15+ perfect sauces for ravioli & tortellini
No pasta should ever be served without sauce.
Even filled delicacies such as ravioli and tortellini, which taste excellent without, benefit from a sauce.
Here you will find over 15 recipes for sauces that go perfectly with ravioli and tortellini!
Have fun!
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1. meat broth (brodo)
The traditional way of serving tortellini is in a meat broth, preferably in a strong, umami nutty capon broth.
The small pastries are then filled with the three specialties of Emilia Romagna, namely Parmesan cheese, Parma ham and mortadella.
In Bologna, there is no other permitted way to serve tortellini. On special occasions, white truffles can be shaved on top.
The meat broth goes perfectly with any stuffed pasta with meat, as it not only complements the intense flavor, but also enhances it.
A filling with Parmesan, ricotta and soft cheese (Robiola or Bucciatello) can also harmonize perfectly with the broth.
The meat stock is usually prepared in large quantities, for example for a party, to make the work worthwhile.
It is best to start a day in advance so that the stock can stand in the fridge overnight and the flavors can develop to their full potential.
Here are instructions for perfect tortellini in brodo.
2. brown butter
A common way to serve ravioli and similar stuffed pasta is by placing them in a pan with brown butter or sage butter immediately after cooking.
The dumplings must be tossed carefully but thoroughly in the pan so that they drip with butter but do not break.
This simple sauce is perfect for ravioli because the melted butter sticks well to the large surface of the dough and only slides down slowly.
At the same time, it does not drown out the flavor of the filling, which comes to the fore.
You can also add various flavors to the butter to suit the filling. Sage is often added, but you can also use mint or sprinkle the ravioli with honey or cinnamon after serving.
Brown butter, with or without sage, goes perfectly with pumpkin ravioli (cappellacci di zucca), sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and chopped walnuts after serving.
The sage and butter sauce can also be combined with other fillings for ravioli, in particular with ricotta and spinach, chard or nettles, as well as various fillings with meat.
A refreshing variation is the mint and butter sauce, in which the mint is heated with the butter to release its flavor. It works best with a filling of ricotta, beans or peas.
If the filling contains ricotta, parmesan and lemon zest or even lemon juice, I recommend tossing the ravioli in brown butter and then sprinkling with parmesan and cinnamon.
The slightly peppery and bitter taste of cinnamon contrasts with the sour and fresh taste of lemon. Here is an example of ravioli with cinnamon butter sauce.
Another way to spice up the butter sauce is to sprinkle the stuffed pasta with pecorino and drizzle with honey. Pecorino tastes milder and nuttier than Parmesan and therefore goes better in this combination.
You can find instructions for simple brown butter to go with ravioli & tortellini.
3. cream sauce (Alla Panna)
Smeraldine (small emeralds) are a variation of tortellini and were invented by Maestra Alessandra when she was working as a sfoglina in Rome.
When she was outraged to discover that tortellini were not served exclusively in a meat broth, as was the tradition in her native Bologna, she felt it was her duty to correct the error.
So she invented the Smeraldine, a slightly modified version of tortellini made from a spinach dough with a reworked filling that harmonizes better with the spinach flavour and the cream.
The sauce with cream also goes well with other filled pasta such as agnolotti del plin, cappelletti, tortelli or cappellacci.
Here youwill find a suitable cream sauce for tortellini and ravioli.
4. ham and cream sauce (Con Panna e Prosciutto)
The cream sauce can of course also be supplemented with ham.
The ham and cream sauce goes best with tortellini or ravioli with a cheese filling or with spinach and ricotta.
Here is a good recipe for ham and cream sauce for stuffed pasta.
5. ragù, alla Bolognese
Tagliatelle is the perfect pasta for the world-famous Ragù alla Bolognese.
But you can also enjoy this specialty with stuffed pasta.
The Bolognese Ragù goes best with tortellini-style pasta, because the profile of the pasta makes it easier to absorb the pieces of meat.
When it comes to the filling, one with different types of minced meat is best.
Here is a link to the recipe for Bolognese Ragù.
6. tomato sauce
Tomato sauce is a delicacy in Bologna, and the tomatoes are filled into glass containers as a puree and stored all year round.
At Christmas in Bologna, tortelli with a tomato sauce are served as a starter. Subsequent courses include zampone (stuffed pig’s trotter), stuffed capon, vegetable fritters, semifreddo and panettone.
