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beef ragu with pappardelle in a white serving dish sprinkled with parmesan cheese and a fork resting on the side of the bowl on a beige napkin. Another bowl of ragu and pasta is partially visible
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Easy Slow Cooker Beef Ragu

Slow Cooker Beef Ragu is the ultimate hearty comfort food. Shredded beef in a rich tomato sauce flavoured with garlic, herbs and traditionally served with pasta. It's super versatile and ideal for batch cooking.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes
Servings 8 people
Calories 249kcal
Author Apply To Face Blog

Equipment

  • 1 slow cooker
  • 1 choppoing board
  • 1 chopping knife
  • 1 Measuring Jug
  • 1 Wooden spoon
  • 1 tbsp measure

Ingredients

  • 800 grams stewing steak
  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 1 medium onion
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • ½ tsp dried sage
  • 1 beef stock cube/pot - 250 mls boiling water
  • 1 tsp garlic puree 1 clove
  • 2 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes

Instructions

  • Chop up your vegetables (not tomatoes) quite finely or you could blitz in the food processor trying to still keep them chunky.
  • Put the beef chunks, veg, flour, herbs, sugar and salt into the pot and mixed the flour through.
  • Tip in the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, garlic puree and stock and stir again.
  • Put the lid on and cook for 8 hours on Low or 6 hours on High.
  • Stir through to help shred the meat up and meld into the sauce.
  • Serve immediately or allow to cool before storing in the fridge or the freezer.

Notes

If you want to have a richer sauce then use 150 mls of red wine and 125 mls of beef stock. But be mindful that the alcohol content may not cook off if you are feeding it to children etc
I use red wine stock pots instead of beef stock pots to get the rich flavour without using red wine.
You can mix up the herbs to suit what you have but just be careful with the amount as some herbs like oregano are more powerful than others.
Double up the mixture so that you can freeze half for another meal or two.
Freeze once cool in a stout container for up to 3 months. Defrost fully before heating till piping hot.

Nutrition

Calories: 249kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 500mg | Potassium: 456mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3070IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 2mg