Homemade vegan ravioli is easier than you think, and delicious too! Made with homemade pasta dough stuffed with creamy dairy-free ricotta basil filling, serve them with your favorite sauce for a delicious and comforting meal!
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bowl
- Cornmeal, as needed
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours, rinsed and drained
- 1 garlic clove
- ¼ cup unfavored non-dairy milk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 3 ½ ounces firm or extra firm tofu (one fourth of a 14 ounce package), drained
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- Pasta sauce of choice
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Stir the flour and salt together in a medium mixing bowl, then stir in the water and olive oil. Mix until a dough is formed.
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Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it's smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
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Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough inside. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
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While the dough rests, place the cashews, garlic, milk, lemon juice and salt into the bowl of a food processor bowl fitted with an s-blade. Blend until relatively smooth (it doesn't have to be perfect).
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Break the tofu into a few chunks and add it to the food processor, along with the basil and black pepper. Pulse the machine until the ingredients are well combined but a bit chunky, like ricotta cheese.
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Sprinkle two baking sheets with a thin layer of cornmeal.
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Heat your water for boiling the ravioli while you make them. Place a large pot of salted water over high heat. If it comes to a boil before you're ready, just lower the heat to keep it at a simmer, then bring it back to a rolling boil when ready.
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Divide dough into four equal portions and roll each one into a ball. Place one portion onto floured work surface. Rub the others with a bit of oil so they don't stick together, return them to the bowl and cover them with a damp towel.
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Take the dough ball that's outside of the bowl and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll it into a rectangle that's about ⅛ inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 9 inches tall. (Note 1)
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Use a knife to score your dough rectangle, dividing it in half widthwise.
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Place the filling in evenly spaced dollops over only the left half of the dough, creating four rows of two dollops (see photo within the post). (Note 2)
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Use a wet finger or kitchen brush to lightly moisten the top of the dough surrounding each dollop of filling. Fold the right half of the dough over the left half. Press the dough around each filling pocket to seal and work out air bubbles.
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Use a ravioli stamp to cut the ravioli around the filling pockets. (Note 3)
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Arrange the ravioli in single layers on the cornmeal coated baking sheets as you cut them. Sprinkle the tops with a bit more cornmeal and cover them with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.
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Repeat the process for the 3 remaining dough balls.
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Carefully add your ravioli to your pot of boiling water. Boil them just until they all float, about 2 to 3 minutes.
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Drain the ravioli into a colander.
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Transfer your cooked ravioli to a large bowl and toss them with sauce.
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Divide onto plates and serve.
- The size assumes you're using a 3 inch square ravioli cutter. Adjust if needed. You'll want the width of your rectangle to be four times that of your cutter, and the height to be three times that of your cutter.
- I like to lightly stamp my ravioli cutter to score the dough in rows as described before adding the filling. This helps with positioning the filling.
- A pizza cutter or large knife can be used if you don't have a ravioli cutter.
- I don't recommend re-rolling any dough scraps, but you can slice it into noodles and boil them for 2 to 3 minutes for fresh homemade pasta.
- This recipe makes 24 ravioli.