These slow cooked Beef Cheeks are braised in a beautiful red wine sauce until they are so meltingly tender, you can eat it with a spoon! The braising liquid in this Beef Cheeks recipe is infused with incredible flavour and when pureed, transforms into a thick, luscious gravy-like sauce.
Perfectly accompanied with creamy mashed potatoes, this is a very easy dish that is suited to an elegant dinner party or a hearty midweek meal. Make this in your slow cooker, pressure cooker or on the stove!
Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks
This is a magnificent dish that takes a budget cut of beef and transforms it with little effort into a dish that you’ll find on the menu of fine dining restaurants.
Except it’s 80% cheaper. 🙂 I had lunch at an upscale bistro on the weekend where Beef Cheeks were on the menu for $35 a serving!
Little known fact: Beef cheeks are the KING of all slow cooking cuts of beef!
What are beef cheeks?
Beef Cheeks are the cheek muscle of cows and they are a very tough cut of meat that needs to be cooked long and slow to make it tender. It absorbs the flavours of braising liquid well and when you cut into it, it is stringy, almost like pulled pork.
But unlike beef chuck (used for Beef Stew and Pot Roast), Brisket and even Beef Short Ribs which have patches of really juicy sections and also some that can (sometimes) be a bit dry, not a single part of the beef cheek is dry. Every mouthful is juicy and luscious and even just typing up this post is making my mouth water!
And THAT is what makes them so special!!
What you need for this Beef Cheeks recipe
We’re making a fine dining quality dish here, but it just calls for a trip to your local grocery store! Here’s what you need:
Beef Cheeks
5 years ago, they were cheaper and weren’t always available in the large supermarkets here in Australia. But nowadays, thanks to shows like Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules, the price has been driven up but on the plus side, they are now regulars at mainstream stores like Coles and Woolies!
If you can’t find Beef Cheeks, other slow cooking beef cuts will work fine – Beef Short Ribs would be an ideal substitute. Cut them into 250g/8oz chunks so the same cooking times and liquid quantities in this recipe will apply.
This is a magnificent dish that takes a budget cut of beef and transforms it with little effort into a fine dining restaurant dish!
Red Wine for cooking
My Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks recipe is made with a classic Italian red wine braising liquid. The deep, warm, complex flavours of red wine are perfect for using as the stock base for slow cooked beef dishes.
Go to your local liquor outlet and look for end of bin specials and pick up a bottle of a full bodied red wine like Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon.
A pet peeve of mine are recipes that tell you that you must use good quality drinking wine for slow cooking recipes. I do not believe that at all for slow cooked dishes – and the New York Times agrees.
For quick sauces, yes, absolutely. But not for a braising liquid. I bet not even the greatest food critic in the world would be able to tell if it was a discounted $5 end of bin special or a $40 reserve Cab Sav. (Seriously. Who would make a slow cooked beef recipe using a $40 bottle of wine??).
You won’t use the whole bottle. If the wine is not to your standard for drinking, measure out cups and pour them into ziplock bags and freeze them. Handy to have when you need wine for other recipes!
How to make this Beef Cheeks Recipe
Though it does take time to slow cook, it’s an incredibly straightforward recipe:
Brown beef cheeks aggressively – this is key for flavour!
Saute garlic, onion, carrots and celery – our soffrito, the flavour base for the sauce;
Add braising liquid ingredients;
Slow cook the beef cheeks until they are fall apart tender – stove 2.5 hrs, oven 3.5 hrs, slow cooker 8 hrs, pressure cooker / Instant Pot 1 hr;
Puree sauce to thicken into a gravy-like consistency;
Serve beef cheeks with sauce over creamy mashed potato (go all out with Paris Mash!) or for a low carb option, Mashed Cauliflower.
Don’t let the length of the recipe directions fool you, this really is a simple recipe. It’s just long because I’ve provided directions for 3 different cooking methods.
This Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks is a recipe that is elegant enough for a dinner party and if made using a slow cooker, easy enough for mid week.
