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Pašticada: Croatian Dalmatian Celebration Beef with Prunes and Gnocchi

Name: Pašticada: Croatian Dalmatian Celebration Beef with Prunes and Gnocchi
Prep time: 12 h
Cook time: 6 h
Total time: 18 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Croatian
Ingredients: 1.2 kg Beef round (in a block); 100 g Bacon (sliced); 150 g Prunes (pitted); 400 ml Dry red wine; 200 ml Red wine vinegar; 3 tbsp Tomato paste; 3 (sliced) Onions; 2 (sliced) Carrots; 2 stalks (sliced) Celery; 6 cloves (crushed) Garlic; 3 leaves Bay leaves; 2 sprigs Rosemary; 6 Cloves; 1/2 tsp Nutmeg; 1 tsp Black peppercorns; 1 tbsp Sugar; 2 tsp Salt; 3 tbsp Olive oil; 500 g Potatoes; 150 g All-purpose flour; 1 Egg; 1/2 tsp Salt

A full recipe for Pašticada, Dalmatia's celebration dish from Croatia: beef marinated overnight in wine vinegar, then braised for 6 hours with prunes and red wine. From marinade tips to serving with handmade gnocchi, with substitutes that work in any home kitchen.

Published: October 31, 2026Total: 18 hrLevel: Advanced

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 7

Marinate the beef

10 min + overnight

A block of beef marinating in wine vinegar and red wine with aromatics and spices floating around it — Preparing the marinade. Beef pricked with a fork is steeped in wine vinegar and red wine. Overnight, the acid loosens the fibers of the meat and lays a deep foundation of flavor

Pašticada begins with preparation the day before. This is the most important step.

Prick the surface of the beef with a fork in several dozen places. This lets the vinegar and wine penetrate into the meat. Put the beef in a large bowl and add 200 ml wine vinegar, 200 ml red wine (the rest is used the next day), 3 crushed garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, 3 cloves and 1/2 tsp black peppercorns.

Add the slices of 1 onion and 1 carrot as well, cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, ideally 24. Turning the meat once partway through helps it soak evenly.

The science of the marinade

The acid of the wine vinegar begins to break down collagen, and the tannins of the red wine build a layer of savoriness on the surface of the meat. An acidic marinade penetrates only about 5 mm into the surface of meat, so pricking it with a fork is essential. Marinate no more than 24 hours; past that, the surface of the meat turns mealy.

STEP 22 / 7

Sear the surface of the beef

15 min

Searing a block of beef in an enameled cast-iron pot, the surface beautifully browned — Searing the surface of the beef. Browning every side well carries the deep flavor of the Maillard reaction into the sauce. Sear quickly at a high enough temperature that it smokes

Take the beef out of the marinade and pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels (any moisture left prevents browning). Keep the marinade and vegetables.

In a large pot (an enameled cast-iron pot is best), put 3 tbsp olive oil and heat over high heat until it smokes. Add the beef and sear 2–3 minutes per side until every side is deeply browned. This browning (the Maillard reaction) is the foundation of the sauce's deep color and flavor.

Once seared, take it out and set it on a plate.

STEP 33 / 7

Fry the bacon and aromatics

15 min

Bacon, onion, carrot and celery being fried in a pot, turning amber — Frying the aromatics. Cook the onion slowly in the bacon fat until amber. This sweetness becomes the base of the sauce

Using the pan juices in the same pot, fry the bacon over medium heat for 5 minutes until the fat renders and the edges crisp and shrink. Do not discard the bacon fat; leave it in. This fat is the flavor base for frying the aromatics. Add the remaining 2 onions, 1 carrot and 2 celery stalks and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until the onions turn amber and the whole volume of vegetables has softened to about half. Don't rush; stir occasionally with a wooden spoon to cook off the moisture.

Add 3 garlic cloves and fry for 2 minutes until fragrant. Garlic turns bitter if it burns, so stir constantly. Add 3 tbsp tomato paste and fry well for 1 minute to cook off the sourness. When the tomato paste forms a thin film on the bottom of the pot and turns dark brown, move on to the next step. This "frying the paste" step connects directly to the depth of the sauce.

STEP 44 / 7

Start the braise

6 hours

Pašticada braising in an enameled cast-iron pot, prunes floating in the reddish-brown sauce — Beginning the braise. A reddish-brown sauce of prunes and wine envelops the beef. Six hours of gentle simmering fills the house with a sweet, savory aroma

Return the beef to the pot and add the marinade (with its vegetables), the remaining 200 ml red wine, 150 g prunes, 1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs rosemary, 3 cloves, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1 tbsp sugar.

Add water until the meat is just covered (about 400 ml). Bring to a boil once over high heat, skim carefully, then cover and braise over low heat (just small bubbles trembling) for at least 4 hours, ideally 6.

