Slow Cooked Lamb Ragu

My Slow Cooked Lamb Ragu with pappardelle is comfort food at its best!

This slow cooked lamb ragu will give you soft, tender, mouth-watering braised lamb in a rich red wine and tomato sauce.

This is a rich, hearty lamb ragu packed with vegetables, so all you need to do is put it with some pasta and dinner is sorted.

I like to use pappardelle pasta, but you could use whatever you have on hand.

Why you will love this slow cooked lamb ragu

• Oh-so-tender lamb.
• Rich sauce.
• Serve with potatoes, rice, pasta - you name it!
• Freezes like a dream!

What you need to make this slow cooked lamb ragu

• lamb shanks
• olive oil
• speck
• button mushrooms
• carrots
• a large brown onion
• plain/all-purpose flour
• fresh garlic
• dry red wine
• tomato paste
• fresh rosemary leaves
• dried bay leaves
• beef stock
• pappardelle pasta - to serve
• shaved parmesan cheese - to serve

*Please see the recipe card below for exact quantities and detailed instructions

Top tips for making this slow cooked lamb ragu

• Make sure you get some good deep colour on your lamb shanks when you brown them. This will give you bags more flavour at the end.
• I have cut the carrots quite large for this recipe, this is so that they mostly stay intact for the 3 hour cooking time. You could cut them smaller/thinner if you like, but just know that they will probably break down a lot by the end of the cooking time - which is fine if that's what you are going for!.
• The recipe calls for a circle of baking paper (or a "cartouche" in fancy cooking terms) to be placed over the meat as it cooks - this keeps the top of your meat/veg moist as it simmers. You can see my post Mushroom Osso Buco & Cartouche Instructions for more info.
• You will need to be careful when you are taking the shanks out of the sauce once they are cooked. The meat will be VERY soft, and has a tendency to come away from the bones (which is what we want!) BUT bits of lamb can "plop" back into the sauce as you fish the shanks out and splash you with hot sauce! Been there, done that.

Variations and serving suggestions

• I like to serve this lamb ragu with pappardelle because the wide pasta helps to hold the sauce, but you could serve this with any style of pasta you wish. It would also pair well with mashed potatoes or rice.
• If you can't find speck or don't want to use it, you could substitute streaky bacon.

Slow cooker instructions

Make the slow cooked lamb ragu up to end of step 6 in the recipe instructions. At this point, add shanks to the slow cooker and then top with stock and cook as per your slow cooker's instructions.

Browning the lamb shanks and vegetables in the frying pan first before they go into the slow cooker is the secret to getting a rich deep flavour in your ragu.

If you have a slow cooker with a fancy "sear" function (which I don't!) you could follow the recipe as is, just in the slow cooker.

Other recipes you might like

Rich Lamb Stock - easily make your own rich, flavoursome lamb stock at home with just a few ingredients and hardly any hands on time.

Easy Lamb Gravy - my recipe for lamb gravy that can be made with or without pan drippings. A fast and easy sauce for lamb dishes of any kind!

Lamb Stifado - a meltingly tender, slow-cooked stew of lamb shoulder with onions in a sauce spiced with cinnamon and cloves.

Amazing Slow Cooked Pulled Lamb Shoulder - another great recipe for fall-off-the-bone lamb!

Oven Roasted Lamb Ribs - only 6 ingredients needed for these tasty, moist and easy finger-licking lamb ribs!

Lamb Chops Wrapped in Prosciutto - maximum flavour for minimal effort. Tender juicy lamb cutlets brushed with basil pesto then wrapped in prosciutto - yum!

Lee-Ann ♥

Slow Cooked Lamb Ragu

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This slow cooked lamb ragu will give you soft, tender, mouth watering braised lamb in a rich red wine and tomato sauce.

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Total Time: 4 hours

Servings: 4

Calories: 635kcal

Author: Lee-Ann Grace

Ingredients

MetricUS customary

• 4 lamb shanks - trimmed of excess fat
• 3 tablespoon olive oil divided
• 200 g speck chopped
• 300 g button mushrooms quartererd
• 2 carrots sliced into 1cm (⅓") half moons
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 tablespoon plain/all purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 4 garlic cloves crushed/minced
• 2 bay leaves dried
• 4 cups beef stock (warmed in microwave - optional to save time, see my notes)
• pappardelle pasta to serve
• shaved parmesan cheese to serve

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 160c / 320f.
• Heat olive oil (1 tbsp) in a large dutch oven. Fry sliced carrots, chopped onion & chopped speck over medium heat for 4-5 mins, or until onion starts to soften & speck starts to colour slightly.
  3 tablespoon olive oil

  2 carrots

  1 onion

  200 g speck
• Add mushrooms to onion mixture and continue to fry, stirring, for 2 mins then remove everything to a bowl and set aside.
  300 g button mushrooms
• Allow pot to reheat, meanwhile dust lamb shanks in flour. Add olive oil (1 tbsp) to pot and fry shanks over medium high heat for 7-9 mins, turning occasionally to brown on all sides well and adding more oil as needed. You should be getting a nice brown layer on the base of your pot - this will add flavour to our sauce. 
  2 tablespoon plain/all purpose flour

  4 lamb shanks - trimmed of excess fat
• Once shanks are browned, remove to a plate.
• Add red wine to pot to deglaze. Stir tomato paste, dried rosemary, crushed/minced garlic & bay leaves into wine and bring to a simmer as you scrape up the flavour layer from the base of the pot. Simmer for about 2 mins or until wine mixture is reduced by about half.
  4 garlic cloves

  1 ½ cups dry red wine

  1 tablespoon tomato paste

  1 teaspoon dried rosemary

  2 bay leaves
• Return shanks to the pot, along with the reserved veg mixture plus any drippings. Add stock (4 cups) to the pot, mixing slightly to combine. Bring to a simmer - once simmering, cover lamb mixture with a circle of baking paper (see notes) & bake with the lid on for 3 hours or until lamb is tender. The lamb should be falling away from the bones.
  4 cups beef stock
• Once lamb is cooked, remove bay leaves & discard. Remove lamb from pot (leaving sauce in the pot) and shred lamb with 2 forks, discarding fat & bones.
• While you are shredding the lamb, place your pot o sauce on the stove top and simmer until the sauce is thickened to your liking. Add shredded lamb to sauce & serve with pappardelle pasta.
  pappardelle pasta

  shaved parmesan cheese

Notes

• I choose to heat my stock in the microwave purely to save myself some time. This is totally optional.
• Make sure you get some good deep colour on your lamb shanks when you brown them. This will give you bags more flavour at the end.
• I have cut the carrots quite large for this recipe, this is so that they mostly stay intact for the 3 hour cooking time. You could cut them smaller/thinner if you like, but just know that they will probably break down a lot by the end of the cooking time - which is fine if that's what you are going for!.
• The recipe calls for a circle of baking paper (or a "cartouche" in fancy cooking terms) to be placed over the meat as it cooks - this keeps the top of your meat/veg moist as it simmers. You can see my post Mushroom Osso Buco & Cartouche Instructions for more info.
• You will need to be careful when you are taking the shanks out of the sauce once they are cooked. The meat will be VERY soft, and has a tendency to come away from the bones (which is what we want!) BUT bits of lamb can "plop" back into the sauce as you fish the shanks out and splash you with hot sauce! Been there, done that.

*Please note that the amount of calories per serve is provided as a guide only, as ingredients and cooking methods can vary greatly*