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!
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Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Pasta
Ingredients
Ragu
- 1.2kg / 2.5 lb chuck beef or other slow cooking beef cut, cut into equal 4 pieces (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp salt
- 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 / 250ml red wine , full bodied (like merlot, cabernet sauvignon), or sub with beef broth/stock
- 1 1/2 cups / 375 ml water (Note 3)
- 3/4 tsp dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 dried bay leaves
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
- 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.
- Turn stove down to medium low and add remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil.
- Soffrito: Add garlic and onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the carrots and celery and sauté slowly for 5 minutes.
- 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: Cover the pot and let it cook for 2 hours or until beef is tender enough to shred. (Note 5 for slow cooker and pressure cooker).
- Shred: Remove beef then coarsely shred with 2 forks. Return beef to the pot. Simmer for 30 minutes 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):
- 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.
- Meanwhile, place 5 cups of the Ragu in a very large fry pan, dutch oven or use 2 normal size fry pans. Heat over high heat while the pasta is cooking.
- When the pasta is ready, transfer it directly from the pot into the fry pan using tongs.
- Add 3/4 cup of pasta water into the fry pan.
- Gently toss the pasta (I use 2 wooden spoons) for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sauce water evaporates and leaves you with a thick Ragu sauce that coats the pasta.
- 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.)
My husband is a chef but he works long hours so I do the cooking at home. Tried this recipe with german ingredients since we’re originally from England but we live in Germany now and he says it’s the best ragout he’s ever eaten. I’ve left out the pasta and instead added beans as well as some cayenne pepper. It was absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for this recipe xxx
Could I use lamb instead of beef?
Sure can Hayley – enjoy! N x
What other beef could you use for the same outcome?
Hi Kym, chuck, brisket, gravy beef – something marbled and good for slow cooking 🙂 N x
Love this recipe and especially your top-down photos and video demos.
I used a pressure cooker for 30min as per the recipe, but my instant pot equivalent doesn’t have a setting to saute on low vs high for after this. I ended up pressure cooking for a further 20 min because the beef was still not quite as tender and I wanted to avoid browning on high.
Any alternatives to this would be much appreciated!
Fantastic recipe. Had friends over for dinner and everyone loved it. A definite winner.
Hi Nagi,
I’m excited to try this for a dinner party on the weekend! Issue is that i need to transport the ragu to my friends house as that’s where the dinner party is. I’m doubling the recipe for 10 people, and planning on cooking the pasta at my friend’s house at the end. Wondering if its possible to just leave 10 cups of ragu in the slow cooker and add the cooked pasta into this to toss and serve to avoid the need for frypans? Or any other suggestions on how to best do this… Thanks!
Hi Rebekah – yes you can definitely do this! N x
Hi, is it a deal breaker or do I need to add something to it if I accidentally put the water into my instant pot slow cooker? Am cooking it on high for 4hrs. ta
Hi Elise, not a dealbreaker – you will just need to reduce the sauce after the meat is cooked. So once it’s done, remove the meat and simmer the sauce until it thickens 🙂 N x
This recipe is delicious. Made it for a dinner party and it was a huge success. Popped it in the slow cooker before work and turned out perfect. The detail of your recipes are fantastic and so easy to follow. Will definitely make this part of our regular meals. Thanks Nagi!
Hi can I slow cook for 4 hours on high in the slow cooker
Hi this the 2nd time I’ve made this in slow cooker, I’ve already had a quick taste of the beef because it smells soooo good and the taste was lovely. Unfortunately the weather over here in England has turned and it is BOILING we can’t eat alot in this heat! It says that this freezes well, I just wondered how I would go about freezing fo I cook it and then wait for it to cook down and whack it in the freezer?
So if slow cooking do you not add the beef cubes at all? Sorry- lupus brain has turned off!!
Hi Melissa, yes you add the beef cubes, just not the extra water 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,
I used a pressure cooker for this recipe and as instructed, did not add the water and extra salt and pepper. The beef unfortunately burnt at the bottom of the cooker. Was i meant to add the water at another stage?
The flavour would have been amazing if i didn’t burn the meat.
Love your work and your recipes!
Hi Nagi,
Do you think we could do this recipe with beef cheeks?
Thanks again for your fab recipes
100% yes Lauren!! Just check the size, if they are too big you may need to cut them in half. N x
Made this with a lamb shoulder instead of the beef and turned out AMAZING!
Thanks Nagi!!!
Hi Nagi, I was wondering about the cook time in a slow cooker if using beef stew meat that is already cut into chunks
This was fantastic, full of flavour and meat so tender. Followed the recipe exactly, and cooked on the stove in a heavy pot. Will definitely be cooking again. This my new go to site for recipes, thanks Nagi!
Another delicious meal by Nagi! My new favourite blog. Everything I’ve tried has been delicious 😍
I followed the recipe to a T, but then added some chilli flakes because I looove spice. Will make again for sure!
Wahoo, that’s so great to hear Lauren! N x
2nd time I’m making this in just under a week. Beautiful recipe that my family enjoyed. Can’t wait to try it with an egg pasta (my son is allergic so I substituted the pappardelle for some casarecce which I find is an excellent shape to go with the shredded beef).
Thank you!!
I have accidentally shredded my meat too early and it is still tough to eat. Will cooking the pulled beef for longer soften it? Have cooked this before and was an absolute hit last time, thank you Nagi!
Hi Emma, just continue to cook it to help it soften – N x
Hi Nagi
Thank you for your amazing recipes. I bought beef today from my butcher and unfortunately they have diced it quite small. Do you think that this will be okay to use in a slow cooker? I was planning on cutting the slow cooking time down to maybe 5 hours to make up for it. Thanks!
Hi Frances, it will be fine – it will just cook quicker depending on the size. Enjoy! N x