McCloud’s Sunday Oxtail Stew Recipe

I’m gonna start by saying this is one of my favorite dishes to make during the fall and winter seasons. I make it about 4 to 5 times from October to March. It’s one of my favorite comfort dishes to make during the NFL season.

This stew is so freaking good! The seasoned tender oxtails, submerged in a sweet, tangy tomato sauce with good ole egg noodles and mixed veggies. You get every primary nutrient you need in each bite. Not to mention it’s filling and the perfect dish to warm you up during those brisk cold months.

This stew is a bit different from your typical oxtail stew but it’s very easy to make and delicious is an understatement. So if you’re looking for a fire oxtail stew that’s good, not overly difficult, and not overly fancy and challenging to make, this is the recipe for you.

McCloud’s Sunday Oxtail Stew

This recipe is a modification of my step-grandfather McCloud’s oxtail stew. He didn’t have a recipe per se, but he made it the same way all the time, so it was easy for me to copy. I made this several times over the years, but never put numbers to it to create a recipe.

So I finally did, and let me say, it might be better than his. I switched some things up to take it up a notch, like adding broth instead of just water, and adding a pinch of sugar to the sauce, and using a few different seasonings to make it mine. 

I’m sure you heard the name McCloud before if you’re subscribed to my YouTube channel and blog. He inspired many of my recipes and was one of my major cooking influences, along with my nana Alice Mae and grandma Gwendolyn Gibbs, whom I’ve also mentioned a lot.

I lived with my maternal grandmother, Viola Taylor, who was married to Carlton McCloud during my adolescent years. A few of my aunts lived with us but he was basically the cook of the house.

As I mentioned in these two recipes, I titled after him McCloud’s Easy Smothered Beef Short Ribs Recipe and Easy Baked Smothered Porkchops (Tender & Easy), he loved cooking and always made the dishes I loved the most on Sunday’s for Sunday dinner.

This delicious but straightforward oxtail stew was one of them. My mom loves it when I make it because she also remembers how good his oxtail stew was. I remember eating a big bowl of oxtail stew and sucking the juice out of the bones while watching Sunday night football. Haha!

Man, oh man, this is so nostalgic!!! I just had to share this recipe with you all. I just couldn’t be stingy and keep it to myself. So yea, scroll below and print this recipe out and give it a shot. Trust me, you will be making this many more times.

Watch Me Make It

What Makes This A Good Recipe?

• It’s hearty: This is a stew, so it’s obviously hearty and the perfect comfort food to fill and warm you up during the cold time of the year.
• It’s simple: It’s a very simple dish. Although it takes 4 and a half hours, it’s a straightforward and easy-to-follow recipe. A 14-year-old can make this, so if you’re new in the kitchen, you don’t have to worry about messing anything up or burning the house down! Hahaha!
• It’s stretches: What I mean by stretch is, it can feed a lot of people, and that’s with all stews. It lasts long and can feed a house of 4 to 6 people.
• All-in-one-dish: It’s a good all in one dish. Meaning you dont need any sides because you get your protein from the oxtails, your carbs from the starchy noodles, and your veggies all in one dish.

Recipe Ingredients:

• Meat: Oxtails are the main ingredient for this stew. Make sure when you order your oxtails from the meat market, you ask for 3lbs and request a combination of big, medium, and small pieces.
• Liquid: We’ll be using a combination of water and chicken broth to cook the oxtails. This is what they’ll simmer in until they’re nice and tender. Try to find low-sodium chicken broth.
• Vegetables: We’ll just be adding frozen mixed vegetables to the stew and cooking the oxtails with sliced yellow onions.
• Starch: Make sure to use wide egg noodles. If you would rather use thin or extra wide, do you.
• Sauce: We will just be using a traditional tomato sauce. I recommend using name-brand sauce like Prego or Ragu; those two are the best in my opinion.
• Seasonings: We’ll be using seasoning salt for taste, garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning for depth of flavor, parsley flakes for aroma and aesthetics, black pepper, and white sugar to cut the acidity in the sauce.

Prepping The Oxtails

Whenever my grandma or McCloud would make oxtails or pork ribs, they would boil them for 10-15 minutes first. They did this to remove the brown foam aka scum that would always rise to the top after cooking them for the first few minutes. The foam isn’t harmful; most just like to remove it for aesthetic purposes.

Now some people don’t believe in washing or cleaning their meats with a salt water, lime water, or vinegar water solution. They believe it spreads germs and think the hot water alone will kill any bacteria or impurities on the meat.

But I’m team “clean your meat”, lol! I do it because not only was it how I was taught to clean meat, but it feels good to do so, and the meat honestly looks so much cleaner and fresher afterward. It’s nothing you can say to convince me that cleaning isn’t necessary or makes a difference.

I especially like to soak my meats in a lemon water solution because lemon has lightening agents that brighten meat that’s been sitting in the fridge a bit too long and may have developed freezer burn.

