Chuck Roast Pasta is a simple and delicious dish for a cozy weeknight dinner. Make this Beef Ragu in your crockpot or simmer it on the stove! Great over ricotta cavatelli or any pasta you love!
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Chuck Roast Pasta is a hearty dish that is so simple to make. We cook chuck roast low and slow on the stove top or in the crockpot until it’s fall apart tender.
Toss this beef ragu with your favorite pasta (we love it with pappardelle or homemade cavatelli) and top with parmesan cheese and fresh basil for a weeknight dinner that feels restaurant quality.
This recipe was inspired from a traditional Neapolitan dish called pasta Genovese. This was one of our favorite dishes while traveling through Italy, but we recreated it with our own spin and a lot of veggies for our family.
why you’ll love this recipe
- Budget friendly – Chuck roast can be a cheaper cut of meat which makes this a great meal if you’re looking to save $$.
- Simple to make – You can make this beef ragu pasta on the stove or in your crockpot. Even though it cooks for a while, you don’t need to do much work!
- Meal prep friendly – This recipe makes a lot of beef ragu! You can serve a crowd, save it for the week for meal prep, or freeze some for another day.
Ingredients
- chuck roast -this is a type of a pot roast that is great for braising and slow cooking
- extra virgin olive oil – make sure to use a good quality oil, our favorites are Bono and Garcia De La Cruz
- sea salt & black pepper
- veggies: onion, garlic, carrots, celery
- white wine -you can also use red wine but I prefer the flavor of white wine. If you don’t have wine you can skip this!
- beef stock – we always use low or no salt because tomatoes can be salty.
- crushed tomato -whole tomatoes work well too just be sure to crush them
- bay leaf & parmesan cheese rind – both get removed at the end before serving, but add a ton of flavor!
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Chuck Roast: You could try to use top round roast or bottom round roast in place of chuck roast but I don’t think they have enough fat content to add the depth of flavor to this dish that really makes it flavorful. Chuck roast is an affordable cut of meat that can be found in most supermarkets!
Broth: Broth and stock are the same thing! You can use any broth or stock interchangeably. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Vegetables: You can easily add extra veggies to this dish if you are looking for some additional nutrients! Mushrooms and Spinach would work well. An easy way to sneak in vegetables in a sauce like this is to take some spinach and a cup of sauce, blend, and add it back into the sauce, your family will never know!
Wine: White wine or red wine work well for this recipe, we just prefer the flavor of white wine. You can also omit the wine altogether and replace it with stock!
Crushed Tomato: Crushed tomatoes give this sauce a nice texture but you can also swap this out for jarred tomato sauce or whole canned tomatoes, just be sure to crush them by hand or with a food processor/blender.
To Make it Lower Carb: Instead of eating this chuck roast spaghetti sauce with pasta try zucchini noodles or hearts of palm pasta!
How to Make Chuck Roast Pasta
- Heat olive oil in a dutch oven until hot. Sear a seasoned chuck roast for 4 minutes on each side. Set aside.
- Sauté carrots, onions, celery, garlic, and bay leaves. Add wine to deglaze the pan. Simmer for 3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan.
- Stir in beef stock and tomato sauce. Add your parmesan cheese rind and chuck roast back into the pot. Cover and simmer on low.
- At 7 hours, remove from heat and let it come to room temperature, while covered, for the next hour.
- Remove the chuck roast from the pot and shred.
- Stir the shredded beef back into the sauce.
Tyler’s Tips for the best chuck roast sauce:
This chuck roast pasta recipe is great for meal prepping for the week or freezing portioned out meals for a quick weeknight dinner! Double the recipe and store this in the freezer for some easy weeknight meals!
Ask your supermarket butcher to trim off some of the excess fat on the chuck roast to reduce prep time!
Use a food processor to chop your veggies and shave some time off your prep work!
What to Serve with this Recipe:
This sauce is delicious over pappardelle or ziti, but you can enjoy it with your favorite noodles, even zoodles for a lower carb option!
Fresh herbs and parmesan are the best garnishes for this recipe, it’s a hearty meal your family will enjoy!
Storage
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months. We like these airtight containers for freezing! You can reheat this sauce directly from your freezer in the microwave/stovetop or thaw overnight in the refrigerator before enjoying.
If you need more freezer friendly recipes check out our Fill Your Freezer Ebook with 22 easy freezer meals!
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or on the stove. We prefer to reheat on the stovetop.
Chuck Roast Ragu FAQ:
Boneless chuck roast is without question the best cut of beef for ragu. It has enough fat in it to give sauces a lot of flavor. When cooked in tomato sauce, the beef is fall apart tender!
Your chuck roast ragu might be tough if you under cooked it. Chuck roast really needs to cook low and slow for it to become fall apart tender. Don’t rush the cooking process! It’s also helpful if you let the roast soak up all the juices from the sauce after cooking. Your ragu may also be tough from cooking it on high heat. Low heat is best for a chuck roast ragu.
