Jamaican Oxtail Stew (GF)

Jump to Recipe

It’s time to make this traditional Jamaican Oxtail recipe. Usually it’s known as an expensive dish, but this Jamaican Oxtail Stew is budget friendly, yet still full of the rich beef flavor.

You’ll also like Easy Jamaican Steamed Cabbage and Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken.

This recipe is suitable for Gluten Free diets. Post include Weight Watchers points.

Jamaican Oxtail Stew in a white serving bowl with spoon

If you’re looking for a full of flavor, traditional Jamaican dish, this Jamaican Oxtail Stew recipe is exactly that. If you know me, you know I like flavorful dishes and I like a variety of spices and recipes.

This Jamaican Oxtail Stew With butter beans recipe does require quite a bit of time, so you’ll want to plan for it ahead of time. This is certainly an easy oxtail recipe you can make again and again.

Cooking the meat low and slow means you end up with fall of the bone tender oxtail.

Once you take your first spoonful of this delicious, rich flavored frugal stew, you’ll know the time you spent waiting for this to simmer is soooooo worth it. Of course you can cook this Caribbean comfort food stew it a little faster in the Instant Pot.

Why Make This Recipe

  • Pantry Ingredients – Made with mostly budget-friendly ingredients, a little oxtails goes a long way with this recipe.
  • Feeds a Crowd – just the thing for sunday dinners, potlucks, parties, and soul food family feasts.
  • Easy to make – Sear, fry a few things, add into a saucepan or crockpot and simmer away. It’s that easy! 
  • It’s customizable – A few simple changes and you can completely change this for different flavors. 
  • Leftovers freeze well – so that is a few weeknight suppers sorted!

Ingredient Notes

  • Meat – This recipe calls for uncooked oxtails that have been sliced and washed.
  • Vegetables – this recipe calls for onion and green onion.
  • ▢3 tbsp tomato paste
  • ▢1 tsp Jamaican curry powder
  • ▢1 tsp minced ginger
  • ▢1 tsp minced garlic
  • ▢1 tsp pimento berries allspice berries
  • ▢4 sprigs of thyme
  • ▢4 cups (946ml) water
  • ▢1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • ▢2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce or regular soy sauce, if not gluten free
  • ▢1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
  • ▢1 tsp browning sauce
  • ▢15 ounce can (425g) butter beans rinsed and drained
  • ▢salt to taste

Head to the market to grab a couple pounds of ox tail and these tasty spices and let’s get ready to make this Oxtail Recipe Jamaican Style.

image collage showing the first four steps for making Jamaican oxtails

How to Make Jamaican Oxtail Stew

Get complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

  1. Start by taking your washed and sliced beef oxtail meat and season them with salt and pepper. 
  2. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan and brown seasoned oxtail on both sides and remove from heat and set aside once all tails are done. You may have to work in batches, depending on the quantity.
  3. Add onion and green onion to the pot and cook for 5 mins, until softened.
  4. Then mix in tomato paste, Jamaican curry powder, ginger puree, garlic puree, pimento berries and thyme with a spatula and fry for about 5 minutes, until fragrant.
  5. Add in oxtails, water, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, tamari and browning sauce.
  6. Bring everything to boil, then cover the pan and lower heat to simmer for 2-2.5 hrs, or until the meat is soft.
  7. About 15 minutes before done, add in the butter beans and rest of the seasonings.
  8. Serve with some rice or cauliflower rice and enjoy!
image collage showing the last steps for making Jamaican oxtail stew.

Make This In A Slow Cooker

Prefer to make a slow cooker oxtail stew instead? You certainly can as this lends itself to that long low cooking that really brings out the flavor.

  1. Follow the recipe above and complete step 5.
  2. Then transfer everything into a slow cooker (reducing the water by about 1 to 1 1/2 cup) and cook on low for 7-8 hours until done to your liking.
  3. Add the beans and any extra water needed at the 6 hour mark.

