Italian Beef Ragu

Italian beef ragu is a year round favourite, made with beef brisket which has a deep rich meaty flavour, also smoked pancetta and vegetables to flavour the sauce. Once prepared this easy beef ragu is cooked low and slow in the oven or slow cooker until the beef is fork tender and falling apart!

This slow cooked beef ragu recipe is inspired by a dish I enjoyed in Venice on a warm day in May. It was one of the most glorious bowls of food I’ve ever eaten! Soft pillows of fresh gnocchi with a light coating of beef ragu sauce, just enough to give you the taste, but not so much as to overload the dish. It was light and delicious and I’ve often thought of that dish and wanted to try and recreate it.

I always think that stews and ragu’s are great for feeding a larger group of friends and family. Make this easy beef ragu the day before, ready to heat up when your guests arrive and serve with gnocchi or pasta, some steamed vegetables, or a crisp salad.

If you prefer to make slow cooker beef ragu, that’s not problem. I use both the oven and the slow cooker and include instructions for both methods within this post and in the recipe card notes.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Preparation time is minimal and once assembled you can leave the ragu to bubble away in the oven or your slow cooker.
• Feed a crowd, this best beef ragu recipe sauce will happily feed 8 people, but double it up and you can feed a crowd.
• Make ahead up to 2 days in advance and store in the refrigerator. This ragu will taste better the long it sits.
• Dairy free and gluten free if you use gluten free beef stock.

Recipe ingredients

• Beef – I used beef brisket which I cut into large chunks to make it easier to fit in the pot.
• Pancetta – I recommend using smoked pancetta or lardons for extra flavour, although unsmoked will work too.
• Oil – use regular olive oil or a similar oil of choice.
• Vegetables – a combination of onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms and garlic were used to flavour the ragu.
• Wine – I used white wine to deglaze the pan after sauteeing the pancetta and vegetables.
• Herbs – I used both fresh flat leaf parsley and dried bay leaves and oregano to add flavour.
• Tomatoes – I used cans of plum tomatoes.
• Beef stock – I used gluten free rich beef stock.
• Seasoning – I seasoned the ragu with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

How to make slow cooked beef ragu

• Preheat the oven to 130C/140CFan/270F.
• Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large oven proof pan, over a medium heat. Add the diced pancetta and saute until the pancetta is crispy and the fat has rendered down.
• Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pan and sauté gently for 5 minutes to soften, but not colour the vegetables.
• Add the garlic and mushrooms to the pan and stir for a minute, before adding the white wine to deglaze the pan. Simmer the wine until it is well reduced.

• Now add in all the remaining ingredients to the casserole, season well with salt and pepper, stir well to combine and cover with a tight fitting lid.
• Place the pan in the preheated oven and cook for 4-5 hours. Stir the ragu throughout the cook to ensure it does not stick. The stew is cooked when the meat is tender and falling apart.

• Remove the chunks of beef from the pan and shred with two forks, before returning to the pan and stirring through the sauce.
• Serve the ragu with gnocchi, creamed polenta or pasta of choice.

How to make slow cooker beef ragu

This recipe is easily adapted for slow cooker beef ragu:

• Ignore the first instruction to preheat the oven.
• Follow the instructions for sauteeing the vegetables, up to the end of step 4 in the recipe card.
• At this point transfer the sauteed vegetable and reduced wine mixture into a slow cooker.
• Add the remaining ingredients to your slow cooker.

TOP TIP: Slow cookers require less liquid than the oven method. So to avoid a watery ragu I recommend reducing the liquid, swapping the beef stock for a beef stockpot or bouillon cube, and give everything a good stir to combine.

• Now place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.

Recipe variations

• If using diced stewing steak cut back on cooking time and only cook for 2-3 hours depending on the size of the diced steak.
• Try a combination of beef and pork and add in some pork shoulder.
• You can use shoulder of lamb or lamb shanks in place of the beef.
• Mushrooms add real depth of flavour, so if you like a lot of mushroom, feel free to add more.
• Swap the white wine for red wine.
• I’ve added parsley, but you could also use fresh basil.

Serving suggestions

This dish works really well with gnocchi which I have used here. You can also try it with some pasta, try tagliatelle or paparadelle, short pasta like rigatoni, or for something a little different creamed polenta.

However, a ragu is essentially a stew, therefore if you want to serve it alongside some steamed vegetables and sauted or creamy mashed potatoes, that would work very well too.

Useful hints and tips

1. The combination of onion, carrot, celery and garlic makes a great base for many soup and stew recipes and imparts real flavour into the dish.
2. Mushrooms add real depth of flavour, but if you really don’t like mushroom you can leave them out. However, what I would recommend instead, is to leave them in but cut them chunky. That way if anyone doesn’t want to eat them they are easily picked out!
3. Great for batch cooking and if you don’t have a pan big enough, split it into two separate pans to cook at the same time in the oven.
4. Containing no dairy so suitable for a dairy free diet.
5. Use gluten free beef stock and this beef ragu is suitable for coeliacs and gluten free diners.
6. Allergy advice: gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions

If you like this dish then try some of our slow cooked beef dishes:

• Paprika Beef
• Smoky Beef Chilli
• Asian Beef
• Beef Cheeks Braised in Red Wine
• Spicy Slow Cooked Beef

Looking for inspiration for feeding the family mid week, then take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Family Dinners. Full of useful hints, tips and recipes.