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Bon Appétit

Braised Oxtails With Coconut Rice

4.6

(29)

A plate of Chris Morocco's kwame braised oxtails
Photo by Chris Morocco

“A bowl of oxtails is like a warm hug from my childhood,” says chef Kwame Onwuachi of Kith/Kin restaurant in D.C. “It’s my favorite Jamaican dish, and a good reminder of how complex and flavorful our food is.” Don’t rule out this recipe just because you can’t find oxtails. Any fatty and rich bone-in braising cut, from short ribs to duck legs, would be a great substitute; just be prepared to shorten the cook time.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    4 servings

Ingredients

Oxtails

2½

lb. oxtails (4–5 large or 6–7 medium), cut by your butcher about 2" thick

Kosher salt

2

Tbsp. curry powder

2

Tbsp. vegetable oil

4

cups low-sodium chicken broth

1

bunch scallions, trimmed, cut into 2" pieces

1

head of garlic, halved crosswise

1–2

Scotch bonnet chiles or other hot chiles (optional)

A small handful of thyme sprigs

1

3" piece ginger, scrubbed, sliced ⅛" thick

2

Tbsp. soy sauce

1

Tbsp. light or dark brown sugar

1

Tbsp. ground allspice or 2 tsp. allspice berries

1

15-oz. can butter beans or other white beans, rinsed

Coconut Rice and Assembly

2

Tbsp. unsalted butter

2

garlic cloves, finely chopped

1

1" piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped

1

cup unsweetened coconut milk

2

tsp. light or dark brown sugar

Kosher salt

2

cups jasmine or other long-grain white rice, rinsed until water runs clear

1

cup pigeon peas or red kidney beans from a can, rinsed

Sliced scallions or chives (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Oxtails

    Step 1

    Preheat oven to 250°. Place oxtails in a medium bowl and season generously with salt. Sprinkle with curry powder and toss to coat completely. Heat oil in a medium Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high. Cook oxtails, turning as needed, until deeply browned all over, 10–12 minutes. Add broth, scraping up any browned bits on bottom of pot. Add scallions, garlic, chiles (if using), thyme, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, and allspice. Bring to a simmer, partially cover pot, and transfer to oven. Braise oxtails, turning once or twice and adding a splash of water if pot is looking dry, until fork-tender and meat is beginning to fall apart, about 7 hours.

    Step 2

    Carefully transfer oxtails to a plate. Fish out and discard chiles. Skim fat from surface of braising liquid, then return to a boil over medium-high. Simmer until liquid coats a spoon, 5–8 minutes. Add beans to liquid; season with salt.

  2. Coconut Rice and Assembly

    Step 3

    Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook garlic and ginger, stirring often, until softened and very fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add coconut milk, brown sugar, and 1¾ cups water; season with salt. Add rice and pigeon peas and bring to a simmer. Cover pot and reduce heat to low. Cook until rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, 20–25 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes.

    Step 4

    To serve, fluff rice with a fork and divide among plates. Top with oxtails and sauce and scatter scallions over.

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Reviews (29)

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  • The only oxtails I've found are sliced with the bones. Yet, this recipe never mentions removing the bones before serving. Please clarify what to do!

    • blips

    • 3/26/2023

  • I have made this a few times and it is fantastic! I have cut down on the cooking time by doing it in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes at high pressure. I just had to cut the broth back to 1-2 cups.

    • Anonymous

    • 2/2/2022

  • Took all day but everything came together beautifully.

    • Anonymous

    • Milwaukee, WI

    • 1/17/2022

  • I saw Chef Kwame make this on the bon appetit mag instagram in april 2020. I immediately went out and bought the ingredients and just followed along the instagram story as I had no idea there was a written recipe on the website. But I'm glad I cooked along with the Instagram story because it made me feel a more confident that I could riff a little bit more than when following a recipe. This recipe is insane, it's SO good and really does feel like a warm hug from my childhood.

    • Jam

    • Jersey City, NJ

    • 12/30/2021

  • Very easy to make and absolutely delicious! This recipe is LONG to arrive to but has very few steps in the process to reach such delicious flavors and medley. 10/10 would recommend

    • Lisa Lew

    • Florida

    • 7/1/2021

  • This was wonderful, made it mostly as written but substituted the scotch bonnets for two rawit peppers (sliced) since scotch bonnet peppers are harder to find here. Same with the beans, I had to use navy beans instead of butter beans and the suggested kidney beans instead of pigeon peas. Not very spicy at all so I would add more peppers next time. I cooked the meat for almost 7,5 hours at 120C with the last 2 hours on 100C, topped up with some extra water, because the meat was already quite dark. I heavily salted the meat beforehand and used normal chicken broth, and the final salt level was perfect, I didn't have to add any more. The meaty beans in the sauce contrasted against the creamy fluffy rice was amazing.

    • Anonymous

    • Amsterdam

    • 5/2/2021

  • Subbed the oxtail for short ribs; so so so good.

    • Anonymous

    • Chicago, IL

    • 2/6/2021