The Easiest Lamb Ragu
This is a simple sauce recipe that makes for The Easiest Lamb Ragu pasta dish. It has a rich, hearty flavor and is perfectly paired with fettucine or your favorite pasta. Dinner is on the table in 30 minutes, as this is quick recipe to put together!
The beauty of ragu is you can really make it whatever you want it to be! The Easiest Lamb Ragu recipe is made with ground lamb, simmered with white wine, tomatoes, garlic, artichoke hearts, and fresh herbs for a rich, flavorful sauce. It is a true comfort pasta dish that’s perfect for celebrating Easter, Spring or a weekend family dinner.
Comforting taste of the Easiest Lamb Ragu
I love a good Lamb ragu! This dish is so easy, as you use ground lamb instead of braising chunks of lamb, which makes the recipe much quicker. In less than an hour you have a deeply flavored delicious dish of pasta!
- Ground lamb – easy to find in most grocery stores. This recipes works well with ground beef as well.
- Use your favorite pasta – and serve any time of year, but specifically it’s amazing for Easter if you are not into traditional ham. Options for serving are many! We love this sauce over fettucine or pappardelle pasta, but you can also serve it over gnocchi (and have you tried the cauliflower gnocchi at Trader Joe’s for your gluten-free guests?), or even zucchini noodles!
- Flavor and ease – The flavors of plenty of herbs, garlic, tomatoes, and white wine, make this sauce an easy “go-to” quick and easy Bolognese sauce.
What is lamb ragu?
Lamb Ragu is a rich, slowly cooked Italian meat sauce. It’s hearty and can take on the flavors and texture of a good old-fashioned stew. Also similar to bolognese, you simmer the sauce (with wine). It is optional to finish the sauce with milk or heavy cream, if you want a more creamy sauce. Our recipe is more simple – with a straight-on tomato flavor and fresh herbs. Ragu is typically served over pasta!
What ingredients do you need to make lamb ragu?
- Butter – we use real butter!
- Garlic – most often in Italian cuisine onion and garlic are not used together it’s either one or the other but it really works with the rich lamb in this recipe.
- Lamb – I use 20% fat ground lamb. Ground beef works as well.
- Tomatoes – Use tomato paste plus cherry tomatoes.
- Artichoke hearts – use a good brand of artichoke hearts, you leave whole or cut into pieces.
- Dry white wine – a white wine is prefered, usually a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscadet, or Pinot Grigio.
- Fresh mint and fresh basil – make sure to use fresh sprigs and not dried.
- Salt – it’s so important to season your food. When the ragu is done taste it to see if you’ve added enough and add more as needed (a little at a time).
- Pasta – use a thicker long pasta, like fettuccine or pappardelle pasta.
How do you make easy lamb ragu?
Easy lamb ragu is made into a rich, simmered sauce with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red wine and fresh herbs then tossed with pasta. Or you can use the sauce to make lasagna! Lamb lasagna is also fantastic.
Fare la scarpetta! Don’t forget the crusty bread so you can mop up all the juices of the incredible sauce.
- Cook pasta to package directions, until al dente (about 1 minutes less).
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Brown meat, breaking up into smaller pieces, with some larger chunks (making for a rustic mixture of meat pieces).
- Season with salt, add the tomato paste, garlic and red pepper, then break the meat into bite-size pieces with a wooden spoon, stirring and cooking.
- Add the wine, and stir, scraping up browned bits, until reduced by half.
- Add the cherry tomatoes and cook. Smash some of the tomatoes and add the reserved 1/2 cup pasta water and the artichokes and scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Season to taste with salt and red pepper.
What goes with Lamb Ragu?
There are so many options to serve with this lamb ragu! Serve this with polenta, pasta, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash or pasta. We love it on gnocchi or sautéd leafy greens or roasted broccoli would be amazing on the side.
What wine does with Lamb Ragu?
We love a light bodied red wine, such as Pinot Noir. We’ve also served this dish with a beautiful Zinfandel. And if you haven’t tried Lambrusco, it’s great for summer months. So refreshing!
Tips and substitutions:
- Substitute ground beef if you really must––or a combination of beef and pork is fantastic.
- 20% fat ground lamb. If you can’t get ground meat it’s totally fine to use lamb shoulder cut into 1-inch pieces it’ll break up as it cooks.
- Drain the fat – once you have browned the lamb drain off any excess fat or your sauce will be a little greasy.
- Dry white wine – usually a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscadet, or Pinot Grigio.
- Add more liquid if needed – if your ragu reduces too much too quickly you can add a little more pasta water as needed. Or, if you forget to save pasta water, just add stock (any flavor works).
- Pasta to serve it with – we recommend serving lamb ragu with pappardelle pasta but you can choose what is in your pantry.
- Make it into lasagna – lasagna is such a great way to use up this ragu. Double the recipe and freeze 1/2 for making a lasagna at a later time.
- Pecorino cheese or Parmesan – We recommend a light dusting of Pecorino cheese or fresh Parmmesan grated on top of your ragu.
- This recipe comes together in less than 30 minutes and is perfect served over your favorite pasta or zucchini noodles.
More lamb recipes that are fantastic:
- Lamb Meatballs
- Beef and Lamb Stew
- Lamb Burgers
- Lamb Kofta with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
- Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb
Get the Recipe:
The Easiest Lamb Ragu
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fettuccine, pappardelle or other long, wide noodle
- 1 pound ground lamb
- Salt
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper, plus more to taste
- ½ cup dry white wine, optional
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
- 12 oz artichokes, drained, quartered if necessary (about 1½ cups)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup fresh mint
- ⅓ cup fresh basil
- Pecorino cheese or Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to package directions, until al dente (about 1 minutes less). Reserve 1½ cups pasta water and drain.
- Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium heat, add the ground lamb, spreading it out and cooking undisturbed until deeply browned underneath, 4 to 6 minutes. Drain off any fat.
- Season with salt, add the tomato paste, garlic and red pepper, then break the meat into bite-size pieces with a wooden spoon, stirring and cooking additional 2 to 4 minutes. Add the wine, and stir, scraping up browned bits, until reduced by half.
- Next, add the cherry tomatoes and cook 2 to 4 minutes. Smash some of the tomatoes and add the reserved ½ cup pasta water and the artichokes and scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Season to taste with salt and red pepper flakes.
- When the pasta is ready, add the butter and pasta to the Dutch oven, stirring and adding more of pasta water if needed, until the right consistency you are looking for. Again season to taste with salt and red pepper, stirring in most of the mint and basil.
- Add a tiny bit of fresh grated Pecorino cheese or Parmesan for serving, and a sprinkle of herbs to enjoy!
Notes
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
