A budget cut of beef, simple pantry ingredients, a bit of patience and pappardelle pasta. This Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Sauce with Pappardelle may be the king of all pastas. It is hands down one of my all time favourite pastas ever!
Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Sauce
There’s this annoying thing that’s been a thorn in my backside all my working life. This thing called pride.
I’m not a professional food photographer, or food stylist, videographer or a chef for that matter. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is being proud of everything that I have on my website, knowing that even if there are people out there who can take better photos and make better videos, that I’ve done the best I can do and I’m proud of what I’m sharing.
3 years into blogging with over 500 recipes, I still get butterflies when I hit Publish on a new or updated recipe.
And having rewritten, rephotographed and made a video for this Shredded Beef Ragu which I first shared over 2 years ago, yes I’m going to have butterflies when I hit Publish on this (again!) because it’s one of my all time personal favourites. 🙂
I have a weakness for all things slow cooked, but hands down this shredded beef ragu is one of my all time favourites. I’d dare say I love it even more than traditional Ragu Alla Bolognese. It’s the shredded beef that seals the deal for me. The way it soaks up the sauce and clings to the pasta. It’s an absolute ripper!
I’m pretty sure I first learned how to make Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Sauce with Pappardelle from Lidia Bastianich. Years ago, her show “Lidia’s Italy” was one of the few cooking shows on free-to-air TV and I used to watch them over and over again. Almost everything I know about Italian cooking (including the reason why I was hunting down Kale a decade before it became “cool”) is because of Lidia Bastianich. Old school, real deal Italian. 🙂
Best Pasta to serve with Ragu
The question of what type of pasta to serve with different pasta sauces is a question that I get asked quite regularly. Generally, most pasta sauces will pair perfectly well with most common pasta types, like spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, penne / ziti, macaroni, shells etc.
And while this Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Sauce will be great with any type of pasta, the best pasta for a rich sauce like this ragu is pappardelle. This wide, flat pasta is especially great for this recipe because the shredded beef clings to the wide strands.
For pappardelle, I am quite particular about which brand I use because I’ve had problems in the past with uneven cooking. I use San Remo which is a well known trusted brand here in Australia. The pappardelle is bundled into nests so they are fully submerged when dropped into boiling water, and the nests are loose enough so the bubbling water separates the strands and the pappardelle cooks evenly.
You’ll find San Remo pappardelle at all the major supermarkets as well as fresh produce stores and delis. And here’s a photo for size context – giant pasta in my Baby Hands…..
Oh – and the other reason San Remo Pappardelle is my pasta of choice for ragu is because it’s an egg pasta. The addition of egg makes the pappardelle stronger so it doesn’t break when tossed in the thick, rich sauce.
If you’ve just invested hours of patience, slow cooking the sauce to tender perfection, you’ll make me cry if you just dump cooked pasta in a bowl and spoon over the sauce. And the entire nation of Italy will cry with me. 😉 Please promise me you will toss the ragu with the pasta before serving! It is worth it, I promise. Look how every strand of the pappardelle is beautifully coated in that luscious ragu!! – Nagi xx
Watch How To Make It
Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Sauce with Pappardelle recipe video! NOTE: Slow cooking time typo, it should read 2 – 2 1/2 hours. 🙂
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Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Pasta
Ingredients
Ragu
- 1.25kg / 2.5 lb chuck beef or other slow cooking beef cut, cut into equal 4 pieces (Note 1)
- 2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp table salt, 3 tsp flakes)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil , separated
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 onion , diced
- 1 cup carrots , diced (Note 2)
- 1 cup celery , diced (Note 2)
- 800g / 28oz crushed canned tomatoes
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 beef bouillon cubes , crumbled (Note 3)
- 1 cup red wine , full bodied (like merlot, cabernet sauvignon), or sub with beef broth/stock
- 1 1/2 cups water (Note 3)
- 3/4 tsp dried thyme or 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 bay leaves , dried or fresh
To Serve (Not all Sauce is used)
- 1 lb /500g dried pappardelle , or other pasta of choice (Note 4)
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese or parmigiano reggiano
- Fresh parsley , finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE:
- Season beef, sear to brown, remove. Cook the soffrito, then add all ragu ingredients and browned beef. Slow cook 2 – 2 1/2 hrs, shred beef, simmer in sauce 30 min. Toss with al dente pappardelle with 1/2 cup pasta cooking water, serve with parmesan.
FULL RECIPE:
- Season beef – Pat beef dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper
- Sear beef – Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over high heat in a heavy based pot. Add beef and sear each piece aggressively on all sides until very browned (3 – 5 minutes in total), then remove onto a plate.
- Soffrito – Turn stove down to medium low and add remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add garlic and onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the carrots and celery and sauté slowly for 5 minutes (they will sweeten).
- Add remaining Ragu ingredients and return the beef to the pot (including pooled juices). Turn the stove up and bring it to a simmer, then turn it down to low so it's bubbling very very gently. (Note 7)
- Slow cook 2 – 2 1/2 hrs – Cover the pot and let it cook for 2 – 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender enough to shred, checking first at 2 hours. Well marbled meat will cook faster than tough leaner parts. (Note 5 for slow cooker and pressure cooker).
- Shred – Remove beef then coarsely shred with 2 forks. Return beef to the pot. Simmer on low for 30 minutes with lid off until sauce is reduced and thickened – beef will soften slightly more during this step.
- Final season – Do a taste test and adjust the seasoning to your taste with salt and pepper. ALSO, add 1/2 tsp sugar if sauce is a bit sour for your taste (Note 6). Place the lid on and set aside until ready to serve (it's even better the next day and freezes well for months!).
