Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (2024)

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Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (1)

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This hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe is thicker than a soup, but not quite a stew. Rich and full of veggies, you are going to love this flavor!

Recipes like oxtail soup and other stew recipes are my favorite simply because the cleanup time is next to nothing when everything cooks in one pot!

If you are a skeptic about the concept of oxtail, don’t panic! It tastes like beef <— because it is just a cut of beef.

Oxtail has more fat and gelatin than other cuts of beef, so it makes an incredibly rich broth. And because it is stewed until it breaks down, the beef is super tender.

Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (2)

Oxtail Soup Recipe

Okay, so most of us don’t rush out to buy oxtail at the grocery store, much less plan an oxtail soup recipe in our weekly menu. My husband and I have an evolving mission to try new things just because they are new… A fantastic side effect is that our kids often eat things that are super weird without knowing that they are super weird.

They also go through phases where they only want cereal 3 meals a day... But we have high hopes for balance at some point in their lives.

The cook time on this recipe is right around 3 hours so it makes the perfect Sunday evening meal. Sometime mid-afternoon, prep the ingredients and let it cook right up until dinner time. It is rich and hearty and makes the whole house smellgood. My kids love this oxtail soup recipe — which I would have never dreamed!

They have absolutely no idea what it is… to them, it just tastes like a rich beef stew. Since they enjoy the meal so much they don’t ask, so we don’t tell!

This recipe is like stew, but not quite a thick. The consistency is somewhere in between regular soup and stew.

I love to cook this recipe on a cold night and spend time with the family watching movies. It is perfect for a cozy night in like that!

Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (3)

Hearty Oxtail Recipe

Hearty oxtail soup is rich in flavor and full of veggies too. It is heavy enough to be a comfort food that will fill up the whole family with a healthy dose of veggies.

Make sure you make enough to plan for a second meal. We like to stretch this oxtail recipeby serving the second meal over egg noodles or rice. You can even serve it two nights in a row, one night as soup and the next served over noodles, and no one will even care that it is leftovers. Sunday stew becomes Monday’s easy dinner.

How awesome is that?!

How to Make this Oxtail Stew

This oxtail recipe is actually really easy and comes together fast, then you just leave it in the pot until everything merges and the meat is fork-tender.

  • Salt and pepper four pounds of oxtail generously on each side.
  • In a dutch oven over medium heat, drizzle olive oil all over the bottom and brown all sides of each oxtail. Once they are all brown, remove and place them in a bowl. Add the onion and garlic to the pot, saute until soft and translucent.
  • Return the oxtail, plus all the juices that have collected in the bowl, into your dutch oven. Add the spinach and kale and pour in the beef broth. Cover, bring it to a boil and then reduce heat. Let it simmer for 3 hours. Once the meat is tender and falling off the bone, toss in the carrots and cook until they are soft.
  • This dish isthickerthan mostbroth-basedsoups but not as thick as stew. I love this stew just like it is on a cold day. But it’s also delicious over rice or with egg noodles.

Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (4)

Looking for more soup recipes?

Try this Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup. It is so easy (and delicious!) All you have to do is pile things in the slow cooker and turn it on. We also love this Sausage and Chunky Potato Soup! It is so easy and perfect for cold weather!!!

4.4 from 23 votes

Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (7)

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Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

3 hrs

Total Time

6 hrs 10 mins

This hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe is thicker than a soup, but not quite a stew. Rich and full of veggies, you are going to love this flavor!

Course:Main Dishes, Soup, Salad & Sandwich

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 4lbsoxtail
  • 1large oniondiced
  • 4clovesgarlicminced
  • 4large carrotsdiced
  • 2cupspinach
  • 2cupbaby kale
  • 3cupbeef broth
  • salt & pepper

Instructions

  1. Season oxtail well on all sides with salt and pepper.

  2. In a dutch oven (or large pot), drizzle olive oil all over the bottom and brown all sides of each ox tail. Once they are all brown, remove and place them in a bowl. Add the onion and garlic to the pot, sautee until soft and translucent.

  3. Return the oxtail, plus all the juices that have collected in the bowl, into your dutch oven. Add the spinach and kale and pour in the beef broth. Cover, bring it to a boil and then reduce heat. Let it simmer for 3 hours. Once the meat is tender and falling off the bone, toss in the carrots and cook until they are soft.

  4. This dish is thicker than most broth-based soups but not as thick as stew. I love this stew just like it is on a cold day. But it's also delicious over rice or with egg noodles.

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Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (11)

About Cynthia Rusincovitch

Cynthia is a writer, photographer, and recipe developer. She was in corporate marketing for 15 years before leaving it to focus on family. She started blogging as a way to nourish the desire to work while balancing the joys and duties that come with having more kids than hands. She is married to an aerospace engineer who likes to man the grill and has 3 daughters - a teenager and two toddlers. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and Pinterest.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (12)Amber O'Dell says

    Think adding mushrooms and frozen cauliflower would be good?

    Reply

    • Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (13)Cynthia Rusincovitch says

      Both sound delicious to me! Especially the mushrooms.

  2. Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (14)tony nguyen says

    can I add cabbage ?