One thing I will say is,  the one thing team “clean your meat” and team “don’t clean your meat” will agree on when it comes to the prepping process of meat, is to remove the slime found on meat like under chicken skin, and the yellow fat, excess skin, and hairs, if any.

So that’s what we’ll do first. Removing the fat is necessary, however, everything after step 1 is completely optional. So if you decide to clean your oxtails or not, or boil the oxtails to remove the foam, it is completely up to you.

1. Remove excess fat: First, get a knife and remove the yellow fat and any excess dangling pieces of skin you see hanging from the oxtails. There shouldn’t be much, but if you see any, remove as much as you can.
2. Soak in solution: You’re then going to soak your oxtails for 15-20 minutes in a cleaning solution. You can wash it in salt water, lemon water, or vinegar water. I use 1 tbsp of salt, lemon juice, or vinegar per 1 quart of water. So stick with that ratio.
3. Preheat water: Get a large pot, fill it with 2-1/2 quarts of cool water, and place it over high heat. It should take 10 minutes before coming to a boil. Add the oxtails a little before they come to a rolling boil.
4. Boil oxtails: Once the water begins to boil, add the oxtails and let them simmer for 10-15 minutes. You will notice the foam rising to the top.
5. Remove foam water: Pour out the hot water and all of the scum, aka brown foam.
6. Rinse well: Rinse the oxtails thoroughly by adding cool water to the pot and stirring with a big spoon until the water is clear.
7. Set aside: Set the oxtails aside in a big bowl.
8. Clean the pot: Clean the pot with cool water, making sure to remove all the brown foam on the sides of the pot.

How to make McCloud’s Oxtail Stew

1. Place a size pot over medium heat.
2. Add the oxtails, broth, and water.
3. Add the onions and seasonings, then stir well.
4. Cover with a lid, leaving a small crack on the side.
5. Simmer for 4 hours.
6. Add the egg noodles and stir well.
7. Cook for 10 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, add the sugar to the sauce and stir well.
9. Add the sauce to the pot and stir well.
10. Stir in the mixed vegetables.
11. Reduce the heat to low.
12. Cover with a lid, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cooking Tips:

• Leave a crack on the side: Make sure to leave a crack on the side when covering the pot with the lid.
• When you cant add all the liquid at once: If your pot isn’t large enough to hold all the liquid, let the liquid cook down and then add the remaining liquid.
• Stir periodically: Make sure to stir periodically, mainly after adding the sauce, because it tends to stick and we don’t want that.

Oxtail Stew Variations:

• Add cheese: If you want to switch things up, add a cup or two of sharp cheddar cheese to the oxtails. That might taste pretty good. I add cheese to my spaghetti sometimes. I presume it will taste just as good. Add the cheese after the sauce, and let it melt as you simmer the sauce on low heat.
• Replace egg noodles with potatoes: If you’re not a fan of egg noodles, you can use potatoes instead. If you decide to use potatoes, go with red potatoes or Yukon Golds. Peel and dice them into relatively even medium-sized pieces. Add them to the pot of oxtails after 3 hours and use a quart less liquid.

How to store Oxtail Stew

• How to store oxtail stew: You can keep it covered with the lid in the pot and store it in the refrigerator. Or place it in a Tupperware bowl, seal it tightly with a lid, plastic wrap, or aluminum foil, and keep it in the fridge.
• Can you freeze the oxtail stew? Yes! Just make sure to seal it tightly in a Ziploc bag to prevent freezer burn.

How to reheat Oxtail Stew

• How to reheat oxtail stew on the stove? Place it in a pot over medium heat. Add a little water if needed, and cover it with a lid. Simmer until hot, about 20 minutes; stir periodically.
• How to reheat oxtail stew in a microwave? Make sure you place the stew in a microwave-proof dish, and cook it on high heat for 3 minutes. Stir after a minute and a half so it’s hot all the way through.

Oxtail Stew FAQ’s

• Where do you get oxtails from? You can find oxtails at your local meat butcher shop/market. They don’t usually sell them in big chain supermarkets. When you do, they tend to be very large and come in packs.
• How to cut oxtails? If you want smaller oxtails, which is what you’ll need for this recipe, your best bet is to go to a meat butcher shop/market, as I mentioned, because they usually have oxtails in various sizes and can cut them smaller if needed.
• What’s a good chicken broth alternative? If you don’t have broth, combine water with chicken bouillon cubes. The ratio is 1 bouillon cube per cup of water. Since we’re using 2 quarts of broth, you will need 8 bouillon cubes and 2 quarts of water to create chicken broth. Boil them together over high heat in a medium pot until the cubes dissolve.

Alright yall… I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you do, please share, give a 5-star rating, and leave a review below. That would be greatly appreciated. Also, please subscribe so you get notified via email every time I post a new delicious, easy-to-make recipe.

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Enjoy, later.

Pbj! 

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