This easy ravioli sauce is easy to make and tastes fantastic! Use frozen, fresh, or homemade ravioli, and serve them with this awesome creamy tomato sauce. Best of all, it’s ready in 30 minutes, so you can make it on short notice!
This ravioli sauce is packed with flavor and wonderfully easy to make. Because ravioli are often filled with delicious ingredients, particularly if you make them yourself, you can make the most of a simple sauce to serve your ravioli in.
Easy Ravioli Sauce
The cool thing about ravioli is it doesn’t need a complex sauce. Smooth, simple, tasty sauces are very well suited to filled pasta like ravioli or tortellini. In fact, in many parts of Italy, ravioli is typically served with a little butter, oil, and herbs, and that’s all. Here, we’re making a creamy tomato sauce with some Italian cheese melted through.
You'll Need
To make this recipe you will need simple ingredients you most likely have in your refrigerator.
Ravioli Sauce Tips
- You can use freshly diced tomatoes if you like. Roma tomatoes are one of the best varieties for pasta. Fresh tomatoes hold a lot of water so they might make your sauce a little thinner, but you can easily reduce it by cooking it for longer or adding a little extra flour to thicken the sauce.
- We highly recommend that you use a cheese or chicken ravioli for this recipe. Rana makes a beautiful four-cheese ravioli (or, in Italian, quattro formaggio) that is great for this sauce. It tastes awesome and you end up with SIX varieties of cheese in your dinner.
- We strongly encourage you to grate your Parmesan cheese from a block. This has two benefits. Firstly, freshly grated cheese melts more quickly than packaged cheese as it has a greater surface area-to-volume ratio. This increases its rate of reaction and causes the cheese to melt more quickly. Secondly, it tastes much better!
- Use a box grater to grate your cheese. A high-quality box grater with a non-slip handle will make grating cheese - and many harder foods, like carrots - an absolute breeze.
How To Make Ravioli Sauce
- First, you’re going to melt butter in a pan. Add your minced garlic and cook it for one minute so it becomes aromatic. Whisk in your flour over the next minute, then throw in your tomato paste, onion powder and Italian seasoning.
- Next, you’re going to add your chicken broth one splash at a time. Stir continuously as you go, and add half and half while stirring. Bring to a gentle simmer. At this stage you ought to be looking at a reasonably thick, aromatic sauce!
- Our next step is to stir in sour cream and tomatoes. Drained diced tomatoes from a can are perfect for this recipe, so that’s what we’re using. The touch of acidity and savor from the tomatoes is really important for this dish.
- Next, cook your pasta according to the package instructions, and drain it.
- Stir your parmesan cheese into the sauce over a low heat once you’ve drained the pasta and then add the spinach and cook until it is wilted.
- Add your ravioli to the sauce! The sauce will lightly permeate the ravioli, lending the pasta some innate flavor. Use a soft spatula such as one made of silicone to stir, and garnish with parsley to serve!
Can You Store Ravioli?
The ravioli themselves store very well, and this sauce does, too.
Your sauce will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days. You can freeze your leftovers if you want, but creamy sauces are prone to separation in the freezer and ravioli that has already been cooked will not hold up to the harsh conditions of a freezer.
What To Serve With Ravioli
A nice fresh salad like Cucumber and Tomato Salad is a classic option that will work as a palate cleanser and help make this a more balanced, healthy meal. A green salad or Mediterranean salad like Fattoush are great option for this.
A tuscan salad with some fruit and nuts could also be a pleasant offering.
Get a loaf of nice crusty bread to serve with this dinner, too. You can use a simple ciabatta or Focaccia bread , but we love using a decadent, cheesy garlic bread to mop up any sauce left on the plate. Trust us, this sauce is so tasty that you won’t want to waste a drop.
Love Ravioli?Try these!!
Creamy Garlic Butter Tortellini Sauce
If you make this recipe be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! I will be happy to hear from you!
Easy Ravioli Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ cup chicken stock or broth
- 1 ½ cups half & half or half cream and half milk
- salt as needed
- 10 ounces Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
- 4 tablespoons sour cream
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 5 ounces (150 grams) baby spinach
- 25 ounces (700 grams) refrigerated ravioli
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large skillet melt butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Then, whisk in the flour until smooth. Let it bubble for at least 1 minute while mixing.