However, the dish also works well as a single main course and can be served with a salad, for example.
Tortelli are larger than tortellini and are filled with ricotta, parmesan, parsley and egg and seasoned with nutmeg and salt and pepper.
The Bolognese way to serve this dish is to place the tortelli in warm plates with a drizzle of butter and pour the tomato sauce over them.
The classic tomato sauce in Bologna contains peeled tomatoes, olive oil, a little butter, an onion, salt, pepper and sugar to season.
Other recipes with garlic, for example, are also possible. Sometimes the sauce is also served with tortelloni (even larger).
Here youwill find a delicious Sicilian tomato sauce to go with ravioli & tortellini.
7. porcini mushroom cream sauce
The porcini mushroom cream sauce is a real all-rounder. It goes well with many different fillings, such as ricotta, pumpkin or spinach, and is often served with tortelloni.
This sauce also goes well with a minced meat filling, but then preferably with smaller pasta pockets such as tortellini, as the taste would dominate the pasta with large filled pasta.
Here youwill find a delicious sauce with porcini mushrooms and cream.
8. walnut pesto
This walnut pesto tastes great with pasta and can also be served with stuffed pasta.
What’s more, it’s easy to prepare and, as always, tastes best homemade.
However, it is not compatible with many fillings, I mainly recommend combining it with a pumpkin filling for the best result.
You can find the recipe for walnut pesto here.
9. walnut sauce
Walnut sauce is also available as an alternative to pesto.
This is also mainly suitable in combination with pumpkin-filled pasta.
Here youwill find a delicious recipe for walnut sauce that goes well with ravioli & tortellini.
The next choice is a sauce with asparagus and cream.
Double cream is normally used for this sauce, but if you can’t find any, you can replace it with sour cream, sour cream or whipping cream with a high fat content.
The asparagus and cream sauce goes perfectly with a filling that also contains asparagus or a neutral filling with ricotta.
You can find the recipe for creamy asparagus and cream sauce here.
11. gorgonzola cream sauce
This creamy sauce with gorgonzola is extremely tasty.
It goes best with tortellini or ravioli filled with cheese. The filling can contain different types of cheese, such as parmesan, gorgonzola, mozzarella or pecorino, or just ricotta.
Incidentally, a light salad goes perfectly with this heavy dish.
Here you will find a recipe with the gorgonzola sauce.
12. sauce with radicchio
In addition to the creamy sauce with gorgonzola, a sauce with radicchio also goes well with ravioli filled with cheese.
It is best if the ravioli filling contains gorgonzola. Gorgonzola is often combined with bitter radicchio and creates a wonderful contrast in taste.
Here is the sauce with radicchio that goes best with stuffed pasta with gorgonzola.
13. white ragù with pork
It is a widespread misconception that ragù always contains tomatoes.
This white pork ragù goes well with tortelloni with ricotta, parmesan and parsley.
You can find the recipe here.
14. sauce with smoked bacon and walnuts
This bacon and walnut sauce tastes delicious with ravioli filled with ricotta and parmesan. It is even better if the filling also contains a little parsley.
Here is the recipe.
15. minced meat sauce with cream
There is a rule in Bologna: tortellini are only served in a broth.
This dish from the north of Italy goes against tradition.
It combines the meat-filled pasta with a hearty meat sauce and the result, in my opinion, justifies taking a bite out of tradition.
Here youwill find a delicious sauce with minced meat and cream that goes well with meat-filled ravioli and tortellini.
16. rocket pesto
This pesto with rocket tastes fresh and goes well with pasta with a cream cheese filling.
The best filling is a mixture of ricotta, squacquerone (Italian cream cheese made from cow’s milk) and Parmesan.
You can find the recipe for rocket pesto to go with ravioli here.
17. sauce with bacon and zucchini flowers
This recipe for stuffed pasta (cestini) with bacon and zucchini flowers is more than worth a try.
The pasta in the recipe is filled with ricotta and cream cheese.
If you make the pasta yourself, you can also finely chop some fried zucchini and add it to the filling.
Here is the recipe for stuffed pasta with bacon and zucchini flowers.
18. sauce with porcini mushrooms
This sauce with porcini mushrooms should definitely be on the list of sauces that go well with ravioli and tortellini.
The porcini mushroom sauce goes best with a potato filling, you can find the recipe here.
