Mac and Cheese Ravioli
Imagine cutting into a plump and delicious looking ravioli, and creamy mac and cheese comes oozing out! That is what you get with these mac and cheese ravioli! The mac and cheese hardens when it cools, and it is the perfect texture to stuff inside a big ravioli! It’s the best of both worlds when it comes to pasta – a nice and hearty tomato sauce, meshing with the creamy mac and cheese sauce!
My favorite thing stuffed inside my other favorite thing. If this incorporated pizza somehow I think my head would have exploded. A perfect tomato sauce and tender homemade pasta, wrapped around a creamy mac and cheese.
Make the mac and cheese ravioli filling
The key to this recipe is a simple stovetop style mac and cheese that has double the amount of cheese than it has pasta. So much cheese! with that much cheese in the mix, as the mac and cheese cools it fully solidifies. This is what will allow us to stuff it inside the ravioli!
Pour the mac and cheese into a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper and allow it to cool overnight.
Then cut it into cubes!
Who needs brownies or rice krispy treats when you have these mac and cheese squares!
Make the mac and cheese ravioli
Take your mac and cheese cubes and line them up on a sheet of rolled out pasta. If you need a simple pasta recipe, grab this one.
Brush a little water around the cube of mac and cheese, then put the other sheet of pasta on top of it. Really squeeze and press the pasta as tightly to the mac and cheese as you can to remove all the air and seal it up good.
I was having people over so I needed to make 60, but I grabbed a few of my friends and we busted through it no problem.
I refrigerated these overnight after they were nice and dried out. You could cook them immediately too!
Cook the mac and cheese ravioli
They cooked about 5 minutes to get the pasta nice and tender and the mac and cheese hot inside. Then of course they go right into the sauce after they are boiled.
We served them with some spicy Italian sausages.
Some of the people eating didnt even know what was inside these, so it was a cool surprise for them.
Ravioli magic! The mac and cheese is surprisingly creamy and really oozes out when you cut into it.
So cool!
Twists on this recipe
You could probably use leftover mac and cheese for a ravioli like this. If your favorite recipe is solid when you take it out of the fridge the next day, you are good to go! any mac and cheese worth its salt is probably solid when it cools.
If you are looking for more unique ways to use mac and cheese, check out my mac and cheese burrito, this mac and cheese jalapeno popper, or these mac and cheese musubi!
Mac and Cheese Ravioli
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Pound elbow pasta
- 16 ounces cheddar
- 16 ounces jack
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 cups milk
- 1 batch fresh pasta
- 1 quart tomato sauce
Instructions
Make the solid mac and cheese
- Bring water to a boil and cook your elbow pasta.
- Preheat a large frying pan over medium heat and add the butter. Cook the onion in the butter for about 5 minutes. Toss in the garlic and cook 1 minute. Next add the flour and whisk well to combine. Cook about 3 minutes stirring the whole time.
- Add in the milk and whisk well to eliminate any lumps. Bring to a simmer as it thickens, and remove from heat.
- Add in the cooked pasta, then mix in the cheese. stir until all the cheese melts, putting it back on to low heat if necessary. Pour the pasta on to a baking sheet lined with parchment and refrigerate until hardened, a few hours or preferably overnight.
Make the ravioli
- Roll out your pasta dough to the third thinnest setting on your pasta machine. Spread a sheet of pasta onto the work surface, then place some of the mac and cheese squares on top. Brush some water onto the pasta around the mac and cheese square, then put another pasta sheet on top. Press firmly to secure the pasta and remove as much air from the ravioli as possible. Seal the dough with a ravioli cutter.
- Put the tomato sauce into a large frying pan over medium heat to warm.
- Cook the ravioli in well salted boiling water for about 5 minutes until the pasta is tender and the mac and cheese was nice and hot inside.
- Toss the cooked ravioli right into the pan with the sauce and toss gently to coat. Serve.
I can just imagine Xzibit in the last frame saying, “Yo Dawg, I couldn’t have even thought of these Raviolis myself.” He looks so serious and amazed, as he should.
hahahahaha – these look awesome.
Oh. My. Goodness.
This is by far the best idea anyone has ever come up with. I had a mac and cheese pannini at a cafe I frequent and people looked at me like I was crazy. By far my favorite side dish to pasta is more pasta.
Well done! I might have to try this soon 🙂
Another genius combination that my brain would have never thought of!
wow! thats pretty innovative….great pic by pic recipe. loved it!
This is like the pasta equivalent of turducken but i could not be happier to have found it. Genius.
Those look delicious. After your pizza suggestion, I can’t help but picture huge mac & cheese raviolis topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella & pepperoni (or sausage and peppers? Canadian bacon and pineapple?) bubbling under the broiler. Yum.
this post made me fall in love with your blog, and now you’re the top of my list! so inventive, and pretty funny too.
have you ever tried letting the mac & cheese cool and filling the ravioli mold ? rather than letting them solidify and then wrap in ravioli dough.
Just curious if anyone has tried filling the ravioli molds.
I havn’t tried it, but I guess it would probably work. Generally, wetter and warmer things in ravioli an cause tears so make sure it cools sufficiently. Let me know how it goes!
i really can’t wait to make these, then bread them and deep fry them.
I made these tonight and I did like them but they were a little too plain tasting for me. Next time I will definitely add some pizza sauce. Great budget friendly recipe and there’s lots of possibilities for the filling, including vegetarian. I think they do cook a little better if you freeze for 10/20 minutes before cooking 😊