front end.
    • I am not usually one to remove extra fat from a piece of meat. Generally, I think that the fat adds to the dish and in a meal that is such a treat like these oxtails, then leave it. We don't eat this every day. That said, even if you remove all the fat you can from the outer edge, the dish will still be very fatty. Believe me, that fat is IN there. Who knows why cows have such fat tails.
    • Ox tails are NOT from an ox, they are beef (cow).
    • When cutting up your carrots, go ahead and leave them in larger chunks, because t his cooks so long that they will break down easily. If you cut them very small, they may dissolve into nothing. The same goes for the onion.
      You'll see that I serve my oxtails with a cannelloni bean in the stew. You can use any other bean you prefer or none. Instead, you could use a potato, that would work too. I like to serve my oxtails with rice and braised spinach and a cornbread. You definitely need a bread for sopping up whatever delicious juices are left in the bottom of the bowl.
    • A single habanero pepper works great in this dish, but if the store doesn't have those, go for the scotch bonnet these are some of the hottest peppers sold at the usual grocery store and that is exactly what you want. I use 2-3 to add the right amount of heat and flavor to my oxtails. You will have to discover for yourself what the right amount is for you.
    • PRO TIP: If you are running short on time, skip the marinade step and follow the instructions I made for the video on YouTube, Simply brown the oxtails in the instantpot, deglaze the pan, add the chopped veggies and the oxtails back to the pan, add the marinade ingredients over the top of the browned oxtails and then set to cook. This gives a faster method that works about as well with all of the flavor included. Once cooked, thicken as usual.
STOVE TOP INSTRUCTIONS
Follow the same instructions as above for marinating the oxtails. 
For searing, place a dutch oven on the stove top on high heat, add the oil and sear the oxtails in the same way. 
Follow the same instructions for deglazing the pan. 
Place all the same items in the dutch oven for cooking and set the lid on the pot. 
Cook over medium low heat for a gentle simmer adding more broth as needed to keep bowl 1/2 full of liquid. When the oxtails are soft and falling apart (2-4 hours depending on the size of the oxtails and the temp set on), the dish is complete. Remove from the pan and follow the same instructions for adding the other ingredients to thicken the sauce and add the beans. 
OVEN INSTRUCTIONS
Follow the same instructions as above for marinating the oxtails. 
For searing, place a dutch oven on the stove top on high heat, add the oil and sear the oxtails in the same way. 
Preheat the oven to 300.
Follow the same instructions for deglazing the pan. 
Place all the same items in the dutch oven for cooking and set the lid on the pot. 
Bake in the center of the oven adding more broth as needed to keep bowl 1/2 full of liquid. When the oxtails are soft and falling apart, the dish is complete (about 3 hours). Remove from the pan and follow the same instructions for adding the other ingredients to thicken the sauce and add the beans. 

Nutrition

Calories: 742kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 78g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 249mg | Sodium: 2025mg | Potassium: 204mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 259IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 162mg | Iron: 13mg