This unforgettable Ground Lamb Ragu Pasta is slow simmered for an excellent depth of flavor with minimal chopping and just a handful of good authentic Italian ingredients. It's accessible to home cooks of any level. With ground lamb, tomato puree, red wine, and a few old world Italian secrets, we'll walk you through how to make this easy ragu pasta recipe, one simple step at a time!
The best recipes are ones that teach new cooking skills effortlessly, and this Ground Lamb Pasta is perfect for the occasion!
Ground Lamb Ragu Pasta is the perfect simple indulgence when it's cold outside! I make it most in the winter, late fall, and early spring months. The slow simmer keeps my home warm and it's easy to keep it going in the background while I focus on other tasks.
Because you can start and stop the simmer, it's easy to make Ground Lamb Pasta on busy weekends or weeknights too. I often start it in the evening and finish it the next morning or evening.
Serve Ground Lamb Ragu over pasta or gnocchi with my Gluten-Free Baguette, an easy green salad, or with an appetizer like Dairy Free Shrimp Scampi or a Gluten-Free Charcuterie Board.
For dessert, consider one of my Italian desserts like Impossibly Authentic Dairy Free Tiramisu, Dairy-Free Gelato (vegan), and Italian Hot Chocolate!
What is Ragu?
Ragu is a traditional Italian meat sauce made with tomatoes, red wine, and chopped vegetables. It is usually tossed with pasta for serving.
Most people have tried some version of a ragu or bolognese, but many versions are not made with the authentic slow-simmered Italian method.
This ground lamb ragu pasta recipe will walk you through how to make ragu authentically, with minimal ingredients and the true Italian "secret ingredient" of Time.
How to make it (with photos)
Ingredient Notes + Substitutions
This ground lamb ragu pasta recipe uses 12 common ingredients and is easy to make dairy-free if needed. You'll find substitution and variation ideas in the ingredients notes below the photo.
Ground Lamb
Any ground meat can be substituted for ground lamb. Ground beef is an excellent alternative. I recommend a 85-15 or leaner lean to fat ratio for best taste, but a leaner ground beef will also work in this recipe.
Butter
I used salted butter for this recipe, but you could use unsalted butter and adjust the salt amount to taste at the end. For a dairy-free alternative, use more olive oil in place of butter or dairy-free butter (I like Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks).
Dry Red Wine
For a non-alcoholic variation, you can replace the red wine with broth or simply skip the step altogether and move on to adding the tomato puree. When boiled off like this, the final alcohol content is nearly zero.
Pasta
When choosing pasta shapes, I like fusilli, spaghetti, or pappardelle pasta. I don't recommend small pasta shapes like orzo or macaroni. For gluten-free, Jovial brand has the most authentic taste and texture.
Gnocchi or polenta make a good alternative to pasta in this recipe.
More Ingredient Notes
- whole milk - Whole milk is traditional, but you can use milk with a lower fat content or lite coconut milk as a dairy-free alternative.
- ground nutmeg - Ground nutmeg is a traditional addition to Italian meat recipes like ragu and tortellini, but it can be omitted if you like.
- tomato puree - I like to use canned tomato puree, but you can substitute homemade if you like. If you like a really strong thick sauce, you can add 1-2 tablespoons tomato paste as well (though I don't think it needs it).
You also need olive oil, salt, pepper, onion, celery, and carrot to make this recipe. For a little heat, consider adding just a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like!
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients with quantities.
Step-by-Step Instructions
While each simmer step can take some time, this ground lamb ragu pasta recipe is great to put on the back burner, stirring only on occasion, while you work on other household activities.
Once the ingredients are added, it is also fine to turn off the burner if you need to leave or attend to other business. Simply resume the simmer when you are ready. Aim for a minimum of 2 hours of simmering, and complete the recipe within one day.
- Onion: Add the butter and olive oil to a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the onion. Cook, stirring on occasion, for 3-5 minutes or until the onion becomes translucent.
- Celery and Carrot: Add the celery and carrot. Toss to coat everything in the butter and oil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Lamb: Add the ground lamb, salt, and pepper. Use a fork to crumble the ground lamb into small pieces as it cooks. Stir frequently.
- Milk: When all of the pink color is gone from the ground lamb, add the milk and nutmeg. Allow all the excess liquid to bubble out, stirring frequently to prevent burning. You will know the excess liquid has left the pot when the contents of the pot look shiny and oily, and begin to stick to the bottom. This can take 15-20 minutes, so please be patient.
- Wine: Add the red wine and stir to mix everything together well, deglazing the bottom of the pan with your spatula. Then allow all the alcohol to bubble out. Alcohol evaporates faster than milk, so this step will be shorter than the previous one. Once again, look for the oily sheen and bits of sauce sticking to the pan to indicate it's time to move to the next step.
- Tomato Puree: Add the tomato puree and stir well, deglazing the pan in the process. Reduce heat to a very slight simmer -- low heat with just a few bubbles coming through slowly. Allow this slow simmer to continue for 2-3 hours, with the occasional stir. When the oil separates and the food begins to stick to the bottom, add ⅓ cup of water and let the simmering continue. After 2 hours, allow all the liquid to bubble out and the oil to separate. At any point during this process, use a spoon to skim off any extra fat/oil that you do not want in your final dish.
- Pasta: Make the pasta according to the package instructions and reserve ½ cup of pasta water after cooking. Toss the lamb ragu sauce with the drained pasta using a wooden spoon or spatula. Add a little reserved pasta water, 1-2 tablespoons at a time, until you have your desired texture. Top with grated parmesan cheese or dairy-free parmesan cheese if you like.
