My pasta situation is getting a little out of control. My pantry is starting to overflow with half-full packages of pasta and a girl can only eat Bowties and Broccoli so many times per week. So I decided to make some pasta sauce to keep in the freezer for fast weeknight dinners and give me other options for using up leftover pasta. I was also craving some slow-cooked meat, so this Sunday Slow Cooker Beef Ragù was an obvious solution.
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This sauce is ridiculously simple to make, with all the magic happening in the slow, gentle cooking action rather than a long list of complex ingredients. Cheaper cuts of beef, like shoulder roast, are usually on the tough side, but cooking low and slow breaks down the tough connective tissue in meat and creates a melt-in-your-mouth ragù. I added a carrot to my ragù for a little sweetness, but if you don’t have one, I doubt you’d be disappointed with the results. It’s just really hard to mess up slow cooked meat. ;)
This recipe makes about 12 cups, which is a TON of sauce. After cooling it completely in the refrigerator (for about a day), I transferred mine to quart-sized freezer bags for long term storage. Reheating is simple, just cut away the bag and heat gently in a sauce pan over medium-low flame, or place it in a microwave safe dish and use the defrost option on the microwave.
So, the next time you have a lazy Sunday (or any day off), get a batch of this sauce cookin’ so you can have this beautiful home-cooked sauce waiting in your freezer.
Sunday Slow Cooker Beef Ragù
Servings 12 cupsIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.16)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1 carrot ($0.14)
- 3 lbs. boneless beef shoulder roast ($7.53)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ( $0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste ($0.24)
- 1 cup beef broth ($0.13)
- 2 (28oz.) cans crushed tomatoes ($3.38)
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Peel the carrot, then shred it using a cheese or box grater. Add the onion, garlic, and carrot to the bottom of a 5 quart or larger slow cooker.
- Use a sharp knife to remove any large pieces of fat from the beef. Cut the trimmed beef into large 2-3 inch chunks.
- Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet over a medium flame. When the oil is very hot, add the beef pieces and cook for a few minutes on each side or until well browned. Cook the pieces in batches to avoid over crowding the skillet.
- Place the browned beef in the slow cooker. Add the beef broth to the still warm skillet and whisk to dissolve any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour the beef broth from the skillet into the slow cooker. Sprinkle the oregano, thyme, and rosemary over the beef. Top with some freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill).
- Finally, add the tomato paste to the slow cooker along with the crushed tomatoes. Place a lid on the slow cooker and turn on the heat to high. Cook for 6-8 hours on high, or until the meat is extremely tender and shreds easily.
- Use tongs to shred the meat in the sauce, removing any remaining large pieces of fat or connective tissue that did not break down. Stir the sauce well, taste, and add salt as needed (1/2 to 1 teaspoon). Serve immediately with pasta or divide the sauce into smaller containers (for faster cooling) and refrigerate. Once completely cooled, the sauce can be frozen for longer storage.
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How to Make Slow Cooker Ragù – Step by Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Peel one carrot and shred it using a box or cheese grater. Place the onion, garlic, and carrot in the bottom of a 5 quart or larger slow cooker.
Trim any large pieces of fat off of a 3 lb. boneless beef shoulder roast. Cut the roast into large 2-3 inch chunks.
Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil in a large skillet over a medium flame. Once the oil is very hot, add a few pieces of the beef (do not over crowd the skillet) and cook until browned on both sides. Repeat the process with the second batch of meat (there should be enough oil and fat in the skillet for the rest of the meat). This browning action adds a lot of depth to the meat flavor in the sauce. After removing the beef from the skillet, add one cup of beef broth and whisk it to dissolve any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. The brown stuff is where all the flavor is, so you don’t want it to get left behind!
Add the cooked beef chunks to the slow cooker and pour the beef broth over top. Add 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, and some freshly cracked pepper to the slow cooker.
Finally, add 3 Tbsp tomato paste and two 28oz. cans of crushed tomatoes. Place the lid on the slow cooker, turn the heat on to high, and cook for 6-8 hours, or until the meat is so tender that it shreds easily.
Start checking the meat around 6 hours. It should be so tender that it almost falls apart when you stir the sauce. If it’s still a bit tough, replace the lid and check again after an hour. Once the meat is tender, use tongs or forks to shred the beef in the sauce. Stir to make sure everything is evenly mixed, taste, and add salt as needed. Salt is necessary to really make the flavors pop. I added about 1/2 teaspoon (my beef broth and tomatoes contained some salt).
Serve your Sunday Slow Cooker Beef Ragù over pasta, or refrigerate until cool and then transfer to the freezer for longer storage.
#mmmbeefy
I scaled this recipe down to 4 servings using the website’s tool and made it. After eight hours on high, I woke up to a burnt inedible mess. Would not do this overnight because it needs to be checked on earlier, takes away from the convenience of a slow cooker meal.
