Italian Meat Sauce with Country Ribs is one of life's simplest and greatest pleasures! Whether you call it "Sunday sauce" or "Sunday gravy," you need to make this family recipe!
Did you ever taste something so delicious, you assumed it would be complicated to make?
I could see that happening with this sauce. But I'm here to report it isn't difficult at all.
It takes just 15 minutes of prep and some simmering over low heat for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. It's definitely more of a time commitment than Homemade Marinara Sauce, but this meat sauce is mostly hands off.
It's perfect for a leisurely Sunday afternoon at home. And, on that day, if we could step inside Italian kitchens around the globe, we'd likely be greeted many times by its comforting, intoxicating aroma.
It's so familiar to me and takes me back to my childhood. This Sunday sauce is one of life's simplest and greatest pleasures. It's right up there with Authentic Italian Beef Meatballs and sauce.
And, if you live in New England, you might call it "Sunday gravy." But we're not here to argue about the name -- we're here to mangia!
Ingredients
Country-style ribs are the meatiest pork ribs you can buy. You'll need four pounds of them, with bones, for this sauce. The "bones" are actually part of the shoulder blade.
Recipe tips
- Use bone-in, country-style pork ribs, which will provide better flavor than boneless.
- Sear the meat over high heat before adding it to the sauce. This also brings flavor.
- Let the ribs cook in the tomato sauce until they're fork-tender. If you test them and they seem tough, let them cook longer.
It's perfectly okay - rather mandatory even - to verify the ribs are done by transferring one to a small dish and eating it right there while standing at the stove. It's a special privilege for the cook, and no one else needs to know.
Can you make this in a slow cooker?
I don't recommend it. I tried it once, and the Crock-Pot overflowed, due to the large volume of ingredients.
Plus, the slow cooker's steaming effect produced extra liquid in the sauce, so it came out too runny. The ribs also gave off fat during cooking, increasing the volume.
So, stick with cooking the sauce on the stove. But, here's how to make BBQ ribs in the Crockpot.
What to serve with it
The obvious choice is pasta. We stir the sauce into rigatoni for the first course (primo piatto), and then eat the ribs as the second course.
You also could ladle this meat sauce over pasta al forno, Italian lasagna or homemade manicotti.
And, since you're making a big pot (affiliate link) of it, you can use the leftovers over farro, on pizza, and with Italian bread that's been dipped in it and topped with Parmesan.
Yum!!!
More pasta sauces to try
- Tomato Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes
- Beef Bolognese
- Turkey Meatball Sauce
- Vodka Sauce
- Garlic Alfredo Sauce
- Basil Pesto
Enjoy!
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Italian Meat Sauce with Country Ribs
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil (divided use)
- 4 pounds pork country ribs (bone-in)
- ½ large sweet onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- 6-8 fresh basil leaves
- pasta (for serving)
Instructions
- In an extra-large skillet, heat two tablespoons of oil on high and brown the ribs in it on all sides, for about 15 minutes. (If all the ribs won't fit in your pan, you might want to use two skillets, with a tablespoon of oil in each.)
- While the ribs are browning, peel the half onion and chop it. In a large (8-quart) pot, heat two tablespoons of oil on medium-high heat and add the onions. While they are cooking (stir them occasionally), peel and chop your garlic. When the onions are just about tender, stir in the garlic to the pot with the onions.
- Transfer the browned ribs to the pot, along with some of the oil from the skillet. Add your cans of tomatoes. Use a potato masher to gently smash the whole tomatoes.
- Stir in the salt, red pepper flakes and bay leaf. When the pot comes to a boil, put the heat on low to let it simmer gently. Prop a lid over the pot, using a wooden spoon resting on the edge of the pot to keep the lid open just a bit. Let the sauce cook for at least 2 ½ hours, stirring it occasionally to prevent sticking. (Wait at least an hour into the process before tasting the sauce, so you're not consuming raw meat.)
- The sauce needs to cook until the ribs are fork-tender. This may take around 2 hours and 45 minutes. When the ribs are almost tender, place a pasta pot with salted water on to boil and cook your pasta so that it should be ready for when the sauce is done. When you can easily insert and remove a fork from the meat, your meat and sauce are done. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the ribs to a bowl and check for any loose bones to discard from the sauce. Stir the fresh basil into the sauce, and taste to see if any extra salt is needed.
- Serve the sauce spooned over pasta, and keep the ribs covered at the table so they can be eaten as a second dish. Or, each person can add a rib to his or her pasta, if desired. The sauce also can be used on pizza.
