Southern Style Oxtail Stew with Rice Recipe

My Southern Style Oxtail Stew with Rice is cooked low and slow with carrots, onions, and spices for melt in your mouth pure comfort food.

4.7 from 61 votes

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 3 30

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My Southern Style Oxtail Stew is a simple, easy-to-prepare recipe. Oxtails are cooked low and slow with carrots, onions, and spices, then served over hot, fluffy rice.

Okay, I know I’ve already lost some of you just based on the recipe title. Oxtail Stew. Yes, that’s right, I’m cooking with oxtails.

Now, I know it’s not every day that you see an oxtail recipe. But trust me. This is slow cooked, browned meat deliciousness. Wipe your plate with a roll deliciousness.

I know that this is one of the less familiar cuts of meat, but it is also one of the most flavorful. So what if it comes from the fly-flicking end of the cow.

I hadn’t cooked old-fashioned Oxtail Stew in a long time until I made this recipe recently. Apparently, oxtail has increased in demand over the past few years. And, considering how little meat is on one tail (about 7-8 pounds per cow), you can see that there’s not that much oxtail available, therefore making it more expensive.

I remember when oxtails used to be dirt cheap. Just about the cheapest thing in the meat counter but not now. Actually, there’s not really anything in the meat counter that’s dirt cheap these days. But still, oxtails are a pretty good bargain.

They make great soups and stews but keep in mind that they need long, slow cooking to break down the connective tissue and become melt in your mouth pure comfort food deliciousness. I like to serve this stew over rice, but egg noodles are great, too.

💗 Why We Love This Recipe

Hearty Comfort Food
Simple to Make
Simple ingredients
Perfect for cold weather
Out of the ordinary stew

🥘 Ingredient and Equipment Notes

You’ll need a large, heavy bottomed Dutch oven or a large stockpot for this recipe.

All the ingredients needed to make oxtail stew.

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Don’t be intimidated by the lengthy ingredient list. Most of them are simple, everyday pantry items. In fact, I’d be surprised if you didn’t have all of these on hand right now, minus the oxtail.

Oxtails (You should be able to find these in any grocery store’s meat counter. If you don’t see them, ask. I’m pretty sure they’ll have them on hand.)
Beef Broth (You can use canned, boxed, bouillon cubes, or your own homemade.)
Diced Tomatoes (I use canned for convenience. You can certainly use fresh.)
Flour (Plain, all-purpose, nothing fancy flour.)
Herbs (Note that you can substitute fresh herbs for any of the dried herbs called for in the recipe. The rule of thumb is to always use 1/3 as much dried as fresh.)

You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

🔪 How to Make Simple Southern Oxtail Stew with Rice

Brown the Oxtails

Season the oxtails liberally with salt and pepper.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a heavy bottomed pan.
Brown the oxtails very well on all sides and set aside. (Good, thorough browning equals luscious flavor.)

Add Remaining Ingredients

Tomatoes, broth, and spices added to the pan.

To the pan, add the beef broth, garlic cloves, basil, oregano, bay leaves, and diced tomatoes with their juice.
Return the oxtails along with any accumulated juices to the pan.

Simmer Slowly

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a slow, steady simmer. Cover and cook for 2 ½ hours.

Add the Vegetables and Finish Cooking

Carrots, potatoes, and onions added to the pot.

Removing vegetables with a slotted spoon.

Add the onion, potatoes, and carrots to the pan and continue cooking for an additional 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the vegetables and oxtails from the pan.

Thicken the Cooking Liquid

Combining butter and flour with a fork in a small bowl.

In a small bowl, combine the butter and flour to create a smooth mixture.
Increase the heat to medium and whisk the butter-flour mixture into the broth a spoonful at a time. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed.

Finish the Stew

Return the oxtails to the thickened broth turning them to coat. Serve the vegetables and oxtails with thickened sauce over hot, steamed rice.

🍽 What to Serve with This

Oxtail stew will leave you with a warm, content feeling and you really don’t need much to make it into a full meal. I’d suggest a steamed or roasted green vegetable and, perhaps, hot rolls or bread with butter.

Keep the dessert light as well with something like my light and fluffy Angel Cake with strawberries, or a fancy “you outdid yourself” style dessert like my Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Fresh Berries.

🍚 Storing and Reheating Leftovers

If you have any leftover oxtails and rice, you can store them both in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. I do recommend keeping the stew and the rice in separate containers to prevent overcooking the rice during the reheating process by mixing them all together.

You may not want to freeze this recipe. Not only do potatoes tend to freeze poorly, but the thickening agent (flour and butter) may also separate while freezing. I would skip the freezer for this recipe.

To reheat the oxtail stew, place it in a saucepan on the stove over medium-high heat until it comes up to temperature. For the rice, place it in a pot, add a few tablespoons of water, break up any clumps you see and seal with a tight lid. Heat on medium-low, checking frequently to make sure the rice isn’t sticking to the pan.

❓ Questions About Oxtail Stew

Why is a cow’s tail called an oxtail?

An ox is a fully grown steer (castrated male cattle) and, in the past, “oxtail” only came from oxen. These days oxtails come from either male or female cattle.

Do you have to brown oxtails before cooking?

While it’s not absolutely necessary to brown the oxtails before stewing them, I do highly recommend it. Browning meat (the Maillard reaction) results in caramelization which greatly enhances the flavor of the finished stew. It also produces a beautiful color in the finished recipe. Adding the meat to the stew without browning first produces a kind of sickly, grey color in the finished product.

Why is stewing recommended for cooking oxtails?

Oxtail is a fairly tough cut of meat. It has a lot of connective tissue and collagen which requires long, slow cooking. Stewing the meat over low temperature breaks down the tissues and renders the meat tender and delicious.

What type of rice do you serve with this?

You can serve any kind of rice you have on hand with oxtail stew. Steamed white rice or brown rice both work fine. My preference is basmati.

🧾 More Popular Stew Recipes

HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?

I’d LOVE to know what you thought!
Leave a rating below in the comments and let me know how you liked it!

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