Every hour, open the lid, check that the liquid hasn't reduced too much, and add 100 ml water if needed. Don't forget to turn the meat over gently.

The oven braise option

If keeping the stovetop low for 6 hours is hard, there is also the method of braising in the oven at 150°C for 5–6 hours. The temperature is more stable and the risk of scorching is lower. Just put the enameled cast-iron pot into the oven.

STEP 55 / 7

Finish the sauce

20 min

Blending the sauce with an immersion blender, the prunes melted into a smooth reddish brown — Finishing the sauce. Blend the prunes and vegetables smooth and reduce to adjust the thickness. This sauce, sweet, sour and deeply rich, is the life of pašticada

When the beef is tender enough to shred with a fork, take it out and move it to a plate. Purée the sauce and vegetables left in the pot smooth with an immersion blender or a blender, prunes included. The sweetness and acidity of the prunes melt into the sauce and give it a distinctive richness.

Return the sauce to the pot and reduce over medium heat for 10–15 minutes to a velvety thickness. Taste and make the final adjustment with salt and pepper. If it lacks sweetness, add a little sugar; if it lacks acidity, add 1 tsp wine vinegar.

STEP 66 / 7

Make the handmade gnocchi

30 min

Making handmade gnocchi, pressing ridges with a fork — Shaping handmade gnocchi. Ridges made with the back of a fork help the rich pašticada sauce cling

Boil 500 g potatoes in their skins (or cook them in the microwave) and peel them while hot. Mash smooth with a masher or fork (do not use a food processor; it turns them gluey and ruins the texture).

Add 150 g flour, 1 beaten egg and 1/2 tsp salt to the mashed potato and bring it together lightly by hand. Kneading too much makes them tough, so stop as soon as the floury look is gone.

Divide the dough into 4, roll each into a rope 2 cm across and cut into 2 cm pieces. Pressing lightly with the back of a fork to make ridges helps the sauce cling.

Bring plenty of water to a boil in a large pot and add 1 tbsp salt. Add the gnocchi and lift them out 1 minute after they float. They are done when the surface is glossy, a light springiness remains in the center when pressed, and there is no floury core when you bite.

STEP 77 / 7

Serve

5 min

STEP 7

Slice the beef about 1 cm thick (it is tender enough to fall apart with a fork, so cut gently with a sharp knife). Cutting across the grain of the meat gives a more beautiful cross-section. Spread the gnocchi on a plate, fan the meat slices over them and spoon plenty of sauce over. Pour the sauce directly over the meat first, then spoon it around so that it reaches the gnocchi too. Finish with rosemary leaves, and a little grated Parmigiano-Reggiano if you like.

In restaurants in Dalmatia, pašticada is commonly served on a large ceramic platter in the center of the table for the family to share. Each person puts gnocchi on their plate and tops them with as much pašticada as they like.

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Ingredients

1 / 3

Main ingredients

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Beef round (in a block)	1.2 kg	Shank or rump also work. Ideally a lean cut with some connective tissue
Bacon (sliced)	100 g	Pancetta can substitute. The umami of the fat is important
Prunes (pitted)	150 g	Dried prunes. Semi-dried is fine too
Dry red wine	400 ml	Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. An inexpensive bottle is enough
Red wine vinegar	200 ml	Apple cider vinegar can substitute (the acidity is a little gentler)
Tomato paste	3 tbsp	—

2 / 3

Aromatics and seasonings

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Onions	3 (sliced)	—
Carrots	2 (sliced)	—
Celery	2 stalks (sliced)	—
Garlic	6 cloves (crushed)	—
Bay leaves	3 leaves	—
Rosemary	2 sprigs	2 tsp if dried
Cloves	6	1/2 tsp five-spice powder can substitute
Nutmeg	1/2 tsp	—
Black peppercorns	1 tsp	—
Sugar	1 tbsp	—
Salt	2 tsp	Adjust as you taste
Olive oil	3 tbsp	—

3 / 3

Side dish (handmade gnocchi)

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Potatoes	500 g	A waxy-to-all-purpose type recommended
All-purpose flour	150 g	—
Egg	1	—
Salt	1/2 tsp	—

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The most formal dish on the Dalmatian table

Dalmatia, on Croatia's Adriatic coast. In this region, dotted with beautiful port towns like Dubrovnik and Split, there is a top-ranking meat dish long regarded as hard to surpass. It is Pašticada.

Pašticada is a deep reddish-brown stew in which a block of beef is marinated overnight in wine vinegar and aromatic vegetables, then braised slowly for six hours or more with prunes, red wine and bacon. The sauce interweaves sweetness, acidity and savoriness, and clings to beef tender enough to fall apart with a fork. The side dish is always handmade gnocchi (njoki). The moment those gnocchi soak up every bit of the sauce and come together in the mouth is the heart of pašticada.