- Add the tomato paste, Italian seasoning and onion powder and stir to combine.
- Gradually add the chicken broth while whisking. Pour in the half and half slowly and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add in the sour cream and drained tomatoes and bring to a simmer again.
- Add the parmesan cheese and stir until combined. Season the sauce with salt.
- Finally, add the spinach and cook further for 1-2 minutes or until it is wilted.
- Cook your ravioli in a pot of salted water as per package instructions.
- Add the ravioli to the sauce and stir to combine using a spatula.
- Garnish with parsley.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Suzanne says
I’m making this tonight but adding ground Italian sausage. When would be the best place to incorporate this during the cook time?
chefjar says
Hey, Suzanne! While the ravioli pasta is cooking, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Cook the Italian sausage along with the garlic and cook until the sausage is no longer pink. Proceed with the second step. You will need to mix the flour with chicken broth and add it.
Maccie Terget says
Very flavorful and easy.
chefjar says
Thank you, Maccie!
Tracy says
Oof! This looks incredible and most definitely swoon-worthy!
chefjar says
Thank you Tracy!
Lavinda says
So delicious- simple and always welcome to the dinner table
chefjar says
Thank you, Lavinda!
Nash says
Love how easy and saucy it is
chefjar says
Thank you, Nash!
Kalavity says
This is amazing! I might double up on the sauce next time. It's now one of my husband's all time favorite. Thank you for this one!
chefjar says
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Kalavity!
Beverly says
It was super yummy! Served with mashed potatoes
Rhiane says
Exactly as described. Both my wife & I loved the dish. Easy to create, a treat to eat.
chefjar says
That makes me so happy to hear Rhiane, thanks so much for the great comments!😀
Yulia Clair says
There is so much flavor in this incredible sauce! Highly recommended!
chefjar says
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked the recipe!
Izzie Verheul says
This was delicious! The richness of this sauce is just exquisite!
chefjar says
Thank you, Izzie! I am glad you liked this recipe)).
Stacy says
Great recipe and easy to make! Highly recommend this recipe!!!
chefjar says
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked the recipe!
Alessandra says
I made this tonight and my husband loved this sauce, It was delicious!
chefjar says
Thank you, Alessandra!
Gianna says
Super flavorful and easy to make! I doubled the recipe as well!
chefjar says
Thank you, Gianna!
Tessa says
Sauce was subtle and delicious. Thank you for this one!
chefjar says
Thank you, Tessa!
Sally says
I made this for dinner tonight and it came out great!
chefjar says
Hey, Sally! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked this recipe!
Violetta says
My entire family loved this ravioli sauce! Easy to put together!
chefjar says
Thank you, Violetta!
Milica says
Made this today and we loved it! I doubled it up!
chefjar says
Hey, Milica! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!❤️ I am glad you liked this recipe!
Giorgia says
Totally amazing! This was really easy to make and everyone loved it!
chefjar says
Thank you Giorgia!
Jocelyn says
An absolutely perfect blend of flavors. The family loved it and asked for it again.
chefjar says
Thank you Jocelyn!
Kristy says
A local restaurant makes a delicious butternut squash ravioli with a sauce much like this. Trader Joe’s carries a butternut squash ravioli now & I really like them. I decided to look thru Pinterest for a sauce that would work with raviolis that was similar to my local restaurant. I came across this one & decided to make it. There were a few ingredients I didn’t have like sour cream, tomato paste & Italian seasoning. Instead I added a little tomato sauce to the roux. The sauce turned out amazing & my family loved it! The rotele definitely kicks this sauce up a notch!
chefjar says
Hey, Kristy! That's wonderful to hear!!! Thank you so much for making it!
Jo says
This was sooooo yum the whole family loved it and easy to make. Its a go too recipe for us now. Not sure what the 1 ½ cups half and half half cream and half milk is for as i could not see it in the instructions
Tatiana says
Hi Jo! I'm so glad your family loved the recipe! To clarify, 1 ½ cups half & half simply means you can use store-bought half & half or make your own by mixing equal parts cream and milk (¾ cup each). Let me know if you have any other questions, and thanks for trying the recipe!