Air Fryer Ravioli With Homemade Marinara

Air Fryer Ravioli is one of my favorite things to eat.  It conjures up great memories of childhood at a wonderful Italian restaurant, with a plate piled high, sprinkled with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, and the best meat sauce marinara in the world. 

The Air Fryer makes these frozen ravioli light, crunchy, and quick. I made my own marinara and it was so delicious.

Whether you serve up this fried ravioli as dinner or an appetizer I am sure you will enjoy this. Enjoy this frozen ravioli as a savory treat.

🍽️ Why This Works

• Use frozen or refrigerated ravioli: Just reduce the time if you are going to use the refrigerated version.
• A simple and easy appetizer or meal: Not only is this easy, everyone loves it.
• Dip in ranch or marinara sauce: Dip these in ranch dressing or the homemade marinara below.
• Affordable: This is an affordable appetizer to serve for game day or make for a fun movie night treat.
• Quick cooking: After the dipping, this one cooks quickly in under 10 minutes per batch.
• Easy Prep: This one can be prepped and made in no time and since you are starting with frozen raviolis, you are just dipping them twice and starting the cooking process.

👩‍🍳 Ingredients

In addition to the ravioli, I’m also sharing my marinara sauce too. That is my favorite part because it tastes so good I could eat it with a spoon. Here are some of the main ingredients:

Bread Crumbs – Use a combination of both Italian bread crumbs and Panko to give you an extra crispy texture that is out of this world. Plus, they make the ravioli taste even more scrumptious too.

Frozen Ravioli – We buy frozen ravioli that is stuffed with cheese a lot. Pick any variety you like.

Marinara Sauce – My homemade marinara sauce is the perfect addition to this ravioli. It’s made with tomato sauce, Italian seasonings, basil, and a little touch of sugar.

You can use it for breadsticks, garlic bread, mozzarella sticks, or just about anything you have a craving for.

🍽️ Instructions

This is such a yummy and easy recipe to make for a quick weeknight meal or to enjoy on the weekend for movie night! You will love how you can make just a small batch to enjoy without lots of dishes or heating up the kitchen. 

Step One: In a small shallow dish, place the milk, and egg.  Whisk the egg and milk together. 

Step Two:  In another shallow dish, mix the Italian bread crumbs and the Panko.  Add the teaspoon of garlic salt and stir well.  

Step Three: Remove the ravioli from the freezer and place two or three at a time in the milk/egg mixture. Coat them well and then roll in the bread crumbs.  (I found it helped to take a spoon to add extra bread crumbs on the ravioli).  

Step Four: Place the breaded raviolis in the Air Fryer, in a single layer, and lightly spray with the olive oil. 

Set the temperature to 350 for nine minutes. At the five minute mark, turn the ravioli over, and lightly spray again with olive oil.

Finish cooking the ravioli. While they are cooking, make the marinara sauce.  

Step Five: Place the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, pepper, sweet basil, oregano, and brown sugar in a heavy saucepan. Stir all ingredients together, and cook over medium-high heat until the sauce bubbles. Turn down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often.  

Serve it topped with Parmesan cheese and finely chopped parsley. I kept the marinara sauce on the side.  Enjoy!

TIP:   You will have to cook the Ravioli in batches, depending on how many you can get in the air fryer at a time.  I have an Instant Pot Air Fryer, and it holds about 12 – 15 at once. So, if you’re cooking the whole package it might take you two or three batches to cook them all.  If you’re just cooking one batch, you might start cooking the Marinara first, so your sauce is done about the same time as your ravioli. 

📌 What is Spray Olive Oil 

Spray Olive Oil is found near the jarred olive oil and the Pam cooking spray. It runs about $3 and is so easy to use. You can use it just like Pam, but it is pure olive oil. 

I have also used an olive oil mister. Pour your own olive oil in and pump the container to create your own olive oil mist. I used one of these for years and it wore out. In the long run, the mister is less expensive, but you’ll need to take the extra step to fill it yourself.

⚠️ Which Air Fryer to Use 

We get that question a lot so I thought it is a great time to address this. 

Like I said above, I use the Instant Pot Air Fryer and love it! I love the little racks and the fact that it dehydrates, roasts and even has a rotisserie function. My husband dehydrates a lot of his herbs and this helps out tremendously to have more space for him to do this.

I live in Virginia, and it can be sweltering in the summer. The Air Fryer allows me to cook meals in the 90 degree heat without heating up the house. 

The other option is to get a basket style Ninja Air Fryer. I cooked quite a bit with this at my mom’s house. That little sweetie is so easy to use. It holds “just enough” food. If you have a bigger family, you will need to cook in batches or use the larger version like the Instant Pot mentioned above.

My mom got this one and she was cooking with it in under ten minutes. I adore this machine! She is not a big gadget girl, but she loves it so much she could sell it at the stands in Costco. 

🍽️ Meal Prep Options 

Always, always be on the look out for meal prep time saving options. Dissect a recipe and see what you can possibly do to save time.

For this one, the best meal prep option for this one is to make the marinara sauce early and put it in the refrigerator. Then you can take it out and reheat it up.

👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

• Feel free to use a dairy replacement to dip ravioli if you are dairy-free. Then use whatever ravioli fits your dietary needs.
• Use a spoon to help toss the ravioli with the crumbs. If you need dip multiple times to ensure that you can get the ravioli evenly coated.
• Feel free to add seasonings that you like into the breading to add flavor.
• Make homemade marinara or buy store-bought.
• Consider dipping in ranch dressing, it is a tasty option.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container. They will become softer in texture, but still taste great.
• You can reheat the leftovers in the air fryer, to help get that crispy texture again.

🍽️ Recipe FAQs

🥘 Related Recipes

Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!