It is a dish for the most important moments of life: weddings, Christmas, Easter and christenings are occasions when Dalmatian homes are said to put it on the table.

What is pašticada

"Pašticada" derives from the Italian "pastizzada" (a braised dish), reflecting the centuries during which the Republic of Venice ruled Dalmatia. Recipes differ from one coastal city to the next, such as Split, Dubrovnik and Šibenik, and a proud rivalry between households over "my pašticada is the best" continues today.

In English there are many food writers who present detailed recipes and cultural background for pašticada as "Croatia's most prestigious dish." Eastern European dishes such as Hungarian goulash and Czech svíčková are known more widely, but pašticada is still little known. This article explains, from marinade tips onward, how to reproduce the local method with ingredients available at an ordinary supermarket.

Ingredients (serves 6)

Choosing the beef

The best cut for pašticada is one that "turns melting tender with long, low cooking." In Croatia, beef rump (špikovana govedina) is traditionally used. A block of beef round is best. If it is too lean, the fat from the bacon makes up for it, so don't worry. The point is to cut the block into pieces yourself rather than using pre-cut stew cubes, which keeps the meat from falling apart too much during braising.

Gnocchi are the essential side dish

Tell a Dalmatian that you served pašticada with pasta and you may get a frown. In local opinion, no side dish other than gnocchi belongs with pašticada. The finished dish is the gnocchi soaking up the meat sauce and melting in the mouth. Store-bought gnocchi are acceptable, but handmade gives you double the satisfaction. As with Polish pierogi, making the dough yourself greatly affects the satisfaction of the whole dish.

Beautifully plated pašticada: sliced beef in a rich sauce with handmade gnocchi — The finished plate of pašticada. Beef tender enough to fall apart with a fork, the complex sauce of prunes and wine, and handmade gnocchi. The finest dish on the Dalmatian table

Cooking tips

Marinate at least 12 hours

Much of pašticada's flavor is decided by the marinade. Skipping it leaves you with simply a meat stew. The ideal schedule is to prepare the marinade the night before and start braising the next morning.

The kind of prune changes the flavor

Dried California prunes sold in supermarkets are the easiest to find and are characteristically sweet. In the Dalmatian tradition prunes grown along the Adriatic coast are used, but California prunes are enough to reproduce the dish elsewhere. More prunes makes the sauce sweeter; fewer makes the acidity stand out. 150 g gives the best balance of sweet and sour.

The relation between braising time and tenderness

2 hours: the meat is still firm. It has chew. 4 hours: tender enough to tear with a fork. The minimum finish line. 6 hours: melts in the mouth. This is the ideal. 8 hours: the fibers collapse completely and become one with the sauce. Traditional for celebrations. This is the philosophy shared by the world's great braised dishes, such as Brazilian feijoada and Algerian chorba frik. No hurry; slowly.

Adjusting the thickness of the sauce

If the finished sauce is thin, take the lid off and reduce it over medium heat. If it is too thick, loosen it with a little red wine. The ideal thickness is "flowing slowly down the back of a spoon." Picture it as a little looser than curry roux and much thicker than consommé.

Variations

Slow cooker version

On busy days a slow cooker is handy. Steps 1–3 are the same, then put everything into the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8–10 hours. Set it in the morning and it is ready for dinner. Dishes where "low and slow" is the secret of the flavor, like Uzbek plov and Ethiopian doro wat, suit a slow cooker perfectly.

Vegan version (mushroom pašticada)

Use 400 g king oyster mushrooms and 200 g maitake in large pieces instead of meat. A 4-hour marinade is enough for mushrooms, and the braise finishes in 2 hours. The mushrooms' umami compound (guanylate) interweaves with the sweetness of the prunes and the acidity of the red wine for a depth you wouldn't guess is meatless. Serving it with Moldovan mămăligă is also recommended.

The Dalmatian port town of Split, Croatia, the square before Diocletian's Palace — Dalmatia, the home of pašticada. Diocletian's Palace in Split is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Background to the dish

A legacy left by the Republic of Venice

The origins of pašticada go back to the 15th–18th centuries, when the Republic of Venice ruled Dalmatia. The name itself derives from the Italian "pastizzada" (a braised dish), and a resemblance has been pointed out to the Veneto's "pastissada de caval" (a braise of horse meat).

But Dalmatian pašticada evolved greatly from the Italian prototype. The prunes and rosemary that thrive in the Mediterranean climate, the spices (cloves, nutmeg) that gathered in the Adriatic ports, and the meat-eating culture of the Balkans came together, and a unique dish, neither Italian nor Balkan, was born.

