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This elegant yet effortless beef short rib ragu is the ultimate comfort meal. Beef short ribs are slowly braised in a tomato and red wine sauce until they’re fall apart tender. Vegetables and herbs are combined to make a bold, flavorful ragu sauce to serve over pasta or alongside your favorite bread.
Elegant and Supremely Cozy: Braised Beef Short Rib Ragu
For the past several years, I have made this beef short rib ragu for almost every Christmas Eve meal and every year, I have vowed to put it on the blog so you can make this special meal for your family too. It has finally come time that I post it (and I apologize in advance how often you’ll want to make it).
There’s something about this braised beef ragu that makes it so special to serve on Christmas Eve (or any other occasion, honestly). It’s the tender, fall apart beef pieces along with the boldly flavored red wine and tomato sauce. The sweet simmered vegetables and herbs make this soup even heartier. Just about every ingredient in this short rib ragu makes it special and cozy. The scent as it braises on the stovetop just absolutely perfumes the entire living area. Turn up cozy jazz music and get ready for the most comforting meal, ever!
This also freezes so well and I know, because I regularly freeze this and every time I thank heavens I do because whenever I crave this, there is nothing easier than popping out a cube of this ragu and defrosting it on the stovetop. You already did the hard work, may as well reap all the benefits!
Recipe Tips
The process to make this beef short rib ragu is what yields the most rich flavors. Skipping or omitting steps might not yield in the best results so take care to follow these tips!
- Sear and brown the short ribs. This builds a lot of flavor for the beef and the ragu!
- Load the veggies and herbs. Truth be told, I’m very heavy-handed when it comes to this portion of the recipe. I sometimes feel there is never such thing as too many vegetables. The vegetables are heavily cooked down in the 3 hour braise so loading up the ragu with vegetables isn’t a bad thing, and it brings a lot of flavor to the sauce. The herbs help perfume the ragu with the earthy trio of sage, thyme, and rosemary. Use FRESH!
- I like using a bold and peppery red wine in this because I think it helps build the flavor. I am no sommelier, but I typically grab a peppery Spanish red wine. Pro tip: if you aren’t a big red wine drinker and don’t want to buy an entire bottle, head to World Market as they sell mini bottles of wine. It’s the perfect amount for this recipe!
Alternate Cooking Methods
This recipe is made for the stovetop, but I’ve included an oven method, slow cooker method, and Instant Pot method. I still recommend stovetop and oven as opposed to slow cooker or Instant Pot. I just love the slow simmer.
Oven: preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Prep steps 1-7 as instructed then cover the Dutch oven and place onto the middle rack of the oven. Cook covered for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Slow cooker: prep steps 1-6 as instructed, carefully transfer ingredients into the insert of your slow cooker, adding liquids and herbs, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Instant Pot: turn on the sauté function of your Instant Pot and sear the beef. Continue prepping all steps through step 7. Cover your Instant Pot with the lid, make sure it is on SEALED, and cook on manual high pressure for 60 minutes. Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes before venting.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Refrigerator: allow leftovers to cool then store in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. To reheat, portion out how much you want to eat into a microwave-safe bowl and reheat until warmed through. You may also do this in a small pot on the stovetop and reheat until warmed through.
Freezer: use 2 cup Souper Cube trays to freeze leftovers! Allow leftovers to cool then ladle into the trays. Freeze for up to 5 months. To reheat, remove the tray from the freezer and allow 5-10 minutes on the countertop before popping out the cube. Place the cube into a pot and warm through on the stovetop over medium heat.
Serving Suggestions
As pictured, I served this short rib ragu over a generous helping of my Garlic Mashed Potatoes and steamed broccolini. Alternatively, you can serve the ragu over pasta (I love mezze rigatoni or a pappardelle) or alongside your favorite sourdough bread or fluffy dinner rolls that take no time to prepare!
Beef Short Rib Ragu
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 pounds (1815 g) English cut beef short ribs, or 3 pounds boneless short ribs
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 4 stalks celery, finely diced
- 8 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 6 ounces (170 g) tomato paste
- 1 cup (237 ml) dry, bold red wine
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 4 sprigs fresh sage leaves
- 12 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 parmesan rinds
- 24 ounces (680 g) crushed tomatoes
- 3 cups (710 ml) low-sodium beef broth/stock
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to season
Instructions
- In a large, heavy-bottom pot like a Dutch oven, add olive oil to the pot over medium-high heat.
- Pat dry the short ribs with a paper towel and then generously season all sides with kosher salt and pepper.
- Once the oil is hot, add the short ribs to the pot. You may have to do it in batches so it doesn’t overcrowd the pot (which would prevent browning). Cook 3-4 minutes per side until browned and has a bit of a crust. Remove and set aside on a plate. Repeat as necessary. If there is a significant amount of oil after cooking, remove all but 2 tablespoons.
- Reduce heat to medium then add carrots, onions, celery, and garlic to the pot. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook until tender and softened, about 10-15 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste to the pot and stir to coat everything in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.
- Increase the heat to medium high and slowly pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan. As you’re pouring the red wine in, use your wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan to lift the stuck on browned bits. Cook for about 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed into the vegetables.
- Tie the herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme) together with kitchen twine and add to the pot. Add the bay leaves, parmesan rind, crushed tomatoes, and beef stock to the pot. Add the short ribs back into the pot. Stir to combine and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover and simmer for 3 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bone. If it’s reducing too quickly, add in more liquid (½ cup at a time).
- Once the short ribs are tender and falling apart, turn off the heat and using tongs, remove the spent herb bundle, bay leaves, and parmesan rind. Remove the short ribs and put them on a large cutting board.
- Using forks, shred the short ribs then add them back into the pot and stir to combine.
- At this point, you may either use the ragu with pasta, or spoon over a bed of mashed potatoes, or allow to cool and freeze for later.
Nutrition
Photographs by Eat Love Eat
Hi Julie! I’m thinking about making this for a dinner party next weekend with boneless short ribs (if I can find them at Costco) and in the slow cooker. Do you have any tips for using boneless short ribs instead of bone in?
hi Kristen, I actually make these all the time with boneless short ribs from Costco! they’re the same directions as if using bone in :)
Julie – I made this for dinner last night using the boneless short ribs and it was a hit! We’ll be keeping this in the dinner party rotation for sure :)
Thanks!!
Kristen
i’m so happy to hear this!! thank you for the feedback!
Julie
Any suggestions on how to make this without the tomato ingredients. My wife is allergic to tomatoes? We love many of your recipes but can’t make some of them because of her allergies.
hi David, sorry to hear about the tomato allergy. unfortunately, ragu is a tomato-based sauce so there really isn’t a substitute. i can only suggest maybe making a ragu bianco, but i am honestly not sure how the flavors would be. i’m guessing instead of braising it in tomato sauce, you’d do beef stock and then splash in heavy cream at the end.