Homemade pasta is common in Amish homes. A batch of hand-made, scratch noodles requires as little as three or four ingredients, some patience, and some drying time and you have them. If you cut the dough into squares instead of longer noodles and, before they dry, drop some filling in and pinch them together then let dry, you can do homemade ravioli.
🍲 Ravioli Variations
But there are so many variations of ravioli: cheese, meat, veggie, seafood, or a combination of all. There are also a gazillion ways to cook ravioli. Boiling it is most popular, but you can fry it and you can bake it.
Still, sometimes it isn't what is inside the ravioli but what is on the outside that makes ravioli such a hit. So in trying to decide something different than the same old ravioli for my girls, I decided to try something different. They love Cheez-Its, how about a Cheez-It-coated ravioli? It's very easy and really, really delicious. My girls loved it, but I loved it even more and I don't even like Cheez-Its that much. Doritos? Yes. Cheez-Its? Meh.
📋 Step-By-Step Cheez-It Cheese Ravioli
I started with cheese ravioli, but you could try any kind of ravioli you want. I don't see why this would not work with any kind. And, you know, if you want to put in the work, you make your own ravioli using the method I described above.
Otherwise, keep it simple and use frozen. Start by boiling the frozen ravioli for about 3 minutes, don't completely cook it, just soften it. And while the ravioli is boiling prepare your Cheez-It coating station.
The size of the Cheez-It crumbs is a matter of personal preference. I like a few Cheez-It chunks and larger pieces. That's just me. Some people, I am sure, would prefer coarse, finely milled crumbs that are more like sugar. So if you are in the latter group, just put Cheez-Its in a freezer bag and roll a rolling pin over it and really crush them. If you like larger pieces, like I do, just use your hands and break them up.
The next step is kind of up to you. I cracked a couple of eggs, dipped each piece of ravioli into the egg and then dredged it through the Cheez-It crumbs, thinking, hoping that would help the crumbs adhere to the ravioli. As you can see above, the results were so-so, the crumbs were some of unevenly adhered. Egg wash would give it a nice golden color, but I don't know that it really matters since it's covered in cheese, Cheez-It, and sauce in the end anyway.
In the above batch, honestly, I just dumped the crumbs over the ravioli and didn't bother with the egg, and that turned out just fine. I was getting low on Cheez-Its so I also tried crushing up cheesy Goldfish, but I didn't think those tasted quite as good as the Cheez-It coated ones. I briefly thought about doing this with Club crackers, but I wasn't so sure, so I didn't try that!
I had like three pans of ravioli and one jar of sauce to spread, so I didn't go too terribly thick on the sauce, as you can see, but it still worked and taste good. If you make your own marinara sauce, it would be so, so, much better, but who has time for that? Then I sprinkled it with a parmesan and mozzarella blend and stuck it in the oven at 375 and this is where, I think, the recipe really shines. Bake the heck out of this ravioli, 35 to 45 minutes until it is good and crispy. The sauce, the cheese, the Cheez-It crumbs, and ravioi should all bake and congeal together nicely so you have this crispy deliciousness of everything and it is absolutely incredible!
We paired it with some garlic bread and cucumbers and my girls really liked it and, as I said, I loved it. Leftovers can be stored in an air-tighter container and refrigerated and I am going to eat my leftovers for lunch!
🍝 Additional Spaghetti Recipes
Classic One Pot Spaghetti Recipe
Amish Cheesy Beef Casserole
Amish Easy 4 Ingredient Noodles
Dorcas Raber's Spaghetti Supreme
🖨️ Full Recipe
Cheez-It Crusted Baked Cheese Ravioli
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pound of four-cheese ravioli (or any kind of filling)
- 4 cups of crushed Cheez-Its (more if you need more)
- 24 ounces marinara sauce
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375
- Partially cook ravioli by boiling on high for 3 minutes.
- Remove and drain ravioli and let cool for a few minutes.
- Crush Cheez-Its into crumbs and sprinkle oregano into the crumbs.
- Arrange ravioli pieces into a baking pan. You may need to use two or three baking pans.
- Dump Cheez-It/oregano mixture over all Raviolis until generously covered, crush more Cheez-Its if you need to
- Spread sauce evenly over all raviolis.
- Baked for 30 minutes and remove from oven.
- Test for crispness and then spread Parmesan and mozzarella cheese over all the raviolis.
- Put back into the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
- serve and enjoy!
Michele Tibbens
I love ravioli and I love cheezits. I can't think of anything better.
My feet are awful. A few years ago, I found Miracle Foot Repair. It's got aloe in it. I use it year round. I put it on my knees and elbows too. I get the quart size pump bottle. You can get it on Amazon. I wear flip flops all during warm weather outside and barefoot inside.
It's important to take care of your feet. They are the only you have to stand on.
Thanks for all you do.
Kevin Williams
Thank you, Michelle, for the kind words. I've actually tried that and it didn't do anything for me, but I may expecting too much when I try these things, like immediate improvement and I am sure that might not be realistic!
Gail Plaskiewicz
Oh my gosh, this sounds so good! I have to try it but I have to buy ravioli's first cause I don't think I have any and I know I am out of Cheez-its. I wonder how Fritos would taste on it? Just wondering. Anyway, I have a child's pasta maker cause my friend got it for me & I got her discount where she worked. It's all plastic but it makes real pasta. It came with little cookie cutters so you could make shaped pasta which I did once. I want to try that again with some of the cookies cutters I have bought since and shaped pasta would be so cool with this!
Kevin Williams
Hmmm, I am not sure how Fritos would work with this, but you could try! I think the Cheez-It crumbs just make for really nice consistency, not sure if you'd get the same from Fritos!