Expert Recipe Tips

  • Depending on the size of the ox tail chunks, you may need to cook a bit longer.
  • Try and keep the tails to the same size so they cook at the same rate.
  • The more fat on the tail chunks the better as this means more natural flavor.
  • Oxtails can be oily, so do NOT forget to scoop out the excess fat after cooking them.
  • If you’re not worried about keeping this recipe gluten free, you can swap the tamari for regular soy sauce.

Delicious Variations

  • Swap the beans – Traditional Jamaican Oxtails are made with butter beans, but if you don’t have them on hand or prefer something else, feel free to use a different type of bean like broad beans.
  • Add spices – Start by adding small amounts of the spices and feel free to adjust to your taste.
  • Don’t have pimento berries? You can use about a ½ teaspoon of ground allspice instead.
  • Add extra veggies – Feel free to bulk this out with potatoes, sweet potatoes, bell pepper etc.
  • Add extra heat – try adding one whole scotch bonnet pepper to the pot as it cooks, then make sure to remove once the stew is done.
  • If you like extra spicy heat, go ahead and add chopped scotch bonnet pepper to your stew. These peppers have a tropical, Caribbean flavor and are as hot as a habanero pepper.
Jamaican Oxtail Stew served in a white ceramic pot.

Prep Ahead And Storing

Feel free to make an extra batch or two of this Jamaican Braised Oxtail stew and freeze it to enjoy again later. And if you are a fan of #mealprep then making extra, or freezing any extra stew you have, helps make this a frugal recipe, which means you can easily stick to your meal prep budget.

  • Refrigerator: Let cool down completely before transferring it into an air tight container and storing in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
  • Freezer: Store in Ziploc bags, remove all the air, label them and freeze for up to 3 months.
  • Reheat: Take frozen bags of stew out of your freezer and allow to thaw in the refrigerator the night before. Warm in the microwave to desired temperature. Or you can reheat the stew in a saucepan on the stovetop. You may need to thicken the stew (directions below in a different section) or thin it a bit by adding a cup of water.

FAQs

What Is Oxtail?

Traditionally, Oxtail was made from the tail of an ox. But the version you find in markets these days are from cow tail.

Once skinned, each cow tail is sliced into pieces with the bone, connective tissue and bone marrow left. This brings out that incredibly rich beef flavor as it cooks slowly throughout the day.

Oxtails do have to be cooked long and slow, usually somewhere between 2-3 hrs. A long cook time allows the connective tissue to break down so that the meat becomes incredibly tender and falls right off the bone.

Not only does oxtail taste delicious, but once you start slow cooking it, all the extra fat and other components of the Jamaican oxtail becomes an amazing rich base for a stew or stock. Hence the inspiration for this amazing stew recipe.

Where Can I Buy The Meat

The best place to get tails from are the the local ethnic markets. Alternatively ask your butcher and if they don’t have they can order it in for you. A suggestion is that buy a large amount, pack them into usable portions and freeze for later.

Help, My Stew Is Too Thin!

If you feel that your Jamaican Oxtail Recipe needs thickening or is a little runny or thin, here are some things to try:

Try adding in some starchy vegetables like potatoes, carrots or other hearty vegetables to bulk it out.
Leave the saucepan cover open for the last 40 minutes of simmering.
Make a cornstarch slurry and add that during the last 30 minutes of simmering.

close up view of Jamaican Oxtail stew

More Jamaican Recipes

Jamaican Oxtail recipe in a white ceramic dish

Serving Suggestions

Sometime, I eat a bowl of it just as is. It is that good. However you can serve it along with some

Weight Watchers Points

There are 8 Blue Plan SmartPoints in one serving of this oxtail stew.

Thank you for reading my Jamaican Oxtail recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue dreaming up recipes, traditional African recipes, African fusion recipes, Sierra Leone recipes, travel plans and much more for you. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry, UK food blog.

Get The Jamaican Oxtail Recipe:

Don’t forget to tag #recipesfromapantry on Instagram or Twitter if you try Jamaican Oxtail! It is really, really awesome for me when you make one of my recipes and I’d love to see it. You can also share it on my Facebook page. Please pin this recipe to Pinterest too! Thank you for reading Recipes from a Pantry.

