Description
This recipe will teach you how to make a delicious ravioli filling for the perfect easy homemade pasta dough! This recipe will yield about 30-40 ravioli, more or less depending on the thickness of your pasta dough and the size of your ravioli cutter. Be sure to read my guide on making the perfect homemade pasta dough first before coming back here to make the filling and cut your ravioli shapes! And before you cook, prepare your favorite pasta sauce, like my easy pomodoro sauce.
Notes & Tips
- Drain your ricotta. Okay, I don’t always do this because I don’t always have the best foresight. To drain store-bought ricotta, line a fine mesh strainer with a cheesecloth and place your strainer over a bowl (making sure the bottom of the strainer doesn’t touch the bowl). Spoon the ricotta into the lined strainer over the bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight. This will yield a thicker ricotta for a less runny ravioli filling consistency.
- Give yourself some space. This whole process can take up a lot of space. You need space for your pasta machine, your cutting board, multiple sheets of rolled pasta dough, space to make your filling, and space to put your filled and cut ravioli.
- Make a schedule. You’ll want to start by prepping a sauce. I like to make a pmodoro and let it simmer for a couple of hours while I prep everything else. The next step is to make the pasta dough ball. Once you get to the 30-60 minute resting period, start on the ricotta mixture, then let it sit in the refrigerator while you roll the pasta dough sheets out. Once you’re done with the ravioli filling, set them on a parchment-lined baking tray. Then bring your water to a boil and prep anything else you plan to serve with your ravioli dinner, because these cook up super fast!
- Check for leaks. Check the edges of the ravioli to ensure the dough is firmly pressed together. We don’t want ravioli leakage!
- Skip the fancy tools: You don’t really need fancy ravioli stamps like me. You can even use an empty, clean ice tray and a sharp knife to mold, stuff, and cut your ravioli.
Equipment
- Wooden cutting board
- Sharp knife
- Pasta machine (or KitchenAid attachments)
- Mixing bowl
- Piping bag or plastic sandwich bag
- Ravioli cutter
- Large pot
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 batch of fresh homemade pasta dough
- 250g (1 cup) whole milk ricotta
- 40g (1/2 cup) parmesan or four cheese blend
- Zest of 1/2 small lemon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make the dough: Follow my pasta dough recipe. Once you get to the point where you’re letting your dough ball rest for 30-60 minutes, you’ll move on to making the filling.
- Make the filling: Combine ricotta, four cheese blend, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix, then refrigerate while you roll out your pasta dough.
- Roll the dough: Use a pasta maker to roll out the dough. Your machine may have different number settings. Mine goes from 1-7, with 7 being the widest setting and 1 being the thinnest. I always start with 7, then move down to 5, 3, then 2. I recommend using a “2” setting (or the equivalent on your machine) for dough that’s thin and pliable but still sturdy enough to hold filling at a more ideal ratio.
- Prep the dough for filling: If your dough is a bit sticky, dust it with a little bit of extra semolina flour. Using a ravioli stamp, press it into the dough just enough to create an outline without cutting through the dough. This will give you a guide to work with when piping in your filling.
- Add the filling to the dough: Remove your ricotta mixture from the refrigerator and put it in a piping bag or plastic bag and cut off the tip. Pipe about 1-1.5 tbsp of the mixture onto the sheet of pasta within your ravioli shape border.
- Add another pasta sheet: Carefully place another sheet of pasta on top, making sure it covers all of the ricotta filling. Use your ravioli cutter to press each shape. You may need to twist the cutter and press hard for the shape to separate from the rest of the dough.
- Repeat with excess dough: Ball up the excess dough and repeat the process of feeding the dough through your pasta maker to make new sheets of pasta. Repeat the process of stamping, filling, and cutting the ravioli.
- Cook the pasta: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then cook the pasta for 4-5 minutes. Reserve some pasta water if needed to combine with your sauce, then carefully drain the pasta. Add your favorite sauce (like my easy pomodoro) and enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 40
- Calories: 223
- Sugar: 0.6 g
- Sodium: 340.3 mg
- Fat: 5.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.4 g
- Protein: 9.8 g
- Cholesterol: 52.8 mg