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Ravioli dough recipe.
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Homemade Ravioli Recipe

Learn how to make fresh homemade ravioli from scratch with this simple guide! Featuring easy steps for delicate pasta dough and a creamy cheese filling, you'll master ravioli like nonna does-no special tools needed.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time2 minutes
Total Time1 hour 2 minutes
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: ravioli
Servings: 2
Calories: 1448kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 4 cups of all-purpose flour or 00 flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • a little water to seal the edges

For the filling

  • 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 1 large egg
  • 10 ounces spinach cleaned and trimmed
  • 1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano or grated pecorino
  • ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • Sea salt to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Make the pasta dough

  1. Food processor: There are a few ways to make fresh pasta dough, since this is nonna's recipe, I'll tell you she does prefer to use the food processor. It's super fast, and all you do is add the ingredients to the food processor and let the metal blade to the work. Pulse for 15-20 seconds or so until the dough comes together.
  2. Rolling dough by hand: The other method is rolling it out by hand. You can bring the dough together on a clean counter with your hands. With a floured rolling pin, start to roll beginning in the middle and roll out. Keep turning and rotating, rolling until you get the thinnest rectangular shape.
  3. Turn out the dough to your clean work surface and knead dough for a minute, then form into a ball.
  4. Let the gluten in the dough relax, which makes it much easier to roll out. Cover the dough with a bowl or with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30. Move on to make the quick filling while the dough relaxes (and tomato sauce, if that's what you are serving it with).

Make ricotta filling

  1. Cook up the spinach by either blanching or steaming. Drain and completely squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach. Finely chop the spinach. Allow the spinach to totally cool down, do not add hot spinach to the filling.
  2. If you are using a very liquidy ricotta brand, you will need to strain it. I recommend the Galbani brand (whole fat)and never strain it.
  3. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, spinach, and Parmigiano. Add in some grated nutmeg. Taste, and season with salt, if you like. The cheese is salty, so you may not need any salt or just a touch. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator while you continue on with making the ravioli. The filling can be prepped 1-2 days in advance.

Roll pasta into sheets

  1. Unwrap the dough and cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Pull out one piece and wrap the others while you work with one section at a time. If you have a scale, you can weigh them to make sure they're equal.
  2. If you are using a Kitchen Aid attachment, this is setting #1. Start with passing the first disc through on the machine set to the widest (lowest) setting.
  3. Put the dough through #2-5 (2 times on each setting), until you get 1 mm thickness, so the sheet is a bit translucent, and you can see your hand through it.
  4. Keep changing the setting Send the disc through the roller on the widest/lowest setting. This is #1 on the Kitchen Aid attachment. Send it through a second time.
  5. Trim the pasta sheet to make it even around the edges. Place pasta sheet on your baking sheet and cover while you work the 3 remaining dough pieces.

Assemble and cut ravioli

  1. Place a pasta sheet down on your work space. Start to spoon on a rounded teaspoon of the filling, with a 2 finger-width of separation.
  2. Place the second sheet of pasta on top.
  3. Smooth out the top sheet of pasta, gently pressing around the filling to push out air pockets. Use a little water to seal the sides and edges.
  4. Start to cut out the ravioli shapes. Press your ravioli stamp down firmly to cut out raviolis. Place cut ravioli on parchment lined baking sheet with semolina flour.
  5. Cover the ravioli with another baking sheet, plastic wrap, or a clean towel while you fill and cut out the remaining ravioli.

Freeze or cook up ravioli

  1. To freeze: Make room in your freezer, and place your baking sheets of raviolis in the freezer for 24 hour. Transfer frozen ravioli to your zipped lock freezer, and freeze for up to 1 month. Be sure to date the bag.
  2. To cook: If you're cooking right away, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Drop in your raviolis and give it a gentle stir. If your pot isn't very wide, cook in batches so they have room. As soon they float to the top, the ravioli are ready. Depending on how thick you rolled out the pasta dough, they could be ready in 2 minutes or even 5 minutes. So stay close by your ravioli and make sure the water doesn't overflow.
  3. Serve with sauce of your choice and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano and enjoy!

Nutrition Disclaimer

Please keep in mind that the nutritional information presented below is an approximation and may vary depending on the exact ingredients used.

Notes

Substitutions & Variations

Here are some great variations and substitutions for ricotta ravioli:

Variations:

  1. Lemon Ricotta Ravioli: Mix lemon zest into the ricotta filling for a fresh, tangy twist. It pairs beautifully with a simple butter or olive oil sauce.
  2. Mushroom Ricotta Ravioli: I love ravioli stuffed with mushrooms! Add sautéed mushrooms to the ricotta for an earthy, umami-rich filling.
  3. Ricotta and Prosciutto Ravioli: My other top favorite! For a more savory option, mix in finely chopped prosciutto with the ricotta. It adds a salty, meaty depth to the filling.
  4. Herb Ricotta Ravioli: Add fresh herbs like basil, parsley, or thyme to the ricotta filling for a fragrant and herbaceous variation.

Substitutions:

  1. Vegan Ricotta: Use almond or tofu-based ricotta to make the ravioli filling dairy-free. Pair with a dairy-free sauce like olive oil and garlic. The ravioli dough has an egg in it, so it's not vegan.
  2. Cottage Cheese: If you don’t have ricotta on hand, cottage cheese can be used as a substitute. Just blend it to achieve a smoother consistency.
  3. Mascarpone: For a richer filling, substitute ricotta with mascarpone. It will create a creamier, silkier texture.
  4. Goat Cheese: Swap out some or all of the ricotta for tangy goat cheese, adding a more intense flavor to the filling.
 
    • Semolina flour: Have some semolina flour on hand to sprinkle on to help the ravioli not stick together as you prep the shapes. 
    • Pasta machine or pasta making attachment:  If you happen to have a pasta machine or attachment, it's really easy to roll out dough to the correct thinness.
    • Make by hand: You can make the dough completely by hand. Refer to the post where I talk about how to make the dough by hand. 
  • Ravioli dough texture: This dough uses eggs as the main liquid, but a small amount of water can be added if the dough feels too dry. The goal is to achieve a smooth, pliable dough that's not too sticky or too dry. If while you're making the dough, but if the dough is too crumbly, adding a little bit of water can help bring it together. It may even seem sticky while you're making it, and you may need to add a touch of flour. The more you make ravioli, the more you'll get to know the texture. 
  • Filling: Start with a teaspoon of the ricotta filling. Depending on which method you use to make the shapes, you could even use a heaping teaspoon. You want to make sure to not overfill the ravioli centers. If you stuff with too much filling, it could burst out while boiling.
  • Piping bag: Not essential to have one, but if you do, you could pipe in the ricotta filling. 
  • To drain or not drain filling: If you don't use a very dense ricotta (like Galbani), you will need to drain the ricotta so it isn't watery.
  • Seal ravioli: Make sure the ravioli are sealed well. Use a little bit of water and pat around the edges to close them gently. If the sides aren't sealed, the filling could burst out while cooking.
  • Cook the ravioli in batches: If you're not using a very large pot to boil the ravioli, you'll have to cook them in batches. If they don't have room to move around as they boil, they could stick together.
  • Ravioli sauces: Two delicious sauces to serve with these ravioli are my easy tomato sauce and my creamy pumpkin sauce. 

Nutrition

Calories: 1448kcal | Carbohydrates: 201g | Protein: 64g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 179mg | Sodium: 1054mg | Potassium: 1265mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 14353IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 1039mg | Iron: 17mg
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