Beef Short Rib Ragu

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A rich, meaty sauce, perfect for tossing with pasta or serving on top of polenta or rice. Short ribs are braised for hours, until melt-in-your-mouth tender. This sauce cooks low and slow, but most of the cooking time is hands off.

Prep Time45

Cook Time5

Total Time5 45

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 382kcal

Author: Michelle Miller

Equipment

cast iron braiser pan

Ingredients

3 pounds short ribs
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons avocado oil
2 carrots peeled and diced
1/2 yellow onion large, diced
1 celery stalk diced
5 cloves garlic minced
4 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup dry red wine
14 ounce crushed tomatoes (1 can)
1 cup beef stock + more, to thin if necessary
1 bay leaf
1 parmesan rind
fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary bundled with kitchen twine
1/4 cup heavy cream optional, for sauce
parmesan cheese optional, to garnish
parsley option, to garnish

Instructions

Pat the short ribs dry with paper towels. Heat a dutch oven or braiser over medium high heat, and add avocado oil. Add the ribs, and generously season with salt and pepper. Brown each side of the ribs. *Take your time and ensure the meat gets a nice dark color.* This will give the sauce a deep flavor! Remove the short ribs from the pot.
Drain all except about 2 tablespoons of oil from the pot. Add in the carrots, celery and onion. In Italian, this is called “Soffrito.” Brown the soffrito over medium heat, caramelizing the vegetables for about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and tomato paste, and stir into the vegetables. Allow the vegetables and tomato paste to caramelize, leaving brown bits in the pan. This adds more flavor to the sauce. The soffrito, garlic and tomato paste should cook for about 25 minutes – don’t rush this step!
Deglaze the pan with red wine. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan, to incorporate the browned bits with the sauce. Allow the wine to reduce by half. This takes about 5 minutes.
Add in the beef stock, parmesan rind, bay leaf, and bundled herbs. Nestle the short ribs back into the pot.
Cover the pot, and reduce the heat to low. Allow the short ribs to braise in the liquid for 3-5 hours. Smaller short ribs will take about 3 hours. If your ribs are cut larger, like the ones I used, it will take closer to 5 hours (boneless short ribs cook faster than bone-in ribs). After 3 hours, check your pot to make sure there is enough liquid, using beef stock to thin it if necessary. Check the meat to see if the bones easily detach from the meat. Continue cooking until the meat easily shreds with a fork.
Remove the parmesan rind, bay leaf, and herb bundle from the pot, and discard. Remove the short ribs from the pot. Place the meat on a cutting board, and shred it with two forks. If desired, remove the larger chunks of fat from the shredded meat.
Stir the shredded short ribs back into the pasta sauce. If desired, add a little heavy cream and parmesan to further deepen the flavors of the ragu.
Serve the ragu tossed with pasta, or over the top of polenta or rice. Garnish with parmesan cheese and freshly chopped parsley.

Notes

Timing the Ragu

Ragu is a dish that cannot be rushed! The browning of the ribs and soffrito take time for the full flavors to develop. Do not rush these steps. Similarly, for the ribs to break down and the meat to fall off the bone, the meat needs braised for a long period of time. Smaller ribs may be done in about 3 hours. My large ribs take about 4.5 hours to be ready!

Tie the Herbs

Instead of finely chopping the herbs, tie the thyme, sage and rosemary together in a bundle so they infuse the sauce with wonderful flavor and then are easily removed later on.

Short Rib Ragu with Pappardelle Pasta

Short rib ragu is popularly served with pappardelle pasta in restaurants. The wide noodles are great for coating in this thick and meaty sauce!

Stick to your gluten free diet by trying these gluten free pappardelle noodles made with corn and rice. They have a great texture very similar to traditional pastas!

Short Rib Ragu Over Polenta

Polenta is a creamy corn meal based dished made by warming the corn meal with water into a thick porridge. It’s a great base for thick sauces like this ragu.

Make it Low Carb – Short Rib Ragu over Cauliflower Rice or Zucchini Noodles

Enjoy your favorite Italian flavors, sans the grains! Saute some cauliflower rice to serve with this dish, or use raw zucchini noodles. I prefer not to cook my zucchini noodles (they get soggy!). Make sure the ragu is extra hot when you pour it on top of the zucchini and the noodles will soften and be the perfect texture!

Nutrition