The other great thing about these Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks is that the leftovers freeze 100% perfectly, OR can be transformed into two other incredible dishes that I’ve shared:
Beef Cheek Ragu Pasta – the rich braising liquid was made for tossing through pasta!
Cook once, eat thrice!! – Nagi x
Try these on the side
Paris Mash (ultimate creamy mashed potato!) or Creamy Mashed Cauliflower
Crisp salad with tangy Balsamic Dressing or French Vinaigrette
Watch how to make it
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Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil , separated
- 1.5 kg/3lb beef cheeks , (4 large or 6 small beef cheeks)
- 1 onion (white, brown or yellow), roughly diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 celery stalk , roughly diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 carrot , roughly diced (about 3/4 cup)
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 6 stems of fresh thyme or 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 4 dried bay leaves (or 3 fresh bay leaves)
- 1 cup (250 ml) beef stock (broth)
- 2 cups (500 ml) red wine (full bodied eg. cabernet sauvignon or merlot)
- 2 – 3 tsp salt , separated
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the beef cheeks: cut off any large, fatty membrane. Pat dry then use 1 tsp of salt and black pepper to season the beef all over.
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Sear half the beef cheeks on each side until nicely browned. Remove beef cheeks onto a plate, repeat with remaining cheeks.
- Turn down the heat to medium high and heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add garlic and onion. Sauté for 3 minutes until onion is becoming translucent.
- Add the celery and carrot,s sauté for a further 3 minutes.
- Follow directions for your chosen cooking method below.
Slow Cooker Directions
- Pour the onion mixture into the slow cooker and place the beef cheeks on top.
- Pour the wine into the pot and return to heat. Turn the heat up to high, bring to simmer and let it simmer for 1 minute (to cook out the wine a bit). Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan so it mixes in with the wine.
- Pour the wine into the slow cooker, then all the remaining ingredients, starting with a pinch of salt and pepper (add more to taste later).
- Cook in the slow cooker on Low for 8 hours or High for 6 hours for 250g/8oz size beef cheeks or Low for 10 – 12 hours or High for 8 hours for 350g/12oz beef cheeks.
- Open the slow cooker and remove the beef cheeks. Discard the thyme stems and bay leaves.
- Use a handheld stick blender to puree the braising liquid into a smooth Sauce – it will change from a dark brown to a lighter brown colour.
- Transfer liquid into saucepan, simmer on stove on medium high until the Sauce turns a darker brown colour and reduces by about 1/4 to 1/3, to a gravy consistency – about 10 minutes.
- Do a taste test and adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper) to your taste.
- Remove from heat, return beef cheeks to the Sauce, cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
Pressure Cooker Directions
- Follow the Slow Cooker directions but cook on high in your pressure cooker for 1 hour on high for small cheeks (around 250g/8oz each).
Stovetop and Oven Directions
- Pour the wine into the pot / casserole dish (with the onion mixture) and stir to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Bring wine to simmer for 1 minute.
- Add remaining ingredients, starting with a pinch of salt and pepper (add more to taste later), the place lid on.
- Stove: Simmer on medium low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until the cheeks are very tender, turn at least once during cooking.
- Oven: 160C/320F for 3 to 3 1/2 hours .
- Remove the beef cheeks from sauce. Discard the thyme stems and bay leaves.
- Use a handheld stick blender to puree the braising liquid into a smooth Sauce – it will change from a dark brown to a lighter brown colour.
- Bring the Sauce to simmer over medium heat and simmer until it turns a darker brown colour and reduces by about 1/4 to 1/3, to a gravy consistency – about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Do a taste test and adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper) to your taste.
- Remove from heat, return beef cheeks to the Sauce, cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
To Serve
- Serve beef cheeks on Paris Mash (ultimate creamy mashed potato!) or Creamy Mashed Cauliflower, drizzled with a generous amount of Sauce. Garnish with finely chopped parsley if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published August 2014. Updated August 2019 with new photos, new process photos, new video, new writing. No change to recipe. I wouldn’t dare touch it, readers love it as it is!
Life of Dozer
His bib was soaked by the time the beef cheeks were in the pot…..
Hi Nagi,
This recipe was absolutely superb !!
