Making homemade ravioli is so satisfying and this 30 minute homemade ravioli dough makes it so easy . Learn how to make, cut and fill ravioli without a mold for meat, cheese and vegetable ravioli fillings.
Over the years, my family has created a tradition centered around making homemade pasta on Christmas day. One of our most memorable Christmases was right after we moved into our new house. The whole crew climbed into our best holiday cozies, donned aprons and made ravioli using my Gram's 30 minute homemade ravioli dough recipe.
Sure, we could buy store-bought ravioli, but that wouldn't offer the same experience.
Some of us are devotees of topping our “ravs” (as the younger set calls them) with tomato sauce with butter and onion and others love my oh-so-good, light yet rich butter and cream sauce.
And after making and eating all the ravioli, all of us are deliriously happy with ourselves.
Jump to:
- What’s the difference between this homemade ravioli recipe and pasta dough?
- What you’ll need (ingredients)
- Best flour for making ravioli
- Tips to Make Ravioli that Doesn’t Burst
- Step by step instructions to make ravioli dough by hand
- How to Fill Ravioli without a Mold
- How to Cut Ravioli
- How to Seal Ravioli
- Unbelievably good and authentic ravioli fillings
- How long to cook fresh ravioli
- Fresh Ravioli Cooking Time
- Ravioli Cooking Tips
- FAQ's
- Serving & Storage Tips
- 📖 Recipe
What’s the difference between this homemade ravioli recipe and pasta dough?
The main difference between this ravioli dough and homemade pasta dough is comes down to one thing.
Flour.
One Type of Flour: I prefer a “00” flour for making ravioli whereas my pasta dough recipe also includes semolina flour which has a little more texture.
What you’ll need (ingredients)
Three ingredients. That’s it.
Flour, large eggs and water. And of course, the necessary ingredient for all Italian food…
LOVE. Because it can be tasted. Corny? Yup but one night around the dinner table with your family eating this amazing ravioli and you'll all feel it.
See recipe card for quantities.
Best flour for making ravioli
“00” flour might be called pizza flour as King Arthur’s “00” flour is. Basically, “00” flour is a super finely milled whole wheat durum flour. Think of it as the confectioner’s sugar of flour…it’s that fine and silky.
Tips to Make Ravioli that Doesn’t Burst
Think of ravioli dough as the supporting lead to the star which is the filling. It has to be strong enough to hold the filling inside, yet delicate enough to be tender for the perfect bite. And there’s nothing worse than boiling ravioli that bursts while cooking. Ok— I’m a tich dramatic.
Here are some key tips to rolling ravioli dough:
- See through. Whether you’re using a Kitchenaid pasta roller attachment (as I am here) or a hand crank pasta machine (the Marcato Atlas is my favorite), you want to roll the dough thin enough to see your hand through the dough when holding a piece of dough upright.
- Water. Sealing around each ravioli with water either with your finger or a brush offers added insurance that the ravioli won’t split.
- Sealing tool. A ravioli mold comes with a little roller that simultaneously seals and cuts the ravioli 12 at a time. So cool!
Step by step instructions to make ravioli dough by hand
- Pour the flour on a wooden cutting board or clean countertop and make a well in the middle [1].
- Add the whole eggs along with the egg yolks to the center. Use a fork to gently mix the eggs pulling in flour a little at a time.[2].
- Work your way around the middle pulling flour in until most of the flour is incorporated.
- Start by adding 1 ¼ cup of the water to the flour [3], saving the last ¼ cup if needed.
- Now add a little more flour. Keep adding water and flour until a ball is made [4]. You'll likely use all the flour and most of the water.
- Knead the dough until smooth by rolling by pulling it towards you, make a quarter turn, and push it away.
- Your objective is a soft, smooth ball that is a touch sticky. This is a “feel” thing that can change with the weather and humidity in your house. For more info on that, visit my homemade pasta dough recipe.
- Lightly flour the dough and board. Allow the dough to relax, covered with a damp dish towel or wrapped in plastic wrap for 15-20 minutes.
How to Fill Ravioli without a Mold
I love a good ravioli mold with a roller to cut it (especially this one from Williams-Sonoma), but have found equally good results with using a ravioli stamp.
And they come in both round and square shapes, small and large. I love the handmade craftiness of them♥️
How to Cut Ravioli
Pasta roller setting for ravioli
Use your pasta roller to thinly roll the ravioli dough to setting #6. You should be able to see a shadow of your hand through the dough.
Lay the length of dough onto a floured surface (clean table, board or countertop).
Cutting ravioli with a stamp
Find the center of the long side of the dough. You’ll fill one half and use the other half to cover the filled ravioli.
Mark the dough using the ravioli stamp (loooove this one especially). This will help you to know where to place the filling.
Fill ravioli by hand
Depending on the size of your stamp, place up to a tablespoon of ravioli filling in the center of each marked ravioli.
How to Seal Ravioli
- Use a pastry brush to brush water around the outside edge of each ravioli.
- Pull the half of the dough over the filled side.
- Use two fingers to pat firmly and gently around the filling sealing the ravioli as you go, brushing the air pockets out at the same time.
Unbelievably good and authentic ravioli fillings
I’ll have fillings coming your way for authentic cheese, meat and butternut squash raviolis. Here is a little cheat sheet for cheese ravioli until I get the post up.Make them for Christmas this year! I know we will be!