    Reply

  3. Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (15)julie beldin says

    I made this soup today and just want to say it’s delicious!,

    Reply

    • Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (16)Cynthia Rusincovitch says

      YAY!! I love it too!

  4. Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (17)Mike Sewlal says

    Thanks Cynthia,
    I’m going to try this tonight… although I’m a little hesitant about kale. Anything I could sub ?

    Mike

    Reply

    • Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (18)Cynthia Rusincovitch says

      You can always sub with spinach that tastes a little milder. Or if you want to give the kale a go… strip out the stems because they are a bit more bitter. Or use Lacinato kale. It has blueish flat leaves and is much milder than the other varieties.

    • Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (19)Nan says

      The kale was not a good idea on my opinion it gave me an after taste but the meat and all was yummy

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Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do you have to brown oxtails before cooking? ›

Put the meat in the oil and sear each side for a couple of minutes. Browning your oxtails will not cook the meat. Instead, it will enhance its color and aroma by caramelizing its exterior. Browning beef oxtails in a hot skillet before braising will also add rich depth and flavor to the meat.

What is special about oxtail soup? ›

Approximately 40% of natural collagen found in Mammals is in their tail and feet so you get a massive blast of natural bioavailable Collagen from eating Oxtail. You also get the added benefit of a rich gelatinous bone broth when you slow cook Oxtail in nothing but water, some garlic cloves, and carrot and celery.

What do you soak oxtails in? ›

Water. In a large bowl filled halfway with cold water along with the oxtail add 1/4 salt, 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 3 lemon & limes cut in half. Soak them for 15-30 minutes undisturbed then scrub each one of them with the lemon or limes. Pour the water out and discard the lemon & limes.

How long does it take to boil oxtails until tender? ›

Fill with enough water to cover oxtails and place over high heat. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook oxtails until tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Why do you soak oxtail before cooking? ›

By soaking and blanching the oxtail before cooking any impurities are removed. To cook: Oxtail requires long, slow cooking to produce tender, succulent meat.

What vegetables go well with oxtails? ›

Combining braised oxtails with carrots, parsnips, and turnips makes for delicious soul food. Serve this recipe with rice or with mashed potatoes.

Why is oxtail soup so expensive? ›

Why is it more expensive to make an oxtail dish now? It's simple supply and demand. Each cow only has around six pounds of viable oxtail to go around, compared to the other 400 plus pounds of viable cuts you can get from the rest of the cow.

How do you thicken oxtail broth? ›

Alternate way to thicken stew gravy: Remove the oxtails/vegetables, leaving the liquid in the pot. Make a cornstarch slurry in a small bowl (1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon water, mixed until combined). Stir mixture into stew liquid and simmer until gravy thickens, about 5 minutes.

What ethnicity is oxtail soup? ›

Hearty, healthy and full of flavour, oxtail soup is the perfect winter-warmer. Oxtail soup: a quintessential British comfort food, with humble beginnings. Thought to have originated in London's east end by Spitalfields-dwelling Huguenots in the seventeenth century, the dish combines beef tails in a vegetable stew.

What do you eat with oxtail soup? ›

Then serve this comforting oxtail stew with a side of your choice – mashed potatoes, polenta or rice are perfect for soaking up all that tasty gravy.

Is oxtail soup good for you? ›

Oxtail is a good source of protein and iron with one serving providing 30.93 grams and 3.6 milligrams respectively. To get the most benefits of eating oxtail, include a variety of healthy vegetables in the recipe. Oxtail is rich in Collagen, a vital protein for our body's growth and repair.

Why is my oxtail so tough? ›

As the meat braises, the collagen inside the cut cooks down and becomes gelatin; as it dissolves, the meat's fibers relax and tenderize. However, if the cooking temperature is too high, these muscle fibers will shrink and seize up, toughening.

Are you supposed to soak oxtails in vinegar? ›

To clean oxtails with vinegar, use white distilled vinegar to rinse oxtails. Soak oxtails in the vinegar for approximately 5 minutes. Drain oxtails, then rinse with cold water.

Why do you coat oxtail with flour? ›

The idea behind coating meat with a sprinkling of flour before browning in a hot pan is pretty simple: Flour is full of starch that will caramelize quickly and give a deeper color and flavor. You most often see this technique called for in stews, where flour is used to thicken the cooking liquid.

What happens if you don't brown oxtails? ›

While it's not absolutely necessary to brown the oxtails before stewing them, it is highly recommended. Browning meat results in caramelization which greatly enhances the flavor of the finished stew.

What happens if you don't brown meat before cooking? ›

“If you leave any parts not browned, you are leaving flavor behind." Wondering about seasoning? Stockton suggests seasoning your meat one day (or at least 10 hours) ahead of time, then letting it sit uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator.

Do you need to brown meat before cooking? ›

"The caramelized surface of the meat will lend rich flavor and color to the finished dish." If you are making a slow-cooked recipe that calls for ground beef, like chili, beef stew, or meat sauce, browning the meat beforehand makes a huge difference.

Why do you need to brown meat before cooking? ›

The idea is that browning builds flavor through the Maillard reaction, which will then get spread around through the whole pot as the meat and vegetables slowly braise in liquid.

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