Wouldn’t you want to come home and to find that the house smells of this amazing Venetian Chicken Ragu? All you need is to load up your slow cooker and press ON!
Include this ragu as the centrepiece of an Italian feast with the help of our Italian Recipe Collection!
We all love eating a fantastic meal without having to spend hours in the kitchen or over a hot stove. Sometimes it’s a real treat to just throw the ingredients together and let it be until it’s time to eat and enjoy.
Times that that are when I’m thankful for my slow cooker or Instant Pot. Put the right ingredients in, give it time to do the work, and a truly fantastic meal is ready on the other end!
Starting your slow cooker in the morning is a great way to enjoy a fuss free dinner in the evening. This recipe is a great example of a slow cooker recipe that makes the most of your kitchen equipment.
There is not a lot of work that needs to be done before you can leave the slow cooker to do the hard work. The only downside is that you have to live with the most seductive smell travelling through your house until it is time to eat!
Chicken ragu
If you are familiar with Italian ragu sauces, you will be doing a happy dance right about now! Although we usually think of making ragu with beef, this recipe is boasting inexpensive chicken thighs without any compromise on flavour.
This Venetian Chicken Ragu is my interpretation of the Italian classic. Traditionally made with duck legs and served with thick pappardelle pasta, this ragu is as robust as the beef version.
This dish is absolutely perfect for cold winter nights served with some good crusty bread to mop up the rich sauce. Just add a simple salad and you’ve got yourself a great meal, one you wouldn’t be embarrassed to serve at a dinner party!
Making the ragu
I’ve adapted my recipe to the modern reader and used skinless, boneless chicken thighs. It is perfect for the slow cooker to make preparation as easy and convenient as possible.
There are two steps before the slow cooker is ready to be turned on. First involves building a base of flavour with oil and most of the vegetables. Then add the prepared chicken, red wine and chopped tomatoes and leave the slow cooker to do the hard work!
This recipe makes quite a bit, so freezing leftovers is one of my favourite things about it! You can pull them out later and make a delicious baked pasta dish. I am planning to make lasagna this week!
Recipe tips and notes
- Use chicken thighs rather than breasts for this recipe. Chicken breasts are not succulent enough for this sauce.
- Skinless and boneless chicken thighs should be used as slow cooked chicken skin is unappetizing and it is almost impossible to remove all the tiny bones from chicken thighs and legs.
- This sauce requires a robust pasta shape such as penne. Avoid using thin pasta like spaghetti.
Favourite Italian pasta recipes
- Bucatini all’Amatriciana and Meatballs
- Sausage Pasta Bake with Mozzarella
- Creamy Tagliatelle with Bacon, Mushrooms and Truffle Oil
- Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese
Venetian Chicken Ragu Pasta
Ingredients
- 3 lbs /1.3kg skinless boneless chicken thighs or duck legs
- salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 2 onions diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 sprigs rosemary chopped or 1 tbsp dried rosemary
- 2 X 400g/14oz cans of chopped tomatoes/crushed tomatoes for the US readers
- 250 ml /1 cup dry red wine
- 1 lbs robus pasta such as penne or pappardelle no spaghetti
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan and saute diced carrots, celery and onion over low heat for 10 minutes, add minced garlic and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes longer.
- In a slow cooker combine the sauteed vegetables, skinless, boneless chicken thighs previously seasoned with salt and pepper, chopped tomatoes and red wine.
- Set your slow cooker to LOW and cook for 8 hours. At the end of the cooking time remove the chicken thighs with a slotted spoon to a large plate and shred the chicken with two forks. The chicken should be easy to work with. Return to the sauce, season with salt and pepper to taste and mix thoroughly.
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions and combine the desired amount with Venetian Chicken ragu, freeze the leftover chicken ragu.
- Serve with shaved or grated Parmesan cheese.
Jane says
Could the ragu be served with potatoes instead of pasta? The recipe looks great and I love the idea of using a slow cooker and having it ready ahead of time….
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
You absolutely can, Jane! Potatoes or rice will work equally well with this ragu.
Barbara Wheeler says
This recipe sounds great.
I have 2 questions.
How to make in the oven or on top of the stove since I don’t have a slow cooker.
I want to know which to use, canned tomatoes or canned crushed tomatoes.
Thanks!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Hi Barbara, you can use the same recipe but cook it on a stove top instead of a slow cooker. My guess is it will take 2-3 hours over low heat but I haven’t tested it, so can’t give exact timings. The advice for tomatoes remains the same. If you are in the UK, use canned chopped tomatoes and canned crushed tomatoes if you are in the US or Canada.
Jim SD says
I loved it as it was.. My wife found it a bit bland. So I bumped it up a bit with additional garlic, more ground pepper, fresh thyme, fresh basil, and fresh oregano.. I used Instant Pot method, added those at the end into keep warm phase, so steeped those herbs as it warmed, then removed the leaves after a few hours in the fridge.
We love your site.. keep on blogging!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Thanks so much, Jim!
Amy says
I have been meaning to make this for ages and finally did tonight. I ended up doing it in the Instant Pot for 30 minutes instead of slow cooking (I didn’t think of doing this until late in the day), and it was amazing! My whole family enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing!
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
I am so glad you tested out the Instant Pot method, Amy. It didn’t have one when I first posted this recipe but I do now and making it in the Instant Pot would be my preferred method. So fast I love it!
Chelsea says
Instant pot conversion?
vikalinka says
Hi Chelsea, I actually just bought instant pot and haven’t tried it yet but I do have experience with pressure cookers, so I would say this chicken ragu needs about 20 minutes in a pressure cooker.
Carmen says
Trying to amp myself up to walk through the snow to ASDA for the ingredients. Having eaten yours I know it will be worth the trek, it’s going to be the perfect dinner for such a cold day.
vikalinka says
All I want right now is this ragu or a beef stew to warm up! It feels like proper winter!
Cate Tuten says
I just bought a new slow cooker from Williams-Sonoma, so I can not wait to try this recipe. It sounds wonderful and I can smell it, just by reading your post! Thanks Julia!!
vikalinka says
Oh it’s such a delicious and solid recipe you will want to keep on a regular rotation, Cate. Enjoy!