3 Cheese Zucchini “Ravioli” with Roasted Tomato Basil Sauce.
Because when life gives you zucchini, you turn it into something super cheesy.
Or at least that’s the way I like to do it, but then you guys know how much I love cheese! And yes, I did make us ravioli using zucchini “noodles”. I know I am typically all about real deal pasta, but you know, sometimes swapping veggies for carbs just works better. A tip though…serve this with bread. You know, for dipping into that homemade tomato sauce. <–oooops, you knew I’d sneak those carbs in somewhere!
*side note*–> I just re-read that very first line of this post and I swear I didn’t mean for it to sound so cheesy, but I kind of like it.
Anyway, I feel like this is a quintessential way to use up all the zucchini that summer has been offering us. I mean, what could be better than zucchini stuffed with not one, not two, but THREE cheeses. Answer? Nothing, this dish is so delicious even you pasta lovers out there will love this recipe.
Trust me, if we all love it over here, you will to!
Okay, here’s the deal, I’ve been wracking my brain all summer long, trying to come up with some new and exciting zucchini recipes. I feel like zucchini noodles have been done over and over again. And I feel like zucchini lasagna is a pretty common thing as well. So then I got to thinking a little further and wondered about a cheese stuffed zucchini ravioli thing.
Originally this recipe was supposed to use real, deal pasta, but when I had the idea to use the zucchini noodles as pasta, I just knew I had to combine my two recipe ideas and make them into one. It’s summer and I feel like lighter dishes are welcomed…right? Say yes!
So this (finally) brings us to the recipe!
It’s zucchini (I also used yellow summer squash) wrapped around a bundle of cheese (hello to ricotta, feta, and parmesan), then served over a warm batch of homemade roasted tomato sauce.
Yesssssss.
This is basically summer in a baking dish and I love it.
The recipe starts off by making the tomato sauce, but don’t worry there’s nothing hard about this tomato sauce. Then add everything to a baking dish and throw it in the oven for fifteen minutes or so. Pretty stinking simple.
While the sauce is doing its thing in the oven, start making the ravioli. I like to use a mandolin to uniformly cut my zucchini into eighth inch slices, but a vegetable peeler will work great too! Then mix up your cheeses in a bowl and it’s assembly time.
I took a few photos of the process for you guys so you could see how I wrapped up my ravioli, but it’s really as simple is taking four zucchini “noodles” making a star with them and then wrapping the ends up and around the cheese. See? Simple!
Now take those ravioli and lay them in the baking dish with all those flavorful tomatoes and bake a few minutes more, until the ravioli are warmed throughout and that cheese is a melty inside.
Top with fresh herbs (I used basil and thyme), and plenty of shaved parmesan, and then…dig in.
Oh, and lastly, add that piece of fresh bread for the extra sauce. <– do it, I promise you will not regret it.
I’ve got to say…Thursday night dinner never looked so good. And even though this recipe is pretty easy and pretty healthy, it’s also fun enough to serve up on a Friday or Saturday night too. Maybe add a fun cocktail or glass of wine and then finish the night off with a summer galette?
Yup, I’d say that right there is my kind of Friday night.
Watch the How To Video:
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
3 Cheese Zucchini "Ravioli" with Roasted Tomato Basil Sauce
By halfbakedharvest
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: summer meal, vegetarian, zucchini recipe
Zucchini wrapped around a bundle of cheese, then served over a warm batch of homemade roasted tomato sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- large handful fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- kosher salt and pepper
- 3 medium zucchini or summer squash
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
In a baking dish, layer the tomato slices, garlic, and cherry tomatoes. Add the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, thyme, crushed red pepper, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Toss lightly to combine. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to burst.
Meanwhile, make the ravioli. Using a mandolin or vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini into 1/4 inch wide strips and lay them flat on a paper towel lined counter. Sprinkle the zucchini with salt.
In a medium bowl, combine the cheeses, basil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper.
Grab 4 zucchini "noodles" and layer them to make a star. Start with 1 noodle, then add another to make a X. Now make another X with the remaining 2 noodles that will overlap with the current X (see above photo). Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling onto the center of the zucchini. Bring the ends of the zucchini together, laying them over the cheese. Repeat with remaining zucchini and filling.
