Slow cooker pork ragu
Pork shoulder melts into a rich tomato sauce all day, then gets shredded and tossed with rigatoni and a snowfall of parmesan.
- 500 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $1.96 a serving
- 730 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 2 lb pork shoulder, boneless, cut into 4 chunks
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup beef broth
- 1 lb rigatoni
- ½ cup grated parmesan
From your pantry
- 2 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 730 calories, 41 g protein, 74 g carbs and 30 g fat, and costs about $1.96 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No crushed tomatoes? Diced tomatoes work.
- No beef broth? Bone broth works.
- No rigatoni? Penne works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the pork all over with 1½ tsp of the salt and the pepper.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Stir the onion, carrot, garlic, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, Italian seasoning, bay leaves and pepper flakes together in the slow cooker.
Nestle the pork into the sauce, cover, and cook on low 8 hours, until it’s and falls apart when you press it.
Fork-tender. Fork-tender means cooked until a fork slides in with almost no push. It’s how you know potatoes, carrots or slow-cooked meat are soft all the way through.
How you’ll know: The fork slides in and out easily, and meat pulls apart with very little effort.
Timer: 480 min
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Lift out the pork, it with two forks, throw away any fat and the bay leaves, and stir the meat back into the sauce.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
About 20 minutes before serving, bring a large pot of water and add the rest of the salt.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cook the rigatoni 1 minute less than the package says, then it, keeping ½ cup of the .
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
High heatTimer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Scoop the pasta water out with a mug before you drain. It’s easy to forget once the pot is in the sink.the pasta with about half the ragu and of the pasta water, until glossy.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Splash. A splash is a small, quick pour, about a teaspoon to a tablespoon. It’s there to loosen or brighten a dish, so the exact amount doesn’t matter.
How you’ll know: The dish looks a little looser or tastes a little brighter, not soupy.
Serve topped with more ragu and the parmesan.
Dolly’s tip: Extra ragu freezes for 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and warm it while the pasta boils.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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