We understand how important it is most times to have a full course meal even when the main dish is a complete meal on its own.
Many main dishes would require a side dish to add this distinct feeling when relishing them. There is this delight that always comes with savoring the dish alongside great side dishes.
Ravioli are a great standalone meal and can come in several varieties. Although many people would enjoy this as snacks, however, having them with some excellent side dishes can change the way you eat ravioli.
You might be wondering, what to serve with ravioli. How can you find great side dishes for them? Well, let’s find out about all these in this guide!
Contents
What are ravioli?
Like dumplings, ravioli are a type of pasta that comprises many ingredients which make up the fillings. Ravioli is good as a snack. However, serving alongside broth or with sauce adds this richness to how it tastes.
Originally, ravioli is traditionally served in Italian cuisines. Little wonder they consider it a “gift to humanity”.
And like meat pie to make ravioli you must be able to add some ingredients as you so desire on top of pasta, and then use the other part to hold the pasta. You must seal the end so it doesn’t open.
This gives ravioli this square round pillow shape; however, this does not mean that it cannot come in other shapes. It would all depend on what you make out of your ravioli!
There are many types of ravioli, so you can always have a taste of different ravioli one at a time.
Types of ravioli
Ravioli could be pumpkin ravioli, butternut ravioli, or spinach ravioli. So, depending on what you want or what works for you, any of them can serve your needs.
What fillings makeup ravioli?
There is virtually nothing that you cannot add to make up the fillings in ravioli. You can add a good number of ingredients to your ravioli. Let’s have a list of them!
Many ingredients like pumpkin, spinach, mushrooms, cheese, carrot, zucchini, broccoli, potato, meat, salmon, and many others can make up the fillings in ravioli. So, you are not stuck with limited choices.
Bottom line, you can get super creative when making your ravioli.
How does ravioli taste?
Well, there is no particular way that your ravioli should taste. The taste of your ravioli would depend heavily on the fillings.
So apart from the pasta taste that you would taste since pasta is the chief ingredient, you are likely to have a huge combination of savory, tangy, and even spicy tastes all at once. Super yummy! Right?
The taste of ravioli, however, would range from mild to sweet and sometimes even spicy taste. Remember, your ravioli would be exactly what you make out of it!
Do ravioli need side dishes?
So, you might wonder, even with all these fillings and the yummy taste that comes out of ravioli, why do people settle for side dishes? Do ravioli need side dishes?
Well, for food connoisseurs, food is art in itself. And for kitchen geeks, getting super creative comes from within. So, why settle for what you have used, when you can stretch and have fun with what you have?
The truth is that some side dishes are equally good standalone meals. Ravioli is good when you snack on them during the day.
More so, if you enjoy light meals before sleep, ravioli contains so much to carry you for a night, yet won’t make you feel any heavy unless you have plenty of them.
However, ravioli needs excellent side dishes if you must enjoy it! Would they alter the taste of your meal? Well, to some extent.
There are some wonderful side dishes to serve with ravioli in case you want to get the best out of it. Let’s learn about them now!
Read: What Is Traditionally Served With Tamales? (8 Proven Meals)
What to serve with ravioli?
Different side dishes would add up to the taste of your ravioli above all. It would make a full course meal if you are looking forward to having a satisfactory meal.
1. Italian bread
Since it is almost impossible to serve ravioli alone if you need to enjoy it with sauce and broth, you can use Italian bread to soak up the sauce or broth.
Italian bread is a good main dish but would do perfectly as a side dish for ravioli. It is so easy to have bread around. However, if you are going to make bread yourself, then all you need is flour, sugar, salt, and some dry yeast.
If it seems like an impossible task, then you can learn how to make bread yourself. Fret not, it is super easy!
2. Broccoli Rabe
Also known as rapini, broccoli is an edible green plant that is from the cabbage family. Broccoli is cholesterol-free, fat- free and, as such, the perfect heart-healthy choice. It is also rich in calcium and a superb source of anti-oxidants.
Broccoli all around is consumable from the stem to its buds. It tastes great and would make a good side dish in case you need some extra taste for your ravioli.
3. Oven-roasted vegetables
We cannot underestimate the nutrients that vegetables carry. Apart from being nutritious and are filled with health benefits, nutritionists and even doctors would recommend vegetables to make up our meals.
You can cook, fry, roast, or add vegetables into recipes and enjoy the taste that is offered in the food.
So, oven-roasted vegetables would add some sweet flavors that go well with thinner broths and sauce. That’s if you are serving your ravioli with sauce or broth. And even without the broth and sauce, vegetables are a way to go!
So the best way to get the best from eating ravioli is to serve them with roasted vegetables!
4. Cipollini onions
Onions make us teary, yet we cannot do without them. Onions are filled with nutrients and would offer a great taste to our meal. No wonder we keep running to them. Cipollini onions are smaller than regular onions and would make an excellent side dish for ravioli.
More so, Cipollini onions are sweet and do great when you roast them. They have this strong flavor that would add to the taste of ravioli.
5. Cheese with zucchini
Cheese is a splendid meal that is made from buffalo milk, cow’s milk, or even goat’s milk. Many kinds of cheese could make up for a side dish if you will go on an adventure.
However, we made a pick for you! Yes, the parmesan cheese, the parmesan cheese is semi-hard and would offer some complex yet desirable taste when you serve it with ravioli.
And to make it more drooling, add zucchini to it! Zucchini Cucurbita pepo is one popular vegetable that can be consumed, whether cooked or raw.
Zucchini looks like a cucumber, but they are not the same. They do not belong to the same family, even.
Add a bit of zucchini and a bit of cheese to make your ravioli adventure a memorable one!
6. Polenta
Sometimes what a dish needs to make a simple yet glorious meal is just a creamy meal. Polenta is a wonderful side dish to serve with ravioli if you want to get a buttery taste. Polenta is a popular dish in Italian cuisines.
Polenta is from grains; however, it is mostly made from cornmeal. If you cannot enjoy it hot, then you can allow it to cool.
In most cases, you can bake polenta if you let it cool and solidify.
7. Roasted cherry tomato salads
The goodness and benefits of tomatoes are quite many to mention. Cherry tomatoes are one of many tomatoes that are not just sweet. A bowl of salad with cherry tomatoes in it is enough to make you want ravioli every day!
Salads are quite a mixture; however, you could pick several ingredients that you want to have in your meal!
So roasted cherry tomato salads are an excellent side dish to serve with ravioli!
8. Roasted carrots
We all know how nutritious it is to have carrots. Carrots are mostly sweet and would offer this sweetness and vibrant color to the recipes it finds them in.
Sometimes, it could demand having them crunchy, so roast them to have this yummy flavor oozing from them. Roasted carrots are excellent side dishes to serve with ravioli and sometimes it’s okay to make them spicy too!
9. Green beans
Beans are wonderful meals that serve as side dishes; many use beans to make up for salads and stews. They are rich in protein and vitamins.
Green beans are sumptuous meals that can fit a side dish if you are looking forward to having a wonderful side dish to serve with your ravioli. Closely related to green beans are peas.
What it takes is only bravery, and you can get the best out of it
Read: Potato Side Dishes For Jerk Chicken (7 Tasty Side Dishes)
Conclusion
In this guide, we summed up many side dishes that can make ravioli a sight to behold. So, now that we have answered your undying question “what to serve with ravioli” what’s next?
Well, go try them out! Remember, food is what you make out of it. So, you get creative when choosing the side dish to serve with your ravioli.
We cannot wait to share your experience.
So, have a great time enjoying your ravioli with the perfect side dish!