Beef shin is one of the cheapest cuts on the meat counter, and a day in the slow cooker turns it into a rich, tender ragu for pasta. You brown it, soften a few vegetables, add wine and tomatoes, and then leave it alone for eight or nine hours. This batch is for 350g of shin, which feeds two or three.
I cooked this from the recipe below for the photos on this page, on the Slow Cooking setting of my Tefal multicooker, set for 9 hours. To save the chopping I used dried rosemary and a bag of frozen diced onion, carrot and celery. I left the beef in chunks rather than shredding it, and served it with rigatoni and parmesan. It came out just as the recipe says, and I’ve added both of those swaps below in case they help you too.
The step that matters most is the browning. Get the shin properly coloured in a hot pan before it goes in. That’s where most of the flavour comes from, and a slow cooker can’t do it for you.
Slow Cooker Beef Shin Ragu
Beef shin browned hard, then cooked low and slow with wine, tomatoes and herbs until it falls apart. Toss it through pasta with parmesan.
Ingredients
- Beef shin, boneless, in large chunks (or bone-in slices) 350g
- Olive oil 1 tbsp
- Onion, finely chopped 1 small
- Carrot, finely chopped 1
- Celery stick, finely chopped 1
- Garlic cloves, crushed 2
- Tomato purée 1 tbsp
- Red wine (or extra beef stock) 100ml
- Chopped tomatoes 1 × 400g tin
- Beef stock cube ½
- Bay leaf 1
- Dried oregano ½ tsp
- Fresh rosemary (or ½ tsp dried) 1 small sprig
- To serve: pappardelle or rigatoni 75–100g per person
- To serve: grated parmesan to taste
Method
- Pat the beef dry and season it with salt and pepper. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and brown the beef well on all sides, in one batch, for 4–5 minutes. Put it in the slow cooker.
- Turn the heat down to medium, add the rest of the oil, and soften the onion, carrot and celery for 8–10 minutes, stirring now and then.
- Stir in the garlic and tomato purée and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble for 2 minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Tip everything into the slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, crumble in the half stock cube, and add the bay, oregano and rosemary. Stir, and push the beef down so it’s mostly covered.
- Cover and cook on Low for 8–9 hours (or High for 5–6), until the beef falls apart when you press it with a spoon.
- Lift out the bay and the rosemary sprig (and any bones). Break the beef into chunks with a spoon, or shred it with two forks if you like it finer, pulling out any large pieces of gristle.
- If the sauce is thin, cook it on High with the lid off for 30 minutes. Taste and season.
- Toss with freshly cooked pasta and a splash of the pasta water, and serve with parmesan.
Tips for getting it right
- Finding shin. Larger supermarkets sell it as beef shin or shin of beef. Braising steak works if you can’t find it, but it won’t be quite as rich.
- Brown it hard. Don’t move the pieces until they lift easily from the pan. A pale piece of shin makes a flat-tasting sauce.
- Frozen diced veg is fine. A bag of frozen diced onion, carrot and celery saves the chopping. Use about 250g straight from frozen and soften it until the water has cooked off.
- Size of slow cooker. A small batch like this suits a small slow cooker (3.5 litres or less). In a big one the sauce is shallow and can catch, so check it at 6 hours and add a splash of stock if it’s looking dry.
- Chunks or shredded. Both work. Chunks are good with chunky pasta like rigatoni, and shredded beef clings better to wide ribbons like pappardelle.
How to serve it
Rigatoni or pappardelle with plenty of grated parmesan is all it needs, with a green salad if you want one. It also works spooned over mash or soft polenta. If you’re wondering what a whole day of slow cooking costs to run, our slow cooker electricity cost guide works it out, and there are more ideas in our slow cooker meals round-up. There are more of the recipes I’ve cooked in our Kitchen & Food section.
Keeping and reheating
- Keep: cool any leftovers quickly, then keep them covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: in portions for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge.
- Reheat: in a pan with a splash of water until piping hot all the way through, then toss with fresh pasta.
FAQs
Can you put raw beef shin straight into a slow cooker?
You can, and it will cook safely, but the sauce won’t taste as deep. Browning it in a hot pan first is where most of the flavour comes from, so it’s worth the extra 5 minutes.
How long does beef shin take in a slow cooker?
About 8 to 9 hours on Low, or 5 to 6 hours on High. It’s ready when a piece falls apart when you press it with a spoon. If it still feels firm, give it another hour.
Can I make this ragu without wine?
Yes. Use the same amount of extra beef stock instead. The sauce will be a little less rich, so taste it at the end and season well.
What can I use instead of beef shin?
Braising steak or beef cheek both work. Braising steak is a little leaner, so the sauce won’t be quite as rich, but the timings are the same.
Can you freeze beef ragu?
Yes. Cool it quickly, then freeze it in portions for up to 3 months. Defrost it overnight in the fridge and reheat it in a pan until piping hot all the way through.
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