Italian Braised Pork Ragu, a delicious Italian classic that features pork ribs slowly stewed in tomato sauce until tender.
In traditional Italian cuisine, especially in Central and Southern Italy, sauce and whole pieces of meat are not typically eaten together. In this recipe, the ribs are cooked with the sauce and then removed from it to be served in a separate course. The sauce is combined with pasta for the first part of the meal! It doesn’t get more Italian than that.
You can make ragu with any type of meat that you like. It is commonly made with pork or beef, and you can experiment with different cuts of meat. Our Short Rib Ragu used short ribs, while this one uses pork back ribs which have a slightly different texture and flavor
Here are a few reasons why you should make this pork rib pasta:
- It’s a traditional Italian recipe. If you’re into traditional Italian cooking, this is a great recipe to add to your menu. Different regions of Italy make this dish slightly different, but it is a tried and true dish that’s full of flavor and tradition.
- Cook once, eat twice. There are a couple different ways that you can eat braised pork ragu: as a pasta dish and a main course. You’ll never get sick of it because of the many ways that there are to enjoy it!
- It can be made in advance. This dish is easy to store, so you can make it ahead of time, keep it in the fridge, and heat it up and serve it when you’re ready to eat.
- You can freeze the leftovers. If you happen to have leftover pork rib ragu, it’s freezer friendly. Simply allow it to cool, store it in a sealed container, and reheat within a couple of months. Perfect for quick lunches or weeknight dinners in a pinch!
Ingredients you’ll need
- Olive oil: An Italian kitchen staple! It adds flavor to the pork and veggies in this recipe.
- Pork back ribs: The ribs will be braised and cooked with the sauce, before being set aside to be enjoyed in the second course.
- Carrot, white onion, and celery stalks: The key vegetables that add flavor and freshness to pork rib ragu.
- White wine: You’ll need 3/4 cup dry white wine to make the tomato sauce.
- Tomato passata: Another key ingredient for the sauce!
- Rigatoni pasta: The pasta we used tof this dish. You could also use garganelli or elicoidali.
- Salt and pepper: A little salt and pepper is all you need to finish off the flavor.
- Parmigiano reggiano: Add some grated parmigiano reggiano cheese to the top of the dish when it’s served.
How to make braised pork ragu: step-by-step
Prepare the ribs: remove the silver skin from the back of the ribs, and cut into pieces so that each piece contains 2 ribs. Sprinkle the ribs with salt and pepper on all sides.
Cook the pork with the sauce: Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once oil is heated, add the ribs to the pot, and let the ribs brown on all sides.
Add the white wine to the pot and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release any brown bits that may have been stuck to the bottom.
Let the alcohol evaporate off (a few minutes) and add the tomato passata. Stir.
Add the onion, celery, and carrot pieces. Stir again, and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Let the sauce come to a boil.
Turn the heat down to low (lowest setting on your stove) and partially cover the pot with a lid. Let the sauce cook down for 2.5-4 hours. The longer you cook the sauce, the more tender the pork ribs will be.
Remove veggies and ribs from the sauce: Once the sauce is done, take the celery, onion, and carrot pieces out. Remove the ribs from the sauce and set aside to eat as a main course. Alternatively: shred the pork meat and combine with the sauce.
Cook pasta and combine with sauce: Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. When al dente, drain the pasta, return to the pot, and add the sauce to the pot. Stir pasta and sauce together until well combined. Note you may have extra sauce left (feel free to use it another time!). Alternatively, add the sauce to a large pan, warm it up and add the cooked pasta to the pan. Mix it all together until combined–this is how to get restaurant quality pasta at home.
Serve! Plate the pasta, and top with grated parmigiano reggiano.
FAQ
In Italian cooking, ragu is a meat-based sauce that is often served with pasta. Meat like beef or pork is cooked low and slow with a tomato or wine-based sauce. Pancetta, celery, onions, carrots, and beef broth are other common ingredients. The meat is removed from the sauce and served in a separate course, while the sauce is served with pasta for the first part of the meal.
Bolognese is the ragu that is typical to Bologna, the Italian region of Italy. A Bolognese uses ground meat, so the meat is not removed from the sauce, and it typically uses much less tomato than other ragus. Sometimes, canned tomatoes aren’t used in bolognese, just tomato paste.
Not all ragu sauces are made with pork, but it is an option for making ragu. The most common types of meat that are used in ragu sauce are veal, beef or pork (including ribs and sausages)
Pork ragu will last in the fridge for up to 4 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Pork back ribs come from the upper rib cage and are shorter than spare ribs. On the other hand, spare ribs are larger, contain more meat, and have more bone and fat compared to pork back ribs.
