Slow Cooker Short Rib Bolognese

This shop {Slow Cooker Short Rib Bolognese} has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PickedAtPeak #CollectiveBias

I love all the seasons of the year, but fall may be one of my favorite cooking seasons. It’s the perfect time to make a warm and hearty meal to enjoy with the ones you love. Busting out the slow cooker for the colder months is my favorite way to welcome the season. It gets so much use this time of year. We had an especially great time bundling up for our trip to the local Walmart to pick up Prego Farmers' Market® Classic Marinara and fresh produce for this recipe.

If there’s anything I wish I had more time for, it would definitely be more time to make a rustic and hearty slow cooked Italian dish. However, I know that not many people have several hours to spend over the stove making sure the dish properly simmers. I haven’t had that kind of free time in ages! I sometimes imagine how nice it would have been to live in a time where social media didn’t exist and all meals were cooked from scratch using the freshest ingredients that you collected that day from the town’s farmers market. I’m sorry if I’m 1:1,000,000 people who would prefer a world without television and video games.

So, I finally came to the realization that social media, TV, and being busy are just a part of life. However, we can still pretend that we spent all day slaving away making a fabulous dinner that tastes like it’s straight out of the Old World - made with fresh produce, hearty seared short ribs, and a quick sauce that doesn’t require 18 hours of simmering time. The best part is that this meal can be quickly prepped and then set in the slow cooker to let you do whatever else it is you like to do in your spare time.

This recipe is going to wow your family (or guests if you choose to make this meal for a fancy gourmet dinner party) with its elegance and rich flavor. There’s a fair chance it’ll also amaze you with its simplicity. My friend originally had a version of this meal while we were out to dinner in Disney World on vacation. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD and I knew I needed to recreate it at home.

To make this recipe as simple as possible, I quickly seared the short ribs to develop a crunch on the outside. Once that was done, on to the slow cooker it went. Next up came the fresh veggies we picked up from Walmart - onions, carrots and celery to make a traditional mirepoix as the base of our bolognese sauce.

I chopped these up and tossed them in the sautee pan with a little olive oil. After cooking these veggies until they were slightly browned, I added minced fresh garlic. You can never have too much garlic! Add in the red wine and cook for 3-4 minutes to make sure the alcohol has cooked out of the wine.

Once the initial cooking is taken care of, move the wine soaked veggies (read: best veggies) into the slow cooker with a jar of Prego Farmers' Market® Classic Marinara. I love that this sauce tasted like a homemade sauce - I could practically taste the tomatoes and basil picked at the peak to make a fabulous marinara. I’m especially fond of getting that farm fresh taste without having to actually own a farm or simmer my own sauce for an entire day.

And here comes the best part - set your slow cooker on low and let it cook for 6 hours. You won’t have to worry a bit about cooking until it’s time to make your pasta. I’d even dare to say that the most difficult part of this dish is searing the meat, cutting the vegetables, or making the pasta. If you can do those three things, you can certainly create a dish that’ll taste like you spent hours slaving over the stove top, when in reality you let the slow cooker do all the work. It can be our little secret 🙂

A few minutes before dinner, prepare the tagliatelle according to the package. Remove and toss the bones from the short ribs and shred any large pieces of meat. This dish is best served over a hot bed of thick cut tagliatelle and finished off with a hearty sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. This short rib bolognese is hearty and robust, bursting with flavor from the wine, veggies and sauce.

Never have I ever been more satisfied with a big bowl of pasta and bolognese. Is this too much Parmesan cheese? My friends, there is never too much cheese. The limit does not exist.

What’s your favorite warm and cozy meal?

Want to make your own big batch of short rib bolognese sauce? You can save on Prego Farmers' Market® sauces with this coupon!

I loved this video that showcases how Prego is bringing farm fresh flavors to places without farmers' markets in their new line of sauces.

This recipe was inspired by Italian Food Forever.