This 5 minute and 4 ingredient ravioli sauce will make you believe you are eating out in the best of restaurants. Creamy sauce flavoured with sun-dried tomato pesto, garlic and basil comes together in a flash!
If you are looking for an even easier recipe, check out my basic pasta cream sauce.
If you are anything like me, you rely on quick and filling pasta dishes on busy weeknights. They are delicious, always popular with kids and adults alike. They are also economical.
Filled pasta like ravioli and tortellini is even better since they are packed with flavour. Still it’s nice to have a sauce to smother over, especially when it snowing or raining outside.
What kind of sauce goes with ravioli?
It really depends on your personal preference as well as the stuffing inside your ravioli.
For cheese stuffed ravioli like spinach and ricotta, that happens to be my son’s favourite, I go for a simple cream sauce. 3 ingredients and everyone is thrilled with the result.
For meat stuffed ravioli, like bolognese ravioli, I usually make a quick tomato and basil sauce. Even cheaper and healthier.
But what about those times when you can’t decide and you want both. You want it creamy but not bland. You want a nice tomato, basil and garlic sauce but you still want it to be smooth and luxurious!
For those times I developed my favourite ravioli sauce. It combines the best of two worlds.
How do you make 5 minute ravioli sauce?
As you might’ve guessed this sauce combines two classic sauces. Cream sauce and tomato sauce.
But to intensify the flavour even more, instead of using regular diced tomatoes I opted for a few tablespoons of sun-dried tomato pesto.
The beauty of this sauce is in its creamy yet slightly tangy flavour, perked up by a touch of garlic and fresh basil.
What is even more enticing about this sauce is how quick it is to make! No longer than 5 minutes. Just how long you need to cook your fresh ravioli. Winner.
It is, of course suitable for any kind of filled pasta like tortellini, tortelloni, mezzelune, etc.
Suitable substitutions for the 5 minute ravioli sauce recipe
- You can use plain tomato paste or sun-dried tomato paste instead of sun-dried tomato pesto.
- Dried basil can be used in place of fresh basil
- I’ve used light/single cream but you can successfully use heavy cream, creme fraiche or even Greek yogurt. If using creme fraiche or Greek yogurt, make sure to add them over very low heat to prevent the dairy from splitting.
How do I serve my ravioli restaurant style?
You can always dress up your plate a little not only to increase the visual appeal but also to intensify the taste and flavour.
You can do something very simple like grating fresh Parmesan cheese and adding fresh basil to each bowl of ravioli with some black pepper.
Or you can add a sprinkling of herb and garlic breadcrumbs, which elevate this dish to another level. Who doesn’t love breadcrumbs in general but in this case, they add more flavour and texture!
More quick pasta recipes:
- Pasta with smoked salmon
- Creamy pasta with pancetta and peas
- Mediterranean pasta with zucchini
- Broccoli and sun-dried tomato pasta
- Creamy tagliatelle with bacon, mushrooms and truffle oil
- Tagliatelle with pancetta, basil and mozzarella
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp sun-dried tomato pesto I used Scala brand or Delallo in the US
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 3-4 fresh basil leaves sliced
- 125ml/1/2 cup light/single cream
- 125ml/1/2cup reserved pasta water
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- Parmesan cheese to serve
Instructions
- Cook the ravioli according to package directions.
- Start the sauce immediately after you add the ravioli to the boiling water. Add sun-dried tomato pesto and garlic to a frying pan over low heat, stir, then add sliced basil leaves and cream, let it simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- When the ravioli is cooked, drain but reserve 1/2 cup of water. Add the ravioli with half of the water directly to the pan with the sauce. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the rest of the water only if the sauce is too dry. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Video
Notes
Hello, I haven’t made this dish yet but def pinning it for my grocery list.. Do you have a special brand of pasta rav u like. I have sun-dried and few of the items.. this dish looks amazing simple but burst with flavor..
Hi Bev, I am located in the UK, so our brands might be different but it looks like Rana is sold in the US and the UK, which I do like quite a bit. I usually buy whatever is the best price for quality ingredients. I prefer my ravioli fresh over frozen.
So tasty while being simple and fast! I used half and half. I think I might add toasted pine nuts as a garnish next time
Toasted pine nuts are such a great addition, Christine! I am going to try that as well!
This is amazing! Quick and delicious. Its new favorite! Thank you, thank you
My pleasure, Sandy!!
Thank you for sharing! It’s very delicious and easy to make.
my husband insists on having meat with all meals. What meat would you suggest pairing with this? I would like to avoid ravioli stuffed with meat.
The easiest one would be Italian sausages. If you are in the mood to make something else, you can try or my Chicken Marsala or Chicken Paillard.
Fantastic, easy, and super fast to make!! Highly recommend🥰
Amazing!! Thank you for sharing that with me!
It’s a keeper! Turned out most delicious for us!
Yes!! That’s what I like to hear. Thank you for a great review, Christa.
Loved this recipe. I didn’t have any cream or yoghurt but I had an almond milk yoghurt that was “greek sytle” can’t believe how great it turned out! Used less pasta water. I found I couldnt’ really toss it all together if the ravioli and pasta water went in together. Next time i’ll do the water first and the ravioli last. Will definitely make again.
So great to hear, Michelle!!
This was absolutely wonderful – couldn’t believe something so tasty could be made so quickly! I shall make this often! Many thanks 🙂
regarding your 5 min. Ravioli Sauce, what is ‘light cream’? The same as 1/2 and 1/2? a half-fat free cream [shudder if this is possible] Is this an English or European thing? My results using .5+.5 were tasty. I eventually tweaked it adding some pine nuts, some drops of Meyer lemon on serving with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan to guild this lily.