How to store and reheat
- In the refrigerator: Store braised pork ribs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat, place in a pan and reheat on the stove.
- In the freezer: Braised pork ribs can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, thaw them in the fridge. Once thawed, place in a pan and reheat on the stove.
Top tips
- Keep the stem on the onion so that it doesn’t separate in the sauce – you will remove it at the end, and keeping the stem on will make it easier to remove.
- Pasta to use: Traditionally with a pork ragu like this one, short pasta is used, like garganelli, elicoidali or rigatoni. But I think a long egg pasta would work well here too, like pappardelle, tagliatelle or fettuccine.
- The traditional way to serve this sauce is to remove the ribs from the sauce, use the sauce for pasta, and serve the ribs in a separate course after the pasta. Alternatively you can shred the pork meat, add it to the sauce, and eat everything together, it’s up to you!
- If the sauce dries out too much while cooking, add some warm water to it
- You can use either pork back ribs or pork spare ribs in this dish – either will work well
More Italian pasta recipes
- Short Rib Ragu
- Stuffed Pasta Shells with Butternut Squash, Ricotta, and Spinach
- Penne with Lemony Ricotta, Zucchini, and Arugula
Italian Braised Pork Ragu
Italian Braised Pork Ragu, a delicious Italian classic that features pork ribs slowly stewed in tomato sauce until tender.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 kg pork back ribs
- 1 carrot peeled and chopped into 2 pieces
- 1/2 white onion with stem kept on
- 2 celery stalks cut into 4 pieces total
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 3 680 mL jars tomato passata (crushed strained tomatoes)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 500 grams rigatoni pasta
- grated parmigiano reggiano for serving
Instructions
-
Prepare the ribs: remove the silver skin from the back of the ribs, and cut into pieces so that each piece contains 2 ribs. Sprinkle the ribs with salt and pepper on all sides.
-
Heat a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat and add the olive oil.
-
Once oil is heated, add the ribs to the pot, and let the ribs brown on all sides.
-
Add the white wine to the pot and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release any brown bits that may have stuck to the bottom.
-
Let the alcohol evaporate off (a few minutes), and add the tomato passata. Stir.
-
Add the onion, celery and carrot pieces. Stir again, and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
-
Let the sauce come to a boil.
-
Turn the heat down to low (lowest setting on your stove) and partially cover the pot with a lid.
-
Let the sauce cook down for 2.5-4 hours. The longer you cook the sauce, the more tender the pork ribs will be.
-
Once sauce is done, remove the celery, onion and carrot pieces.
-
Remove the ribs from the sauce and set aside to eat as a main course. Alternatively: shred the pork meat and combine with the sauce.
-
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. When al dente, drain the pasta, return to the pot, and add the sauce to the pot. Stir pasta and sauce together until well combined. Note you may have extra sauce left, feel free to use it another time. Alternatively: add the sauce to a large pan, warm it up and add the cooked pasta to the pan, and mix it all together until combined – this is how to get restaurant quality pasta at home.
-
Plate the pasta, and top with grated parmigiano reggiano.
Recipe Notes
- Keep the stem on the onion so that it doesn’t separate in the sauce – you will remove it at the end, and keeping the stem on will make it easier to remove.
- Pasta to use: Traditionally with a pork ragu like this one, short pasta is used, like garganelli, elicoidali or rigatoni. But I think a long egg pasta would work well here too, like pappardelle, tagliatelle or fettuccine.
- The traditional way to serve this sauce is to remove the ribs from the sauce, use the sauce for pasta, and serve the ribs in a separate course after the pasta. Alternatively you can shred the pork meat, add it to the sauce, and eat everything together, it’s up to you!
- If the sauce dries out too much while cooking, add some warm water to it
- Keep the stem on the onion so that it doesn’t separate in the sauce – you will remove it at the end, and keeping the stem on will make it easier to remove.
- Pasta to use: Traditionally with a pork ragu like this one, short pasta is used, like garganelli, elicoidali or rigatoni. But I think a long egg pasta would work well here too, like pappardelle, tagliatelle or fettuccine.
- The traditional way to serve this sauce is to remove the ribs from the sauce, use the sauce for pasta, and serve the ribs in a separate course after the pasta. Alternatively you can shred the pork meat, add it to the sauce, and eat everything together, it’s up to you!
- If the sauce dries out too much while cooking, add some warm water to it
- You can use either pork back ribs or pork spare ribs in this dish – either will work well
- You can use either pork back ribs or pork spare ribs in this dish – either will work well
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