I’m so excited to share my beef shin ragu with pappardelle with you all — it’s just so good! As in, a restaurant-quality meal at home good.
Not only is it rich, luscious, absolutely loaded with flavour, decadent, and unctuous, but it’s also so easy to make. Once you get everything prepped and ready, the oven does all of the work for you. That’s the beauty of slow cooking.
Shin of beef ragu is wonderful tossed through ribbons of pappardelle, as shown in the photos here. And while I do love beef ragu with pasta, I’ve also served it as a filling for burgers, and it was amazing — don’t knock it until you try it. It even makes a fantastic filling for lasagna as an alternative to bolognese.
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Bolognese vs ragu
The terms are often used interchangeably, so I wanted to be clear on the difference between bolognese sauce and ragu.
Bolognese is a type of ragu that’s normally made with ground meat and contains milk. It also generally has less tomato and fewer chunky vegetables. My shin of beef ragu features beef shin and tomatoes as well as onion, carrot, and celery. Milk, often used for tenderising meat in a ragu, is not needed here as the beef shins tenderise through braising.
Ingredients
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Boneless beef shins: This cut of beef boasts loads of flavour, but as it’s a tougher cut, needs a slow cook. But it’s totally worth it — by the end, you’ll have succulent shredded beef shin in a flavourful red wine and tomato sauce.
- Onion, carrot, and celery: Known as a soffritto in Italian, I combine these ingredients and sauté them with a bit of olive oil, as well as some garlic and anchovies.
- Anchovy fillets: Don’t skip the anchovies — even if you don’t normally like them. You won’t taste them in the least in the final sauce. As your beef shin ragù cooks, they break down completely and just add a wonderful savory something extra. There’s definitely no fishiness, I promise.
- Red wine: Adds so much richness to the mix. Don’t use a sweet red wine, something robust and full-bodied is best. Also, use a red wine that’s good for drinking. If you use a red wine for cooking because you don’t like to drink it, you won’t like eating it either.
- Tomatoes: To form the base of your ragu. You’ll need both crushed tomatoes and tomato paste.
- Beef stock: For extra liquid. I like using stock instead to add more robust flavour.
- Sugar: I add just a touch of sugar to counteract the acidity you’ll find in most canned tomatoes.
- Seasonings: I’ve kept things simple here, and only used salt, pepper, and some fresh rosemary, plus a handful of basil leaves as a garnish. As a note, if you want to take the flavour up another notch, add a parmesan rind. Once the sauce is cooked, remove it before you shred the meat. You could also feel free to add some dried chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) if you like a bit of spice.
- For serving: I like pappardelle pasta with beef shin ragu. Other pasta types will work — this sauce clings really well to pasta. Try tagliatelle or mafalde/mafaldine, or even penne or gnocchi. It would be great as a ravioli or cannelloni filling too.
How to cook beef shin ragu
Beef shin ragù is so easy to make — it slow cooks for over 2 ½ hours in the oven with no fussing needed. Once you get the beef browned and the sauce part cooked, it all goes into the oven to do the rest of the work.
You really do want to brown the meat for extra flavour, so make sure not to skip that step. You aren’t just sealing the meat, you’re getting it browned and caramelised on the outside which adds flavour. A good heavy Dutch oven is your best friend for this slow cooked beef shin recipe. If you don’t have a large stove-to-oven pan, just do the stove cooking in a large saucepan then transfer everything to a large casserole dish in the oven.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Brown the beef
Preheat your oven to 160°C / 320°F and position the shelf so it fits a large Dutch oven with the lid on it.
Add the olive oil to the bottom of the pan and heat over medium-high. Introduce the beef shins and brown until caramelised, then remove the meat and deglaze the pan.
2. Sauté the vegetables and reduce
Add the garlic, onions, celery, and carrots, plus the anchovies. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes, or until the veggies turn soft. Remember to deglaze the pan as you stir if you notice anything burning.
Pour in the wine, mix to combine, and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it simmer for 1 minute, or until the vegetables have absorbed most of the wine.
