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This short rib pasta recipe is made with bone-in beef short ribs, pasta, veggies, and crushed tomatoes. It cooks low and slow, but it’s a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meal that’s pretty easy to put together!
Serve it with cheesy garlic bread and a side salad for a complete Italian dinner meal.
This dish takes a while to cook, but it’s totally worth it. The shredded beef ribs mix perfectly with the pasta and sauce, making it super delicious. You can taste the effort in every bite.
Table of Contents
INGREDIENT NOTES
See the recipe card below for ingredient quantities and complete instructions.
- Short Ribs – I know beef short ribs can be pricey, so feel free to use chuck roast or other slow-cooking cuts like stewing beef. If you’re using boneless meat, you’ll need about 2 pounds.
- Pasta – Any pasta will work for this recipe, just make sure to cook it in boiling salted water until it’s al dente.
- Crushed Tomatoes – Feel free to use a can of crushed tomatoes or homemade marinara sauce.
HOW TO MAKE SHORT RIB PASTA
- Pat dry your short ribs with a paper towel and season them generously on all sides with salt and pepper.
- Sear them in hot oil for a few minutes on each side, then remove them from the pot and set them aside.
- Add the veggies to the pot and cook them for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and tomato sauce and cook for 20 seconds.
- Add the wine and let it reduce by half. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, beef stock, and Italian seasoning. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the short ribs back to the pot, cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 2 hours.
- Once the short ribs are nice and tender, remove them from the pot and shred the meat. Discard any grease the sauce may have accumulated.
- Place the shredded meat back into the pot and check for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed. Allow it to simmer for 15-20 minutes while you cook the pasta.
- Stir in the cooked pasta, check for seasoning, and enjoy!
RECIPE TIPS
- When searing meat, you want to add it to a hot pan with oil. The meat will “stick” until it has seared at which point it will release from the pan much more easily. Getting a good brown crust on the edges helps build flavor in the sauce. If you overcrowd the pan, the moisture from the meat begins to sweat and you end up steaming the meat and you won’t get a good flavorful brown crust.
- Retain pasta water just in case. The water the pasta was cooked in is like liquid gold, it can be added to the sauce if it needs thinning, and its starchy content helps the sauce cling better to the pasta. You may not need it, and you can always discard it later, but you can’t get it back once it goes down the drain.
- Pappardelle is a thick hearty pasta that pairs well with a hearty sauce. But if you can’t find it, you could also use tagliatelle, or large tube shapes like tortiglioni or rigatoni.
- Make sure to check on the ribs and give them a stir every 30 minutes, so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
STORAGE
The sauce freezes well, but it’s best to not freeze it with pasta. Freeze the sauce in an airtight container or a Ziploc bag for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then heat up in a saucepan and it’s ready for your cooked pasta.
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Short Rib Pasta
This short rib pasta recipe is made with braised bone-in beef short ribs, pasta, veggies, and crushed tomatoes. It cooks low and slow, but it's a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meal that's pretty easy to put together!
Ingredients
- 3 lbs bone-in beef short ribs
- 1 lb pappardelle pasta
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 large carrot, finely diced
- 1 celery rib, finely diced
- 7 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 ¾ cup beef broth
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, San Marzano preferred, or whole tomatoes that have been hand crushed or pulsed with a hand blender.
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- oil, for searing short ribs
- parmesan cheese , to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Season short ribs with salt and pepper.
- Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add about 4 tablespoons of oil and sear the short ribs for 3-4 minutes then turn and sear each edge for another 1-2 minutes/edge. Be sure not to overcrowd the pan, sear in batches and add more oil if necessary.
- Remove the short ribs to a plate and set aside.
- Add the diced onion, carrot, and celery to the Dutch oven and sauté until the veggies have softened, about 3-4 minutes. I find the moisture from the vegetables is usually enough to start deglazing the bottom of the Dutch oven. So, if that is the case you can begin scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan while stirring the veggies.
- Add in the garlic and tomato paste cook for one more minute.
- Add in the wine and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes with occasional stirring to allow the wine to reduce. If there are still brown bits from the seared meat and veggies on the bottom of the Dutch oven, the wine will help to deglaze the pan be sure to scrape up all the last remnants.
- Add in the beef broth, crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, oregano, and Italian seasoning.
- Bring to a boil then nestle the short ribs into the sauce. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 2 hours checking on it every 30 minutes to give it a stir so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
- Discard the bay leaves, remove the short ribs and shred the meat. You can remove a lot of the fat layer that will have settled on the top of the sauce with a spoon. Discard the bones and return the shredded meat to the Dutch oven and continue simmering for 15 minutes with the lid off to help thicken the sauce. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
- Stir in the cooked pasta and check for seasoning one final time right before serving. Serve with fresh parmesan cheese and enjoy!
Notes
- When searing meat, you want to add it to a hot pan with oil. The meat will “stick” until it has seared at which point it will release from the pan much more easily. Getting a good brown crust on the edges helps build flavor in the sauce. If you overcrowd the pan, the moisture from the meat begins to sweat and you end up steaming the meat and you won’t get a good flavorful brown crust.
- Retain pasta water just in case. The water the pasta was cooked in is like liquid gold, it can be added to the sauce if it needs thinning, and its starchy content helps the sauce cling better to the pasta. You may not need it, and you can always discard it later, but you can’t get it back once it goes down the drain.
- Pappardelle is a thick hearty pasta that pairs well with a hearty sauce. But if you can’t find it, you could also use tagliatelle, or large tube shapes like tortiglioni or rigatoni.
- Make sure to check on the ribs and give them a stir every 30 minutes, so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
Nutrition
Calories: 663kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.05g | Cholesterol: 161mg | Sodium: 560mg | Potassium: 1221mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 342IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 7mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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