Remove the tomatoes from the oven and lay the ravioli seam side down in the sauce. Drizzle the ravioli lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes or until the ravioli is warmed though. Serve with fresh basil and grated parmesan. Enjoy!
Pretty healthy food you say? Yep, going with it!
LOVE the idea! I’ll try it out when we get some tomatoes from our garden. 🙂
Hope you love it, thanks Caroline!
Hey Tieghan! I’m pretty sure I need to make this tonight for dinner! Looks amazing and I’m sure tastes even better!
SO happy you like it!! Hope you got to try it, thanks Kathy!
this looks marvelous and my trainer would approve!! (:
what brand mandolin do you use? i have been looking & looking & looking and can’t decide on one to buy….
Mine is OXO!!
Love this idea! I’ve been wanting to do more inventive things with zucchini too. This looks like a good place to start!
This is the PERFECT starting recipe! Hope you love it Lindsay!
This looks delicious! Do you have any pictures of the cheese mixture on top of the star so we know how you made the packages look so cute?
Hi Linda! I do and just added it to the post. Hope it helps! 🙂
Leave it to you Tieghan! What a creative idea! These look delicious. Love the roasted tomato basil sauce!
Your the best Mary Ann, thanks so much!
I have to say, whenever I see something wildly creative on the food blogging part of the internet it’s usually you who’s responsible! Love this recipe and can’t wait to try it with some crusty bread on the side…
Wow thats an amazing thing to hear (: Thanks so much Kelly!
Great summer meal! Can just pick from the garden (If you are lucky enough to have one). Also, gluten free!! Got a niece that would appreciate this! Thank you. Can’t wait to try it.
Gardens are the best!! Hope you love it Rie, thank you!
I just love this, what a great way to take advantage of summer veggies! But obviously still serving this with some good bread. 🙂
YES! Gotta get the veggies in!! Never can forget about the bread!
Is it 1/8 or 1/4 inch slices for the zucchini?
It’s 1/4 inch slices, sorry for the confusion.
Hello Tieghan! I love your recipes and have tried a few. Let me tell you this is one of the ‘bestest’!!! I have made it saturday night with all from my garden (except the cheeses 🙂 ) and substituted the parmesan with fresh mozarela. Love, love, love. Happy summer.
Awh so so happy you liked this one Maria! Thank you so much (:
Wow, your recipes are incredibly inspiring, beautiful and delicious… This is an absolute gem, thank you.
Thanks so much Noline!
Made this tonight and it was delicious. I cut the zucchini a little thicker than I probably should have so it began to snap as I folded the layers. I microwaved the zucchini for a couple of minutes and it helped to make it more pliable. With 8 or so minutes left of baking time, I realized I hadn’t used any garlic. Not sure where that comes into play so just added two minced cloves and continued to bake for the rest of the time. Came out great!
So glad it worked out in the end!! Thanks for making Jen!
Tieghan, I made this and it was delicious. My whole family loved it and the leftovers were great on a salad for lunch at work today. Yum yum yum. I’ll be making this again for sure. What a great recipe- keep up the good work!
Hi Leah, so happy you tried it and the whole fam liked it! Thanks!!
Enjoyed making this with my daughter! Huge hit….. no leftovers! Thank you for doing all the hard work for us. Big hugs to you and your family.
Thank you Lauren so happy you and your daughter made it together!
Thank you for another Home run recipe. Full flavored, wonderful use of fresh local summer produce. My wife is a pasta fanatic, she was totally impressed with this dish.
Love this dish, will double the recipe next time, its that delicious.
The tomato sauce is something else. You rock Tieghan!!!!
Awh yay so happy you tried it and liked it Joe, thank you so much!
Me again! Still loving this! Have made it 4 times and am making again as I type. Still have the same question though..,where does the garlic go?
