What Is a Good Sauce to Go With Beef Ravioli

Wonderful easy dish that will please even the hungriest family members. Three cheese ravioli topped with delicious homemade meat sauce. It's a tomato based pasta sauce loaded with beef and veggies.

Ravioli with Meat Sauce with parmesan cheese on a white plate

Over the next couple of weeks, I will have a few delicious meals to share that would be perfect for Father's Day.

You can imagine how excited my husband is to have two weeks worth of "man approved" meals before Father's Day even comes. He actually helped with ideas for many of these dishes. I am still running a few recipes by him but for the most part, the menu is complete. I trust that you will like many of the upcoming dad-dishes and I can't wait to share them all.

Let's start with this easy and incredibly delicious comfort dinner of ravioli topped with homemade meat sauce. You can of course use homemade or store-bought ravioli but sauce is the star of this dish for sure. This sauce has a tomato base and loaded with veggies and beef. It has a great flavor coming from a hint of nutmeg and fresh basil. I can't even begin to describe the smell that will fill your house!

Ravioli with Meat Sauce with parmesan cheese on a white plate with a fork to the back

Speaking of how good this dish smells, I heard it from many people the day that I made it. It happened to be extremely crowded in my tiny apartment that day. My little man had his speech therapist over for a session and he had his bed delivered at the same time. Of course, that was the exact time that I was making dinner and had to catch the light to take pictures.

You see, I take all my photos on a little side table by the window, in little man's bedroom. It happened to be that I needed to take the pictures at the same moment that that we got a knock on the door and his bed was here. (Yeap, he got his "big boy" bed!) So as I'm trying to take a few shots, while clearing out his old bed and making room for the new bed. Hubs is trying to move everything too, while helping me take the photos with grated cheese, because I just "had to have the shot with grating of the cheese on top."

So while I'm trying to snap a few photos of this delightful dish in a tiny bedroom, I had about 6 people squeezing around me. Every one of them stopping by the table to see what I was doing. As crazy as it was, I did enjoy the fact that everyone was saying how good it smelled and looked.

Ravioli with Meat Sauce with parmesan cheese on a white plate with a fork to the back

small round white plate with ravioli and meat sauce on a wooden table viewed close up

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef 85% lean is best for keeping in juicy
14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
10.75 oz can tomato puree* not sauce or paste, make sure it's puree
3 garlic cloves
1 small Vidalia onion diced
1 shallot diced
4 oz baby bella mushrooms diced
1/4 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tbsp minced fresh basil
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Heat up a large cooking pan over medium heat.
Add oil, diced onions and mushrooms, saute until onions are transparent.
Add crushed tomatoes, tomato puree and pressed garlic. Stir well.
Add ground beef, breaking it up as much as possible. Add salt and pepper and lower the heat to medium low. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until meat starts to brown. Mix well, breaking up all the chunks of meat with a wooden spoon.
Add thyme, red pepper flakes and nutmeg, stir well and cover back up. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-10 minutes.
Stir in basil and taste to check if you need more salt and pepper. Cover and cook for a few more minutes.
Serve over cooked ravioli or other pasta of choice.

Recipe from Lyuba @ willcookforsmiles.com All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to share this recipe, please simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

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lifting Ravioli up with a fork with Meat Sauce with parmesan cheese on a white plate