- Store leftover sauce in the refrigerator for up to four days, or freeze it.
Notes
Nutrition
(Recipe Source: Cooking with Mamma C. Adapted from my Mom, who learned to make this from Nonna. Originally published on February 25, 2015 and updated now with new photos and text.)
Tomahawk says
It worked for me! I have mostly used lamb chops to flavor my ragu’, but one day picked up some pork country ribs because the Sicilians I’ve known have used pork for their ragu’…it worked. I had no problems with splintering bones. I probably used 10X the fresh basil, but what the hey, it’s summer! Thanks.
Mamma C says
Hi Tomahawk - I'm so glad you enjoyed this! Can't go wrong with more basil!
Mamma C says
Hi Tomahawk - I'm so glad you enjoyed this! Can't go wrong with more basil!
Danny says
Awesome recipe. I do worry about adding country pork ribs, as I did have a bad case once where they splintered and bones fell apart. Saw this with other recipes as well. Do you suggest cooking them for less time (I like this to simmer 2-3 hours), or perhaps removing once done and removing meat from bones? I love the flavor it adds, but the splintered and broken bones really made for a dangerous sauce, and was on edge serving it to guests. Any suggestions?
Mamma C says
Hi Danny - The ribs need to be cooked until they're tender, which usually takes around 2 hours and 45 minutes. In step 5 of the recipe, it calls for using a slotted spoon to transfer the ribs to a bowl and then using the slotted spoon to scoop out any loose bones from the sauce. I usually don't have any problems with splintered bones when I make this, but it depends on how the butcher cuts the meat.
Julie B says
Adding to other comments saying this is also the EXACT recipe that was passed down in my Italian family. Also, on the acid, you can put a carrot in the sauce to naturally balance the acidity. That's what my mother did. (You can take it out later. There is a difference with the cans, so taste often...I use San marzano and they tend to be less acidic....I do not like the sauce to taste even a little sweet -- I love the acidic, but too much of it can disagree with some people.
Mamma C says
Hi Julie - It's good to experiment to find canned tomatoes that aren't too acidic. I like the Giant Eagle brand or Tuttorosso.
Anthony says
Oh my stars! This is the very exact way I make this sauce!!! I could not believe it when I came across it.
My family's origins are the same as well. My mother's side is from Nicastro Calabria and my father's is from Palermo Sicily. I grew up with my mother's and her mom's or my nonni's sauce. Yes, that is an odd spelling and pronunciation that somehow came to be in our family. We call our grandmothers nonni, pronounced nah-nee using the english vowel pronunciation. And we call our grandfathers, nana pronounced naw-naw. I can't say how or where this came to be or if it is the same elsewhere, but I know that it is not how it is with the national Italian language. So, it is probably a dialect from the local district up in the hills of Nicastro. Who can say? They came over in the 1930s and 1940s.
But to see this sauce exactly as my mom and I make it is amazing! Thank you! And for those who've not tried it, do so. It is an amazing and relatively simple sauce. And if you want to add a deeper tomato flavor I recommend adding tubed tomato paste, not the canned version. The tubed version has a far deeper, sweeter tomato flavor and has no added citric acid unlike the canned version which does. I add it when I've saute the onions and garlic stirring it around in the oil for a few minutes. Then I add the canned tomato etc.
On the Issue of Adding Sugar to Acidic Sauce. . . Don't.
_________________________________________________________
Over the past few decades there seems to be a big difference in the canned tomatoes. Companies seem to use far more citric acid or more acidic genetically modified tomatoes than long ago. GMO is banned in the EU and thus Italians do not have to deal with it. So, unless you are willing to spend outrageous amounts for high end imported canned tomato you will find this to be a problem more today than ever before.
However, unlike this strange phenomen of American's believing that Italians add sugar to lessen the acid in the sauce. . . well they don't. Not one old Italian from my neighborhood ever did so, in fact they cringe at the idea. At best if they found the sauce to harsh they grated a beet or carrot into the sauce. The truth is that all adding sugar does is give you a sweet and sour tomato sauce. There is a far better solution however.
If you want to reduce the acid in your sauce just apply a little high school chemistry knowledge and use baking soda. Baking soda neutralizes acid without leaving any unexpected flavors whatsoever. And your sauce won't taste like castup or worse. . . Prego. That horrid stuff should be removed from the shelves! 🙂
One word of advice when adding the baking soda!
Be very judicious with it. In a recipe of this size I would start with no more than 1/8 of a tsp or less at a time. If you add too much at once, you will effectively neutralize all the acid entirely which although isn't too bad, is far from what you might want.
