Instant Pot Oxtail: Forget braising for hours on the stovetop. This recipe gives you fall off the bone tender oxtail with 45 minutes of pressure cooking, with a rich sauce made from the pot liquid.
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Now, this is about as simple as a recipe gets, but don't be fooled - simple doesn't mean boring. Oxtail is an excellent cut for the pressure cooker. It's full of tough connective tissue, fat, and bones and needs long, slow cooking to melt into tender meat that is falling off the bone. Or, I need to apply some pressure - that's where my Instant Pot steps in. A long, slow braise (cooking the oxtails with a bit of liquid) takes just over an hour in my pressure cooker.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Oxtail is precisely what it says it is - a steer's tail. Beef oxtail is not a common cut in the US, but it is getting easier to find. In the old days, I'd tell you to check your local Mexican market. Now I can find it at my local grocery store (if I dig deep into the meat case), and Costco sells entire tails, cross-cut and sealed in cryovac. If you can't find oxtail, substitute bone-in beef short ribs cut into 2-inch pieces.
- Beef broth: I love my homemade beef broth, but it's a lot of work to make. I'll usually substitute homemade chicken broth, because I've always got some of that in my freezer. Store-bought broth is fine, and water will also work, though I prefer broth because it adds extra flavor to the pot liquid.
- Dried Thyme: If you have fresh herbs, use them instead - I buy "poultry mix" fresh herbs from the store, and use a sprig of rosemary, a sprig of oregano, and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Or, for dried herbs, use an Italian seasoning blend instead of the dried thyme.
- Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce: Both add body and umami to the braising liquid. You can skip them if you want, or use all Worcestershire or all soy sauce.
🛠 Equipment
A 6-quart pressure cooker
A fat separator
📏Scaling
This recipe doubles easily in a 6-quart pressure cooker, but you need to brown the oxtails in 2 batches. Cut all the ingredients in half, and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker, but again, you may have to brown the oxtail in batches to get it to fit. The cooking time does not change; it takes the same time to cook a single 3-inch piece of oxtail through, no matter how many are in the pot.
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Instant Pot Oxtail Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Instant Pot Easy Braised Oxtail. Simple and delicious, braised oxtail in a little over an hour thanks to pressure cooking.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 pounds oxtail, cut into 3-inch lengths
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 cup beef broth (preferably homemade beef broth) or chicken broth or water
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Sear the oxtail on one side: Heat the vegetable oil in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode - High until the oil starts to shimmer (or use medium-high heat with a stovetop PC). Sprinkle the oxtail with 1 teaspoon of sea salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper. Add the oxtails to the pot in a single layer (they will just barely fit in a 6-quart Instant Pot - think jigsaw puzzle) and sear until well browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Flip the oxtails and immediately move on to the next step.
- Add the thyme and liquid: Pour the broth into the pot, then scrape the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits that are stuck to the bottom. Sprinkle the oxtails with the dried thyme, and drizzle the Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce over everything.
- Pressure cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Cook at high pressure for 45 minutes with an electric pressure cooker (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook - Custom mode in an Instant Pot), or for 40 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 more minutes. (If you're in a hurry, you can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes.) Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam.
- Defat the sauce and serve: Remove the oxtails from the pot with tongs or a slotted spoon. Be gentle - the oxtails will be fall-apart tender. Pour the cooking liquid into a fat separator, and let it settle to separate the fat. Pour a little of the de-fatted liquid on the oxtails and pass the rest at the table to use as a sauce. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 to 3 pieces of oxtail
- Calories: 318
- Sugar: 0.5 g
- Sodium: 518.8 mg
- Fat: 11.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.1 g
- Protein: 50 g
- Cholesterol: 88.5 mg
☃️ Storage
Oxtails make great leftovers - I store them in 2-cup containers with some of the defatted sauce. They keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. Or, I shred the oxtail meat, pulling it off the bones while it's still hot, and store the shredded meat in 2-cup containers. (Leftover oxtail makes great tacos or shredded beef sandwiches).
Variations
Fancy Version
If you want fancy version of the recipe: After searing the oxtails, remove them to a platter. Add a diced onion, carrot, and 2 smashed cloves of garlic, and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste to the pot. Sauté the vegetables, stirring and scraping with a flat-edged wooden spoon until the onion softens and paste starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Pour in ½ cup of red wine (like a merlot) and scrape loose any brown bits of onion and tomato paste from the bottom of the instant pot. Put the oxtail back into the pot and continue with the "add thyme and liquid" step.
Thicken the pot liquid with cornstarch
To thicken the sauce after cooking: after defatting the liquid in the pot, whisk a cornstarch slurry together (1 tablespoon of cornstarch whisked with 2 tablespoons of cold water), and whisk it into the defatted liquid.
Tips and Tricks
Searing on one side:
I only sear meat on one side for the best balance between flavor and speed. Browning adds a lot of flavor to braises when the cooking liquid melts the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. You can skip the browning step if you're in a big hurry, and the oxtail will still be good, but not quite as great as it could be. Or, if you have the patience, you can brown the meat on multiple sides to build even more flavor. "Brown on one side" is my compromise between building flavor and speed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Only one cup of broth or water? Is that enough?
Yes, you need just enough water to bring the cooker up to pressure. That's what makes this a braise, not a stew - the meat is cooking in just a little bit of liquid. Why 1 cup? Because most pressure cookers have a minimum liquid amount of 1 cup (or less). If your cooker needs more liquid, go ahead and add as much as your manual says you need for the minimum liquid amount.
Oxtails are very fatty - should I trim them before cooking?
I don't trim the oxtails - I let the fat render in the pressure cooker, then use the fat separator to remove the fat from the pot liquid before pouring it over the oxtails. That gets rid of enough fat for them to taste great. But, if you really want to trim them before cooking, go ahead - it won't change anything in the recipe. (And you'll still need the fat separator at the end, because oxtail has a lot of intramuscular fat.)
What to serve with braised oxtail
I love these oxtails with mashed potatoes to soak up the sauce, and a green vegetables on the side (like green beans). I usually serve with bread or rolls to, also to dip in the sauce.
Related Posts
- Pressure Cooker Beef Shank (Osso Bucco)
- Pressure Cooker Short Ribs Braised with Beer
- Pressure Cooker Beef Brisket
- Instant Pot BBQ Braised Short Ribs
Looking for something else? Check out my Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Recipe Index
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Evvy says
Mike! Excellent flavor. We did mash and carrots with the latter getting 2-minutes in the pressure cooker. I have a question about the fat on the oxtail. We'd like less of it! Now... this is the first time we've cooked with oxtail so it could be that what we purchased was the luck of the draw. So my question has to do with rendering more of the fat so the meat goes to the table with less of it. Is it a matter of cooking a little longer? Doing a better job of trimming before cooking? Both? Or chalk it up to it is what it is?
Much love and peace this new year!
Deborah dickson says
This is my second time using this recipe and l really like it. I add vegetables to my soup delicious. Thank you!
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!
Derrick j Brown says
Thank you, this was delicious!