Surprisingly easy to whip up, think of these gluten free and keto three cheese ravioli as pillowy-soft bites from heaven.
Spinach & Ricotta Keto Ravioli 🍝
Pillowy-Soft ☁
Ever since we first published our (much loved!) spinach and ricotta ravioli, requests have been pouring in for more filling ideas. And first up is this three-cheese classic: think a ridiculously tasty mixture of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan, served with a classic marinara.
And in all honesty don’t skip the marinara sauce, super easy to whip up and a match made in heaven with these guys. 🍅
The Flours
These keto ravioli are a spinoff of our grain free keto tortillas. Think almost the same ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour and a touch of xanthan gum (minus the baking powder). But slightly wetter, so you’re able to get it nice and thin (think almost translucent).
In terms of brands, for the almond either Anthony’s or WellBees work great. Both are super fine grinds. And for the coconut, we always favor Anthony’s.
Allergic to nuts? We’ve heard great things about substituting the almond flour with sunflower seed meal or pumpkin seed meal from readers. Color and taste will be different though.
Otherwise, no substituting flours here and the xanthan gum is absolutely necessary. And, if possible, weigh your ingredients for consistent results.
The Keto Ravioli Method 🔍
The real trick here is to get the keto pasta dough nice and thin. This way you’ll end up with pillowy-soft ravioli, as opposed to doughy ones. In the end, you want the filling-to-dough ratio to be much greater.
p.s. please note that process pictures (i.e. the fulling) are for our spinach and ricotta ravioli.
1. Roll out the dough between parchment paper
This is easiest done using either a tortilla press (cast iron ones are the best) or an actual pasta machine. But a rolling pin (with some patience) will work too. The dough should end up translucent when held up against natural light.
2. Add filling
Heap roughly a tablespoon of filling onto the dough. Drape a second piece over it and press around the edges to seal, removing any air bubbles. The dough will sticky, so no egg wash is needed.
3. Trim
We simply used a cookie cutter here, but feel free to use whatever floats your boat. Just keep in mind that you’ll want to trim the edges close to the filling.
4. Freeze
You’ll want to freeze the ravioli for 15 minutes prior to cooking. And yes, you can go ahead and freeze them too, but thaw them out slightly before cooking. You’ll also want to cook these guys always in a little olive oil or butter, never in water (they’ll just be mushy). But they’re absolutely killer fried.
Gluten Free & Keto Three Cheese Ravioli
Ingredients
For the keto pasta dough
- 96 g almond flour
- 24 g coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt depending on whether sweet or savory
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 3-5 teaspoons water
For the three-cheese filling
- 250 g ricotta cheese
- 60 g grated mozzarella cheese
- 60 g Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper freshly ground to taste
- 2 egg yolks
Serving suggestions
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter for cooking
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for cooking
- 4 cloves garlic slivered, for cooking
- 1 batch our keto marinara sauce as needed
- Parmesan cheese slivered
- basil leaves ribonned
Instructions
For the keto pasta dough
- Add almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum and salt to food processor. Pulse until thoroughly combined.
- Pour in apple cider vinegar with the food processor running. Once it has distributed evenly, pour in the egg. Add water teaspoon by teaspoon, as needed, until the dough forms into a ball. The dough should be firm, yet sticky to touch and with no creases (which mean the dough is dry and you need to add a little more water).
- Wrap dough in cling film and knead it through the plastic for a couple minutes. Think of it a bit like a stress ball. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes at room temperature and place in the fridge for 45 minutes (and up to five days).
For the three-cheese filling
- Mix ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix in egg yolks. Set aside.
To assemble the keto ravioli
- Roll out the pasta to its thinnest point using a pasta machine or a tortilla press (between parchment paper). You can also use a rolling pin, but it'll take a little longer. The dough should end up translucent when held up against natural light.
- Heap roughly a tablespoon of filling onto the dough (see pictures in post). Drape a second piece over it and press down around the edges to seal, removing any air bubbles. The dough will sticky, so no egg wash is needed. Trim the edges close to the filling using a cookie cutter (or pizza cutter/knife/glass). Place all the ravioli on a baking tray and freeze for 15 minutes prior to cooking.
To cook & serve
- Heat up butter and oil in a skillet or pan over low heat. Once warm, add in garlic slivers. When the garlic begins to brown, add in chilled ravioli.
- Cook ravioli in the butter until golden all over, a minute or two on each side. If the garlic slivers begin to brown too much, you'll want to pull them out (do not discard).
- Serve right away over a bed of marinara sauce, topped with freshly grated parmesan and the crispy garlic slivers (opt out if garlic isn't your thing).
Notes
Nutrition
Great recipe, love this dough so much!
Sounds great and will be trying this to serve to friends that are low carb. Wondering if I can make them ahead earlier in the day and just refrigerate until I saute them in butter and oil. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!!
Hi!!!! I just love your blog, I have a long time looking for recipes like yours. They are amaizing!!!!! Just have a question…. Can I use Guar Gum instead of Xantham Gum?
Would the dough be able to be made in a vitamix? Your gnocchi recipe is TO DIE FOR….. literally I quadruple the ingredients and freeze a ton when I make it because it is THAT good!
My husband absolutely loved this ravioli (minus the pine nuts) and wants me to make this every day I’m off work. While the dough wasn’t hard to work with (breaking, getting too warm, etc.) it did require a bit more effort than I expected to roll the dough out thin enough. I was also concerned because the dough smelled very strongly of the apple cider vinegar at first but after it sat for a little while it was totally fine. Will be making several more batches to freeze. Thank you so much for developing and sharing such a great recipe!!!