Just add 1/8 of soda at a time, stir for a bit and let it neutralize the acid. You will see a slight foaming at first but it will vanish. That foaming is the soda neutralizing the acid. Taste before adding anymore and if it still is too acidic, add another 1/8th of soda or less.
Remember. You can always add, but you cannot take away.
Once you have your sauce where it appeals to you, it will have a natural sweetness that is neither front and center, nor hidden behind a wall of sour.
Mamma C says
Hi Anthony - We love this pork sauce! We share the same philosophy about not adding sugar. I wrote about it in my Marinara post.
Alice A DiRamio says
My granddaughters call me Nonni as well and I love it. It doesn't make me sound old like grandma. Even though I'm not Italian, my husband of 51 years is and was born in the little town of Prezza in Italy.
Mamma C says
Hi Alice - Aww, so sweet!
Pamela DiCandia says
I’ve made this before, I want to try beef ribs is that OK?
Mamma C says
Hi Pamela - That should work too. I'd love to hear if you try it.
Lynn says
Hi! This recipe came out absolutely delicious however I had small splinter like bones in the sauce! Super dangerous for younger children which I have. Did this ever happen to anyone? Did I get the wrong pork ribs?Next time when I make the sauce I will strain the sauce to make sure no bones but I was so nervous I couldn’t even enjoy the meal.
Mamma C says
Hi Lynn - I've added a step in the recipe to remove the ribs from the sauce with a slotted spoon and to check for loose bones in the sauce. I haven't seen splinter bones in the sauce before, but sometimes there are larger bones. I buy country pork ribs for this recipe. The splinter bones could be because of the way the butcher cut the meat. You could try buying them from a different store next time.
Julie B says
I use a big pasta ladle with holes to strain it. Gets the large pieces out but leaves all the good stuff.
Mamma C says
Hi Julie - Good idea!
Sonia says
I wanted to use up some back ribs that I have. Hope this ok. I’ll cut them up in 1 or 2 bone pieces … is it ok to brown in oven rather than stovetop? Thought this may save some time and grease splash …. If yes … then what would the process be? Thank you.
Mamma C says
Hi Sonia - I've never used back ribs for this recipe and have never browned ribs in the oven. I'm wondering if broiling them on each side for a few minutes would work on a foil-lined pan. If you're using baby back ribs, they also should cook faster in the sauce than the country ribs. I'd remove the ribs from the sauce as soon as they're tender.
Taylor says
I’ve been looking for a sauce recipe base for this style sauce with chunks of meat in it! I plan on doing half country ribs and half homemade Italian sausage.
How do you think this would freeze for later meals, ideally with the meat being frozen too? The meat would have been fresh, never frozen if that changes anything!
Thanks!
Mamma C says
Hi Taylor - The sauce freezes very well. You should be able to leave in the chunks of meat. If the ribs are still on the bone, I would freeze those separately.
Angie says
Calabria Family here (both sides)...
You nailed it. I burst out laughing when I read.... "It's perfectly okay — rather mandatory even — to verify the ribs are done by transferring one to a small dish and eating it right there while standing at the stove"..... It's so accurate. I do it, my mother did it, and my Nonna showed us how to do it.
This was our family Sunday "gravy". The old Italians in the community I grew up with called any tomato based sauce cooked slowly with meat a gravy, the word sauce was only used for a quick Marinara. Yes, we are f er on New England.
My father's mother would make bowling ball size meatballs, brown them on the stovetop, and drop them into a huge pot of a sauce (probably because she couldn't afford pork for 12 people. I don't know). This makes a delicious meatball (more egg & breadcrumbs needed for this style of of meatball to hold it together in the sauce). Put 1 on a plate, smash it down just just a bit, add your parmesan cheese, and sauce over the top & yum. A meal within it's self.
Mamma C says
Hi Angie - I'm glad this was on point! Thank you for sharing your Sunday memories of delicious Italian food.
Joanna says
I just cam across your recipes and I would to receive your daily information.
Thank you
Joanna
Mamma C says
Hi Joanna - I've added you to my mailing list. I hope you enjoy my recipes!
Maggie says
I have as vegan friend so I want to know can I cook the ribs on the side in a little water and chicken broth? and how long?
thanks Maggie
Mamma C says
Hi Maggie - This recipe is written to be a meat sauce, and cooking the sauce and meat separately would give inferior results. My suggestion would be to make my vegan marinara sauce for your vegan friend. The marinara takes 25 minutes or less to make. Then make the meat sauce with ribs for the meat eaters.