Tender short ribs in a tomato red wine sauce with Parmesan mashed potatoes – this hearty slow-cooked short rib ragu is worth the time! Grab the recipe and be sure to check out more of my delicious beef recipes!
In our house, there are two kinds of cooking – weekday and weekend. It’s a simple way to classify, but I find that during the week it’s all about speed and simplicity, while the weekends are the opposite.
With the extra time, I tend to slow down in the kitchen and I don’t get bothered by lots of steps, lots of pans, and lots of time spent in the kitchen. During the week I love short-cuts and quick wins, but I tend to focus more on the process when I cook on the weekends. Cooking from scratch, taking my time with steps, and challenging myself with recipes and ideas I can’t imagine trying to execute during the week after a long day at work. I guess my weekdays are more Rachael Ray, while the weekends are more Julia Child.
Slow-Cooked Short Rib Ragu
This slow-cooked short rib ragu is a great weekend cooking project. It can’t be rushed. There’s no dumping and stirring. It’s not a one-pot wonder. There’s a lot of chopping, dicing, searing, deglazing, simmering, straining, reducing, and shredding and all of it is necessary to develop a rich and complex sauce. Dumping it all in a crock pot for eight hours just won’t produce the same result. You can’t set it and forget it.
The time investment to make this dish is well worth it – one bite of the tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef will make you so happy and so comforted you will try and figure out how to make this a rotating dinner in your weekend line-up.
In an unexpected turn of events, I paired this rich and hearty red wine and tomato beef ragu with some parmesan mashed potatoes, which make a delicious base for all the rich sauce and beef, but it can easily be served with pasta. We also used some leftovers for sandwiches by piling the shredded beef onto soft rolls with a drizzle of sauce. Depending on how many you have to feed, you should get some mileage out of this one making the time investment even more worthwhile.
Some Ingredients You’ll Need
- I used boneless short ribs, which are readily available at most grocery stores.
- Carrots, celery, onion, and garlic are sauteed in the same pan as the short ribs and soak up all the beefy flavor.
- Red wine and tomatoes are the base for the braising liquid.
- I served my ragu with mashed potatoes made with Yukon Gold potatoes, butter, sour cream, and grated Parmesan cheese.
More Hearty Dishes
- Spicy Chicken Ragu
- Beef Bourguignon
- Slow Cooker Short Rib Ragu
- Meatloaf with Balsamic Mushroom Sauce
- Baked Penne with Meatballs
Slow-Cooked Short Rib Ragu
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
This slow-cooked short rib ragu is hearty and comforting. The short ribs are simmered in the oven until they are fall-apart-tender.
Ingredients
For the Ragu
- 3 pounds boneless short ribs, patted dry and well seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 carrots, diced
- 2 ribs of celery, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole San Marzano plum tomatoes, including juice
- 2 cups red wine
- 2 cups water
- 6 sprigs fresh parsley
- salt & pepper, to taste47.1g
Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
- 3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a large dutch oven or stock pot heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the short ribs and brown on all sides until the outside is nicely caramelized. I had to do this in 3 batches so the pan wouldn’t be too crowded. Once browned, remove the ribs from the pot and set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the diced carrots, celery, and onion. Cook for about ten minutes until the vegetables have softened. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste until all of the veggies are coated. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat all of the vegetables. Continue to cook the mixture for another few minutes.
- Pour in the wine and increase the heat until the pot begins to simmer. Deglaze the pot by scraping the bottom with the spatula to pull up all of the browned bits. Next, add the tomatoes, first squishing each with your hands and all of the juice from the can. Pour in 2 cups of water and stir. Then add the short ribs back to the pot. Be sure they are completely covered by the liquid. If needed, add more water to ensure they are covered. Toss in the parsley (no need to chop it) and give it all a big stir. Bring the pot to a strong simmer (increase the heat if needed) and then cover it, remove it from the heat and transfer it to the preheated oven. Let it simmer in the oven for 2-3 hours, or until the beef is fork tender. For me, it took about 2 1/2 hours – start checking yours at the 2-hour mark.
- Once the beef is fork tender, remove the pot from the oven. Remove the short ribs from the pot and set aside. Using a fine mesh strainer, carefully strain the liquid into a large sauce pot. Press on the solids to extract all of the liquid before discarding them.
- Shred the short ribs before adding them to the sauce.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat. You want the sauce to thicken and reduce, which will take at least 30 minutes or so. While the sauce is reducing periodically skim the surface to remove the fat.
- While the sauce is reducing, fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add the potatoes and boil them until they are fork tender (time may vary based on the size of your potato pieces.)
- Drain the potatoes and return them to the cooking pot. Add in the butter and, using a potato masher, mash up all of the potatoes along with the butter. Add the sour cream and parmesan cheese and stir well to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Once the potatoes are done the sauce should be ready. Don’t worry if the sauce isn’t ready, you can keep the potatoes warm on the stove until the sauce has thickened.
- Serve the ragu on top of the parmesan mashed potatoes. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Notes
Make it Ahead! You can make the ragu up to one day in advance. Just follow the recipe steps and once you’ve reduced the sauce and added the ribs back in, let it cool and then keep it in the refrigerator. Heat it up in a saucepan on the stove before you serve it. If needed you can thin the sauce with a splash of red wine, water, or beef stock. I don’t recommend making the potatoes ahead – do those the day of!
You can also serve the ragu with pasta or rice.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Braise
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
- Calories: 1210
- Sugar: 7.8g
- Sodium: 490.5mg
- Fat: 122.9g
- Saturated Fat: 47.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 45.1g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 32.2g
- Fiber: 6.5g
- Protein: 41.2g
- Cholesterol: 205.9mg
Keywords: short rib ragu, braised beef recipe, braised short ribs
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Does it reheat well?
April Anderson says
Yes, it reheats great!
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a great recipe for the winter!
Ashlee says
Curious what did you do with the veggies after you strained the liquid? First time making this
April Anderson says
I discard them but other readers blend them up into the sauce – either way works!
Beth says
Can you just blend the veggies and add them back to the sauce instead of straining green?
April Anderson says
Yep! That will work 🙂
Tami Leszczynski says
I also found that I had too much sauce because I used too big of a pan and had to have enough liquid to cover the short ribs. After I strained the veggies, I blended them and added them back into the meat mixture. I think it worked well; next time I’ll use more meat, smaller pan and less liquid! LOVED the recipe though!
★★★★★
April Anderson says
So glad you loved it!
Mary says
Is there a way to put it in the crockpot after cooking on the stove or would that throw it off?
April Anderson says
You can do that, the only thing is that the sauce won’t reduce as much. Once you’ve let it simmer, if the sauce is think leave the lid off in the last 30 minutes so it can reduce and thicken. Hope that helps!
Lori says
Can’t wait to make this recipe, it looks delicious! I’ve never cooked with wine added and was curios I know, it says red wine but not sure what kind as I’m not a wine drinker but would like to make this per your recipe. Thank you for any answers you have
April Anderson says
A dry red wine works great – I’ve made with with a cabernet and pinot noir. Merlot and even a Malbec would work, too.
Blewyn says
Are you sure about that oven temperature of 350’F ? Seems high. After 2-1/2hrs we had a vegetable puree instead of a sauce.
April Anderson says
Yes, that’s the correct temperature.
Ann says
I can only find bone in short ribs. How does that change the prep?
April Anderson says
It doesn’t change the prep – brown and cook them as instructed. Once they’re done cooking in the sauce just remove the bones. Hope that helps!
Brandy says
This was really good. Followed the recipe exactly and had way too much sauce (even after reducing for an hour). I will cut the wine & water in 1/2 next time.
★★★★