Hi Kat! The serving size tool can be a great help for a lot of recipes, but you do have to keep in mind that the cooking times will almost always also change with a decrease or increase of ingredients and the tool only changes the ingredient amounts. 8 hours on high reducing the servings that much will definitely result in overcooked dish.
I loved the concept of this recipe – hearty leftovers on hand for times when I need some good protein but don’t have time to cook. I didn’t love the flavors of the dish itself, so I added worcheshire, brown sugar, ketchup and sriracha to add some dimension. =) I also found it to be a bit watery on the first helping, but this may change after cooling and aging some.
I’ve made this recipe a number of times as written. But right now I have a sizable portion of a cooked pot roast in the freezer and I’m wondering if there’s a good way to add it to this without poisoning myself. 😝 Should I put it in at the beginning and let cook on high? Thaw overnight first and add halfway through? Something else I haven’t thought of?
My husband and I really liked this recipe! I used a fatty cut of beef and removed the larger chunks of fat. I added 3 carrots and cut the roast into 3 in cubes before browning. I am not a huge fan of your basic pasta and red sauce, but I enjoyed this so much it is now a staple for us! Thank you!
Hi Beth, could I sub veggie crumbles for the roast to make this vegetarian? If so, how should I adjust the cook time/process? Thanks!
I don’t think you’d want to use TVP with this method. The slow cook time is specifically to break down the collagen in the meat, and would probably overcook the tvp. I think your best bet would be to just add your TVP crumbles to a faster sauce, like this Weeknight Pasta Sauce. :)
Although this worked out to nearly 2x the cost per serving due to the cost of the meat in my area, I still call it a win price-wise. Not something I’d make really often because well beef, but it did surprise me, very good as is. It was perfect after exactly 6 hours on high. I’ll probably add more carrot next time though, and serve something healthier alongside it like a salad lol.
Oh no! I’m sorry Brandon. But glad to hear that it still was delicious for you!
I did not make this exactly as intended, so in the interests of fairness, I will not give it a star rating. I subbed what I happened to have on hand, venison, for the beef, and made ~ 1/3 of the recipe in my smaller slow cooker. I let the finished dish sit in the refrigerator for 2 days and then served it over pasta and it was super boring. And dry, and not because of the venison, but because of a lack of sauciness. Will have to think about what to do to improve the leftovers. Were I to give this a star rating, it would be a one, because now I’ve got this problem in my fridge that needs to be solved.
I love your site and my family enjoys most of your recipes. This recipe left me underwhelmed. I had to add quite a bit of salt. Also, it seemed to either need another carrot or some sugar – the counter the bitterness of the tomatoes. Your recipes have needed any “tweaking” before, but this did.
Have not*
This recipe is absolutely delicious! I made it for a dinner party and it was a huge hit.
So I love that I popped this recipe in the slower and had a complete meal at the end of my day but while it wasn’t bad it wasn’t great. It tasted like mildly spiced tomato sauce and the beef cost $15 so it wasn’t good enough for the price it cost to cook it. It really needs some zing added to it before it’d be worth cooking again, and with chicken instead of beef to make it more economical
This sounds fantastic and looks really yummy. I gotta try it for my family this weekend.
Thanks a lot for the recipe!
This came out delicious! I wanted more of a main dish than a sauce so I doubled the meat. I did not brown it the meat. I added some brown sugar and soy sauce and cooked it on low overnight. It came out rich, flavorful and enough for three dinners!
This recipe looks fantastic but the state I’m in sells beef shoulder for $14/lb easily making this dish laughably expensive.
Are there cheaper cuts or other meat alternatives you might suggest for similar results?
Well, because prices vary so much from region to region and from store to store, I think your best bet might be to ask someone in the meat department at your local store for the cheapest “roast” they offer. Roasts are meant to be cooked low and slow like this, so anything in that category should work. :)
I made this on Sunday and I’m eating it now for lunch and I just have to say how delicious it turned out! I was really craving beef, and I have a similar issue where my pantry is overflowing with pasta, so I thought this would be perfect. I was a little nervous because I’ve never cooked with that particular cut of beef before, but it turned out great and it wasn’t hard to do at all. Definitely a “budget” recipe even though I did spend a lot on the meat, because that was the only ingredient I actually had to buy at the store. The rest was things I already keep on hand!
I live in New York so everything I got costs twice as much, but this was a really tasty recipe! I think next time I would add a pinch of sugar like other commenters did but I was surprised this came out so well since most of my slow cooker attempts have been pretty miserable and mushy. This one is amazing and I can’t wait to have it for dinner tonight! Thanks for posting!
