Lately I have really been loving making Italian recipes – skinny chicken parmesan, pesto and spaghetti squash, and mozzarella stuffed meatballs. Oddly, I have also been craving ravioli, something I normally don’t crave (but I’m pretty sure this growing baby has my husband’s tastebuds). I’ve seen recipes with zucchini ravioli before, but I’ve personally never tried to make it until a few weeks ago. After testing the recipe a few times, I was able to create these delicious mushroom & spinach zucchini ravioli with a lean meat sauce.

 

Most of the recipes I found online for zucchini ravioli were vegetarian. Which is fine, but they didn’t include a high protein source. I wanted to amp up the protein by adding meat to the marinara, and I think that elevates this dish a lot! I also wanted to pack in some more veggies, so the filling isn’t just cheese, it has nutrients from the veggies as well. I also feel like the addition of fresh herbs brightens the flavors up in this dish. One of the many reasons I love my garden box!

 

I wouldn’t say this is a super quick recipe, it takes a bit of prep work to make the zucchini noodles and then assemble the ravioli. But if you have some time, this is such fun recipe to make! Brandon gave it 5 stars lol.

I used THIS recipe from Delish.com as inspiration for my own recipe. I recommend watching the video at that link of how to assemble the ravioli, I think it does a great job showing it. The only difference I make is if my zucchini are small, I layer 3 zucchini noodles instead of 2 in each direction.

Remember to lay the ravioli seam-side down before layering with marinara and cheese!

Ingredients

4-6 servings 

Zucchini Mushroom + Spinach Filling:

• 4 cloves garlic, minced (keep separated)
• 16oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped
• 5oz baby spinach
• 15oz part skin ricotta
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1 egg, beaten
• minced herbs of your choice and amount*
• 5-6 zucchini (depending on size)
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• pepper to taste

*I used basil, oregano, parsley, and rosemary about 1/2 cup of minced herbs together) 

Meat Marinara Sauce:

• 1-1.5 jars Rao’s Marinara*
• 1lb 93% lean ground turkey
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 cups part skim shredded mozzarella**
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

*1.5 jars of Rao’s is the perfect ratio of space to ravioli, but if you only have 1 jar on hand, it works too 

**I used about 1.5 cups of shredded mozzarella total. 

 

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Start the filling: In a pan on medium/heigh heat, add about 1 teaspoon olive oil and saute 2 garlic cloves for 1 minute. Add chopped mushrooms and cook until browned, stirring occasionally (about 10-15 minutes, all of the liquid from the mushroom should evaporate). Once mushrooms have browned, add spinach and wilt (about 2 minutes). Remove mushroom + spinach mixture from heat and allow to cool (I like to put the mixture in the fridge so it cools enough. If it is too hot, it will cook the egg in the filling mixture you are about to make).
3. Make the meat marinara sauce: In a medium size pot on medium/high heat, add about 1 teaspoon olive oil and minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add ground turkey and cook until browned (about 7 minutes). Lower heat to low and add Rao’s marinara. Cover pot if desired.
4. Finish making the filling: In a large bowl, mix ricotta, 2 minced garlic cloves, chopped herms, parmesan, egg, and pepper. Set aside once evenly mixed. When the mushroom + spinach mixture has cooled, add it to this ricotta filling and evenly mix.
5. Make the noodles (again I recommend watching the video HERE): slice a zucchini length since to create a flat surface so it doesn’t roll. Use a vegetable peeler to create wide zucchini noodles.
6. Assemble the ravioli: lay 2-3 zucchini noodles vertically so they overlap a bit. Repeat with another 2-3 zucchini noodles in the horizontal direction. Spoon about 1/8 cup of filling into center of noodles (the amount you add will depend on how long your noodles are. Shorter noodles = less filling). Fold the horizontal strips over on top of the filling and then repeat the fold with the vertical noodles. Place in glass baking dish with the seam-side down. Repeat until all of the filling and noodles are used!
7. Once all ravioli have been assembled, evenly cover each with meat marinara sauce and then sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Put into the oven for 25-30 minutes until cheese has melted. Then broil on high until cheese starts to brown (roughly 2 minutes. Keep an eye on this because the cheese can easily burn if it is under the broil setting for too long). Enjoy!

 

I hope you like this recipe! It’s one of our new favorites and I really can’t wait to continue to make this when it gets colder outside!