For those that are trying to roll this out with a pasta roller and are having difficulties, I’ll post what I’ve found works for me. I used about half the recipe’s dough at a time, and pressed it into a long, thin rectangle. I then took a super long strip of parchment paper and put it behind the pasta dough before feeding that through the machine. I’ve found that you don’t want to *press* the dough to the parchment, just kinda use it as a guide. You have to be *really* patient when feeding it through the machine on the widest setting. It goes slower than I expected. But the dough basically sticks to the parchment as it gets shoved through, so I found that sometimes I needed to separate the un-fed parchment and dough to align things a little better. I also found myself sometimes pulling the dough through the feeder, which I know you’re not supposed to do, so I ended up with some thinner places and some tiny holes. I was able to patch the dough with small scraps pretty easily, the parchment paper was super helpful. Hope this helps some of those that also got frustrated!
These were fantastic! Thanks for another gem for my recipe file.
This recipe is AMAZING! My husband and I love it, and we’re already talking about making more for future dinners. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to trying many more of your recipes! 😊
I would like to make these for a dinner party, but I think it would be labor intensive boiling in batches. Would it be possible to bake them all at once in a casserole dish with butter and olive oil?
Hey Paola! Have you had any kind of success on making a ravioli or pasta dough that works well being boiled? Thinking about trying out making a lobster ravioli but I’m nowhere near as creative on the pasta process. If you have any ideas, that would be great.
Have you found anything that works book wise?
*Boil wise
Check out https://www.getnooda.com !! We’re launching an actual keto pasta that you can boil… next week! 😉
THIS LOOKS SO AMAZING!, I LOVE RAVIOLI!.
Hi there!
Super excited to try this recipe out tomorrow with sunflower seed powder!! This may be a silly question but are you supposed to cook the three cheese and egg yolk mixture for filling prior to stuffing it in the ravioli?
Thanks so much!
Hi AB! No, no need to cook the mixture- it will cook in the oil/butter, just be sure to baste them 😉 xo!
Thanks so much for your recipes, Paola! You have made keto so delicious for my family and your recipes are my #1 go to. These raviolis were absolutely incredible! I added a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning to the dough. They were fun to make if a tad labor intensive (if you’re trying to feed a family of 4) but so worth it! I’m going to set aside some time and make a huge batch to freeze so it can be a grab and heat meal. Thanks for sharing your kitchen wizardry with us! <3
What size was the cookie cutter you used?
These were OUTSTANDING. Thank you so much for this recipe. I used your suggestion of weighing out the dough in 5-6g, and it was perfect. I flash froze the uncooked ravioli and tossed them in the freezer. Now I’ll have a quickie meal that’s incredible.
I have tried this recipe and your recipe for the tortilla and unfortunately both were a flop. My dough feel apart when I start to roll it out and stuck to the parchment paper. I did not have xanthan gum so I used baking powder, do you think this could have changed the consistency to the point the dough would not hold up?
Hi Stephanie! As stated in both recipes, the xantham gum is a non negotiabke ingredient. So yup, that’s def the problem 😉 xo
Made these last night – with a mushroom and ricotta-based filling and a creamy wine and tarragon sauce – and they were amazing! This dough is magic! I had to roll it out with a rolling pin, so was time-consuming but well worth it. Going to invest in a tortilla press because I will be making this often. Can’t recommend these highly enough.
Thank you Paola.
P.S. Love your ebook too.
Is it possible to change the ricotta cheese.?
Hi Paola, love your site. I want to make this, but I don’t know how many grams each ball should weigh before smooshing in my tortilla press. Thoughts?
Hi Lynn! Depends on the size of your ravioli? I just did some quick math and it’ll be 5-6g. xo!
Hey Paola! Looove your blog! Can’t wait to try this recipe! As for the freezing. Do You freeze it before cooking (raw dough) or after being cooked? How long do you think it might last in the freezer? Thank you so much <3
Hi Izabela! So happy to hear you’re enjoying the site! I freeze them raw, shaped and read to cook. They should last about 2 months xo!
Hi, can one use psyllium husk instead of the xanthan gum?
Unfortunately no Maame, it doesn’t work the same here at all 🙁
Any suggestions if you’re allergic to coconut? Would love to make these!
Hi Aimee! I’m sorry these unfortunately don’t work without coconut flour 🙁
So excited to try this!!
Have you tried rolling out the dough in a pasta roller?
Hi Jessica! Yes it does work, just lightly dust with coconut flour as needed. You may want to use a little less water so the dough is not so sticky, about 2 tsp. The dough should form into a ball easily with no creases, varies a little from brand to brand but 2-3tsp should do the trick. xo!
Paola, I checked on the tortilla press you linked on Amazon and a lot of the reviewers indicated it worked on corn tortillas but not flour ones (left them too thick). What is your experience with this? Maybe since there is no gluten in your dough, it works better? On another note, these would probably be great with a spanakopita filling (unless you can come up with a keto phyllo dough – never been done before, but if anyone can, you can lol). Thanks.
Hi Kate! Yeah don’t worry about the comments on the tortilla press, those hold (very!) true for corn and flour tortillas but not for these guys. You’ll just want to always line the tortilla press (we use some special plastic sheets in Mexico, but parchment works well too). And lol about the phyllo! My dream is to come up with some sort of puff pastry (because pain au chocolat! 😜) xo!
Oh, if you try spanakopita, then you would bake it? Please post if you do!
You can definitely bake this dough. But check out the flakey pie crust too- that one might inch a bit be closer to spanakopita. xo!
Thanks , I didn’t think of that.
THESE ARE AMAZING!!! I haven’t made the spinach and ricotta ones, but you bet I will!
That’s awesome Serena! So happy you enjoyed! xo
Oh my! If they just taste half as good as they look I will be in Ravioli heaven! Can’t wait to try this out. Loooove Raviolis.