Other one pot dinner recipes:
We love an easy one pot meal! Click here to get our free healthy one pot dinners cookbook.
Chuck Roast Pasta
Ingredients
- 2.5 pound chuck roast fat lightly trimmed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup diced onion 1 medium onion
- 1 tablespoon garlic about 3 cloves
- 1 cup diced carrots 2 large carrots
- 1 cup diced celery 2 large stalks
- ½ cup white wine or red wine (we prefer white wine)
- 1 cup beef stock chicken or vegetable stock works great as well
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce either works well
- 3 bay leafs
- 1 parmesan cheese rind optional
For serving:
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- ¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions:
- Before searing, lightly trim some of the larger chunks of fat and silver skin off of the exterior of your chuck roast. You can leave some fat on there as this will add flavor to the sauce and slowly melt away as it cooks.
- Preheat a dutch oven or deep pot on medium high heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add your tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and heat for an additional minute.
- Season both sides of the chuck roast with salt and pepper.
- Place chuck roast in the hot pan to get a nice sear. Sear for 4 minutes on each side.
- While the chuck roast is searing, chop your celery, carrots, and onions into small pieces. (you can also use a food processor to speed up this step)
- Once your chuck roast has a nice brown on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.
- Turn down the heat on the stove to medium, add your chopped carrots, onions, celery, garlic, and bay leaves to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes.
- Once the vegetables have sauteed, add ½ cup of white wine to deglaze the pan. Simmer for 3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits off, this adds great flavor to your sauce!
- Add your beef stock and tomato sauce, stir together.
- Add your parmigiano cheese rind and chuck roast back into the pot. Cover and simmer on low for 6-7 hours, stirring occasionally.
- At the 7 hour mark, shut the sauce off and remove from the heat. Let it come to room temperature for the next hour (while covered!) so the roast reabsorbs some of those juices and it cools down a bit. The roast will be fall apart tender at this point.
- Remove the chuck roast from the pot. You can shred the chuck roast with your hands using a pair of food grade gloves or use two forks to shred. Stir the cooked shredded beef back into the sauce.
- Serve over cooked pasta of choice. We love rigatoni or ziti for this dish but some of our other favorites are orecchiette, cavatelli, rotelli, and casarecce. We like to toss the cooked pasta with the sauce, top it with an extra scoop of the sauce, fresh basil and parmesan cheese.
Crockpot Instructions:
- Before searing, lightly trim some of the larger chunks of fat and silver skin off of the exterior of your chuck roast. You can leave some fat on there as this will add flavor to the sauce and slowly melt away as it cooks.
- Preheat a dutch oven or deep pot on medium high heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add your tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and heat for an additional minute.
- Season both sides of the chuck roast with salt and pepper.
- Place chuck roast in the hot pan to get a nice sear. Sear for 4 minutes on each side.
- While the chuck roast is searing, chop your celery, carrots, and onions into small pieces. (you can also use a food processor to speed up this step)
- Once your chuck roast has a nice brown on both sides, remove from the pan and place in the crockpot base.
- Turn down the heat on the stove to medium, add your chopped carrots, onions, celery, garlic, and bay leaves to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes.
- Once the vegetables have sauteed, add ½ cup of white wine to deglaze the pan.
- Simmer for 3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits off, this adds great flavor to your sauce!
- Transfer the veggie/wine mixture to the crockpot by gently pouring over the side. We usually do this in the sink in case it splashes a little.
- Add your beef stock, tomato sauce and parmesan cheese rind to the crockpot base. Stir together.
- Turn your crockpot to low for 7 hours. At the 6 hour mark, check your sauce. If your sauce looks a little too thin, you can uncover it the last 30 minutes of cooking to allow some of the liquid to evaporate, this will help naturally thicken the sauce. At the 7 hour mark, shut the crockpot off and let it come to room temperature for the next hour (while covered!) so the roast reabsorbs some of those juices and it cools down a bit, it will be fall apart tender at this point.
- Remove the chuck roast from the pot. You can shred the chuck roast with your hands using a pair of food grade gloves or use two forks to shred. Stir the cooked shredded beef back into the sauce.
- Serve over cooked pasta of choice. We love rigatoni or ziti for this dish but some of our other favorites are orecchiette, cavatelli, rotelli, and casarecce. We like to toss the cooked pasta with the sauce, top it with an extra scoop of the sauce, fresh basil and parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Use a food processor to speed up the veggie chopping time!
- Add a cup of frozen spinach and puree with some of the tomato sauce to sneak in some added veggies for your kids, they will never know!
- Prep all of your ingredients in advance and cook first thing in the morning for a nice Sunday dinner.
- Get creative with your pastas! I love rigatoni or ziti for this dish but some of my other favorites are orecchiette, cavatelli, rotelli, and casarecce
Karol says
This was so easy and tasty! I served it over egg noodles tonight. I may have the leftovers with homemade bread tomorrow instead of noodles. Thank you for another delicious recipe!
Liz Marino says
So glad you liked it, Karol! Thank you!