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This Lamb Ragu with homemade Pappardelle (pasta recipe coming soon) truly is the coziest, most decadent and delicious dish. The majority of the cooking for this recipe is done by the oven, which is amazing because you can do a bit of prep and then sit back, relax and just enjoy the smells as the lamb shoulder slowly braises for hours 🍷🛀.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Lamb Ragu Pappardelle
A delicious cut of lamb shoulder slow-braised for hours with onion, celery, garlic spices, wine and a bunch of other goodies all in one recipe – what is not to love?! This Lamb Ragu Pappardelle is even better the next day, so you can easily make it ahead for special occasions and heat it up when you’re ready to eat it.
Prep Like a Pro
Gather
- Olive Oil: 2 tbsp, divided
- kosher salt
- Tomato Paste: 3 tbsp
- Calabrian Chili Paste: 1 tbsp
- Allspice: ½ tsp
- Dried Tarragon ⅓ tsp
- Dried Oregano 1 tsp
- Red Wine: 1½ cups
- Balsamic Vinegar: 2 tbsp, divided
- Crushed Tomatoes: 1, 28 oz can
- Beef Stock or water: 1 ½ cups
- Garlic Head
- Parm Rind: 1
- Parsley: ¼ bunch, whole
- Pepper
- Crème Fraiche or Heavy Cream: ¼ cup
- Pappardelle: 16-20 oz
- Basil Leaves: 10 + more for topping
Chop
- Lamb Shoulder: 2-2½ lb, excess fat trimmed and cut into large chunks
- Onion: 1 large, diced
- Celery Ribs: 2, diced
- Carrots: 2, diced
- Anchovies: 3, minced
- Pecorino Romano: freshly grated, to taste
🫶 And that is it, subscribe for more!
Substitutions and Variations
- Substitutions
- If you need to switch out the lamb shoulder, I would recommend using lamb leg or beef chuck, but the cooking times will need to be adjusted.
- If you can’t find Calabrian chili paste, harissa paste is the next best thing.
- Bucatini will work in place of the homemade pappardelle if you’d like.
- Variations
- Easy Lamb Ragu Pappardelle Variation: If you don’t have time to make homemade pappardelle or just don’t want to, that is okay. My favorite is Frankie’s 457 Artisanal Pappardelle Pasta from Whole Foods.
- Mushroom Variation: For extra umami flavors, chop up some mushrooms and add them to the onions, celery, and carrots.
🔥Chef Nadia’s Tip🔥
Make sure you are taking the time to simmer your homemade pappardelle pasta in your lamb ragu sauce for a minute before serving! It really makes such a difference when the pasta has time to finish cooking and soak up the flavors of this amazing sauce!
The Perfect Pairings
A frozen Extra Dirty Martini would pair very nicely with this Lamb Ragu Pappardelle along with Tomatoes and Burrata as your appetizer. For a side, a fresh and simply Arugula Fennel Salad. To finish off the night, a Carrot Panna Cotta.
Lamb Ragu Pappardelle: Questions Answered
Yes! This dish is one of those that actually gets better the longer the flavors have to meld. What I recommend doing is, since the pasta needs to rest for a few hours, make the lamb ragu and refrigerate it while the pappardelle rests. Then reheat the ragu on the stove or in the oven while you roll pasta and enjoy. Just make sure you wait to roll and cut your pasta till right before making it.
They sell it in the stores around me so it isn’t a problem to find. If they also sell it around you, I used Calabrian chili paste from Whole Foods for this Lamb Ragu Pappardelle. If not, you can always just order it on Amazon or omit it completely.
You can substitute it for an alcohol-free red wine or just use beef broth. Both are great choices, and it will still come out fabulous.
Lamb Ragu Pappardelle Recipe
Equipment
- heavy bottom pot
- paper towels
- butcher knife
- Skillet
Ingredients
- 2-2 ½ lb Lamb Shoulder, excess fat trimmed
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- kosher salt, to taste
- 1 large onion
- 2 celery ribs
- 2 carrots
- 3 anchovies, minced
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp calabrian chili paste
- ½ tsp allspice
- ⅓ tsp dried tarragon
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1½ cups red wine
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups beef stock, or water
- 1 garlic head
- 1 parm rind
- ¼ bunch parsley
- fresh cracked pepper, to taste
- pecorino romano, to taste
- ¼ cup creme fraiche , or heavy cream
- pasta water, to taste
- 16-20 oz pappardelle
- 10 basil leaves, + more for topping
Instructions
- Trim the excess fat from the lamb and cut into chunks. Dry with a paper towel as well as you can. Sprinkle generously with kosher salt.
- Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a heavy bottom pot and preheat it on medium-high heat for a few minutes.
- In batches, add the lamb to the pot and brown on each side until nice and golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and set aside. Remove excess fat from your pot with a paper towel.
- Chop your onion, celery and carrot as small as you can. Add the other tbsp of oil to your pot and brown them in them in same pan.
- After about 15 minutes add in the anchovies, tomato paste, Calabrian chili paste and allspice, tarragon, and oregano. Cook together 3-4 more minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 300℉.
- Deglaze your pot with wine and 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar (save the other tbsp for later). Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a simmer. Add the garlic head, parm rind, lamb and the parsley. Cover and bake for 3-4 hours, or until super tender.
- Skim the excess oil from the pan with a spoon. Shred the lamb, extract the roasted garlic cloves from the head by gently pressing them out. Remove your parm rind. Let the sauce lightly simmer with the remaining 1 tbsp balsamic for 15-20 minutes. (If you are putting it away to enjoy later, this is the point that you will do so)
- In a large pot, boil water with salt and cook your pappardelle until al dente.
- Move your Lamb Ragu over to a skillet and finish it off with fresh cracked pepper, crème fraîche and basil. Add your al dente pappardelle with a little pasta water and continue to simmer with the sauce until the pasta is ready, this way it soaks up all those flavors! Top with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh basil leaves. Enjoy!
Kitchen Cam
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Dang it, Nadia! You do it time and time again. 10 stars out of 5. Remarkable.
😆 Thank you so much Breanna!
What kind of red wine do you like to use for this recipe?
Hey Gina. I don’t remember what red wine I used specifically for this one. My rule of thumb is don’t use cooking wine, use wine you would actually drink. That makes all the difference! A full bodied red, like a cab, is the wine you should be using for this type of recipe. Let me know how you like it!