"My pašticada is the best": household pride

Between the pašticada of Split and the pašticada of Dubrovnik, the amount of prunes, the kind of wine and the spice blend differ subtly. Households keep their own versions, and which is best is a matter of local pride.

Pašticada and the Christmas table

Pašticada is a dish associated with festive meals. The fragrance of a braise drifting through the house from morning is the smell of a celebration in many Dalmatian homes.

What to drink with pašticada

Wine pairing

The Croatian red wine Plavac Mali is the best match for pašticada. Plavac Mali is a grape variety native to Dalmatia, and DNA analysis has shown it to be a close relative of California's Zinfandel. It is full-bodied with strong fruit, powerful enough not to be overwhelmed by the complex sauce of pašticada.

These wines, easy to find elsewhere, pair well.

Cabernet Sauvignon (such as from Chile): strong tannins that harmonize with the prune sauce
Merlot: mellow fruit that harmonizes with the sweetness of pašticada
Syrah / Shiraz: spicy flavors that echo the cloves and nutmeg

For white wine drinkers, the Dalmatian white grape variety Pošip is surprisingly good. Tell a local, though, that you had white wine with pašticada, and they may be surprised.

Non-alcoholic

Pomegranate juice or grape juice (100% juice) sets off the meal in place of red wine. In Dalmatia it is customary to drink rakija, a fruit brandy, after a meal.

A glass of red wine beside a plate of pašticada on the table — Pairing pašticada with red wine. In Dalmatia a red wine from the local Plavac Mali variety is the standard match

Nutrition (per serving, one of 6)

A high-protein, moderate-fat braise

Long braising melts out the excess fat of the beef, which can be skimmed off with a spoon, so despite its rich look the fat content is modest. It also contains the fiber of the prunes and the polyphenols of red wine, a well-balanced dish.

Nutrient	Amount
Calories	580 kcal
Protein	42 g
Fat	22 g
Carbohydrates	48 g
Fiber	5 g
Sodium	720 mg

Even after six hours of braising the alcohol does not cook off completely, so be careful when serving children and pregnant women.

More dishes to cook

Zagorski Štrukli - another Croatian dish, but a baked cheese-dough dish in contrast to a celebratory meat dish. Easy to turn into a light lunch or a side.
Carbonnade - makes use of ingredients and aromas from the same region.
Waterzooi - makes use of ingredients and aromas from the same region.
Svíčková - makes use of ingredients and aromas from the same region.
Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato - makes use of ingredients and aromas from the same region.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ: five frequently asked questions

Questions often asked by people making pašticada for the first time, from braising time to storage and choosing the wine.

Q1. Do I really have to braise it for 6 hours? Can't I shorten it?

At least 4 hours is needed. At 4 hours it is tender enough to tear with a fork, and at 6 hours it melts in the mouth. A pressure cooker can shorten it to about 1.5–2 hours, but the result is a different dish from the slow braise. We recommend braising slowly on a day when you have time.

Q2. Should I be particular about the red wine?

Expensive wine isn't needed. Rather, a dry red you wouldn't mind cooking with is best. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are the standards. In Croatia wine from the local Plavac Mali grape is used, but outside the region any full-bodied red wine of moderate price is enough. Avoid sweet wine (combined with the sweetness of the prunes it becomes too sweet).

Q3. Is it good the next day?

It tastes better the next day. Pašticada is often said to be completed after a night of rest. After braising, put the whole pot in the refrigerator and reheat the next day, and the sauce soaks fully into the meat and the flavor deepens further. It keeps 3 days refrigerated and 1 month frozen.

Q4. Can I use pasta instead of gnocchi?

Strictly speaking it goes against local custom, but it will of course taste good. Short pasta with ridges, such as fusilli or penne, holds the sauce well. Some regions serve it with polenta (cornmeal porridge). It is safest, though, not to tell someone from Dalmatia that you ate it with pasta.

Q5. Can children eat it?

Most of the alcohol in the red wine cooks off during the six-hour braise, but not entirely to zero. When serving children, you can replace the red wine with 200 ml 100% grape juice plus 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar. With the sweetness of the prunes, it has a taste children find easy to eat.

Enjoy more European braises

If pašticada has caught your interest, please try other European braised dishes too. Each is a traditional braise its country is proud of.

Goulash: Hungary's beloved dish. A paprika-based beef stew, a different Eastern European approach to braising from pašticada
Svíčková: a Czech braise in a tangy cream sauce. Like pašticada, it shines through the union of acidity and sweetness
Moussaka: Greece's layered gratin. Another masterpiece of Mediterranean cooking
Borscht: Ukraine's red soup. The sweetness and acidity of beets echo the prunes of pašticada

Sources

McGee, H. (2004). On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Scribner. https://www.hmcgee.com/ — a basic reference on food science, including marinades and the Maillard reaction