Simple Braised Beef Ragu With Greens and Beans
The simplest preparation of a beef ragu, made with chuck roast and served with beans and greens, is velvety, versatile and smooth flavored. A little goes a long way with this rich, but easy recipe, and if you are pasta obsessed, you can have it your way.
Preparing a classic ragu can be intimidating, because of its reliance on traditional cooking methods and techniques. And yet, if distilled down to the key parts, it can be quite simple. This recipe is a representation of that distillation of a classic preparation of braised beef. The meat choice has been made for you, and the key elements have been preserved. It does take 3 hours to cook, but the hands on time is but a moment in time. The rewards are great and I’ve provided a new way of serving ragu that I think you will love.
The velvety, versatile and smooth flavored ragu you can pull off with ease.
RECIPE RECAP:
~ A classic ragu seems like quite the endeavor in the kitchen, but this one can be pulled of with less than 30 minutes of hands on time, and has serving options.
~Plan of attack:
1. sear the beef and saute the aromatics. 2. add tomato paste and liquids & cook for 3 hours. 3. shred the beef, and ideally refrigerate overnight, so fat can be skimmed off sauce. 4. reheat and serve it up (or eat same day if you aren’t concerned with removing fat).
Ingredient notes
- Beef: this recipe is developed for a 3-4 lb chuck roast. The same method can be used with beef shin or short ribs, but both contain more fat than the chuck roast cut.
- Liquid: I’ve chosen white grape juice and a tablespoon of tamari (low sodium wheat-free soy sauce), in place of the classic use of red or white wine because I find wine in braised meats can taste a bit too acidic. A sprinkle of red wine vinegar creates the perfect balance. See recipe notes for more.
- Aromatics: onion, a full head of garlic and fresh thyme sprigs are used. You can sub dried thyme, but I don’t recommend subbing anything for all that fresh garlic.
- Beans: any type of white bean can be used (navy, cannellini (white kidney), butter).
- Greens: any type of green can be used, from kale (what I use), to spinach, to baby bok choy or swiss chard. Choose based on bitterness, and the degree to which you prefer the bitter flavor.
Substitutes summary: The suggested cut of meat is chuck roast (not as fatty as short ribs or shin). I’ve substituted white (or dark) grape juice for the traditional ingredient of wine, for less rich flavor, but if you already know you love the flavor of cooked wine, go for it. Any white bean (canned/already cooked) and any type of green (choose one with the bitterness you like) can be used.
Step-by-step instructions
- Sear chuck roast on the stove top, using medium-high heat and tongs to turn (sear edges if you can, as well). Five minutes per side works well if heat is high enough. You want color and some char (not burnt though). Set aside.
- Saute onions in same pan used to sear meat, adding olive oil and cooking about 5 min, then add roughly chopped garlic and sprigs of time, and saute a few minutes to mellow garlic.
- Add tomato paste, stir and cook on medium heat 5 minutes until tomato paste begins to stick (the sugars are caramelizing).
- Add liquids and stir (grape juice, water, tamari).
- Add seared meat into pot and cover.
- Cook in middle of oven, covered, for 3 hours.
- Remove meat from pot, place on plate to shred with two forks. Ideally, refrigerate overnight, with the beef stored separately from the broth so you can easily skim off congealed fat. The next day, skim the fat, and return meat to pot to reheat.
- This shows what the fat looks like once refrigerated. I forgot to store the meat separately that time, and you can see it’s trickier to remove the excess fat.
- Clean greens (I use kale), rinse and drain beans (I use canned), and chop kale roughly.
- Stir both ingredients into ragu and cook for 10 minutes until greens are wilted.
Tips for making beef ragu
- Make ahead: if you make the ragu a day or two ahead of serving, you have the option of spooning off the fat that congeals on top of the ragu. I recommend this, but you can certainly serve the same day you make it. I’ve never noticed anyone complaining about an “extra velvety” texture from the extra fat still in the ragu.
- Serving: this recipe will serve 6. However, due to the rich nature of the braised meat, I highly recommend the option of adding twice as many beans and greens for a fiber rich, more vegetable forward, and healthy meal that tastes like ragu, but less rich.
- Ragu with pasta: if you try the option of serving with pasta, or try the leftovers with pasta, I recommend cooking pasta until al dente, reserving a cup of pasta cooking liquid, and stirring pasta into ragu along with enough of the reserved liquid to get the consistancy you like, then stirring and cooking another five minutes so the pasta can absorb some of the flavors. Don’t over cook for too long, or the pasta will start to break down. Below it is shown drizzled with a bit of thinned creme fraiche for some tang.
- All the things: the dish is also great if the the beans, greens AND pasta are added. This makes a very hearty meal and would serve up to 8 people with a salad quite nicely.
Above: braised beef ragu can also be served, traditionally, with pasta. Served with greens and beans is my favorite way, and if feeding a crowd, I stir in the greens, beans, and pasta as well!
Nutritional highlights: the beans and kale add so much fiber (6g per serving). The recipe has 9g protein, and 893 mg of potassium. As well, it’s rich in calcium. Overall it’s nutrient dense, but not too caloric.
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Simple Braised Beef Ragu With Greens and Beans
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Start CookingKitchen Tools
- 1 dutch oven, any 3-4 qt covered, oven proof pot works
Ingredients
- 3 lb boneless chuck roast (3-4 lb range)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 ea medium onion
- 1 ea head of garlic (8-12 cloves)
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme (sub tbsp dried thyme)
- 6 oz tomato paste (4-6 oz (one small can/jar))
- 3 cups white grape juice (sub purple grape juice or wine (red/white))
- 3 cups water (sub beef broth if you like the flavor/saltiness of broths)
- 1 tbsp tamari (low sodium/wheat-free soy sauce)
- salt/pepper (to taste)
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (2-4 tbsp to taste for acidity)
- 1 ea bunch parsely (for garnish)
- 2 can white beans (any type: cannellini, navy, butter, see notes)
- 2 bunch kale (sub any green, see notes)
Instructions:
- Check out the helpful ideas in notes below!
- Preheat oven to 350. Set rack with space in middle of oven.
- Heat dutch oven on medium high and sear all sides of the 3 lb boneless chuck roast (including sides if possible) for about 5 min per side, so all surfaces have a dark, almost charred color (not trying to render fats however). Set meat aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in the same dutch oven, with the leftover meat bits, on medium heat and add 1 ea medium onion, diced. Saute 5 min, to soften.
- Add the roughly chopped 1 ea head of garlic and 6 sprigs fresh thyme with salt/pepper, stir and saute another 5 min.
- Add the 6 oz tomato paste, stir on medium heat a few minutes until the paste starts to stick and caramelize.
- Add 3 cups white grape juice, 3 cups water, and 1 tbsp tamari, stir, add in the seared piece of meat, cover and place in oven to cook for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours, remove from oven, remove lid and using tongs, remove meat and place on a place.
- Use two forks to shred meat – read next step carefully.
- If eating right away, mix shredded meat into sauce, but if you can refrigerate overnight, store the cooked meat separate from the sauce, so that in the morning, you can easily spoon off the congealed fat from the top of ragu sauce (see photo in post), then add shredded beef to sauce and reheat.
- As sauce and shredded meat reheat, drain and rinse beans, Wash and roughly chop kale/greens. Stir into pot with ragu and cook 10 minutes until greens are fully wilted and soft. Stir often, and add a bit of water if needed, to avoid sticking.