That is so awesome!! Thank you so much, Jen!! The garlic gets stirred in with the tomatoes. Recipe is fixed! 🙂
I made these the other day and they turned out delicious! We didn’t have any cherry tomatoes at home, so instead I chopped up some roma tomatoes into big chunks. I used a mix of fresh and dry herbs, and it turned out all the more delicious. Getting the zucchini slices thin enough took a bit of experimenting, and I ended up using small leftover bits to make tiny little parcels as well. If the parcels wouldn’t close because the slices were too thick or something I just put them down the other way and it worked out fine! Thanks for such a tasty recipe, I can’t wait to make them again 🙂
Thank you so much Anna! I am so glad you loved this recipe and I hope you like others on my blog!
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Great recipe! I have so much zucchini right now in my garden that I was wondering if you could freeze this and do the tomatoes after defrosting? I would appreciate your thought on this. Thanks
Yes, I think that will work great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! x Tieghan
Love, love this! I make it multiple times each year with fresh tomatoes, squash and herbs from my garden. The sauce is magnificent!
Thank you so much Lonnie! I am so glad you loved this!
I made this and it was absolutely delicious. Would not change a thing. Thank you for a great recipe!
Thank you Allison!
I LOVE this recipe! The zucchini, the cheese on top of the tomatoes. YUM!!!
Thank you so much Amy!
Amazing recipe idea! I had some roasted butternut squash I needed to use up, so I made a filling with it, sautéd onions and mushrooms, seasoned with a little cinnamon, salt , pepper and garlic. I added some Parmesan and Colby jack grated cheese to the filling and made the packets with that. When I took the pan out of the oven, the tomatoes had disintegrated, so I removed the zucchini bundles and then cooked the tomatoes into a sauce on the stovetop. My husband raves about these “ravioli”! Thanks for posting this very adaptable, GENIUS idea!
Wow I am so glad you both loved this! Thank you so much!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! It looks absolutely delicious! Can I make ahead and serve the next day? Or are there some steps I can make ahead and then put together and bake the next day? Thanks.
Hey Jane! You can certainly make this ahead and then serve OR you can prepare the dish all the way up until the final bake, then chill the dish and finish baking the following say. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Made this the other night and it was delicious!! Everything from the sauce to the cheese blend was on point!! The only thing I felt I needed to change was the thickness of the the noodles. I used my mandolin, (which is always great to break out), and sliced it 1/4″ but it seemed the squash was too thick to fold, so I dropped it to an 1/8″. Worked much better! Love your blog and your recipes!!
Thank you so much Barbara! I am so happy to hear that this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
More Keto dishes like this please! Love this!
Thank you Kelly! I will try! xTieghan
I am a lasagna fanatic and this reminded me of the freshest light summer lasagna! It was so balanced with that hit of acid from the balsamic. I did end up with some leftover after making my “ravioli” and just rolled those up which I’d probably do next time, just cause it went much faster. Thanks!
Thank you so much Joey! I am so glad you love this recipe! xTieghan
So good!!!!……and so easy to make! Fantastic presentation, too! Thanks for making me a star in the kitchen!
Awh that is so sweet to hear! Thank you so much Dina! xTieghan
This looks wonderful and I am looking forward to trying it! I know this recipe is a few years old, but I have a question about quantities: you show 6 “raviolis” in the pan, and say that each one should get about 1 tablespoon of the cheese mixture – for a total of 6 tablespoons. But the recipe calls for a total of 2 cups of cheese, which is equivalent to 32 tablespoons! So…..should I put more like 1/4 c. of cheeses in each ravioli, which does makes sense if each ravioli is a whole serving?
Or will the recipe actually make more than 6 ravioli (and if so will I need a second pan?)
Or, do you normally end up with a lot of leftover cheese mixture?
Thanks!
Hey Shannan, Yes why don’t you use closer to 3-4 tablespoons. You will have some cheese leftover. You only need 1 baking pan. So sorry for the confusion, I just did the math incorrectly. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
My husband & I love this recipe! It’s delicious, pretty simple to whip up, & gives us an excuse to use the mandolin! The sauce that results could be bottled it’s that tasty! Thank you for sharing, love your recipes!!
