A delicious Sunday masterpiece, Italian short rib ragu is braised in a dutch oven for 3 hours served over gnocchi. Short ribs are the perfect meat to slow-cook over a few hours for a big family dinner!
If you love a good Sunday sauce, try some of these: Not-So-Secret Bolognese, The Not-So-Secret Sunday Sauce, or Bison Ragu.
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Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Short Ribs. You have your options of Boneless or Bone-in. I would choose bone-in, although I have done it with both. The images in this blog are all made with boneless. I would choose bone-in because I find them easier to shred.
Red Wine. Always go with a merlot or cabernet. I always go with something that I would drink. I'm a little snobby with wine for some reason. I'll drink mich ultras all day long but when you hand me a bottle of Barefoot I turn my nose up. The taste of the wine is important because it is a crucial flavor in this somewhat pricier dish.
Whole Plum Tomatoes. I like to hand-crush whole plum tomatoes when I'm braising a sauce. They will cook down into a silkier sauce and will thicken over the course of the cooking process compared to a can of crushed tomatoes.
Pancetta. I love adding a little pancetta into this recipe but you can also substitute guanciale. It's a great way to add umami, or savoriness, to your sauce.
How to braise Italian short ribs
Take the short rib out of the refrigerator 30 minutes ahead of time—season both sides with salt and pepper.
Heat the dutch oven to medium-high heat and add olive oil. Sear the short ribs on both sides for 3-5 minutes until they have a golden brown crust. Set them aside.
Once the short ribs are seared, preheat the oven to 375℉.
Lower the heat on the dutch oven to medium. Add the pancetta and fry until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. You want to go low and slow for pancetta so you may even want to bring the heat down to medium-low depending on the heat of your burners.
See below how the fat slowly turns translucent while not burning the meaty part of the pancetta.
Remove with a slotted spoon and set them aside when the fat has rendered and the meat has a crust. Remove some of the oil but leave about 2 tbsp.
Add the carrots, onions, and celery. Saute for 5-8 minutes or until they begin to soften. Then stir in the garlic and saute for 1-2 more minutes.
Add tomato paste and combine. Saute for another 3 minutes. The tomato paste will start caramelizing and becoming stickier. It's okay if it leaves some brown spots on the bottom of the pan, they will add flavor during the deglazing.
Add the red wine and return the pancetta to the pan. Bring the wine to a simmer for 5 minutes. The wine should be reduced by about half. It should feel like it has thickened pretty significantly.
Once the wine is reduced, add in the whole plum tomatoes, crushing them by hand, or pulsing them in a food processor. (I prefer to do this by hand. They will break down in the sauce over the long cooking time.)
Bring the sauce to a simmer. Add the basil. Then place the short ribs in the sauce, buried about halfway. Cover the pot, and place in the oven for 3 hours.
Remove the cover after an hour and a half. Check the short rib every 30 minutes after you remove the cover for tenderness. Once the short rib is fork tender remove the pot from the oven. The sauce will appear slightly thin, as shown below, upon removing it from the oven, but that's okay.
Remove the short ribs and place them into a bowl. Use two forks to shred the meat.
When shredding the meat for the first time, it can be hard to know if it is too much effort. The meat shouldn't just be completely falling apart or feel like you would need a chainsaw to get through it. There should be some mild effort in shredding but nothing that feels like a work out.
Once completely shredded, return to the pot and mix with the sauce.
Top Tips
- Braising: Only place the short ribs halfway into the sauce. If they are too deep in the sauce, they will be boiled not braised. You want them to absorb the liquid. It seems counter-intuitive, but you want them to have some room to breathe. Use a larger dutch oven if you feel like they are completely under the sauce.
- Searing: Searing correctly is important. Don't move the short ribs until you're sure they have a really good sear. Then peel them from the pan and flip. It's also great to have the short ribs all in the pot at one time if you can. This decreases the escape of steam and steam can overcook the meat.
