How to Make Ravioli

Making ravioli from scratch is simple! Here’s how to do it without the help of any expensive equipment or fancy tools.

Never in a zillion years would I have thought that I’d be the sort of person who makes homemade pasta. I mean, I love it—if hand-cut ravioli is on a restaurant menu, you can be sure that I will order it—but I would cringe when I watched cooking show competitors make fresh pasta. It always seemed like a scary task—much too elaborate.

Armed with a bowl, a fork, a knife and a rolling pin, I set out to make a completely delicious beef ravioli. Turns out it wasn’t so hard after all!

1 MAKE A WELL

To make 1 pound of pasta, mix together 2 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a bowl, and then make a well in the center for 3 eggs.

TIP

You can use plain-old all-purpose flour to make pasta, but if you want to get a little more authentic, use a 1:3 ratio of semolina flour to all-purpose flour (for this recipe, 1/2 cup semolina to 1 1/2 cups AP).

2 MIX

Use a fork to lightly beat the eggs. Then gradually toss a little flour at a time into the mix until dough starts to form. When it gets too annoying to use the fork, just use your hands. Most of the flour in the bowl will come together, but you’ll have a few scraggly dry bits left when your dough forms a ball—just leave those bits in the bowl.

3 KNEAD AND REST

Transfer your dough ball to a very lightly floured surface. (You don’t want to dry your dough out.) Knead for 10 minutes. The dough will become smooth and stretchy. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

4 MAKE YOUR FILLING

I opted to make a meat filling for my ravioli, but Food.com has so many different fillings to choose from. You can try this meat filling that has rave reviews, you can go for cheese, or you can get creative with a spinach filling. It’s up to you!

5 ROLL IT OUT

If you let your dough rest long enough and make sure to knead until it's smooth, rolling should be simple. I rolled out my pasta in one big sheet, as thin as I could manage without tearing it. Then I cut it into strips that were about 1 ½” wide, and rolled these strips out so that they were nice and thin.

6 FILL IT UP

Lay out a strip of dough like in the photo, then add 1 teaspoon of filling every inch or so.

Once you have spooned out your filling, lightly brush around each little ball of filling with water and then loosely lay another strip of pasta over the top. Gently press around the edges and in between each little mound of filling to seal.

7 CUT

Cut in between each piece. I trimmed off the scraggly edges from mine, but you can certainly leave yours un-trimmed for a more rustic feel.

8 COOK

Drop your fresh ravioli into a pot of salted boiling water. Cook for only 3-4 minutes. The ravioli will float and bob near the top when they are ready to come out. I cooked mine in batches of about 8 and lifted them out with a slotted spoon. Serve with your favorite sauce!

Want more? Watch how to make pasta.

About Heather T.

Heather, who runs SugarDishMe.com, has been making messes in the kitchen since she was a little kid when her mom handed her a cook book and told her, “If you can read, you can cook.” Today she serves up fresh, healthy eats, easy weeknight meals and decadent sweet treats.