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Learn my secrets to making perfectly fresh Homemade Ravioli! Using my step-by-step guide, you will be creating mouthwatering ravioli just like grandma used to. From preparing the perfect pasta dough to creating customized fillings, discover my tips and tricks to making delicious ravioli at home.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I inherited a ravioli stamp from my Grandma and really wanted to make homemade ravioli, so that’s what I did. That’s right, I made these with no special equipment! Just a ravioli stamp and the love in my heart.
Some may say I’m crazy for even thinking to attempt making these with no special pasta machine or ravioli maker. In an ideal world, I would have all the bells and whistles I need to make these babies with little to no hassle. However, if I don’t have most of the tools, odds are YOU don’t have most of the tools. And if I were to post such a recipe, it would be fun to read but completely impractical to you.
Therefore, I opted for the old school method. One which anyone can do! I promise it’s very doable. You just need a good chunk of time because it’s time consuming, but totally therapeutic. Let’s get started!
What is a Ravioli Stamp?
A ravioli stamp is a simple kitchen tool used to cut and seal ravioli. Mine has two flat, circular pieces of metal attached to a handle. One piece is perforated with ridges to cut the dough, while the other is smooth to press down and seal the edges of the ravioli pockets. Using this tool makes all of your little raviolis uniform!
Ingredients Needed to Make Homemade Ravioli
- Fresh Pasta Dough:
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
- Salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Cheese Filling:
- Ricotta cheese
- Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (finely grated)
- Egg
- Fresh basil (chopped)
- Garlic Cream Sauce:
- Butter
- Heavy cream
- Clove garlic (finely minced)
- Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (finely grated)
- Fresh basil chiffonade (for garnish)
- Pantry Staples: salt, black pepper
How to Make Homemade Ravioli
Below are my step-by-step instructions for making the pasta dough, cheese filling and creating the ravioli. At that point, you can boil them up and make the garlic cream sauce for dinner tonight OR put your sheets of ravioli into the freezer for 24 hours and transfer to a freezer bag for a quick meal later in the month. For full recipe details, including ingredient measurements, see the printable recipe card down below.
1. Make the Pasta Dough
Mound the flour on a clean work surface, like a large cutting board or counter. Using a fork, create a well in the middle of the flour with high sides.
Crack the eggs into the well. Add in salt and oil. Using a fork, beat the eggs and slowly incorporate the flour by pulling it in from the sides of the well. As you continue to pull more flour and mix, the dough will start coming together. Yes, at first this just looks like a big fat mess!
Using your hands, the fork or a bench scraper, work the dough until it comes together into a ball. Sprinkle a little more flour if it is sticky, add a few splashes of water if it is too dry.
Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic-like. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 minutes or so.
2. Make the Filling
Next, you can make the cheesy ricotta filling.
While pasta is resting, make the cheese filling by stirring all ingredients together into a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Make the Raviolis
Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour and set aside.
Unwrap pasta dough and cut into four sections. You will work with one section at a time. Wrap the remaining three up in plastic in the meantime. Flour your work surface liberally. Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin, working from the middle and rolling out. Try to get the thinnest and longest rectangular shape you can. Keep rotating and turning the dough to prevent sticking.
Once your dough is rolled very thin (but with an even thickness), place dollops of the filling (about a teaspoon) onto the dough about 1 1/2-2 inches apart.
Pro Tip: Your filling amount and spacing will depend on how large or small your ravioli stamp is! For best results, try your best not to overfill. It might take a few tries to figure out the perfect amount.
Fold the top of the ravioli dough over the filling. Press the top piece of dough over and around the filling to remove any air pockets.
Press your ravioli stamp in flour and then press down firmly to cut out raviolis. Place cut ravioli on prepared floured baking sheet. Form the leftover dough into a ball and place in the plastic wrap to rest. Continue this pattern until all the raviolis are filled and cut out. And voila! Cute little raviolis!
4. Freeze or Cook Ravioli
At this point, you can either cook the ravioli for dinner tonight and make a quick garlic sauce to go with! Super easy and super delicious! Alternately, you can freeze them for a quick meal later.
To freeze: Place your baking sheets of raviolis in the freezer for 24 hours and then transfer to plastic freezer bags for up to 3 months.
To cook: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Drop in your raviolis and stir gently. Raviolis will be finished cooking once they float to the top. Steal about 1/2 cup of pasta water and set aside. Drain pasta and pour back into the hot pot. Place on the warm burner. (You don’t need the burner on!)
5. Make the Garlic Cream Sauce (if you cooked your ravioli)
To make a simple garlic cream sauce, melt butter in small saucepan. Grate in the garlic, then add heavy cream, parmesan cheese, salt and black pepper. Stir for a minute or two or until sauce thickens slightly. Add pasta water as needed to thin the sauce out. Toss with ravioli and serve immediately.
What to Serve with Ravioli
- Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce
- 3-ingredient Alfredo Sauce or Brown Butter Alfredo Sauce
- Oven Baked Meatballs
- Brussels Sprouts Caesar Salad
- Check out my 30 What to Serve With Ravioli ideas
Storing Ravioli
If you have leftover cooked ravioli, allow to cool to room temperature. Place in an airtight container and into the fridge for up to 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave until heated through.