Hmm. I missed the part where I was supposed to cut the meat into chunks. I usually read recipes more carefully beforehand–oops! Hope it still turns out well!
Just made this tonight with a venison roast, a bit of wine, and pinch of sugar. Absolutely delicious and super easy. Thank you for another great recipie!
I would like this thing with lamb .. can i do that and put it in one of my Outdoor Catering service??
Popped this on for cook overnight and it was very delicious. I did although add some soy sauce + brown sugar to the dish to give it a less tangy taste. I think it came down to the brand of canned tomatoes used, which I’ve learned makes quite a big difference to dishes. Definitely going in the family cook book :)
Made this tonight! Followed recipe exactly and it’s delicious! Definitely a new go to recipe. The only thing I will change in the future is I’ll deglaze with a cup of red wine instead of beef broth. Mmmm I can taste it now.
Also, for anyone curious, this recipe makes 3 “jars” of spaghetti sauce. It filled up three quart-sized mason jars almost exactly. Used one jar for a pound of pasta, then froze the rest. ;)
Ooooh yes, that would be lovely!
I just finished the prep for this and everything is in the crockpot! When this recipe popped up on your blog this week, I pinned it for a time when I find beef on sale (not often!) – but when I looked in my freezer this morning, I found a chuck roast down in the very bottom of the freezer that needs to be used! Everything else I had in my pantry, so it was meant to be.
I don’t do a lot of pasta any more – so this will go on top of zucchini noodles and spaghetti squash this week.
Oh man! This looks like exactly what I need to get rid of my mountain of unused pasta, haha. How long would you say the sauce stays good in the freezer?
Thank you so much for these recipes. I’m a single gal working off of a non-profit income budget, so these are wonderful meals I love to make. <3
It just depends on how you package it and the temp of your freezer, but I would say at least a few months. The quality of frozen foods slowly degrades over time, so there’s not always a clear cut off for good or bad, so I just try to use everything up within a few months. :)
Hey Beth, you forgot to categorize this post, so it doesn’t show up in relevant categories such as recipes, pasta, beef, etc. You did the same thing with the cheeseburger pasta recipe you recently posted as well. Just thought someone should let you know. I love your recipes by the way!
Oh wow! Thanks for letting me know! :)
I can relate to your pasta dilemma, I found myself in the same boat this past Sunday and I had the same sort of thought process as you and made this crazy sauce:
http://www.oneingredientchef.com/pumpkin-pasta-sauce/
which has canned pumpkin AND tahini along with actual tomato sauce. It came out very good, better than I expected honestly, but didn’t quite make 12 cups like your recipe here. It’s already almost gone because my boyfriend really likes it.
What an interesting ingredient combination!! I need to try that. Thanks for sharing! :)
Why do you pre-cook the meat instead of adding it to the slow cooker raw?
Browning the meat adds a lot of depth to the flavor. You can skip this step but the final product will have a more one-dimensional or flat flavor (if you can imagine the difference between a boiled chicken breast or one cooked on a grill, it’s a similar effect). :)
Where can you get a cup of beef broth for $.13?
I use Better Than Bouillon concentrate to make my broth. It’s very inexpensive, lasts just about forever in the refrigerator, and you can make any amount of broth that you need at one time (unlike cubes that you have to make in one cup multiples). I usually put a note in the recipe about it because so many people ask, but forgot. :)
I love that you made this in a slow cooker and that you used a roast.
I think this would be very tasty to cook in my stove top pressure cooker! When I make this recipe, I will put the tomatoes and tomato paste on top of the meat and not stir it in – as suggested on some pressure cooking blogs. There is a chance the tomato sauce could scorch on the bottom of the cooker. A good stir after pressure cooking will mix the tomatoes/paste in with the meat and shred the meat at the same time. I love stewed beef done under pressure!
Summer is right around the corner, so this would be the perfect time for me to use my slow cooker. :-)
This slow roasted ragu sauce looks amazing. I can imagine that leaving in the fridge for a day also helps all the flavour to deepen and meld together. Definitely on my to make list. Thank you. Sammie
Looks amazing! And just in time for summer……I use my slow cooker in the summer more than any other month. Such a nice way to avoid the heat the oven and stove bring! Unfortunately, so many slow cooker recipes are tasteless or gross (why are people so obsessed with dump and go recipes when they taste so bad?! am I the only one who thinks this??). Glad for a nice looking one for a change :)
I agree with you about most of those dump and go slow cooker recipes. Everything just gets soft and mushy. The slow cooker is great for some things but definitely not EVERYthing. :)
My yellow onions are $1 per pound. Where are you finding them for $0.16 each?!
I got a crazy good sale last week!! :D I think it was $0.50/lb. They’re usually at least twice that per onion.
Ooh this looks so good! And love that its in the slow cooker and makes a ton for leftovers!