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Looking for a dish to impress this valentines day? ❤️ Nothing creams amore like homemade pasta! And this heart shaped beet ravioli is a such a festive meal to make for love month! This beet ricotta lemon thyme ravioli is made with homemade beet pasta dough filled with lemon and thyme ricotta filling and topped with a tangy lemon white wine butter sauce and walnuts.
Making homemade pasta has become one of our new favorites things to do. If you don’t have a pasta maker, no worries! We’re sharing our tips and tricks for making pasta at home with or without a pasta maker!
Looking for more pasta dinner ideas? Check out these recipes!
- Baked Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
- White Wine Lemon Basil Corn Pasta with Burrata
- Peach Tortellini and Arugula Salad with Crispy Prosciutto
- Creamy Italian Meatball Soup
- Easy Lemon Cacio e Pepe Recipe
Beet Lemon Thyme Ricotta Ravioli
What You Need
Beets: Beets give the pasta a bright pinky red color that makes this recipe so fun! It does add some flavor to the pasta but does not add a super strong beet flavor.
00 Flour: A super fine Italian flour that is ideal for making pasta! You could also substitute 00 flour for semolina flour or pizza flour. You want it to be a finely ground flour.
Eggs: Adds moisture, structure and a nice color to the pasta dough.
Ricotta Cheese: A soft cheese that is most commonly used in ravioli recipes. It has a mild taste, which makes it delicious for blending with a variety of flavors for ravioli filling.
Parmesan: Adds a sharp flavor to the ravioli filling.
Lemons: You’ll use lemon juice and lemon zest in this recipe. Lemon zest adds a strong citrus flavor to the filling and sauce. You’ll be able to taste the tanginess throughout the dish.
Thyme: Adds what we call a “cozy” herby flavor to the pasta filling and sauce. The dish needs a a savory herb to ground the rest of the stronger flavors in the dish and thyme always does the trick.
White wine: The beet ravioli is drizzled with a white wine butter sauce that is so delicious. We recommend using a dry white wine, like a Pino Grigio or a sauvignon blanc, for the sauce so the wine flavor does not overpower the dish.
Garlic: Adds a savory flavor to white wine sauce.
Butter: A healthy amount of butter is used in the white wine butter sauce. We didn’t want to make a sauce that overpowered the beauty of the ravioli. And a butter sauce helps to enhance the flavors of the beet ravioli.
Walnuts: Adds texture and a nutty flavor that complements beets.
Salt and pepper: Used for seasoning to your desire!
How to make beets for beet pasta…
You may be wondering, ‘How does the pasta become bright red?’. The answer is BEETS! Beets naturally have a strong pigment that can be used to add color and flavor to pastas and other baked goods. We don’t recommend using beet juice because after the beets are cooked down, they loose a lot of their earthy flavor and they develop a sweeter flavor.
Follow these steps for making beet puree for the beet ravioli:
- Preheat oven to 400ºF for roasting the beets.
- Wash the beets thoroughly. Beets are a root vegetable, which means they can come with a lot of dirt. Make sure you wash and scrub your beets well to remove all the excess dirt. We love using a sud brush and vegetable cleaner to ensure most of the dirt is removed.
- Cut off leafy green stems.
- Rub each beet with some olive oil and wrap each beet tightly in foil.
- Place beets in a dutch oven or on a ribbed baking sheet.
- Roast beets for 50-60 minutes until done. Larger beets may take more time and smaller beets may take less time to cook.You will know they are done when you can easily poke a fork in the center of the beet and it feel soft.
- Cool beets for 20 minutes. Once cooled, unwrap from foil and peel skin off each beet. It may help to run each beet under cold water while you are peeling them.
- Place the beets in a high powered blender or food processor and blend until you have a smooth puree. Pour in glass jar or container until you are ready to use.
How to make ravioli filling…
Most ravioli fillings are made with ricotta cheese as the base. It is a soft mild cheese that works well with so different ravioli flavors, from savory to sweet!
We chose to make a Lemon Thyme Ricotta Ravioli filling. It’s super duper simple to make! Here’s what you do:
- Measure out ricotta onto a paper towel-lined bowl or plate. Use another paper towel to gently press on top to soak up any excess moisture.
- Add ricotta to a medium bowl. Now add in the rest of your filling ingredients – parmesan, lemon zest, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Mix everything together until combined.
Tips for Making Homemade Ravioli
Making ravioli at home is not hard to do. It can just take some time, but the process is so fun!! We have fallen in love with making our own pasta and after this recipe, we think you will too.
If you are making pasta at home for the first time, here are some tips!
- Make space on your counter. You will have to roll out long sheets of dough, so make sure you have enough room on your countertop to roll and lay them out flat.
