Making eggless and vegan ravioli dough is an easy process! This recipe creates delicious, simple and versatile pasta dough to make endless varieties of tasty ravioli!
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How to Make Vegan Ravioli Dough
A main consideration when making vegan ravioli dough is how to replace the eggs that are typically used when making fresh pasta.
While eggs may provide some texture and binding abilities, they can be left out while still creating delicious pasta dough.
By using all-purpose flour, this recipe is as simple as it gets. All-purpose flour contains gluten, a protein that binds many baked goods and pastas together. Since the gluten can be easily worked (by kneading the dough) you can create simple eggless ravioli dough that has a nice texture and holds together well.
To make vegan ravioli dough, simply mix the ingredients together with a utensil until a ball starts to form. Then, switch over to your hands and knead the dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes, until the dough feels smooth.
The final dough should be sticky to the touch, but not so much that clumps stick to your hands. If it’s quite sticky then add extra flour as needed, about 1 tablespoon at a time.
Chill the dough before rolling to give it some time to rest.
How to Shape and Cut Ravioli
There are plenty of techniques for how to form ravioli. I find it’s best to roll out two sheets of dough and layer the filling between.
To do this, roll out just less than half the dough on a well-floured surface. Place small scoops of your ravioli filling in rows across the dough, leaving room for the edges of the ravioli to be formed.
Roll the other, larger half of the dough separately then carefully lift up this sheet of dough and place it across the top of the rows of filling. Allow the top sheet to fall in between the rows of filling as best as possible.
Next, press the top and bottom sheets together around each scoop of filling.
Cut the ravioli out using a knife or pizza cutter. Leave enough room on the edges to press the dough together.
Next, press a fork into the edges of each piece, sealing the ravioli dough together. You may want to trim excess dough around the ravioli to create the ideal size and shape.
This method produces fairly square ravioli (mine often come out in different shapes which is fine by me!). If you want round ravioli shapes, use a cookie cutter to cut around each ravioli in the sheet. Make sure the cookie cutter leaves enough room to press the ravioli edges together.
How to Fill Your Vegan Ravioli Dough
The ultimate filling and sauce combination for a delicious vegan ravioli can be found in my recipe for butternut squash ravioli with sage butter sauce!
This delicious ravioli dough can be filled with anything you like! There are also endless possibilities for sauces to coat the ravioli in. Mixing cooked spinach with vegan ricotta cheese is a tasty option when coated with a simple tomato sauce (I love the tomato sauce portion of this vegan chicken parm recipe!).
I’ve also used this recipe as simple vegan pierogi dough. To do this, roll the dough thicker than you would for ravioli. Cut out large circles of dough then place the filling onto half of each circle. Fold the circles over and press the open edges together.
You could also create ravioli this way if you find it easier to cut the dough pieces and fold them in half over the filling!
If you make this recipe, please rate and comment below to help others benefit from your experience!
Vegan Ravioli Dough (Dairy Free, Eggless Pasta)
Equipment
- Large pot (to boil pasta)
Ingredients
Instructions
Make Ravioli Dough
- Place all-purpose flour into a large bowl along with salt.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt
- Gently pour in olive oil and cold water. Mix with a spoon until a ball of dough starts to form, then dump out the dough onto a flour-covered surface.2 tablespoons olive oil, ¾ cup cold water
- Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until it feels smooth. Add additional flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. The final dough will be sticky but still easy enough to handle.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill before rolling out. If making ravioli, you may want to cut the dough in half (or just slightly off half so one piece is a bit bigger) and wrap separately before chilling.
Prepare Ravioli
- Remove prepared ravioli dough from the fridge. Cut the dough roughly in half – one piece should be slightly larger than the other, but not quite a ⅓ to ⅔ ratio.
- Generously flour your countertop/ rolling surface and begin rolling out the smaller of the 2 pieces of ravioli dough. The dough should be stretchy, so it takes some work to roll out completely. Add extra sprinkles of flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to counter or rolling pin.
- Keep rolling until the dough is very thin (until you can almost see through the dough).
