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Whole-Wheat Sweet Potato Ravioli

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Now before you discount this recipe as something you won’t make (because homemade pasta is required), let me stop you right there. Making homemade pasta is not something I do often, but it’s really not any harder than other recipes you make from dough (think pizza, biscuits, tortillas, breads). I simply put two ingredients in my food processor and let it do the work for me. Then I crank it through our pasta machine that I’ve owned for 15 years (still going strong!). This process takes me less than 30 minutes, not counting the “let the dough sit for 20 minutes” part.

Plus, not only is making homemade pasta a really fun kitchen project (for both me and my daughters!), but the outcome TASTES REALLY GOOD (like really, really good). Homemade ravioli is one of my most favorite dishes of all time, and there’s just no way to make it at home if you don’t make the dough. Now you’ll see that the sweet potato ravioli in my picture isn’t perfectly square or straight, and that’s because my daughters pretty much made these by themselves (see pics below)!

Making Sweet Potato Ravioli on 100 Days of #RealFood
My girls making ravioli in their pajamas last Sunday.
I didn’t have to ask them twice to help – they love making pasta!

They’ve of course helped me make pasta many times before, but once you get the hang of it, it’s seriously easy enough for a child to do. All I did was give them each a ball of dough and the filling (both which I made) along with a little ravioli making tool, and in the end, they were both pretty darn proud of themselves (and I was too). :)

Now this is not meant to be a quick weeknight meal by any means. This is usually a Sunday dinner type of thing, and no matter how much I try to talk you into making ravioli, I just cannot lie about the mess. It does make a big mess. So just keep in mind this is the type of dinner you make just before you plan to sweep/mop the floor—not the day after! Enjoy!

Homemade Sweet Potato Ravioli on 100 Days of #RealFood

 

Homemade Whole-Wheat Sweet Potato Ravioli

Course: Dinner
Dietary Restriction: Peanut/Tree-Nut Free, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 14 minutes
Servings (Adjust to suit): 4
Author: Lisa Leake

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Sweet Potato Ravioli on 100 Days of #RealFood

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour, freshly ground not recommended for this recipe
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 sweet potato, large, or 2 small (1 2/3 pounds total)
  • 2 teaspoons butter, + 5 tablespoons, divided
  • salt, to taste
  • pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup sage, fresh (just the leaves)
  • parmesan cheese, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. To prepare the filling, roast the potato by piercing it with a fork in a few places, placing it on a small baking sheet, and baking it in a 400° F oven for 45 to 60 minutes (until it's tender when pierced with a fork). Alternatively, if you are short on time, you could peel and dice the potato and boil it to make mashed sweet potatoes (don't forget to drain the water). Either way, you either discard the peel or use it for another dish (although I am not sure what, LOL). Mix the mashed sweet potato filling with 2 teaspoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste, and set aside.
  2. In a food processor fitted with a dough blade, combine the flour and eggs. Turn on the machine and run until the dough turns into a ball chasing itself around the bowl (should only take a couple minutes to come together). If the dough is too dry (i.e. falling apart), add water a teaspoon at a time until it comes together. If the dough is too sticky (i.e. sticking to the sides), add a teaspoon of flour until it comes together without sticking to your hands.
  3. Wrap the dough ball along with a little pat of flour on the top and bottom in a piece of plastic wrap and let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes. I like to skip steps in recipes when it's not necessary, but as I've learned from experience, the sitting of the dough is necessary in this recipe!
  4. Set up your pasta maker and divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces. Start cranking the first piece through the machine on the thickness setting (keep the other pieces wrapped in the plastic wrap so they don't dry out). Fold the dough over and keep running it through the first setting until it looks like a nice big rectangle (or so). If the dough is sticking to the counter or your hands, pat both sides with a little flour. If it's crumbling, add just a touch of water. Keep running the piece through the machine as you gradually decrease the thickness setting. I usually give it a little pat of flour on both sides each time I change the setting. I don't run ravioli dough all the way through the thinnest setting. I stop at the second to last setting so it doesn't break too easily once the filling is added.
  5. Once the dough has been thinned out enough, lay it flat on a lightly floured counter (don't forget the flour here or you'll be sorry!). Cut it in half and add little dollops of filling across one of the two pasta sheets. Dip your finger in a little bowl of water and trace a square around each spot with filling. Carefully lay the other sheet of pasta over top and gently push it down with your (dry) fingers around the filling. Use a handheld ravioli wheel (and a table knife to help if necessary) to cut and seal each piece. We own this ravioli wheel, which works fine but doesn't always do the best cutting job, hence the need for a knife. This one looks like a better choice (minus the sharp blade for kids), but I have not tried it personally. Place on a floured plate and divide layers with plastic wrap. Alternatively, you can make half moon raviolis with little handheld dough presses. That's fun to do too!
  6. To cook the ravioli, boil in water for approximately 4 minutes (fresh pasta doesn't take as long as the packaged stuff)!
  7. To make the sauce, cut the fresh sage leaves into little strips and then melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once the butter melts, add the sage leaves. This part doesn't take long, so don't walk away! Stir the sage leaves in the butter until it begins to brown, about a minute or so. As soon as the butter browns and the leaves are crispy, take it off the heat, pour it over the ravioli, garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if desired, and serve. Yum!