- Start with smaller sections of dough. If this is your first time making pasta, it may be easier to start by rolling out smaller sections of dough to practice on until you get the hang of the process.
- If you’re using a pasta maker, every pasta maker has different settings. Whether you’re using a countertop pasta maker or a Kitchen aid attachment, make sure to follow the instructions specific to your machine for rolling out pasta dough.
- If your pasta dough seems dry, wet your hands and knead the dough to add a bit more moisture to the dough.
Tips for Storing Pasta
After pasta is cooked, it only has a shelf life of several days. If you have left overs, we recommend these tips for storing leftover pasta:
- Leftover pasta stored in the refrigerator is only good for 3-4 days.
- Store pasta and the sauce separately. The pasta will absorb a lot of the sauce the longer it sits. It can also make the ravioli noodles softer. When you reheat the leftovers, heat pasta and sauce individually and pour sauce on top afterwards.
- Allow pasta to cool slightly before storing. Store pasta in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
- Store leftover pasta in the freezer for up to two months. Freezing only works if you have not poured sauce over the ravioli. If you have left over pasta noodles, place noodles in a plastic bag in a single layer and freeze up to 3 months.
- To reheat frozen pasta, bring a pot of water to boil and cook for 2-3 minutes until thawed.
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Beet Lemon Thyme Ricotta Ravioli
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Description
Beet ricotta lemon thyme ravioli is made with homemade beet pasta dough filled with lemon and thyme ricotta filling and topped with a tangy lemon white wine butter sauce and walnuts.
Ingredients
Beet Pasta Dough
- 2–3 beets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 1/2 cups pasta flour (00 flour)
- 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 4 tbsp beet purre
- 1/2 tsp salt
Ricotta Lemon Thyme Filling
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 tbsp parmesan
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp thyme
- Salt and pepper to taste
White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 lemons juiced and zested
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup walnuts chopped
- Fresh thyme
- Parmesan reggiano
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Make Beet Puree
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Wash beets and cut off leafy green stems. Rub each beet with some olive oil. Wrap each beet tightly in foil. Place beets in a dutch oven or on a ribbed baking sheet.
- Roast beets for 50-60 minutes until done. You will know they are done when you can easily poke a fork in the center of the beet and it feel soft.
- Cool beets for 20 minutes. Once cooled, unwrap from foil and peel skin off each beet. It may help to run each beet under cold water while you are peeling them. Pat each beet dry.
- Place the beets in a high powered blender or food processor. Blend until you have a smooth puree. Pour in glass jar or container until you are ready to use.
Make Pasta Dough
- Pour flour on a large cutting board. Using the bottom of your measuring cup, create a well in the center of the flour. Crack your eggs in the center of the well. Place 4 tbsp of beet puree in the well.
- Using a fork, gently whist the eggs in the well together with the puree. Once your eggs are whisked together, continue to whisk in a circular motion, pushing some of the flour into the center.
- Continue to do this until a dough starts to form. Use a pastry cutter to scrape in extra flour and mold together a dough. Use your hands to knead in the flour. Note: you may not use all the flour. The dough should not be sticky or too dry. If it is too dry, lightly wet your hands and continue to knead the dough.
- Knead for about 10 minutes until you have a nicely formed dough ball. You can test the done-ness by pressing your finger into the dough. It should bounce back.
- Let the dough sit for 30 minutes.
Make your filling
- Add ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, thyme and salt and pepper to a bowl and mix together. Set aside.
Roll and Cut Raviolis
1. Split dough into 2 sections. Using a rolling pin or pasta roller, roll out both dough sections until dough is 1/8 inch thick. The dough should be about 6 wide x 24 inches when done.
2. Once you have two thinly rolled sections, dust a flat surface with semolina flour or pasta flour. Scoop 1 tsp of filling onto one dough sheet for each ravioli. You should be able to make 2 rows of ravioli with one sheet. Make sure each filling scoop has a 2 inch gap between the other.
3. Place the other dough sheet ontop and firmly press the dough down around the the filling to seal.
4. Cut out each ravioli using a knife or ravioli cutter.
5. Boil a large pot of water and generously salt. Bring water to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes until they float to the top. Remove and place in a bowl. Toss with a bit of olive oil so they don’t stick together.
Make Lemon Thyme Butter Sauce
- In a skillet over medium heat, add a 1 tbsp of butter and minced garlic cloves. Stir sauce until fragrant, careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add white wine and let it simmer for several minutes. Add in remaining butter, lemon juice, , thyme and walnuts. Simmer for a couple minutes.
Serving Pasta
1. Serve ravioli in a bowl and spoon over butter sauce, making sure to get garlic bits and walnuts in each spoonful. Sprinkle with lemon zest, salt and pepper to season and more fresh thyme leaves. ENJOY!
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
