German-Style Oxtail Soup Recipe (2024)

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  • European Food
  • German Food
  • German Cooking Basics

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Jennifer McGavin

Jennifer McGavin

Jennifer McGavin learned to cook German food while living in Germany for 11 years and has worked in the food industry for many years.

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Updated on 12/3/21

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German-Style Oxtail Soup Recipe (1)

Traditionally served as a first course for big events like wedding suppers, Christmas Day, or New Year's, German Oxtail Soup is a special treat. A rich beef and vegetable broth with paprika and pepper to add a little bite and Madeira and cream to round everything out, this soup takes awhile to make but is a real taste extravaganza.

There are two main versions of Oxtail Soup, one is a clear broth with beef bits, but this recipe makes a "gebundene" version, thickened with a little flour and cream.

Ingredients

  • 1 to 2 pounds soup bones

  • 2 to 3 pounds oxtail, bones included

  • 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 parsley root, or parsnip, peeled and chopped

  • 3 cups chopped celery root (celeriac) or 3 to 4 stalks celery, chopped

  • 1 to 2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

  • 1 to 2 medium onions, chopped

  • 4 carrots, sliced

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 1 tablespoons sweet ground paprika

  • 1 cup dry red wine

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 5 whole cloves

  • 5 juniper berries

  • 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed

  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper, plus more as needed

  • 1 ounce dry sherry, or Madeira

  • 1 dash cayenne pepper, optional

  • 3/4 cup cream

  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, or brown rice flour

  • 1 tablespoon parsley, fresh or dried, optional garnish

  • Baguette, optional for serving

Steps to Make It

At least 6 hours before serving or the day before serving:

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Wash soup bones and oxtail bones free of any debris and pat dry. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet and brown bones with meat on all sides at medium heat.

  3. Meanwhile, clean and chop your vegetables. If you can't find parsley root, celeriac, and leeks, increase the celery, onions, and carrots to make 6 cups of chopped vegetables. These are to flavor the strong, beef broth and will be discarded later.

  4. Remove the beef from the pan, add oil if necessary and brown the vegetables for several minutes. Add the tomato paste and the ground paprika to brown for 1 minute. Do not let them burn! Add the red wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits.

  5. If the pan is large enough, add the meat back into the vegetables. Otherwise, find a stock pan to hold all the bones and the vegetables, or split into two pots to simmer.

  6. Add the whole herbs and spices and one teaspoon of salt and some ground pepper. Add water to cover everything and let the broth simmer for 2 to 4 hours or more on the lowest setting on your stove.

Two Hours Before Serving:

  1. When the meat is fork tender, remove the bones to a platter to cool.

  2. Pour the broth through a strainer and discard the vegetables. You should have 6 to 8 cups of broth.

  3. Cool the broth and remove the layer of fat on the top. This can also be done overnight, making this a good soup to make ahead and finish just before serving.

  4. When the bones are cool enough to handle, remove the meat and chop into bite-sized pieces. Discard the rest of the bones and cartilage. Refrigerate shredded meat until the last step.

One Half Hour Before Serving:

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Reheat the broth gently on the stove. Add 2 tablespoons of Madeira or dry sherry. Add some freshly ground pepper and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Add salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

  3. Mix a few tablespoons of cream with the flour to make a slurry. Pour into the gently simmering soup, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for 10 minutes.

  4. Add the rest of the cream and the meat. Heat through, but do not boil.

  5. Serve as a first course with awarm baguette and parsley sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

  • German Cooking Basics
  • Beef Mains
  • Soups
  • Vegetable Recipes
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
994Calories
65g Fat
18g Carbs
78g Protein

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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6to 8
Amount per serving
Calories994
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 65g84%
Saturated Fat 27g135%
Cholesterol 295mg98%
Sodium 558mg24%
Total Carbohydrate 18g7%
Dietary Fiber 4g13%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 78g
Vitamin C 9mg46%
Calcium 126mg10%
Iron 8mg43%
Potassium 1280mg27%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

  • Tomato
  • appetizer
  • german
  • birthdays

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German-Style Oxtail Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is special about oxtail soup? ›

Approximately 40% of natural collagen found in Mammals is in their tail and feet so you get a massive blast of natural bioavailable Collagen from eating Oxtail. You also get the added benefit of a rich gelatinous bone broth when you slow cook Oxtail in nothing but water, some garlic cloves, and carrot and celery.

How do you thicken oxtail broth? ›

Alternate way to thicken stew gravy: Remove the oxtails/vegetables, leaving the liquid in the pot. Make a cornstarch slurry in a small bowl (1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon water, mixed until combined). Stir mixture into stew liquid and simmer until gravy thickens, about 5 minutes.

What country is oxtail soup from? ›

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.

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.

Is oxtail soup good for your stomach? ›

That's because oxtail is packed with amazing connective tissues, cartilage, fat and bone and while its cooking these are broken down to the most amazing tender meat and nourishing collagen rich broth packed with nutrients that are great for healing your gut lining.

Does oxtail get more tender the longer you cook it? ›

Simmering the meat for up to four hours should give you fall-off-the-bone tender oxtail meat.

How long does it take to boil oxtails? ›

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 does my oxtail taste bitter? ›

OK, so if you find that your brown stew 'oxtail' dish has a more bitter taste, this is more than likely due to using too much browning sauce. No worries---you can fix this! Simply break up the bitter taste with a bit of ketchup, brown sugar, and additional stock. This should help!

What do you eat with oxtail soup? ›

What Goes With Oxtails – 23 Tasty Side Dishes to Serve
  • Baked Cheesy Polenta Chips.
  • Mashed Potatoes.
  • Cheesy Garlic Dinner Rolls.
  • Butternut Squash Risotto.
  • Crusty French Bread.
  • Buttered Noodles.
  • Vermicelli Rice.
  • Cornbread.
Jul 31, 2023

Why is oxtail soup so expensive? ›

Why is it more expensive to make an oxtail dish now? It's simple supply and demand. Each cow only has around six pounds of viable oxtail to go around, compared to the other 400 plus pounds of viable cuts you can get from the rest of the cow.

What is another name for oxtail soup? ›

Korean oxtail soup

It is colloquially known as "bone soup". The broth is made with raw oxtail, garlic, salt, black pepper, green onions and other typical Korean flavors. The soup must be simmered at low heat for several hours to soften the meat and make the broth.

Why is my oxtail 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.

What part of the body is ox tail? ›

Oxtail is the tail of a cow. In olden days, it came from the tail of an ox, but now it comes from the tail of a cow of either sex. The tail is skinned and cut into sections; each section has a tailbone with some marrow in the center, and a bony portion of meat surrounding the tail.

Why do Jamaicans love 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.

What does oxtail soup taste like? ›

Oxtail tastes like beef, but more specifically, like a more tender, silkier short rib in terms of texture. In fact, oxtail is often used on its own to make stock because it's such a gelatinous, rich meat. It is believed that this oxtail soup recipe was created in the 1700s in London by French and Flemish immigrants.

Is oxtail broth good for you? ›

The protein Collagen breaks down into a protein called gelatin which gives the bone broth the gelatinous trait when cooled and this is where some important amino acids come into play. As well as other vitamins and essential fatty acids. Broth made from Oxtail can benefit the digestive system.

Who eats oxtail soup? ›

The cut of meat, which is prepared in many cuisines around the world, including Italian and Chinese, but is a staple in Caribbean and soul food cuisines, has edged its way into the culinary conversation at large.

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