3. Slow cook
Incorporate the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, rosemary, sugar, pepper, and salt into the pan as well as the beef shins. Stir and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Cover and bake the shin of beef ragu for 2 ½-3 hours, or until the meat shreds easily and the sauce has thickened. The aroma filling your home at this point is amazing!
4. Shred & serve
When the sauce is ready, remove the rosemary stalk and then shred the slow cooked beef shin with a wooden spoon. If you don’t plan to eat it right away, you can place your beef shin ragu in the fridge to cool completely and have it at the ready for 2-3 days time.
If you do want to enjoy your ragu immediately, cook the pasta while you’re shredding the meat. Remember to save some of the pasta water to incorporate back into the sauce. Serve your beef ragù with pasta, parmesan, and fresh basil on top, and enjoy!
What to serve beef shin ragu with
While I love it strewn through chunky pappardelle pasta noodles, this slow cooked beef shin ragu works beatifully with numerous other pasta shapes too. Penne is popular and works well here but so does gnocchi and just about everything in between.
If you don’t feel like taking the pasta route, serve it over mashed potato, creamy polenta or even couscous is lovely. It’s also a great filling for burgers (this is especially good if you have leftovers from the night before or in the freezer and just want an easy dinner). Inside a pie crust too, just like these mini lamb pies, it’s truly delicious.
Tips and tricks
- I usually grate my carrot and onion on the box grater. When the onion gets too hard to grate any further, you can finely chop the rest with a knife. It’s quicker this way and save big chunks of veggies in your ragu.
- Beef shins have a lot of silver skin/connective tissue around and through them — don’t remove it. It may not look pretty but it plays a very important role. When slow cooking, the collagen in this connective tissue turns into gelatine, which in turn thickens the sauce and adds a silkiness to it. Most of this will break down, but small bits may still be visible when your sauce is finished cooking. As you’re shredding the meat with your wooden spoon, pull out any bits of sinew that haven’t broken down.
- As you go, keep an eye on the bottom of the pan. The dark stuff that sticks to the bottom is called fond, and it’s all flavour you don’t want to waste. It’s essential not to let it burn though, or it will make the sauce bitter. If you do notice it bordering on going black at any time, add a dash of stock and scrape it up with a wooden spoon, then continue cooking. Don’t throw it away.
- Serve your beef ragu with pappardelle and a generous amount of finely shredded Parmesan and baby basil leaves, just like in the photos. Oh, and, please shred from a block — don’t buy pre-shredded or shelf-stable options. It tastes so much better when it’s fresh.
- This recipe can be made ahead. In fact, the flavour really improves with a rest in the fridge overnight. You can feel free to cook it up to 2-3 days in advance.
Storage
As mentioned, beef shin ragu will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. I recommend reheating gently on your stovetop and you may want to add a dash of water to get the sauce to a consistency you like.
It’s also freezer-friendly and will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. I use silicone freezer storage cubes to portion out and freeze the meat, then transfer it to an airtight container or a Ziploc bag once solid. This way, I know I can take just as much as I want out and know the exact quantity easily.
Souper cubes (which are available on Amazon) are great for freezing in portions, but I actually own the Smash brand (if you’re in Australia like me, they’re available in Woolies). They start around $20, but you will use them over and over again, so it’s well worth the investment.
To reheat frozen leftovers, your best bet is to let them thaw in the fridge overnight. Then, reheat gently on the stove.
FAQs
There are several different options — I’ve also made it with chuck and beef cheeks are great too — but I have to say that I like it best with beef shin. It boasts such a rich flavour and becomes incredibly tender when slow cooked, making it perfect for a beef ragu with pappardelle.
Shin beef is wonderful in ragus, stews, and braises. Again, it tastes amazing when slow cooked! Braised dishes are where it really shines like this ragu, a goulash or slow cooked stroganoff. If you want to try it in another recipe, I would just avoid quickly grilling or pan-frying it as it will become tough.