Hint: As the lamb ragu cooks, continue to scrape off the little browned bits that stick to the bottom of the pot. Usually after stirring the sauce around a few times, the water will be redistributed in the sauce and this makes it easier to scrape off. So give it a few stirs before adding any additional water.
Expert Tips
Make this Ground Lamb Ragu Pasta like my Italian Nonna with these expert tips!
The deeper the red color, the smoother the flavor.
When the Ragu is finished, the sauce should be greatly reduced from its original size and the color will be a deep red. The deeper the red, the smoother the flavor.
If the sauce still tastes acidic, it's not done simmering yet.
After 1 hour of slow simmering, the sauce will still taste acidic enough that you may wonder if you're missing an ingredient. Over time, the acid breaks down. After 3 hours, the taste is smooth and rich.
Adding a little sugar can help to reduce the acidic taste.
I only recommend adding the tiniest bit of powdered sugar if you need to serve some of this recipe early, before it's done simmering. Adding sugar to under-simmered sauce is exactly what the jarred American sauces do to cut down on the acidity. However, the best option is always to simmer some more!
Take a little sauce out at 1, 2, and 3 hours to taste test.
If you love a bit of food science or are skeptical on whether or not simmering is really worth it, you will love this experiment! The difference between 1 hour and 2 hours is stark. And between 2 and 4 hours, there's another significant difference!
If you add the ingredients out of order, you may need to simmer longer.
One time, my husband added the wine and tomato puree at the same time. At the wine step, you can keep the temperature high to boil the alcohol off quickly. However, once the tomato puree is added, a lower temperature is required to prevent the sauce from jumping out of the pan and making a hazardous mess. Simmer the sauce for longer than you usually would, and watch for that darker color and reduced acidity to indicate done-ness.
You can add more flavors, but you will likely only notice a small hint of change.
Adding a few cloves of garlic or a few basil leaves to the sauce made almost no difference in our experiments. I therefore did not include any extra flavorings to this recipe. The rich tomato and soffrito base (soffrito is the Italian word for onions, carrot, and celery cooked together) is easily stronger than these other more delicate flavors.
Jarred American Sauces often add these ingredients and they are more easily tasted because of the watered-down quality of the sauce.
Recipe FAQs
Here I answered some frequently asked questions about this Ground Lamb Ragu Pasta recipe. Don't see your question? Leave it in the comments at the end of this post and I'll answer within two business days.
Store extra ground lamb ragu sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. For best texture, store sauce and pasta noodles separately. I recommend making the pasta fresh to mix with reheated sauce if you have the time.
Ragu sauce is typically made with red wine while bolognese sauce is typically made with white wine. There is a stronger tomato base in ragu as well, and pieces of vegetables.
I do not recommend leaving out the milk. The milk in Ragu sauce helps to protect the meat from the more acidic ingredients like red wine and tomato puree. This helps to keep the meat tender and gives it that melt-in-your-mouth texture.
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📖 Recipe
Ground Lamb Ragu Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ large white onion finely chopped
- 1 large stalk celery finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1 pound ground lamb
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¾ cup whole milk see notes for dairy-free
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 ½ cups tomato puree
- 1 pound of pasta
Instructions
- Onion: Add the butter and olive oil to a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the onion. Cook, stirring on occasion, for 3-5 minutes or until the onion becomes translucent.
- Celery and Carrot: Add the celery and carrot. Toss to coat everything in the butter and oil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Lamb: Add the ground lamb, salt, and pepper. Use a fork to crumble the ground lamb into small pieces as it cooks. Stir frequently.
- Milk: When all of the pink color is gone from the ground lamb, add the milk and nutmeg. Allow all the excess liquid to bubble out, stirring frequently to prevent burning. You will know the excess liquid has left the pot when the contents of the pot look shiny and oily, and begin to stick to the bottom. This can take 15-20 minutes, so please be patient.
- Wine: Add the red wine and stir to mix everything together well, deglazing the bottom of the pan with your spatula. Then allow all the alcohol to bubble out. Alcohol evaporates faster than milk, so this step will be shorter than the previous one. Once again, look for the oily sheen and bits of sauce sticking to the pan to indicate it's time to move to the next step.
- Tomato Puree: Add the tomato puree and stir well, deglazing the pan in the process. Reduce heat to a very slight simmer -- low heat with just a few bubbles coming through slowly. Allow this slow simmer to continue for 2-3 hours, with the occasional stir. When the oil separates and the food begins to stick to the bottom, add ⅓ cup of water and let the simmering continue. After 2 hours, allow all the liquid to bubble out and the oil to separate. At any point during this process, use a spoon to skim off any extra fat/oil that you do not want in your final dish (see notes).
- Pasta: Make the pasta according to the package instructions and reserve ½ cup of pasta water after cooking. Toss the lamb ragu sauce with the drained pasta using a wooden spoon or spatula. Add a little reserved pasta water, 1-2 tablespoons at a time, until you have your desired texture. Top with grated parmesan cheese or dairy-free parmesan cheese if you like.
Pauline says
We did the simmer taste test at the start, 1 hour, and two hours and we were blown away! I even took some out for my hubbie to try. This ragu recipe was so easy and I made it throughout the day on a Saturday. Highly recommend!
Jamie says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Matt says
This is an amazing sauce. I’ve never made it like this before and it’s really easy. We won’t be getting the store bought stuff anymore!
Jeannette says
This is delicious. I didn’t know about the sugar in tomato sauces and how it’s a cheap alternative to actually making proper sauce. I loved the food science too. Thank you for this new family staple.