This warming Slow Cooker Beef Ragu is the perfect make-ahead sauce, delicious over pasta or just as good with bread, rice, or creamy polenta. Put everything in the slow cooker, set, and forget! By dinner time you will have the most melt-in-the-mouth ragu ready to be served.
About this Slow Cooker Beef Ragu
I love a good meat sauce or ragu, and although I generally stick to Italian flavours when I’m having ragu with pasta, the slight difference with this one – is that it has some ingredients that are found in the Hungarian Goulash – the humble beef stew.
It’s traditional of Hungary and has been around for a long time, it’s origins from the 9th century. The meat is usually cooked in a large pot with potatoes in the sauce and served with some crusty bread. In italy, Italians also call this dish Spezzatino and in the north it’s usually served with polenta.
The main and indispensable spice for this stew is Paprika. The paprika adds a beautiful depth of flavour once it has been cooked over low heat for a long time. I don’t put too much in this recipe to not overpower the sauce – but it’s definitely a background flavour that adds another layer to this dish, also alongside Fennel Seeds.
This recipe has been made for the slow cooker, but you could also most definitely make it over the stove, in the oven or if you are in a rush, in the pressure cooker! See recipe notes.
If you like this recipe – I’ll have a post coming soon on my Slow Cooked Beef Cheek Ragu recipe, also equally delicious on a steamy bowl of pasta.
What you need for this Slow Cooker Beef Ragu recipe
The recipe is written for 6 people based on 500gr of pasta – but you will probably see that once cooked, the sauce itself is quite a generous serve so you will probably have some left for another time or to freeze. This is what you need for this recipe:
- Pappardelle – I like to use something that has a bit of grip to get the sauce clinging to the pasta. A curly pappardelle pasta like the one in the pictures, a frilly Mafalda or even some fresh egg fettuccine is fantastic with it!
- Beef chuck steak, bone-in – this kind of cut of meat on the bone is perfect. It’s marbled with fat and with long, slow cooking times it becomes so tender!
- Tinned tomatoes, carrots, onions and garlic
- Tomato paste – my favourite is MUTTI
- Worcestershire sauce
- Extra virgin olive oil – LOTS of it!
- The most important things to bring this dish to the next level are SPICES! – Paprika (I opted for sweet), fennel seeds, garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
How to make this Slow Cooker Beef Ragu
Sauté
Add your chopped garlic, carrots and onions to your slow cooker with the olive oil. Set the slow cooker to sauté (or you can do this on a separate pan of your slow cooker doesn’t have this option) and caramelize the vegetables gently for 5-10 minutes.
Once the vegetables have softened, add the spices: The paprika, fennel seeds, salt, pepper & garlic powder and give a stir.
Add your tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and lastly your meat and combine well. Fill the tinned tomatoes can with water and add that in.
Slow Cook
Put the lid on your slow cooker and start the slow cooking time for 6 hours on high or 8 hours on low. After 6 hours, the meat should be super tender!
Adjust seasoning and thicken if needed
If you find that there is too much oil/fat that has raised to the surface – this is the time to skim it all off with a spoon. Don’t worry the sauce will be just as flavourful underneath without it! Check seasoning and adjust to taste (half a teaspoon of salt at a time).
Check the consistency of the sauce, and if you would like the sauce thicker, try this: Add 2 teaspoons of cornflour to 50 ml of warm water in a small bowl and stir the flour in till completely mixed through. You can then pour that into your slow cooker and put it back on sauté mode on high for 5 minutes till the sauce reaches the desired consistency. You will see the sauce thicken beautifully, and with no flour lumps!
Just before the sauce is almost ready, start cooking your chosen pasta till perfectly al dente. Remove the bones of the meat (if any), and with two forks, shred any large pieces of meat. Add some chopped parsley to the sauce and serve on your pappardelle. Enjoy!
Serving Variations for the Slow Cooker Beef Ragu
This Slow Cooker Beef Ragu is fantastic on pasta, I love this on some pappardelle or fettuccine! It can also be served in so many other ways:
- A crusty loaf of bread and a simple green salad
- Plain rice
- Potato mash
- Chopped boiled potatoes with parsley, butter and garlic
- Creamy polenta
Slow Cooker Beef Ragu
Equipment
- 1 Slow cooker
Ingredients
- 3 carrots (chopped)
- 2 onions (finely chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1.5 kg beef chuck steak (bone-in, chopped in a few large pieces)
- 1 tin 400 g can tinned chopped tomatoes
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 cup water (Tip: fill up the tin from the tomatoes to rinse it out and use that!)
- 500 gr pappardelle (or fettuccine, curly pappardelle)
- 1 handful chopped parsley (to serve)
Instructions
- Add your chopped garlic, carrots and onions to your slow cooker with the olive oil. Set the slow cooker to sauté (or you can do this on a separate pan of your slow cooker doesn’t have this option) and caramelize the vegetables gently for 5-10 minutes
- Once the vegetables have softened, add the paprika, fennel seeds, salt, pepper & garlic powder and give a stir
- Add your tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and lastly your meat and combine well
- Add the water and stir everything through to make sure the meat is all coated in the liquid
- Put the lid on your slow cooker and start the slow cooking time for 6 hours on high or 8 hours on low
- After 6 hours, the meat should be super tender! Check the consistency of the sauce, and if you would like the sauce thicker, follow recipe note 1. If there is too much oil/fat that has raised to the surface – this is the time to skim it all off with a spoon. Check seasoning and adjust to taste (half a teaspoon of salt at a time).
- Just before the sauce is almost ready, start cooking your pasta perfectly al dente (about 8-10 minutes depending on the pasta you are using)
- Remove the bones of the meat (if any) & shred with two forks any larger pieces of meat. Add some chopped parsley to the sauce. Serve on your pappardelle
Notes
- If you want the sauce thicker, try this trick that works EVERY.SINGLE.TIME!: add 2 teaspoons of cornflour to 50 ml of warm water and stir the flour in till completely mixed through. You can then pour that in your slow cooker and put it back on sauté mode on high for a 5 minutes till the sauce reaches the desired consistency. You will see the sauce thicken beautifully, and with no flour lumps!
- Cooking times if using: Stove top: 4 hours on low heat after all ingredients are sauteed and meat and all other ingredients are in the pot. Oven: 4 hours in preferably a cast iron pot, lid on at 160 degrees. Check after 2 hours and you can put the lid slightly askew the last hour – and if it is reducing too much, add some water. Pressure cooker: 1.15 hours for 1.5 kg of meat. Note that with pressure cooking the sauce will be more watery as the steam cannot escape. You will need to reduce the sauce to make it thicker for 5-10 minutes, just follow first recipe note
- Storage: the sauce can be stored in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer for 3 months