Jamaican Oxtails Recipe (2024)

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This Jamaican Oxtails Recipe is fall off the bone tender and full of amazing flavor. It can be made in about an hour with your pressure cooker or cook it low and slow in a slow cooker.

Jamaican Oxtails Recipe (1)

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If you ever ask me what my favorite Jamaican dish is, I’ll probably say oxtail. It’s a recipe that my mom would make for special occasions. I wish we could have eaten it weekly, but oxtail can be so darn expensive. So it became one of those special Sunday dinners or “let’s celebrate something” dinners.

Oxtails usually takes hours to cook. But wow, the flavor and the tenderness the oxtail brings is worth it. Lucky for me, I’m a pressure cooking fanatic and found that using a pressure cooker cuts the time of cooking oxtail by a ton. For this recipe, you can use a pressure cooker or even a slow cooker.

How to Make Jamaican Oxtails and Gravy

First, I mise en place my ingredients by chopping my onions, garlic, and scotch bonnet or habanero pepper. Make sure to remove the seeds and membrane from the hot pepper, or your oxtail will be too spicy.

Then prepare your oxtails by cleaning them with a little bit of water and vinegar, and then dry them off with some paper towels. I know I know, they say not to wash your meat but my mom would literally cuss me out if I didn’t. So I do.

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Next, season your oxtails with brown sugar, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, allspice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and browning. Use your hands and mix, ensuring that your oxtail pieces are fully covered.

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Now you can decide at this point if you feel like marinating or not. If I’m pressure cooking or slow cooking, I usually skip this step, and the flavor is still pretty amazing. If you choose to marinate, marinate in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.

Pressure Cooking Instructions

Turn the pressure cooker on the “high sauté” setting. If using an Instant Pot, select “Sauté and press the “+” button until it is the “more” setting. Once your Pressure Cooker is “Hot”, add your vegetable oil to the pot.

Next, add your larger oxtail pieces to the pot, flat side down about ¼ inch apart, and brown on each side for about 2 minutes. Make sure you’re watching the oxtails at this browning stage, as you don’t want to burn the oxtail. If you do, your oxtail gravy will taste bitter later on.

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You can choose to brown all your pieces of oxtails but I usually only brown the larger pieces of the oxtail. The smaller pieces usually don’t need browning.

Once you’ve browned your oxtail, deglaze your pressure cooker by adding about 2 tbsp of beef broth to the insert. Take a wooden spoon and deglaze your pot by removing the brown bits at the bottom. Then add your yellow onions, green onions, carrots, garlic, and scotch bonnet pepper. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onions have softened.

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Add dried thyme, oxtails, remaining beef broth, and ketchup to the pressure cooker insert. All the broth will not cover the oxtail. You don’t need it to.

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Press “Cancel” on your pressure cooker. Cover with lid, making sure the valve is set to “Seal.” Set your pressure cooker to cook on High Pressure for 45 minutes.

Once your timer goes off, allow the pressure cooker to naturally release. All this means is that you don’t touch it. If you’re like me, you may anxiously stare at the pressure cooker waiting for your oxtail goodness. After about 25 minutes, all of your pressure should have been released. Double-check by making sure that the pin button has dropped or switch the valve to “Venting” to ensure all the pressure has been released. Press “Cancel” on the pressure cooker and then open the lid.

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Remove the oxtail pieces and vegetables from the Pressure Cooker and place in a bowl and set aside. I use a spider strainer for this step.

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Then press the “Sauté button on your pressure cooker.

Once your liquid starts to boil, make a cornstarch slurry by whisking the cornstarch with water in a separate bowl. Slowly stir in the slurry into the pressure cooker. Add drained butter beans to the pressure cooker as well and stir them in. Cook for about 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened a little and the butter beans are warmed.

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Return oxtails and vegetables to the pressure cooker. Serve and enjoy.

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Notes on Pressure Cooker Oxtails

  • It’s best if all your oxtails are medium sized oxtails that are similar in size. If you can’t get them the same size, no worries. It’ll still work.
  • Oxtail that is too fatty will lead to fatty gravy. You want some fat, just not too much fat. If your oxtail is extremely fatty, use a paring knife to remove some of the excess fat.
  • Scotch Bonnet is typically used for this recipe. If you can’t find a scotch bonnet, a habanero can be substituted. You could also use about 1-2 tsp of this scotch bonnet pepper sauce.

Looking for recipes to serve this Jamaican Oxtails with? Try these out:

Other popular Jamaican recipes:

  • Jamaican Curry Chicken
  • Brown Stew Chicken
  • Curry Goat

Find the full video tutorial on Youtube. Don’t forget to click the thumbs-up button and subscribe for more recipe videos.

Jamaican Oxtails Recipe (12)

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4.83 from 616 votes

The BEST Jamaican Oxtail Recipe

This Jamaican Oxtails recipe is the perfect Caribbean stew for dinner. Delicious and tender oxtail and butter beans that is cooked to perfection. Make it in the Instant Pot or any electric Pressure Cooker. Stove top and slow cooker instructions also included.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Caribbean

Keyword jamaican oxtails

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 4 people

Calories 876kcal

Author Tanya

Ingredients

  • 2.5 lbs oxtails
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon browning
  • 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 yellow onion chopped
  • 4 green onions chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon garlic chopped
  • 2 whole carrots chopped
  • 1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper seeds and membrane removed and chopped
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1 Tablespoon ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 16 oz can Butter Beans drained

Instructions

  • Rinse oxtails with water and vinegar and pat dry. Cover oxtails with brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, all-spice, and browning and rub into oxtails.

