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…..
Put this in the oven last night before going to bed at 9pm – added some extra liquid just in case and lowered the temperature to 260 F. the Baby woke me up crying at 4.30 am. Turned the oven off, and they were perfect, all though possibly too much liquid left. Will serve tonight for a dinner party after reducing the extra liquid. Thank you!
Greetings Nagi,
So glad to found your cheek recipe 😍😍😍
Needed some guide as would like to switch to pork cheek for this recipe, do i need to remove those fats surrounding the meat?
The rest of the ingredients remains same?
What cut size of pork cheek, 250gm OK? Cooking time in pressure pot, 1-hour?
Thank you so much! 😘😘😘
Cheerio,
Polly
Hi Polly, you can use pork cheek, I would take most of the fat off. If you can get similar size cheeks to the recipe, the cook time and ingredients will all remain the same. I’d love to know how you go! N x
First up – this was delicious – I’m going to need to buy beef cheeks again *just* to be able to make this.
*However* – I think that the mechanism for simply dividing the proportions down when you are cooking for less people doesn’t work for this recipe. There were only two of us, so I used the recipe slider to divide everything down. By the end of the three and a half hours in the oven, there was absolutely no liquid left in the bottom of the pot, with just a crusty layer of very cooked veg and sludge, and the top of the beef was dry. All was not lost – I took the beef out (melting and slightly falling apart 🙂 ), put the dish onto a medium heat stove top, added in about half a cup more of red wine (splashed it – didn’t measure), stirred hard till the wine was absorbed, and then, still stirring, gradually added water to bring the mixture back to a liquid (about a cup and a half, but again, didn’t measure). I then blended as per the recipe (it didn’t come out nice and smooth, but I wasn’t expecting it to), and re-added the beef whilst I finished the rest of the meal.
As I said at the start – this still tasted amazing, and my husband (who usually doesn’t like gravy) volunteered to put the remains of the sauce in a container for the freezer so that we could have the leftovers for another meal. Next time, though, I’ll definitely increase the liquid proportions.
Planning to make this tonight – can’t see where the beef stock is addedd in the recipe. Ctrl+F showed that stock wasn’t anywhere in the instructions too. Do you add stock with red wine?
Hi Anna, the stock is added in step 3 when you are adding the remaining ingredients. I hope you love it! N x
Making this for guests tonight. My beef cheeks are huge. Should I cut them in half?
What can be used in place of wine?
O. M. G… the best! I have quite a bit left over and some sauce. Thinking of making some pies or mushing it with the sauce and having it over pappardelle pasta? Would that work? 🤔
Doh! Just found this recipe – 1 recipe, 3 ways in your recipe files.. do I need to add anything to it to have over pasta? I think I have plenty of sauce. Thank you 🙏
served this on bed of mashed potatoes and your cornbread recipe. we reduced the sauce further just before serving, this is sooooooo restaurant quality worthy! guess what Nagi, with the leftover sauce, we slow cooked some lamb shanks for next night’s dinner. no stress cooking! Love it!
Nagi, what should I do if I don’t have a stick blender? How could I make the gravy consistency?
Hi Louise, do you have a regular blender that you could use?? N x
Amazing! Perfection in a pot. I cooked in the oven for a dinner party .. huge success
Absolutely divine! I love beef cheeks and this recipe is superb, I love the look on people’s cheeks after they’ve eaten this, when I tell them what the meat is; having said how amazing it was, they can’t really back-track!
nagi what could I use instead of red wine with you’re beef cheeks recipe
Nagi, WOW! Soft as butter and so full of flavour. My family loved it and it was so very easy, thank you!
You’re so welcome Robyn, I love hearing this! N x
Hi Nagi,
I cooked this dish last night. It is good for a cold and wet evening. It is a great recipe. I added a tablespoon of tomato paste, and a star anise to the liquid while it cooked. I have not pureed a sauce for a slow cooked dish before. But I could see why you included that step, as the sauce was smooth and creamy in texture which complemented well the tenderness of the beef. I will certainly cook this again, thanks.
Cheers,
Chris
This was so beautiful. Took a risk and made it for a dinner party without trying it first and it was a complete winner. I also made the recommended glazed carrots. Superb!
Can you make this ahead of time and just reheat.
Sure can Anna, just reheat covered in the microwave 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi
Love yours and mothers blog.
Not all the beef cheeks were edible with a spoon but still very tender, The not as tender cheeks went in a pie the next day and was a hit with the family.
Thankyou
Hi Bod, sounds like they could have used an extra 30 minutes cook time. I’m so glad you enjoyed it though! N x
did not find cheeks but here in Spain I found veal Needle cut, worked great. Thank you.
Sounds perfect Ingmarie!! N x
Hi Nagi, thank you for your amazing recipes! Oven cooked the beef cheeks yesterday and although the meat was amazingly tender, the sauce reduced to virtually nothing and all that was left was a thin film at the bottom of the pot. I used a non-stick pot with glass lid (which has a tiny hole for steam to escape) and heat of 160 for 3.5 hours. Any ideas?
Hi Joe, sorry you had issues here! And you definitely added all the liquids the recipe called for? I can only think that having the hole in the lid made the sauce reduce too much – N x
Thanks Nagi, will give it another go but this time on the stove and I’ll watch it like a hawk 🙂
Hey Nagi – could you use lamb shanks for this recipe instead of beef?
Thanks!
Sure could Ella, or try this one: https://promotown.info/slow-cooked-lamb-shanks-in-red-wine-sauce/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E