13 Flavorful Mix-and-Match Pasta Sauce and Ravioli Filling Recipes
Using our top-rated sauces and homemade ravioli filling recipes, you can design your ideal flavor pairings to star in a rave-worthy Italian dinner. First, we explain how to make the dough from scratch and share some of our best ravioli filling ideas. Then it's time to get saucy: We're dishing about the tastiest pasta sauce options to spoon over each.
Fresh Pasta Dough for Ravioli
Grab some flour, water, salt, and eggs. This is where the best homemade ravioli begins. Though we call for a food processor to mix the pasta dough, there are also instructions for mixing by hand. Invest in a ravioli press to make it even easier to stuff these squares with a cheese ravioli filling or your desired filling combo.
Buy It: Eppicotispai Ravioli Starter Set, $85, Sur La Table
Sausage Ravioli Filling
Sausage is a spicy, hearty filling for more than Italian grinders and homemade pizzas. (Although we love it for those too.) Cook Italian sausage with fresh spinach, stir in creamy ricotta cheese, and add some sage to make this meaty ravioli filling recipe. A pinch of nutmeg adds a subtle sweetness.
Test Kitchen Tip
Chill this classic ravioli filling as you prepare the dough so it's easier to stuff your pasta.
Mushroom Ravioli Filling
Combining dried porcini and fresh mushrooms adds pleasant, earthy elements to this simple ravioli filling recipe. With so much umami and 10 grams of protein per serving, you won't miss the meat in this vegetarian dinner idea.
Crab Ravioli Filling
Not much time for cooking today? Try this crab ravioli filling recipe, which could easily be transformed into a lobster ravioli filling instead. It takes only 20 minutes to saute this citrusy, caper-infused combo before stuffing it inside pasta. Or you can reduce your work by serving the filling as a topping and skip stuffing individual ravioli.
Butternut Squash Ravioli Filling
Just when we thought we couldn't love butternut squash more, this—one of our best ravioli filling recipes—landed on our Test Kitchen table as a new way to eat the veggie. Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, and roasted butternut squash join forces for a sweet-nutty pasta stuffing.
Test Kitchen Tip
If you prefer pumpkin to butternut, substitute an equal amount of that winter squash for an equally excellent pumpkin ravioli filling.
Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce
Yes, you can make the most of summer tomatoes in a topping for nearly any classic ravioli filling recipe. Roast garlic and peppers, simmer with tomatoes and seasonings, and then can in jars for an upgrade on marinara that will last for months in your pantry. This Italian-inspired blend works deliciously with savory meat ravioli.
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Sausage Ravioli Filling
Pressure Cooker Puttanesca Pasta Sauce
Italian nonnas (grandmas) spend hours perfecting each batch of puttanesca, a traditional Neapolitan sauce featuring tomatoes, anchovies, olives, capers, and more. Hit fast-forward with this simplified sauce. It cooks in mere minutes in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot.
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Mushroom Ravioli Filling
Herb Alfredo Sauce
Leave the jarred Alfredo on the supermarket shelf. You can slow cook your way to an herb-scented meal masterpiece with this decadent ravioli topper. To save time and make it possible to whip up this sauce any time of year, we call for purchased basil pesto rather than the fresh herb.
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Butternut Squash Ravioli Filling
Buy It: Crock-Pot 6-Quart Cook & Carry Programmable Slow Cooker, $97, Amazon
Browned Butter Sauce
Everything is better with butter. Including pretty much any of our homemade ravioli filling recipes. Drizzle each bowl of pasta with browned butter, grated cheese, and herbs for a simple and sophisticated dish. Finish with fresh herbs and a dash of ground black pepper, and your dinner table will practically feel like a Venician café (minus the gondola floating by, sadly).
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Butternut Squash Ravioli Filling
Fresh Herb, Tomato, and Caper Sauce
Why use store-bought when you can blitz up this ravioli sauce in 10 minutes? With heart-healthy olive oil, almonds, and handfuls of fresh herbs, your ticker and taste buds will thank you for serving this peppy sauce. As you can tell from the photo, this ravioli sauce is also great on steaks.
Test Kitchen Tip
Freeze this tasty tomato sauce in quarter-cup portions in an airtight container so you can defrost it and toss it with your favorite homemade ravioli anytime.
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Sausage Ravioli Filling
Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce
Call in the spice! And herbs, of course. Parsley, oregano, fennel, basil, marjoram—the whole Italian gang is here in this summery sauce that dazzles atop your best ravioli filling recipes (especially ones featuring similar ingredients—say, mushrooms—and aromatics, like garlic).
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Mushroom Ravioli Filling
Cashew Cream Pasta Sauce
"Cheese" sauce made from cashews? Sounds crazy, but tastes crazy-good on chicken pasta, lobster ravioli fillings, and more. Think of the garlic-scented sauce as a vegan version of Alfredo!
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Crab Ravioli Filling
Creamy Vino Sauce
Toss with a white wine, cheese, and herb mix to create a decadent sauce to pour over any noodly dish like your favorite seafood-stuffed pasta. Garlic and fresh basil infuse it with equal parts lusciousness, comfort food notes, and fresh summer flavors.
Homemade ravioli filling pairing: Crab Ravioli Filling