braise
Americanverb (used with object)
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braises,
present (3rd person singular)
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braised,
past participle, past
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braising
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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braisesimple
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braisessimple
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have braisedperfect
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has braisedperfect
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am braisingprogressive
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are braisingprogressive
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is braisingprogressive
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have been braisingperfect progressive
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has been braisingperfect progressive
Past
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braisedsimple
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had braisedperfect
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was braisingprogressive
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were braisingprogressive
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had been braisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of braise
1760–70; < French braiser, derivative of braise live coals < Germanic; akin to Swedish brasa pyre, fire, whence brasa to roast, cognate with Danish brase
Explanation
Braise meat or vegetables by cooking them very slowly in fat and a small amount of liquid. If you braise those potatoes and carrots, they'll be delicious! The word for this cooking method comes from the French braiser, "to cook over live coals," and braise, "live coals." When you braise food today, you're not literally cooking over coals, but you are aiming for a combination of dry and wet cooking. A true braise involves searing or lightly frying, and then adding liquid and cooking in a covered pot on a low heat. Meat and root vegetables become particularly tender when you braise them.
Vocabulary lists containing braise
Mardi Gras: Food
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Vocabulary from Readings, Unit 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There’s a fine line between a stew, a braise and a soup, and it’s quite subjective: Sometimes only a few spoons of broth make the difference.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
For a cool-weather meal that feeds a crowd, consider a braise.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 3, 2023
You can braise meat in there, but oftentimes the broth tastes better than the meat, and the meat comes out dry.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2023
Place in the oven and braise for 3 to 3-and-a-half hours, or until meat is tender.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2023
To braise any kind of meat, put it into a stewpan, and cover it with fat bacon.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Mary Eaton
Its 2¼-inch straight sides also make it useful for braises and finishing pasta in sauce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
Bittman emphasizes versatility: coconut milk can lend creaminess to soups and curries, while tomato paste adds depth to everything from pasta sauces to braises.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2025
Usually deep-fried for a satisfying crunch, or ground to a fine powder, they were unlike meats, which made for versatile cooking, from braises to barbecue.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2024
Browning is great for dry-heat dishes like steaks and roasts, but unnecessary for stews and braises.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
Und she dinked ash she look from de vinders, How herzlich his braises dey sang; "Now dey'll knock my goot name indo flinders, For killin der Ritter von Slang."
From The Breitmann Ballads by Charles Godfrey Leland
For their main course they dined on a sesame-crusted sea bass, braised bok choy and roasted eggplant.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
For Parasecoli, the foods associated with winter — soups thick with legumes, braised meats stretched across multiple meals, dishes built around grains, potatoes, and preserved ingredients — aren’t about excess.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
Don’t miss some returning favorites, such as the barbacoa tamal de res, in which the beef is pleasantly tender, or the braised pork belly adobo, one of the heartier dishes at the festival.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
Shin compared the furor to a 2020 case in which a convenience store clerk was indicted for eating a 5,900 won pack of braised pig's feet.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2025
Dinner was prawn cocktails in wine glasses for starters, lamb chops with chef’s hats with duchesse potatoes and braised celery for main, and a Baked Alaska for "dessert," not "afters."
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
When slow braising, I love to use Kikkoman Soy Sauce as it levels-up the tender meat and the flavor of the charred soy sauce is umami at its best.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2024
There are many other ways to make meat succulent — poaching it as in Hainanese chicken or braising it as in Indian curries — but browning isn’t one of them.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
Because of their shape, slow cookers can accommodate large, tough cuts of meat, braising them over many hours to tender perfection.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 6, 2022
Instead of New York strip or rib eye, she chooses cheaper cuts, like skirt and flatiron steak, which she has learned to tenderize through brining and braising.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2022
Angelo recommended slowly braising the leg, in his opinion the most flavorful cut.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