Jamaican Oxtail Stew in a white serving bowl with spoon
Print Recipe
5 from 11 votes

Jamaican Oxtail

This traditional Jamaican oxtail recipe is full of authentic flavor.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time4 hours 45 minutes
Course: Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: American, Caribbean, Western
Servings: 8
Calories: 352kcal
Author: Bintu Hardy

Ingredients

Jamaican Oxtail Recipe Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs (908g) oxtails sliced and washed
  • 1 onion peeled and sliced
  • 4 green onion (spring onions) sliced
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp Jamaican curry powder
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp pimento berries allspice berries
  • 4 sprigs of thyme
  • 4 cups (946ml) water
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce or regular soy sauce, if not gluten free
  • 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp browning sauce
  • 15 ounce can (425g) butter beans rinsed and drained
  • salt to taste

Instructions

Jamaican Oxtail Instructions:

  • Start by taking your washed and sliced Jamaican Oxtails and season them with salt and pepper.
  • Heat 1 tsp oil in a pot and brown the oxtail on both sides and remove from heat and set aside once all tails are done. You may have to work in batches, depending on the quantity of oxtails.
  • Add onion and green onion to the pot and cook for 5 mins, until softened.
  • Then mix in tomato paste, Jamaican curry powder, ginger puree, garlic puree, pimento berries and thyme and fry for about 5 mins, until fragrant.
  • Add in oxtails, water, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, tamari and browning sauce.
  • Bring everything to boil, then cover and lower heat to simmer for 2-2.5 hrs, or until the oxtails are soft.
  • About 15 mins before done, add in the butter beans and rest of the seasonings.
  • Serve and enjoy!
**EASY AIR FRYER RECIPE EBOOK**Get the easy Air Fryer Recipe Binder which includes 40 quick and easy recipes all under 30 minutes cook time.
** INSTANT POT DUMP AND DASH RECIPE EBOOK**Get the Instant Pot Dump And Dash Recipes Ebook with easy recipes for busy lives.

Video

Notes

Expert Recipe Tips

  • Depending on the size of the ox tail chunks, you may need to cook a bit longer.
  • Try and keep the tails to the same size so they cook at the same rate.
  • The more fat on the tail chunks the better as this means more natural flavor.
  • Oxtails can be oily, so do NOT forget to scoop out the oil after cooking them.
  • If you’re not worried about keeping this recipe gluten free, you can swap the tamari for regular soy sauce.

Delicious Variations

  • Swap the beans – Traditional Jamaican Oxtails are made with butter beans, but if you don’t have them on hand or prefer something else, feel free to use a different type of bean.
  • Add spices – Start by adding small amounts of the spices and feel free to adjust to your taste.
  • Don’t have pimento berries? You can use about a ½ teaspoon of ground allspice instead.
  • Add extra veggies – Feel free to bulk this out with potatoes, sweet potatoes etc.
  • Add extra heat – try adding one whole scotch bonnet pepper to the pot as it cooks, then make sure to remove once the stew is done.
  • If you like extra spicy heat, go ahead and add chopped scotch bonnet pepper to your stew. These peppers have a tropical, Caribbean flavor and are as hot as a habanero pepper.

Weight Watchers Points

There are 8 Blue Plan SmartPoints in a serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 352kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 125mg | Sodium: 729mg | Potassium: 247mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 175IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 6mg

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




12 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I have always wanted to give this a try. So glad you included multiple ways to prepare it. This is the ultimate comfort food.

  2. 5 stars
    I love a soup that is budget friendly and not short on taste. This stew checks both those boxes.

  3. 5 stars
    Oh, WOW! I am falling in love with this authentic recipe. It is another variation of a stew I always make. AMAZING!

  4. 5 stars
    This sounds perfectly flavorful! Thanks for breaking down the recipe to ensure we’re able to nail this dish.