It was a great hit in my home and so very easy and uncomplicated!
I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
Love the look of the slow cooked beef stroganoff.
Hi Nagi-in your opinion-what is the best method. Slow cooker, stove or oven?
Thanks
Hi Kevin – they all work just as well as each other 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I cooked beef cheeks for the first time using your recipe. I was very happy with the result and so glad I chose your recipe. It was delicious and the meat was extremely tender. It was in the oven for about 4 hours as I had about 2 kilos of meat. I added a few extra herbs ( fresh oregano, coriander, sage) only because I’m growing them and need to use them! The sauce was delicious and I decided not to blend it because my kids love carrots ( I’d added extra) so it was nice consistency with the veg anyway. Thank you, will definitely cook this dish again. Oh and mash and chard was a very nice combination. 😋
Picture says chicken broth but the recipe says beef broth. Which one pls?? Thanks
Thanks for picking that up – it should be beef broth!
Hi Nagi!! Can’t wait to try this recipe. I’m only cooking for two people – Would I be able to halve this recipe? And would the same cooking time apply? The two beef cheeks i’ve bought are about 350g each? Thank you 🙂
Hi Elyse, yes that’s fine to halve the recipe – the cook time will be the same as you’ll need the same time to cook the cheeks through. N x
Hi Nagi! Thank you for this recipe! Made this tonight as it was delicious ☺️ I cooked mine using a Dutch oven and after 3 hrs the sauce had reduced more than expected so the gravy was thicker… either way it’s still amazing! Do you have any tips on how to stop this from happening next time? Thank you!!
Delish! So yummy and easy to make. Cooked perfectly in the oven. Also made the pasta recipe provided with the left overs and that was delish and the meat once heated went back so soft. Will make again.
My partner had this cooking on the bbq when I got home last night, then told me it was your recipe. Another convert haha. It was beautiful!
Melt in the mouth is an accurate description.
So delicious.
The smells that filled the kitchen were mouth watering.
Another brilliant recipe.
Thank you
You’re so welcome Katrina! N x
Hi Nagi. Great recipe; I’ve used it a few times although reading it again today I noticed that in the picture of ingredients you have chicken stock but in the list you have beef broth. I’ve always gone with chicken.
Cheers
Phill
Forgot to rate it
One of my fav pics in a restaurant. Tried your recipe and it was magnificent, served as recommended. Will be making this again and again. Great one to impress your guests.
So easy!! So tasty! Thank you!
This recipe was easy to make l cooked mind in a slow cooker it has so tender and tasty thankyou for great recipe.
You’re so welcome Carmel! N x
Hi Nagi,
I am so upset that my beef and sauce burnt 😢 I did everything right and made it in the oven for 3 hours. What should I do ?
Hi Renee, sorry you had issues here – that doesn’t sound right at all! What temperature did you have your oven at??
Hi this looks yummy. I was just wondering about the cook time because it says 3 hrs 30 min at the top but 6 hours in the instructions. Which one is right?
Sorry Celine, the timing at the top of the recipe is for stovetop cooking. N x
This was delicious and so easy
Thanks so much Alanna! N x
First time cooking beef cheeks and I was a little nervous but this recipe was absolutely delicious. I have a little left over so will try the ragu recipe tomorrow. Thanks for a winning recipe!
Ive made this recipe about half a dozen times now, family loves it. I added a few small thai chillis last time just for a slight zing. I also doubled amount so I’d finally get leftovers to try leftovers recipes. So yes, made ragu, also very good. Definitely needs that extra liquid from pasta water as the pasta sucks up a fair amount of liquid when all mixed together. The next day it especially needs liquid (if you’ve managed to have any leftover). Yet to try the third recipe with mushrooms. One day, I’m sure it will be excellent too.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it Katrina! N x
I made this few times now and everyone enjoyed and loved this every single time! So easy yet soo delicious! I wouldn’t change a thing from the recipe. I don’t have stick blender, i use the normal blender and it’s amazing how the sauce thickens from the mushy vegs! Thanks Nagi for a great recipe!
Perfect Siti! N x