- 15 oz of whole milk ricotta
- ½ cup of parmesan
- tiny bit of nutmeg (¼ tsp)
- 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper
- fresh parsley chopped (⅓ cup)
- a little lemon zest and a bit of juice
- Mix together.
How long to cook fresh ravioli
There is a simple answer:
I know I know…you might be worrying that 3-5 minutes isn’t long enough for the center of the ravioli to cook, but remember — the only uncooked portion of the filling is the egg. No need to worry!
Ravioli Cooking Tips
- Add ravioli to boiling water that has been generously seasoned with kosher salt.
- Once the ravioli floats to the top again a second time, cook it in bubbling water for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the ravioli carefully with a chinese spider or large slotted spoon to a warmed bowl.
- Don’t pour ravioli into a strainer as you risk the ravioli breaking.
Cooking Times for Different Ravioli Fillings
Meat fillings. Meat ravioli fillings are usually already cooked before filling with the exception of the egg and 5 minutes is plenty of time for one egg to cook. My meat ravioli recipe is coming very soon with a pre-cooked meat filling. Stay tuned!
Cheese ravioli filling. Just like meat ravioli, the ingredients in a cheese ravioli filling can either be eaten raw or if using egg.
Vegetable filling. You can follow the guidelines for cooking cheese ravioli for vegetable ravioli fillings like mushroom or butternut squash.
FAQ's
Can I use all purpose flour instead of “00” pizza flour to make ravioli?
Of course you can! Use what you got! And you don’t need to adjust the recipe in any way.
I don’t have a pasta attachment for my mixer or a pasta machine but I’m craving homemade ravioli. Can I still make it?
For sure. But my 30 minute time claim for this recipe won’t hold up in that case. Epicurious has some great tips on how to roll pasta by hand.
How long should I cook homemade ravioli from frozen?
Same amount of time! 3-5 minutes in boiling, generously salted water.
Serving & Storage Tips
Make ravioli dough the same day you plan to use it. Sprinkle flour over ravioli dough and wrap in plastic. Store the whole thing in a plastic bag or airtight container until ready to use.
Freeze ravioli dough. Follow directions above but make sure you use a freezer safe bag. Can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Thaw. Bring to room temperature by resting on the countertop. Flour as needed before rolling.
📖 Recipe
30 Minute Homemade Ravioli Dough
Equipment
- 1 Kitchenaid Pasta Attachment and Pasta Cutter helpful but not required
Ingredients
- 4 cups "00" flour, I use King Arthur's 00 Flour
- 1 ¼ cup warm water, reserve ¼ cup to use as needed
- 1 egg and 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pour the flour tossed with the salt on a wooden cutting board or clean countertop and make a well in the middle.4 cups "00" flour, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add the whole eggs along with the egg yolks to the center.1 egg and 2 egg yolks
- Use a fork to gently mix the eggs pulling in flour a little at a time. Work your way around the middle pulling flour in until most of the flour is incorporated. Start by adding ¼ cup of water to the flour. Now add a little more flour. Keep adding water and flour until a ball is made. It’s ok if you don’t use all the flour and water.1 ¼ cup warm water
- Knead the dough until smooth by rolling by pulling it towards you, make a quarter turn, and push it away.
- Your objective is a soft, smooth ball that is a touch sticky. This is a “feel” thing that can change with the weather and humidity in your house. For more info on that, visit my homemade pasta dough recipe.
- Lightly flour the dough and board. Allow the dough to relax, covered with a damp dish towel or wrapped in plastic wrap for 15-20 minutes.
- Cut the dough into quarters. Remove one quarter and wrap or cover the rest so as to not dry out. Flatten and shape the dough into a rectangle that almost as wide as the roller bars, about ½" less on each side.
- If using a pasta attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer, turn on the mixer to low. Turn the on roller setting on the far right to #1 (the widest).
- Place the shortest side of the flattened dough into the roller and run it through on "1" two times. Fold the dough (called "booking") by bringing each short to meet in the middle. Turn the dough and now run it through at setting "2".
- Keep running the dough through the roller increasing the setting until the dough is thin enough to see the shadow of your hand through the dough when holding a piece of dough upright. On my roller, it's setting 6.
To Fill and Cut Ravioli
- Lay the length of dough onto a floured surface (clean table, board or countertop).
- Find the center of the long side of the dough. You’ll fill one half and use the other half to cover the filled ravioli.Mark the dough using the ravioli stamp (loooove this one especially). This will help you to know where to place the filling.
- Using a small spoon, place up to 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each ravioli "stamp".
- Use a pastry brush to brush water around the outside edge of each ravioli.
- Pull the half of the dough over the filled side.
- Use two fingers to pat the dough firmly and gently around the filling sealing the ravioli as you go, pressing the air pockets out at the same time. Don't skip this step to avoid the ravioli from bursting open.
- Stamp out each ravioli by flouring the cutter and pressing firmly through the dough, jiggling the cutter back and forth until the ravioli is cut on all sides.
Cooking Instructions
- Remove ravioli to a floured baking sheet or clean surface. Cover with a dish towel and refrigerate if cooking later in the day. In lightly boiling. heavily salted water (kosher salt), cook the ravioli for 3-5 minutes until the ravioli floats.
We used your Ricotta filling and this ravioli dough and had the most amazing Italian dinner. We truly love all your recipes, you are the real deal Italian Chef for sure!!
Blushing here Susie! Thank you - so happy you loved the dough and cheese rav filling. It's our family fav for sure!!