Braised Beef Short Ribs with Tortelloni in a Marsala Cream Sauce (Slow Cooker Recipe)
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I had beef short ribs for the first time at Olive Garden. They have this wonderful dish called Braised Beef & Tortelloni. It’s been at least a few years since I first had this dish and I have wanted to recreate this dish ever since. I googled many times over the years for a recipe and even sent Darden Restaurants an email to no avail. I have made beef short ribs at home several times with great results and recently made Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs in a slow cooker. Just recently though, I decided to drastically modify that America’s Test Kitchen recipe to recreate Olive Garden’s Braised Beef and Tortelloni (bigger tortellini) recipe.
The description on the menu includes portobello mushrooms and a basil-marsala cream sauce. Why not make it easy on myself and make it in the slow cooker like the red wine-braised recipe? After it was done cooking in the slow cooker, I removed the beef to allow it to rest and strained the sauce from the slow cooker and put it into a fat separator (my new favorite kitchen tool – the Oxo brand fat separator) and reduced the sauce, added sauteed portobellos and 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
The results? Amazing! I’m thrilled it out worked! I used store-bought tortelloni and it worked out awesome. This is a dish that may just enter into our regular rotation. My husband isn’t too crazy about tortelloni or tortellini so he had his with fettuccine which was also great! Add your favorite garlic bread or buttery rolls and you have Italian comfort food at its best.
Being careful with your knife, remove the short rib meat from the bone. I stand it up straight so I can get most of the meat off of the bone.
After microwaving the bones, place them at the bottom of the slow cooker.
In batches, brown the boneless short ribs.
Place them on top of the short rib bones in the slow cooker.
Brown the veggies and be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot/pan.
This sauce is layered with flavor!
Pour the sauce over the beef in the slow cooker.
Using a fat separator to remove the fat from a sauce or gravy is much faster than skimming it.
Braised Beef Short Ribs with Tortelloni in a Marsala Cream Sauce (Slow Cooker Recipe)
Yield: 4-5 generous servings
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 9 hours 20 minutes
Total Time: 10 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients:
4 pounds bone-in short ribs, meat and bones separated
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped medium
1 carrot, peeled and chopped medium
1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
2 Tbsp minced fresh basil or 2 tsp dried
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups marsala cooking wine
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 large portobello mushrooms, remove gills, cut into quarters and sliced
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced
9 oz. package of refrigerated cheese tortelloni
Directions:
Place beef bones in a microwavable casserole dish and microwave, 10 to 12 minutes; add to slow cooker.
Use paper towels to dry short rib meat and add salt & pepper. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a French oven at medium high heat for 4-5 minutes. In batches (if needed), brown short ribs on each side for about 7 to 10 minutes; add to slow cooker top of the bones. (Repeat for each batch.)
Add garlic, onion, carrot, thyme, and basil to French oven and cook over medium-high heat until onions are translucent, 4 to 6 minutes. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, mixing the entire time.
Whisk in wine and vinegar, use the whisk to scrape up browned bits at the bottom of your French oven. Reduce for about 5 minutes until the alcohol is reduced. Add drained tomatoes to wine sauce and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Add wine sauce to slow cooker.
Add broth and stir in as best as you can in slow cooker. Add bay leaves to slow cooker. Cover and cook for 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.
Remove short ribs to platter and add foil but do not cover tightly. Allow meat to rest at least 15-20 minutes before slicing.
Using a strainer on top of a fat separator (not the one it came with because the holes are too big), strain braising liquid into fat separator. Set aside and discard solids.
Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil at medium heat in a braising pan or non-stick skillet for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Remove and place mushrooms on a clean plate.
Add set aside braising liquid to pan and heat for about 5 minutes. While the sauce is being heated, start a large pot of salted boiling water and cook tortelloni according to package directions.
Reduce the sauce in the pan's heat to low. Add mushrooms, half of the diced tomatoes and heavy cream. Reduce sauce for another 4-5 minutes and then leave on warm until you're ready to serve with tortelloni. Garnish dishes with remaining diced tomatoes.