That is so amazing to hear Lexi! So glad you both loved this! xTieghan
Hi! Is there a particular mandolin you use? Brand, model? I have a handheld one, but it didn’t really work with zucchini lengthwise… I’d love recs! Thanks!
Hey Meg! Linking to the one I use below! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
https://rstyle.me/+YFphyBqk8DESfvCJH6utmw
Would have been awesome but my zucchini wasn’t long enough so make sure you pick long zucchini
Hi Susan! I hope this still tasted amazing for you! Please let me know if there is anything I could help you with! xTieghan
I realize this recipe is several years old, but looks like you got ripped off here:
https://www.asaucykitchen.com/zucchini-ravioli/
Halfbaked Harvest isn’t credited and I def think it should be.
Wow, wow, wow!!! Made this for dinner tonight and it was amazing!!!! The sauce was incredible and it all came together so fast! Thank you for this one!
Thank you for trying this Jessica!! xTieghan
How many ravioli are made with the 6 serving recipe?
Hey,
You will have 6 large “ravioli”. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan,
I made this delicious dish for dinner. The tomato and cheese sauces were awesome!!! I didn’t have any Heirloom tomatoes but used all cherry tomatoes from the garden and used extra. The only problem I had was with the zucchini strips: 1/4” was too thick to roll up but I didn’t know that until I started to assemble them and made them a little thicker than 1/8” which was 100% better to work with and wrap. The cheese stayed inside and didn’t run out which was great as well.
I will definitely make this again—company worthy!!!
Thanks again, Tieghan for another wonderful recipe!👏👍
Thank you so much Susan!! I am so glad this turned out so well for you!! xTieghan
Tried this just now. The zucchini kept snapping in half when I folded it. The pieces that didn’t snap just unraveled as soon as I placed it in the dish. I ended up just making a casserole using the zucchini in place of lasagna noodles. The recipe is great, but the zucchini folding part is a huge waste of time and effort. 🤷♀️
I am glad this turned out well for you, Kristen! Please let me know if there is anything I can help with! xTieghan
This is an absolutely fabulous dish! A perfect light dinner with sourdough bread, or as a side with simple roasted chicken. I didn’t have a mandolin, so I hand cut thin slices of zucchini. The strips didn’t fold well (zuc’ not thin enough); instead, I rolled the zucchini around the ricotta, cooked the fish an additional 5 minutes, and the dish worked just as well and with less effort. I’m not a fan of most recipes with ricotta—the cheese is always too bland. This mixture of ricotta with feta, parmesan and basil is perfect! GREAT RECIPE!
Thank you Laura!! I am so happy to hear that! xTieghan
WOW! Made this and it was Scrumdilli! 😋
As is everything I have ever made of yours. I have both of your cookbooks and love your recipes!
Thank you Beth! So happy to hear that! xTieghan
Wow was this delicious!! So much flavor! The only thing I changed was I substituted tomato basil goat cheese for the feta as I am not a feta fan. Fantastic recipe!
Thank you Aly!! xTieghan
I’m in the middle of cooking this right now. I set my mandolin to 1/4 inch and they came out super thick. They break when I try to bend. Anything I can do?
Hey Megan,
So sorry but you want the zucchini to be super super thin. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
OMG! It’s delicious. I love this recipe.
Thank you so much Izabela! xTieghan
Absolutely delicious, I will make this again and again.
Thank you so much Sheila! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
This is a wicked recipe. I loved this and will now be a go-to. I was worried that the recipe called for too many tomatoes and I could have had more! Such a simple, delicious recipe. Everyone loved it. Do not hesitate to make this. The only thing I would say is that the garlic seemed a bit “raw” once all said and done. I will adjust this as necessary. Thank you for this!
I am so glad this turned out so well for you Trish! Thank you so much for trying this! xTieghan
I love this! But how do you get the “ravioli” to hold its shape? I’m not sure if my zucchini slices were too thick or too short, but they wouldn’t wrap around the filling and hold their shape! I turned it into a zucchini “lasagna” and it was still delicious 🙂
Hey Lyssa,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, sorry you had issues with the “ravioli” holding it’s shape. My guess is your zucchini slices were too thick, next time try making them super thin. I hope this helps! xTieghan