Yes, you can overcook anything if you leave it for too long. That said, shin of beef ragu does benefit from at least 2 ½ hours in the oven. Depending on the specific batch, sometimes I’ll let it go all the way up to 3 hours. If you want to leave yours for even longer, you simply need to make sure there’s enough liquid in the pot at all times to prevent it from drying out or burning. Keep in mind though, that just topping up with stock or even water will affect the ratios of all the flavours.
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (notes 1)
- 1 kg boneless beef shins cut into 3 inch pieces (35oz)
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot grated (~ 1 cup/100g/3 ½ oz)
- 2 medium celery stalks (~ 1 cup/100g/3 ½ oz)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2-3 anchovy fillets (canned/jarred) optional / notes3
- ¾ cup red wine not sweet wine (180ml)
- 400 g can crushed tomatoes (14oz)
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 2 cups beef stock beef broth (500ml)
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
TO SERVE
- 450 g pappardelle fresh or dried (notes 4)
- Finely grated Parmesan cheese for serving
- handful chopped fresh basil leaves for serving
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160°C (140° fan forced) / 320°F and make sure your shelf is positioned so that you can fit a large Dutch oven with the lid on into it.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in your Dutch oven or a very large heavy based pan, over medium-high heat. Add the beef shins, in batches adding remaining oil as needed, and brown well. If there is a lot of oil left behind, remove all but 1 tablespoon.
- Add ¼ cup of water to the pan and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze. Don't discard the water – this is important flavour.
- Add garlic, onions, celery, carrots and anchovies. Sauté the vegetables until soft, around 4-5 minutes. If you notice the bottom of the pan getting dark brown, add just a dash of water or the beef stock to deglaze it – don’t let it burn.
- Add the wine and give it all a mix. Boil for 1 minute until the wine has almost completely been absorbed by the veggies.
- Add the remaining ingredients – crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, rosemary, sugar, pepper, salt – along with the beef shins and any juices with them. Stir and bring to a simmer.
- Cover with a lid (or tightly with foil) and bake for 2 ½ hours – 3 hours until the meat shreds easily and the sauce is thick.
- If eating immediately, get started on step 11 now.
- Meanwhile, remove the rosemary stalk from the ragu, then shred the meat into the sauce. Remove any obvious bits of gristle of sinew that haven’t broken down.
- Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper to taste if required. The ragu can be chilled, if not eating immediately, for 3-4 days before eating and the flavours do develop more over time.
- IF EATING STRAIGHT AWAY;Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add your pappardelle – cook until just al dente according to packet instructions.
- Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta. Add the ragu to the pasta as much or as little as you like, and mix well. Add some of the hot pasta water back if you want to loosen the consistency of the sauce.
- Serve topped with finely grated parmesan and fresh basil leaves.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- If you chill your ragu, just reheat it in a pan over medium heat until hot through. Add a dash of water if you need to loosen the consistency.
- Anchovies: The anchovies don’t add a fishy flavour but they do add seasoning and umami. They break down completely in cooking so you won’t eat a chunk of anchovy. If you don’t want to use them, you can use 1 teaspoon vegemite/marmite or 2 teaspoons white miso, or just leave it out.
- Other pastas will work from penne to tagliatelle. Beef shin ragu also works well has a lasagna, ravioli or cannelloni filling.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
More Information
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6 Comments on “Beef Shin Ragu”
I’ve made this twice and it’s absolutely delicious, particularly in winter. Thank you for the recipe – I’ll definitely be making it again.
I’m so happy you love it, Isaac. Truly appreciate you dropping back to leave a review.
We are not a favorite of wide pasta. Can I use a thin type, or even mashed potato?
Hello Geoff. This ragu goes well with a number of pasta shapes. So anything from fettucine to penne to orecchiete. It’s also really good with gnocchi. Yes, it will go well with mashed potato and with polenta too. It’s also really good as a filling for things like lasagna, cannelloni or ravioli, for instance. I’d love to hear what you pair it with.
This ragu sounds delicious. Do you think it can be made in a slow cooker set on high instead of in the oven?
I haven’t tested this one in a slow cooker. In theory, it should be good but I’m just not sure how thick that sauce would get in a slow cooker. If you were to try it, I think high would be the best option and I’d love to hear how you go with it.