More Ravioli Recipes to Try!
So, there you have it! Once you’ve had fresh homemade ravioli, you’ll never want to go back. They are so worth the wait! The printable recipe card is below. Have a great day, friends! 🙂
If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.
How to Make Homemade Ravioli
Ingredients
For the Fresh Pasta Dough-{recipe taken from Kelsey Nixon}
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
for the cheese filling-
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/8 lb parmigiano reggiano cheese finely grated
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp fresh basil chopped
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
for the garlic cream sauce-
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 clove garlic finely minced with microplane
- 1/2 cup pasta water reserved from boiling ravioli (may not use all of it, use your judgement)
- 3/4 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese finely grated
- fresh basil chiffonade, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
for dough
- Mound the flour on a clean work surface, like a large cutting board or counter. Using a fork, create a well in the middle of the flour with high sides.
- Crack the eggs into the well. Add in salt and oil. Using a fork, beat the eggs and slowly incorporate the flour by pulling it in from the sides of the well. As you continue to pull more flour and mix, the dough will start coming together.
- Using your hands, the fork or a bench scraper, work the dough until it comes together. Add more flour if it is sticky, add a few splashes of water if it is too dry.
- Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside for 20 minutes or so.
for cheese filling
- While pasta is resting, make the cheese filling by stirring all ingredients together into a bowl. Set aside.
to make the raviolis
- Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour and set aside.
- Unwrap pasta and cut into four sections. You will work with one section at a time. Wrap the remaining three up in plastic in the meantime. Flour your work surface liberally.
- Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin, working from the middle and rolling out. Try to get the thinnest and longest piece of dough you can. Keep rotating and turning the dough to prevent sticking.
- Once your dough is rolled very thin, place a small amounts of the filling (about a teaspoon) onto the dough about 1 1/2-2 inches apart. Your filling amount and spacing will depend on how large or small your ravioli stamp is! Try your best not to overfill! It might take a few tries to figure out the perfect amount.
- Fold the top of the dough over the filling. Press the top piece of dough over and around the filling to remove any air bubbles. Press your ravioli stamp in flour and then press down firmly to cut out raviolis. Place on prepared floured tray.
- Form the leftover dough into a ball and place in the plastic wrap to rest. Continue this pattern until all the raviolis are filled and cut out.
to freeze or cook
- To freeze, place your trays of raviolis in the freezer for 24 hours and then transfer to plastic freezer bags for a quick meal.
- To cook, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Drop in your raviolis and stir gently. Raviolis will be finished cooking once they float to the top.
- Steal about 1/2 cup of pasta water and set aside. Drain pasta and pour back into the hot pot. Place on the warm burner. You don’t need the burner on!
for garlic cream sauce
- Melt butter in small pot. Grate in the garlic, then add heavy cream, parmesan cheese, salt and black pepper.
- Stir for a minute or two or until sauce thickens slightly. Add pasta water as needed to thin the sauce out. Toss with ravioli and serve immediately.
Just as my grandmother made ravioli. The only additional step she took was to lightly press the ravioli press on the bottom piece of dough before adding the ricotta. She was able to perfectly Center the filling and minimize extra dough around the raviolis. Thank you for posting this!
I found a ravioli press for $5.50 here: http://www.gygi.com/2-round-ravioli-stamp.html
If you are local to Salt Lake, you can pick it up in store, too.
I just made this with my seven year old daughter. It’s the second recipe that we’ve tried. This dough rolled out much thinner, which was really helpful. My wife made a marinara while we made the ravioli. They were delicious. We didn’t have a ravioli press, but a glass worked fine with a little fork work after. Next time, if my daughter is stirring, I might use a bowl instead of the flour volcano on the table. It was messy when the eggs overfilled the flour. But that was fun too. Thanks for the great recipe. My daughter is always asking to make ravioli from scratch.
I’m pretty sure you can use a fork too, rather than a ravioli press
[…] followed this tutorial, written on the blog Lauren’s Latest, on how to make homemade ravioli from scratch. The […]
Hi Lauren! A few questions I have are: (1) How much time would it take to prepare this meal by using a glass instead of a ravioli press? (2) Does the table get sticky from mixing the eggs and flour on it? (3) Will whole wheat flour be okay to use? (4) How many hungry Italians would this serve??
What kind of flour did you use? I’ve seen that there is a 00 (double zero) flour that is supposed to be very good for pasta.
Thinking of giving these a try!!!!!!!
just all purpose flour from what I remember.
by six servings, how many ravioli would that make?? I plan on making a super awesome Valentine’s day dinner and with a boyfriend who will be coming home from a hard day at work, he will probably eat more than one serving…
Please let me know!
It should be more than enough for you two! I don’t have an exact number of raviolis it would make, but it’s plenty.
hi… what do you do with the leftover dough after you have cut out your circles…. mine get very dry when i run them back into the machine to make flat… please help so i dont have to toss my dry dough!
add a few sprinkles of water…should come right back together.
