History

Oxtail is gelatin-rich meat, usually slow-cooked as a stew or braise. Across the Caribbean it is stewed with lima or butter beans and served with rice and peas. In Brooklyn it follows the West Indian community: Likkle More Jerk stews it with carrots and lima beans, Fat Fowl's St. Lucian-born chef Shorne Benjamin turns it into a grilled cheese, and on Labor Day 2026 a Trinidadian-flagged stand on Eastern Parkway sold oxtail with pelau and cabbage for $20.

Common allergens: Soy

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4 to 6Hands-on 45 minTotal 4 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds oxtail, trimmed
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 3/4 tablespoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon each all-purpose seasoning, garlic powder and Caribbean browning
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce and 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 medium onion, diced, and 2 scallions, chopped
  • 5 to 7 thyme sprigs
  • 4 garlic cloves, smashed, and 2 slices ginger
  • 1 Scotch bonnet pepper
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Caribbean green seasoning
  • 5 cups water and 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 5 to 9 allspice (pimento) berries
  • 1 can butter beans, rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method

  1. Rinse the oxtail with lemon juice and cool water, trim excess fat, and pat dry.
  2. Season with salt, pepper, soy sauce, all-purpose seasoning, garlic powder, browning and Worcestershire, and marinate.
  3. Brown the oxtail in oil over medium heat, 4 to 6 minutes per batch, and set aside.
  4. Cook the tomato paste in the remaining oil for 2 to 3 minutes, then return the oxtail with the onion, scallions, thyme, garlic, ginger, Scotch bonnet and green seasoning.
  5. Add the water, bring to a boil, stir in the sugar and allspice berries, then cover partly and cook on low about 2 hours 45 minutes until tender, adding water if it dries.
  6. Add the butter beans and cook 15 minutes. Remove the thyme stems and berries, adjust the salt, and finish with parsley.

Tip from the editors. Older oxtail takes longer to soften, so keep the heat low and add water to the pot rather than raising the flame.

Where to eat braised oxtail

Braised oxtail in Brooklyn

Mango Bay ★ 4.2

$$$ CaribbeanFort Greene

Mango Bay is an Afro-Caribbean restaurant in a Fort Greene brownstone on Adelphi Street in Brooklyn, known for braised oxtail with rice, peas and coconut.

OrderThe braised oxtail with rice and peas, plus the char-grilled octopus starter.

TipDinner runs every night, with weekend brunch from 12:00 to 16:30. The brownstone dining room has leather booths and exposed brick.

Directions

Fat Fowl ★ 4.2

$ CaribbeanDowntown Brooklyn

Fat Fowl is a stall in DeKalb Market Hall in Brooklyn from St. Lucian chef Shorne Benjamin, with an oxtail grilled cheese and lavender rotisserie chicken.

TryOxtail grilled cheese

TipStall inside DeKalb Market Hall. Rotisserie chicken is sold by the quarter, half or whole with sides such as creamy mac and cheese.

Directions

Likkle More Jerk ★ 4.0

$ CaribbeanDowntown Brooklyn

Likkle More Jerk is a fast-casual Jamaican stall in DeKalb Market Hall in Brooklyn, rooted in Montego Bay, serving jerk chicken, jerk pork and oxtail stew.

TryJerk chicken with rice and peas

TipStall inside DeKalb Market Hall. Beyond jerk with rice and peas, the menu lists Jamaican patties and curry goat or curry chicken roti.

Directions

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