  • Set Pressure Cooker on High Sauté and once hot, add vegetable oil. Next, add your larger oxtail pieces to the pot, flat side down about ¼ inch apart, and brown on each side.

  • Remove oxtail after browning and place in bowl.

  • Deglaze your pressure cooker by adding about 2 Tbsp of beef broth to the insert. Take a wooden spoon and deglaze your pot by removing the brown bits at the bottom. Then add your yellow onions, green onions, carrots, garlic, and scotch bonnet pepper. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onions have softened.

  • Add dried thyme, oxtails, remaining beef broth, and ketchup to the pressure cooker insert.

  • Press “Cancel” on your Instant Pot. Cover and cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. Once timer is done, allow pressure cooker to naturally release.

  • Once all pressure has released, open lid and remove oxtails and vegetables, leaving liquid behind. Turn Pressure Cooker on sauté. Once liquid begins to simmer, create a corn starch slurry by combining corn starch and water to a separate bowl. Stir into simmering liquid. Add drained butter beans into pressure cooker and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, until liquid is slightly thickened and butterbeans are warmed.

  • Add oxtails and vegetables back to the pressure cooker. Serve and enjoy 🙂

Slow Cooker Instructions

  • Prepare the recipe as instructed up until the oxtails need to be browned. Brown oxtail over medium-high heat on the stovetop in a skillet. Once oxtail are browned, deglaze skillet by adding 2 Tbsp of beef broth. Add onions and carrots to skillet and stir until onions have softened. Add these ingredients to the slow cooker as well as all remaining ingredients, except the butter beans. Cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or until oxtail is tender. 30 minutes before serving, create a cornstarch slurry by combining corn starch and water to a separate bowl. Stir into slow cooker along with the drained butter beans.

Stove Top Instructions

  • Follow the instructions above and then rather than placing in a slow cooker or pressure cooker, cook it on the stove on medium low heat for about 3 hours, stirring occasionaly or until oxtails are tender. Add the butter beans when there is about 30 minutes left on the cook time.

Video

Notes

Notes on Pressure Cooker Oxtails

  • It’s best if all your oxtails are medium sized oxtails that are similar in size. If you can’t get them the same size, no worries. It’ll still work.
  • Oxtail that is too fatty will lead to fatty gravy. You want some fat, just not too much fat. If your oxtail is extremely fatty, use a paring knife to remove some of the excess fat.
  • Scotch Bonnet is typically used for this recipe. If you can’t find a scotch bonnet, a habanero can be substituted. You could also use about 1-2 tsp of this scotch bonnet pepper sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 876kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 90g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 312mg | Sodium: 2882mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 5261IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 113mg | Iron: 13mg

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Jamaican Oxtails Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What should I marinate my oxtails in? ›

In large bowl, combine the oxtail, garlic, tomato, scallion, vinegar, oregano, seasoned salt, curry powder, thyme, pepper, nutmeg and 2 packets Spanish seasoning. Cover with plastic and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

What is the difference between Jamaican oxtail and southern oxtail? ›

The two are slightly similar but the flavor varies immensely. For Jamaican oxtails, you use scotch bonnets, green onions, browning, and spices like nutmeg and allspice. For southern-style, it's a lot tamer. I make mine with a hearty onion brown gravy.

How do you soften oxtail quickly? ›

Fortunately, you can tenderize the meat by boiling or braising it for several hours. Braising oxtail is strongly recommended because it adds flavor to the stock and the low and slow cook will tenderize the meat and cartilage and bring out flavor from the bones and marrow.

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.

How long should I marinate oxtails? ›

The oxtails must be marinated overnight and then cooked for 3–4 hours. In other words, don't you come home from a long day of work thinking that you can just whip up some oxtails. It takes a while, but I promise, it is well worth the wait.

Do you have to brown oxtails before cooking? ›

Browning or searing the meat before slow cooking locks in all the flavors and juices in the meat. Plus, we season the oxtails with our seasonings and Worcestershire sauce before browning, which seals even more flavor into the meat. It's not a necessary step, but one that's well worth doing.

Is oxtail Jamaican or African? ›

Oxtail is literally the meat from the tail of a cow. While oxtail has been used by many cultures spanning the globe for centuries, today, it stands out as a distinctly African American and Caribbean culinary delicacy and tradition.

How long does it take for oxtail to be cooked? ›

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 Jamaicans eat oxtail? ›

The origin of stews like oxtail can be traced back to our colonial heritage. Enslaved Africans on plantations were given very meager amounts of protein and often had to make do with cheaper cuts of meat or ends of slaughtered animals to add protein to their diets.

Why are my oxtails 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.

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

Boiling oxtail until it becomes tender can take some time, as the connective tissues need to break down to achieve the desired texture. It typically takes around 2 to 3 hours of gentle simmering for the meat to become tender and easily pull away from the bone.

What happens if you don't brown oxtails? ›

Don't forget to brown your oxtail pieces before you begin to braise or slow cook them, as this step is essential in getting all that deep, rich flavor out of the protein. Additionally, be mindful not to take the bones out of the meat while everything is still hot, as this can cause the meat to dry out.

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.

How long do you soak oxtails in vinegar before? ›

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.

What tenderizes oxtail? ›

There are many ways to tenderize oxtail before you actually start the cooking process. Low sodium soy sauce is my secret! Soy sauce helps the meat retain its moisture, tenderizes the meat, and enhances the savory flavor we all love.

What makes oxtail taste good? ›

The combination of spices like allspice, thyme, and scotch bonnet peppers gives the stew a unique and tantalizing taste. The oxtail itself is packed with collagen, which breaks down during the slow cooking process, resulting in a thick and luscious gravy.

How long does it take for oxtails to get 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.

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