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Slow Cooker Ragu
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Slow Cooker Ragu

Prep Time15 minutes
Slow Cooker Time8 hours
Total Time8 hours 15 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American
Keyword: crockpot dinner, crockpot ragu, crockpot recipes, gluten free crockpot recipes, gluten free slow cooker recipes, healthy crockpot recipes, healthy dinner ideas, healthy slow cooker recipes, ragu recipe, school night dinners, slow cooker ragu, slow cooker recipes, weeknight crockpot meal, weeknight slow cooker meal
Servings: 6 servings
Author: Renee Kohley - Raising Generation Nourished

Ingredients

For the Beef Marinade:

  • 1/4 cup red wine See Notes for swaps
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 - 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 lbs beef stew meat or flank steak

For the Slow Cooker Ragu:

  • 1 28-ounce can whole peeled or crushed tomatoes
  • 3-4 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup broth of choice or water
  • 1 medium onion shredded
  • 1 large carrot shredded
  • 1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin or squash puree (this is tasteless, but optional for extra fiber/volume)
  • 1 cup frozen riced cauliflower (this is tasteless, but optional for extra fiber/volume)
  • 1-1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 2-3 tbsp honey or regular sugar (this balances the acidity of the tomatoes - potentially could leave this out but it does make a flavor difference)
  • Marinated Beef and juices from above
  • Cooked pasta of choice and shredded parmesan for serving

Instructions

For the Beef Marinade:

  • The night before you want to make the ragu, put the beef and marinade ingredients into a container with a lid or freezer bag to marinade over night. This should only take a few minutes to do!

For the Slow Cooker Ragu:

  • Put all of the slow cooker ingredients into your slow cooker and use a potato masher to mash the tomatoes and mix the sauce together. (YES the beef AND the marinade ingredients go into the slow cooker too!)
  • Put the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
  • When the ragu is done, take the bay leaves out of the sauce, and use a potato masher to break up the stew beef. If you have flank steak, you can use forks to shred the beef. You can do all of this while your pasta is cooking.
  • Serve your ragu over cooked pasta with sprinkles of parmesan. If you are not able to eat pasta, it is also delicious over a baked potato or sweet potato!

Notes

  • The red wine is important for helping tenderize the beef stew meat or flank steak. If you cannot have red wine, use broth mixed with lemon or lime juice to help tenderize the beef.
  • PREP TIME SAVER - Since you are getting the beef into the marinade the night before, you could also shred/prep the veggies the night before too. This will truly make it all a dump it all in prep in the morning.
  • You could also use a beef roast for this recipe. The stew beef and flank steak are budget saving and prep time saving options. 
  • We like to use this gluten free egg tagliatelle pasta for this recipe, but any pasta will work for serving.