Hi John, we have single and double cream in the UK. Single cream that the recipe calls for is 18% fat content, which I believe is higher than half and half. I hope this helps! So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
OMG this is so easy and delicious. I added some julienned sun dried tomatoes for fun but my son kept raving about how yummy it was!
I sometimes add extra sun-dried tomatoes as well! So pleased you and your son loved it, Debbie!
Recipe appears easy and quick,however I am lactose can I substitute cream with any other ingredient
Hi Connie, you can use soy single cream. I am not sure where you are located by in the UK soy and oat single creams are available.
I could not find the tomato Pesto could I use basil pesto l and add Sun dried tomatoes to it would that work?
Ho Colleen, you can use basil pesto but the taste will be quite different.
I got my sun-dried tomato pesto from Amazon.
Best pasta I made!!! I skipped the reserved water and used half and half tho. I will make this next time with linguine and shrimp!!
Julia this sauce is devine, thank you for sharing it.
My pleasure! I am so glad to hear it, Christine!
I made this for my 1 year old grandson and he loved it. Over cheese ravioli
I made your recipe exactly how it was written. It had amazing flavor, but was extremely runny. It was more of soup than a sauce. Did I miss something? I really loved dipping my garlic bread in it, the flavor just explodes!!!
Hi Lainey, the consistency of the sauce depends on the fat content in the cream you used. Single cream in the UK contains 19g of fat. If you used cream with lower fat than that, it will result in a thinner sauce. That being said the sun-dried pesto should help to thicken it out. You can also reduce it a bit. I also want to mention that authentic Italian sauces are lighter than American ones as they add no thickeners like flour or corn starch.
Probably not enough parmesan cheese to pasta water ratio. I would use less water and more cheese or vice versa <3.
OMG, I love pasta a la vodka, but this seemed easy and fast, so I tried it. I am not a huge fan of basil, so I cut it back. I am a huge fan of garlic, but I wanted to stay truer to the original; I am very glad that I followed the directions on that. Meanwhile, I read what some folks said about the consistency and opted to omit the pasta water. What I did do was add a half cup of Chardonnay while cooking the pesto and garlic… OMG! This is fabulous! So easy and extraordinarily delicious!, Thank you, V!
I have been disappointed in some cream sauce recipes, but WOW, this was delicious! I am definitely planning on making this for my family when they come to visit!
Thrilled to hear that, Steffanie. This sauce is one of my go to as well for a variety of pasta dishes.
This was delicious and so easy! I have an artichoke pesto that would work great here too! Such a fast dinner, definitely will make again! Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for trying our this recipe, Crissy and an artichoke pesto sounds like it could be an amazing option as well!
An this be frozen successfully after adding cooked ravioli to the sauce
Theoretically yes but not without sacrifice to the taste, Deb. I am very fussy about my pasta. It has to be al dente for me and I find it impossible to maintain after freezing and defrosting it. If you do decide to freeze it, I would put it in individual portions and also be prepared to add some water to the sauce when you are bring it back to life, otherwise it will be too stodgy.
Can you pre-make and freeze the sauce to add to fresh pasta at a later date?
Hi Todd, since it literally takes 5 minutes to make this sauce and I mean this without an exaggeration, it seems a bit counterproductive. It will take you longer to defrost it and make it the right consistency again than making it from scratch. No sauces freeze brilliantly as they need to be slowly reheated in a pan, not microwave to preserve the texture. In my opinion, it makes sense to freeze a labour intensive sauce but not this one. You can easily half the recipe if this one makes too much.
Thanks, I’m just preparing for a relatively big party and was keen to do as much prior as possible. I’ll probably make this earlier in the day and then gently reheat. Thanks again.
Sounds like a great idea, Todd. I love being able to relax when people arrive instead of running around!
Anxious to try your sauces!
Let me know how you like it, Sandy!
This looks devine, can’t wait to try it!
I love adding a dollop of cream sauce ( such as Alfredo) on top of pasta w/red sauce…the combo is wonderful! This sounds like a great combo!
I already call it a winner!
I need to look for the tomato pesto, never noticed it in my store!
Let me know how you like it!
What size package of ravioli did you use?
Hi Maria, this recipe is for the sauce that serves 4 and usually covers about a pound of any pasta.
Thank you for asking, I w curious about this as well. I can’t wait to try this.
Would it work with mushroom ravioli? It sounds so good but I’m used to Marsala cream sauce.
I would say this ravioli sauce is pretty versatile and goes with almost any filling, Susan. Try it and see if you like it, the only way to find out.
This was so good and so easy! Will definitely be on rotation now 🙂
So happy to hear that, Christine! It’s on a regular rotation at our house! A quick dinner that tastes amazing.
I always try to have ravioli on hand whether in the fridge or freezer for quick meals, mostly for my kids. But I never thought of adding a sauce. I so need to try this next time. I mean 5 minutes and all those flavors?! Yum!
I love the use of sundried tomato pesto in this ravioli sauce. Such an easy and delicious recipe!
Darling, you bring me back to Italy with your food. I love the creamy ravioli sauce, my mouth is watering right now! I am so excited to pair this sauce with our favorite local lobster ravioli we get at the store.
Julia,
I have no words! Not only was this dish super easy to make it is the absolute best pasta dish I’ve ever made! That sauce is to die for! And then adding cheese ravioli, I’m truly in awe! Thank you for such an amazing recipe that I’ll more than likely be making every week xx
So glad you thought so, Ashlee!
This is a 5 star! I browned 1/2 pound of sweet and a 1/2 pound of hot Italian sausage before completing the sauce. I used dried basil too. It was a big hit at my house!
Sounds delicious, Laura!! 🙂
Delicious! I bought the ravioli at Venda Ravioli. Very easy to make and oh so good! Thanks for sharing!
I am so happy to hear that, Michelle! Thank you for your lovely feedback.