From The Little Kitchen, inspired by Olive Garden's Braised Beef & Tortelloni
Disclosure: Olive Garden doesn’t know who the heck I am and this post does contain an affiliate link.
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Hi, my name is Julie and I love to share the cooking and baking adventures from my little kitchen. Cooking and baking is in my blood, thanks to my Mom! 
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Julie – this looks AMAZING …. I can’t wait to try this. This was one of my husband’s favorite Olive Garden dishes too.
JulieD replied: May 2nd, 2011 @ 2:19 pm
That’s so funny, Rachel. It’s the only thing I order when I go there.
Omg, it looks awesome and I love tortellini with it…I’m stumbling this, the pictures are incredible too.
JulieD replied: May 10th, 2011 @ 10:32 pm
Thank you, Penelope!
I have morning sickness pretty bad today, but this still looks delicious!
Oh this looks really good! I love slow cooker recipes
JulieD replied: May 10th, 2011 @ 10:49 pm
Thank you! I hope you try it!
Always up for a slow cooker recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Looks delicious!
this looks fantastic!!!
This looks absolutely AMAZING… I definitely going to have to try this.
WOW! This looks incredibly delicious. I’ve bookmarked this to try soon!
New to your blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
JulieD replied: May 10th, 2011 @ 11:28 pm
Thank you, Mary! I hope you do try it and enjoy it!
So glad I found your site as well.
Yum! Looks like I found something to cook for my dh’s homecoming party! Thanks!
Shasta replied: May 4th, 2011 @ 7:55 am
Oh, and he’s actually coming home from being away, he’s not in high school. Sounded kinda weird when I read it back to myself lol.
JulieD replied: May 10th, 2011 @ 11:28 pm
You’re so funny, Shasta. I totally understood what you meant. Would love to hear about it if you tried it.
YUM! Slow cooker recipes are a must for our family. I’m definitely storing this one away for the future!
OMG this looks so fantastic. I am definitely printing and filing this away because I LOVE short ribs. Yum!
Looks amazing!
This looks fabulous! I look forward to trying it, I turn to the slow cooker not only for hearty winter meals but when it gets too hot to turn on the stove.
I put that fat separator on my Amazon wish list, looks like a great tool to have.
JulieD replied: May 10th, 2011 @ 11:29 pm
You’ll love the fat separator for soups too. I love my slow cooker too, it’s really a must have in every kitchen. Thanks, Sarah!
Oh my goodness – that looks so easy and delish!
That looks absolutely outstanding!
This is my favorite meal at Olive Garden! I’m so glad to hear you made this and loved it. It looks amazing! I’m excited to try to make it at home now too!
Julie — I waitressed at the Olive Garden for years and this was always my favorite dish. I wanted to recreate it myself but never got hold of the recipe. I stumbled upon your website and tried this out…it tastes just like it!! Good job!
JulieD replied: June 12th, 2011 @ 2:43 am
Hi Jacqueline, thanks for trying the recipe. So glad you liked the recipe! You made me smile!
Thanks for this recipe! I made this last night. It’s a least as good as, if not better than, the original! Spot on. Thank you!
This tastes identical to Olive Garden’s thanks so much for the great find!
OMG this looks fabulous. My mouth is watering. I may have to make this for my husband this weekend for Father’s Day.
I have been searching forever for a copycat recipe for Braised Beef Tortellini at Olive Garden. I’m going to make this for Christmas dinner and need to know how many servings this is. So I can double or scale back the recipe according to my dinner guests. Thanks!!
Julie Deily replied: December 12th, 2012 @ 1:16 am
Hi there, Rylie’s Mommy, I can’t believe I didn’t put this in the recipe to begin with. I would say there’s 4-5 big servings in this recipe – even more if you don’t have big eaters. Hope that helps!
Im cooking this now..cant wait till
tonight its smelling delicious!!
Julie Deily replied: January 29th, 2013 @ 10:45 am
Oh my goodness, hope you enjoy it!! Please send pictures, I love posting them on my facebook page!
Ok, I am making this tomorrow for Valentines day! I love this dish at the Olive Garden! I don’t have a slow cooker, but I will braise the Short ribs in a dutch oven then make the recipe. Can’t wait.