Beef ragu in a bowl with polenta and pepper on the side.

One of our favorite chilly weather meals is this Beef Ragu Recipe. It’s delicious, hearty, cozy, and very easy to make! You basically dump all the ingredients for this ragu into a Dutch oven in stages, close the lid and let everything simmer, until the beef is melt in your mouth soft.

Leftovers are even better the next day which we also love. This beef ragu recipe also freezes really well so you don’t have to worry about making a full recipe for just a couple people.

What is Beef Ragu?

Traditional beef ragu is a budget friendly Italian meat sauce that incorporates tomatoes. It begins with a mix of sauteed vegetables, a soffrito, and It can be used with other proteins such as pork, chicken and lamb, but it’s important that the meat is the main focus. It’s a meat sauce with tomatoes and and not a tomato sauce with meat.

How to Make Beef Ragu

Ingredients for Our Beef Ragu Recipe

Process

Beef Ragu

Season chuck roast with salt and pepper.
Pour oil into Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef to Dutch oven and sear on each side. Remove from pot and set aside.

Add more oil to Dutch oven followed by onions, carrots and celery and sauté. Add the garlic and continue to sauté. Season with salt and pepper. Add oregano, tomato paste and balsamic vinegar to mixture.
Stir together.

Sauted veg with tomato paste and herbs in a stock pot.

Vegetable and tomato paste in a stock pot.

Deglaze pot with broth, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and basil leaves and stir together.

Veg with broth and tomatoes with herbs in a stock pot.

Add beef back into pot and reduce heat to medium-low to low.
Cover and (barely) simmer until beef is for tender and falling apart.

Beef simmering in a stock pot to make beef ragu.

Shred beef with 2 forks and stir into sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Polenta Process

Pour water into a saucepan and place over heat. Season with salt and pepper. Bring water to a boil and whisk in the polenta until fully combined. Lower heat and simmer, while constantly stirring, or until the mixture thickens (to a porridge consistency).
Remove polenta from heat and stir in the butter and shredded gruyere a little at a time, until mixture is creamy and smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Polenta in a pot with cheese being mixed in.

Assembly

Scoop polenta into bowls and top with beef ragu. Top each bowl with more grated Parmesan and fresh basil leaves. Serve.

Beef ragu overhead in two bowls with forks.

Making Beef Ragu in an Instant Pot

This beef ragu recipe does very well in an Instant Pot, plus it saves hours overall. If you’re limited on time and have an instant pot you can easily make this recipe using it!

Press saute function on your instant pot and adjust time to 20 minutes.
Add oil and sear seasoned chuck roast pieces on both sides. Remove beef from pot and set aside.
Add remaining oil to pot and sauté vegetables. Season with salt and pepper.
Add oregano, tomato paste, and balsamic vinegar and continue sautéing.
Stir in broth, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and basil and simmer.
Add beef back to pot and press cancel button, to stop sautéing.
Secure lid onto pot and ensure pressure valve is set to sealing.
Cook on high pressure for 40 minutes.
Allow valve pressure to vent naturally before removing lid.
Shred beef and stir. Adjust seasonings as needed.
That’s it!

Tips and Tricks for Beef Ragu Success

evenly sized pieces of chuck roast – this will allow the beef to cook evenly.
low and slow – which will prevent the bottom from burning. It will also help to prevent the beef from getting tough.
the ‘soffrito’ – which consists of the sautéed onions, carrots, celery, and garlic is a traditional Italian base, used in many dishes. While you may not see it in all ragu recipes, it adds an incredible amount of flavor to the dish.
cut of beef – part of the beauty of beef ragu is that you’re able to use an inexpensive, tough cut of beef and turn it into something tender and delicious. Our preference is chuck roast for its good beef flavor and inexpensiveness, but other options are rump roast and short ribs.
add more broth as needed – If all liquid has evaporated and beef still needs more time to get tender, stir an additional cup of beef stock back into the ragu and continue to gently simmer.

Braised beef ragu in two bowls with forks on the side.

What to Serve with This Beef Ragu Recipe

Our beef ragu recipe includes a recipe for cheesy polenta, which is one of our favorite ways to serve this dish, but you can also serve it over:

pappardelle
rigatoni
penne
tagliatelle
gnocchi
mashed potatoes

Making Ahead and Freezing Beef Ragu Instructions

Make Ahead

This dish can be stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To reheat: Pour beef ragu into a pot and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally until heated through. If ragu is too thick, stir in 1/2 cup beef stock or water and continue to gently simmer until heated through.
Re-season with salt and pepper as needed.

Freeze Ahead

This dish can be poured into an airtight, freezer-friendly container and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To reheat: Place frozen container of ragu in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Once ragu is thawed or mostly thawed, pour contents into a pot and simmer over medium-low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally. If mixture is too thick, stir some beef broth to ragu (1/4 cup for every 3 cups) until desired consistency has been achieved.