Recipe Notes

We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.

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About Lisa Leake

Lisa is a wife, mother, foodie, blogger, and New York Times Best-selling author who is on a mission to cut out processed food.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Lisa

      September 26, 2014 at 2:57 pm

      Yes, you can totally freeze these! I do it between sheets of wax paper. But freeze them raw, of course. I would not recommend refrigerating them though (for longer than a couple hours) because they can get soggy, which will obviously completely mess up the dough.

      Reply

  6. Diana Schmied

    September 26, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    ok, that makes sense (with regard to fresh ground). I have found that I usually have to add between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup more flour than a recipe calls for if I use fresh ground flour for baking. Probably depends on the type of wheat, too, I imagine. Thanks.

    Reply

  7. Kelly

    September 26, 2014 at 3:10 pm

    Do you need a pasta maker or could you just roll it out? I don’t have a pasta maker but I would like to try these and make a large batch to freeze. Any advice?

    Reply

    • Raquel @ Good Bad Food

      September 29, 2014 at 7:30 pm

      I don’t have experience with this specific recipe, but based on my general experience with making pasta I’d guess it would work, you just won’t get it as thin rolling it out by hand (which might also mean longer cooking time and slightly chewier ravioli). I’d like to get a pasta maker soon, but in the mean time I’m also very interested in trying a hand rolled version of this recipe.

      Reply

  8. Emily

    September 26, 2014 at 6:15 pm

    Seems like a really inexpensive meal- except for the part about needing a food processor, a pasta machine, and a ravioli wheel, which I doubt a very large percentage of readers have. Oh well.

    Reply

    • Carolyn

      September 27, 2014 at 1:03 pm

      I think, that you do not really need either a food processor or a ravioli-wheel, since I have seen a lot of recipes, where neither is used (though they probably help a lot and buying them could be considered, if one often makes this recipe).
      Instead of using a food processor one could use the normal kitchen-mixer and I have even seen recipes, where the dough is made by hand and the ravioli-wheel can be substituted by a fork.
      If one has a rolling-pin, one could even try to use it instead of a pasta-maker.
      Like I said, having this appliances probably saves some work, but it should be possible to make this recipe without it.

      Reply

  10. Rachael VanDyke

    September 26, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    Also I have a cheese question while I’m here. What do I look for as far as the label goes. All the cheese I look at seems like it has other things in it.

    Reply

  11. Lucinda Bomberger

    September 27, 2014 at 2:44 pm

    This looks good! I have bought your book and I am enjoying it! I was following the blood type diet which eliminates processed food. I started working full time and got away from following it due to not having time, which became my excuse . I started cutting out processed foot again . Not long after my sister in law told me about your blog and your book that was coming out! I have tried some of your recipes and tips, especially pop corn in a paper lunch bag, clever!! My daughter loved it and is okay if I make it that way from now on!
    Something that I am craving right now is chocolate cake with peanut butter icing! I know I can make the cake okay, it’s the icing that is questionable! Do you have a good real food recipe for peanut butter icing?
    Thank you for sharing your real food journey!

    Reply

    • Raquel @ Good Bad Food

      September 29, 2014 at 7:34 pm

      I don’t have a full recipe for healthy peanut butter icing, but if you have good blender you might be able to make your own powdered sugar from a raw or turbinado style sugar and then just use it any normal frosting recipe. It can be hard to get the raw sugar fine enough for frosting use though…

      Personally, I’d probably add peanut butter to a cream cheese and honey style frosting and see how it turned out.

      Reply

  12. Aly Schilling

    September 28, 2014 at 11:27 pm

    Alright – you’ve convinced me to buy a Pasta Maker! I’ve been debating it and the extra time has been my hold up… But ironically, just today I was at the health food store and totally miffed that they added sugar to their frozen butternut squash raviolis (they even fit the 5 ingredient rule and used whole grains!) Big bummer. So now it’s becoming a “need” to make our own. When you froze these, did you cook from frozen or let them thaw first? I made our own gnocchis before and doubled the batch – the fresh ones cooked great and then the frozen ones I boiled from frozen and they fell apart inside the pan and were unusable… Don’t want to goof these babies up :) :)

    Reply

  13. Helen in the UK

    September 30, 2014 at 3:19 am

    I’ve made pasta before and if you have the time it’s fun. I did wonder if it was possible to make it with w/wheat flour, so now I’ve seen that you’ve had success, I’ll give it a go! Thanks for the nudge :)

    Reply

  15. Kristin

    October 2, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    Could I substitute butternut squash for the sweet potato and if so how much should I use?

    You make pasta making sound so easy. i received a hand crank machine 11 years ago as wedding gift. The trouble is, I’ve never had a kitchen counter with the right thickness of counter to be able to clamp it on to. I made ravioli 1 time, and had to crank the machine with 1 hand while holding the machine down with the other hand. It was a lot of work and I haven’t tried it since. Luckily we have fresh ravioli available at our farmer’s market. You’ve inspired me to give it another try.

    Reply

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