I was so excited to find this. I have been trying to decide what to do for Valentine’s dinner that will excite my kiddos. I’m going to use a heart-shaped cookie cutter and see how that works out for me! 🙂
Thank you for this great tutorial! This will be my first time making pasta, I was nervous but now I think I can do it. I was wondering if a red sauce would taste good with your cheese filling, if so what would you recommend? Also, do I have to buy a block of Parmesan cheese or can can I buy some already grated, if so how much should I buy? Thank you!
I’ve been wanting to try this for awhile. Your tutorial is very well done and I’m sure my family will appreciate Dad’s latest kitchen adventure. Going for a crab, prosciutto, and Parmesan filling with a creamy Alfredo sauce !!
Myn came out hard, what did I do wrong
Cook them a few minutes longer. Make extras so you can samplecas they cook. Everybody says they’re done in 3 mins..when they float..etc. in my case thats not true. They take 7-9 min..so just check as you go.
I going to try and make this today. I was wondering if you can bake these instead of boiling? If so how long would you bake them and what temp? Thanks
I wouldn’t bake these! It would make them dry and chewy. Boil them! It only takes 3 minutes to cook in hot water.
[…] How to Make Ravioli from Scratch […]
Trying this tomorrow! but im just going to fold the rav’s by hand and use a fork to close them. hope everything comes out as good as it looks!
I just saw jamie oliver on tv this morning and he made tortellini using a pretty similar recipe for the dough. That could be an option to fold the dough up if someone doesn’t have a ravioli press.
Just wanted to say I tried making your recipe today with a spinach/ricotta filling and it was amazing! I had no idea I could make ravioli at home and your recipe laid it out so simply and the pictures were super helpful. Thanks!!
Hi! Do you think it would be ok to use a pizza cutter for the ravis? Also, I might have missed it, but how many raviolis (appx) does the dough recipe make?
[…] sauce or springled with fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. If you do decide to make these cheesy Ravioli just be sure to invite me over for dinner […]
Wow! I am SUPER impressed by your flawless ravioli! I want to make this!!!
Aww, thanks Jolene!
Recently I saw a recipe for homemade butternut ravioli that I wanted to make but it looked like waay too much work. However, after making homemade bread and trying your yummy pizza dough, I think I’m ready to attempt the ravoli. You make it look so easy – thank you!
These are lovely! I need to try this soon.
The ravioli looks like you’ve been doing it for years. How fun to inherit a ravioli press.
I sort of wish my Grandma hadn’t died in order for me to inherit it, but glad to get something from her kitchen!
Oh we love homemade ravioli but I rarely make it as the guys will eat an entire batch (or double batch) in one sitting! They know it is truly an act of love when mom makes homemade ravioli! Have you tried any meat fillings? I am looking for a new one that does not have turkey or chicken in it…. I have one right now but am hoping to find a better one. I’ll have to try the butternut squash recipe… it sound DELICIOUS!!
Oh how frustrating! It really is such a time consuming task! Glad they all appreciated it!
Great photos!! I would love to try this someday…you made it seem a [little] less scary. 🙂
Oh good! That was my intention.
Great tutorial!
Homemade ravioli sounds like such an intimidating thing, but this makes it look totally doable! Definitely adding this to my to-make list soon! 🙂
I hope you do make these! They were super yummy!
Nice work, Lauren! I love this! I’m picturing you as a traditional Italian grandmother right now. Hey, have you put on a few extra pounds? 😉
P.S. TWO MORE SLEEPS. [eeeeeeeeeeee!]
I’m no Grandma! And, yes I have put on an extra 5 pounds…thanks for pointing that out! Lol!
As in response to Carly asking if you put on a few extra pounds…..I smell a ‘green-eyed monster’ @carlyklock…..wow! Lauren is a confident individual who shares her gifts with the world without hesitation. @carlyklock you need a class in manners, confidence, & self-esteem.
THANKS LAUREN! Your site is a wonderful sanctuary for those of us who appreciate creativity & individuality. 🙂
People already think I’m strange for baking my own bread, biscuits, and pie dough. Can’t wait to hear what they say when I make my own ravioli.
This looks amazing and so easy! 🙂
Wow! You are amazing. Only sometimes to I make EVERYTHING from scratch. It’s so much work!
Great tutorial – thanks – now I’m really going to have to try this myself! 🙂
Yep. I just died. And entered ravioli heaven.
It’s nice here.
Yeah, it’s a nice place to be!
Where does one purchase a ravioli press, if one’s grandmother doesn’t hand one down?
Or could I just use a cup?
Any kitchen supply store should have one. They are under $10, so totally reasonable. Here’s one from amazon: http://astore.amazon.com/golkit-20/detail/B000NDQIKA
No need to purchase a ravioli press. You can do it the way my grandmother taught me how to do it. Take a small 2 to 3 in water glass and dip it in flour, then press it into the dough. With a twisting motion you will have cut out a circle of dough. Then grab a table fork, dip it in the flour and gently press the edge of the fork tines into the dough sealing it! It is a little slower than a stor bought press but works just fine.