To Serve (Note 4):
- Al dente pasta – Bring a very large pot of water with 1 tbsp of salt to the boil. Add pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the recommended cooking time as per the packet instructions.
- Warm ragu – Meanwhile, if the ragu is warm, place 5 cups of the Ragu in a very large fry pan or pot. Heat over medium high heat while the pasta is cooking. (If your ragu is already warm, you can skip this step and do the pasta and sauce toss in the used pasta cooking pot)
- Toss – When the pasta is ready, SCOOP OUT a mugful of pasta cooking water before draining. Drain pasta then add into the ragu, add ~1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. Gently toss the pasta (I use 2 wooden spoons) for 1 to 2 minutes on medium high until the sauce water evaporates and leaves you with a thick Ragu sauce that coats the pasta. (If it gets too thick, loosen with more pasta cooking water).
- Serve – Yell for your family to sit down at the dinner table because you need to serve it immediately! Serve with plenty of freshly grated parmesan, or even better, with parmigiano reggiano.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Today’s recipe is brought to you with thanks to San Remo. When they asked if I would consider showcasing one of their products in a recipe, it seemed meant-to-be because I wanted to republish this Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu and in fact, I had made the video using San Remo pappardelle pasta before they approached me! I figured it was a sign. ❤️ San Remo is Australia’s most well known pasta brand and is available at supermarkets all around Australia, including the pappardelle I recommend using for this recipe.
Life Of Dozer
Pappardelle pup. (Try saying that 10 times real fast after a few glasses of wine.)
I just made this and is totally amazing. I’m just confused about the nutritional information on this. The quantities of ingredients list that this will serve 5-6 people, but at the end of the recipe the nutritional information says that it’s based on eight servings.
Can someone offer me some advice on that please, or am I missing something? Totally obvious ha ha !!
At the start of the recipe it says the sauce alone serves 8 (in the blurb before ingredients list). However, the amount of pasta used for the recipe serves 5-6. So the nutritional information is based of the serving amount of the ragu plus the standard serving size of pasta which is 80g (written in Notes 10) 🙂
This was very tasty. I’m looking forward to leftovers on toast. Yum!
best ever
This is my favourite winters recipe this year. So easy to make, and goes a long way. It has also opened my eyes to buying quality pasta / pappardelle.
Hi Nagi, I want to cook this in a slow cooker but with the liquid beef stock. But the instructions are confusing to me where it says ‘don’t add the water’ (for which I’m using beef stock instead of cubes and water). Can you explain the steps a bit more?
Made in the slow cooker and absolutely delicious 😋 Never made pasta before and this was very easy 5 ⭐️
My teenage son had this in a restaurant and wanted to try and make it at home. This recipe is so easy and it turned out perfectly!! Thank you so much!
Excellent ragu. I’ve made it twice so far, using fire-roasted crushed tomatoes and beef stock. Do yourself a favor and make the ragu a day ahead of time – tastes even better the next day. I made this for my husband and I and froze the leftover ragu. It was just as delicious after 2 months in the freezer.
Love love love this one!!! Big ten out of ten
This was delicious! Easy to prep and get on the stove and tasted fantastic. I put a few scoops to the side, blitzed it a little, and my toddler gobbled it up. Double happy dance for me tonight! And I have 4 serves frozen for easy nights when bub arrives. Thanks heaps Nagi
This recipe was a serious winner in our house! I’m not crazy about tomatoes or red wine and still really loved it. We’ve made it a few times now in the slow cooker because it’s so easy. Thanks Nagi, another one of your recipes in our rotation!
Fabulous thank you. Loved this ragu
Hi,
What are the instructions for slow cooking this meat in the oven on fan forced setting?
I have tried it at 150c for 2.5 hours.
The slow cooker instructions say NOT to add water…. Does that mean do not include the water in the recipe? Wouldn’t it just be completely dry in that case? Please clarify what you mean so I can make this tonight!
Absolutely the best. I actually put in slow colker. Was amazing. Will definitely recommend this recipe.
I’ve cooked many of your recipes and I’m a huge fan of yours. I followed this recipe exactly, and even cooked the beef half hour longer (as it wasn’t tender after two hours), it might have been that I chose gravy beef? the dish didn’t seem to have the flavour and punch that I would have expected from a Ragu and even after putting the parpadelle back in with the Ragu, for some reason, the sauce did not stick to the pasta.
I’ll be cooking this! You had me at Lidia and San Remo! I used to watch Lidia often. I saw a dish, cabbage soup, which was amazing!! Unfortunately I misplaced the recipe and now cannot find it.
I’m currently making and it seems a little watery. HELP! I’m making it in the crock pot and I should be able to shred the meat in an hour or so. Does it thicken up after that?
Oh my gosh! I made this for dinner last night and it was THE BOMB! I did it in the crock pot and cooked it all afternoon. It was so savory and had such a deep, delicious flavor. I did add mushrooms because I like them. I didn’t read far enough in the recipe, and after cooking the pasta, just added it directly into the crockpot. Next time I make it, I will do that, although I have no complaints about last night’s dinner. Reheating right now for leftovers. Going into my regular rotation. This is SO good!!!!!
This has been on my “to make list” for ages, so happy I finally got around to it. It was absolutely perfect! I moved the pot to the oven for 3.5 hours at 150°C just for convenience, the meat was tender and the consistency of the sauce was perfect. I’ll definitely make this often! As always, you are my go-to for recipes, thank you Nagi.
This was my first time making a Ragu and OMG it was delicious. I made it in my slow cooker and cooked it on low for 10 hours. It was melt in your mouth delicious. I was sceptical about the cut of meant but I was pleasantly surprised. This will be in rotation to make.
Hi Martina, was the meat mushy like the recipe says it may be if cooked longer than 8hrs?