- Scoop the prepared ravioli filling onto this piece of dough. Each scoop should be around 1 tablespoon in size and spread out giving space around the edges (to press the top and bottom dough pieces together). Ideally, scoop the filling into rows/ a grid pattern.
- On a separate piece of counter top, roll out the slightly larger piece of dough. Try to roll into the same shape as the first piece that has the filling on it. Again, be generous with the flour used to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Carefully lift the larger piece of dough and gently place it over the scooped ravioli filling on the first piece of dough. Try to allow the dough to fall into spaces between the ravioli filling – if the filling is in nice rows, allow the top dough piece to fall in between these rows.
- Gently press the top piece of ravioli dough around each scoop of filling. Next, cut the ravioli by slicing around each piece – if you’ve created rows, make straight cuts along each row.
- Carefully pick up each piece of ravioli, pressing the edges together with a fork so they hold. Set the ravioli aside on a piece of parchment paper (a surface that won’t stick).
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, gently add the ravioli (work in batches to not crowd the pot) and boil each piece for 1 minute. I use a slotted spoon to transfer the ravioli into and out of the water.
- The ravioli are now ready for sauce! If the sauce isn’t ready to add the ravioli directly into, place the cooked ravioli onto a piece of parchment paper while you prep the sauce (cooked dough sticks together so keep the pieces separate).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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About Nicole Stevens
Nicole is a vegan Registered Dietitian (RD) and founder of Lettuce Veg Out.
She helps people thrive on a vegan diet with balanced recipes and easy-to-understand nutrition science.
Anita L Burkam
Why does the ingredients list call for 2 T olive oil, but the recipe only calls for 1 T? I've looked around for where you might use the second T of olive oil, but I didn't see anything.
Nicole Stevens
So sorry about that - I've updated the recipe so it reads to add 2 tbsp of olive oil into the dough. Thanks for letting me know about this!
Nola Geeringh
Hi Nicole,
Please give me a recipe to make my own gluten free all purpose flour WITHOUT rice flower
cant find any. I am allergic to rice.
Much appreciate
Regards
Nicole Stevens
Hi Nola. Thanks for the suggestion however gluten free is not my specialty so I'm not sure I'm the right person to do this. Hopefully you'll be able to find a flour to meet your needs.
N
You could try coconut flour instead (unsure if would get coconut flavouring added though
Nicole Stevens
Have you tried coconut flour? I'd love to hear how it turned out! I don't think it would work with the recipe as-is because there's nothing in coconut flour that would hold the dough/ pasta together; it'd need a binding ingredient of some sort. And I would also guess the coconut flavor would come through since coconut flour is simply ground up coconut.
Sush
Is there any alternative to olive oil?
Nicole Stevens
Any type of liquid oil can work. However, I'm guessing you're asking for an oil-free alternative and unfortunately I don't have one. The recipe needs oil to keep the dough soft and pliable.
KJ
Can this be frozen before and/or after cooking to have it ready to make or reheat?
Nicole Stevens
I haven't tested freezing the dough or the ravioli but I think either option should work, although I can't make any guarantees it'll turn out okay. I don't see a reason why this dough can't be frozen; I'd wrap the raw dough in plastic wrap, then a freezer bag. Then, thaw in the fridge overnight, the day before you want to use it. I also think the prepared, raw ravioli should freeze okay; once assembled, I'd place the ravioli onto a baking tray to freeze each piece individually before transferring the frozen pieces to a freezer-safe bag or container. I don't know how to cook these from frozen so you'd have to see what works! Hope that helps.
Martin
Brilliant recipe. I even make crackers by deep frying the doe. It works fantastically well.
Nicole Stevens
So happy you enjoyed Martin!
Nicole
Fab recipe, I made it today and loves it, used my new pasta maker rather than rolling the dough, but can I just say the music in the video is really distracting and makes it difficult to concentrate on what you’re saying
Nicole Stevens
So happy you enjoyed the recipe. Sorry about the audio in the video, I thought I had fixed it but will check again.
Jenna Mann
Can I leave this dough in the fridge all day?
Nicole Stevens
Hi Jenna - I've never tested it out but would assume it'd be just fine!