Serving with gnocchi
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add your gnocchi and cook as directed. Add some sauce and the gnocchi to a pan on medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer and combine with the gnocchi.
Cooking the gnocchi with the sauce will allow them to absorb some of the sauce and flavor. This is a must when cooking with gnocchi.
FAQs
You don't have to serve them with gnocchi! You can also serve them with rigatoni, creamy polenta, or mashed potatoes.
Sort of. Yes. Short ribs have a lot of connective tissue that needs to break down. It requires a lot of heat for a long amount of time. That's why braising is the best way to cook short ribs. They will get the heat for the length of time needed to break down that tissue. They just go from tough to tender though, there is no like increased toughness during the cooking process, they are just tough to begin with because of the connective tissue.
Storing and Reheating
The sauce cooks for about 10 servings total, depending on the type of pasta you use, you'll have leftovers. Store the leftover gnocchi in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days OR up to 6-7 days if you follow this storage method. Once the sauce is finished cooking and you remove the portion you will cook, place the meat in a new pot. Fill the sink with ice water and place the pot in the ice water and stir the sauce until it feels cold. This will avoid quick growth of bacteria. Then transfer to the refrigerator in an airtight container.
The sauce will keep in the freezer for 3 months.
Reheat by placing the desired amount of sauce in a pan and bring to a low simmer. Then serve over whatever you like or add your pasta to the pan to soak up some of the sauce.
Please leave a comment and star rating below in the recipe card! I love to hear about what you think of our recipes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @vindelgiudice.
Video Instructions
Our Favorite Italian Dinners
📖 Recipe
Italian Short Ribs with Gnocchi
Equipment
- 1 5-6 qt dutch oven
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs boneless short ribs
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 celery ribs, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes
- ¾ cup red wine
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¼ cup chopped pancetta
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 handful basil
- crushed black pepper
- 1 lb gnocchi
Instructions
- Take the short rib out of the refrigerator 30 minutes ahead of time. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the dutch oven to medium-high heat and add olive oil. Sear the short ribs on both sides for 3-5 minutes until they have a golden brown crust. Set them aside. Preheat the oven to 375℉.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the pancetta and saute until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. Remove and set them aside. Remove some of the oil remaining. Leave about 2 tablespoon of oil.
- Add the carrots, onions, and celery. Saute for 5-8 minutes or until they begin to soften. Stir in the garlic and saute for 1-2 more minutes. Then add tomato paste and combine. Saute for another 3 minutes. Add the red wine and return the pancetta to the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Once the wine is reduced by about half, add in the whole plum tomatoes, crushing them by hand, or pulsing them in a food processor. Bring the tomatoes to a simmer. Add the basil. Then place the short ribs in the sauce, buried about halfway. Cover the pot, and place in the oven for 3 hours. Remove the cover after an hour and a half. Check the short rib every 30 minutes after you remove the cover for tenderness. Once the short rib is fork tender remove the pot from the oven.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add your gnocchi and cook as directed.
- Remove the short ribs and place them into a bowl. Use two forks to shred the meat. Once completely shredded, return to the pot and mix with the sauce. Add some sauce and the gnocchi to a pan on medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer, combine with the gnocchi, and serve with extra sauce on top!
Notes
- Don't move the short ribs while searing. Let them sit there until the crust develops. The more you move them, the more steam you will create which will toughen the meat.
- Don't completely submerge the meat in the sauce. If you don't use a big enough pot the meat will be completely submerged and not braise. You want the meat to only be halfway into the sauce.
Kay
Is 375 for three hours a typo? The sauce was burned and dried out, but I was able to salvage the short ribs with extra cans of sauce from the pantry.
Vinny and Marisa
375 for 3 hours is the right amount of time. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I have a lot of questions about how you cooked certain things. But the main thing I would say is checking the meat and sauce every thirty minutes after you remove the cover is important so that you can see if something is burning. What size dutch oven did you use?