Everyone needs a quick but really impressive meal in their cooking arsenal. My go-to is usually ravioli; it cooks in a few minutes and all you really have to do is make an awesome sauce.
You can make the meal in a half hour, and most of the ingredients are relatively easy to have on hand. (I know it’s a bit odd to have saffron threads in my spice collection but Trader Joe’s sells some that isn’t terribly expensive.) You can buy lobster ravioli if/when it goes on sale and store it in your fridge until needed which means this seemingly fancy recipe for Lobster Ravioli with Saffron Cream Sauce is actually a quick and easy dinner option!
I was pretty excited when I came across this recipe because it sounded amazing. Um, it was beyond amazing. Seriously. This is one of my favorite sauces I’ve ever made. Mmm. Ok, sorry. I should probably share it with you now.
Ingredients (get all ingredients here):
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs, optional
- 1 package lobster ravioli
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 shallot, minced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 2 pinches saffron threads
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
- lobster chunks, if desired
- Fresh chives, for garnish
Make the pasta according to directions.
While waiting for the water to boil, if desired, add the panko breadcrumbs to a small pan and toast over medium heat.
Stir occasionally, until lightly browned. Remove from heat and reserve.
Next, make the sauce. Add the butter to a sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the shallot and cook for 2-3 minutes or until translucent.
Turn the heat up to medium high and add the wine, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes.
Add the cream and saffron, lower heat and simmer. You can also stir in ground turmeric to ensure a yellow coloring to the sauce, if desired
Cook until the sauce has reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
Add the cooked ravioli to the saute pan and stir to coat.
If desired, sauté some lobster pieces until warmed through.
Add the ravioli to a plate and spoon with more sauce. Top with the lobster pieces and sprinkle with the toasted panko. Finish with chives.
The saffron turns the cream sauce a wonderful light yellow color and can be tasted throughout the dish.
It works SO well with the lobster, who knew? I strongly suggest a little sprinkle of cayenne, the little bit of spice brings out all of the other flavors.
I made this for my boyfriend and when I walked away after finishing my ravioli, I caught him spooning out my extra sauce and just eating it. That’s right. (Not that I blame him).
Lobster Ravioli with Saffron Cream Sauce
A quick and easy dinner recipe perfect for a weeknight but impressive enough for a weekend! Can be made in just 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs optional
- 1 package lobster ravioli
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 shallot minced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 2 pinches saffron threads
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric optional
- Salt to taste
- Ground pepper to taste
- Lobster chunks if desired
- Fresh chives for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to directions.
- While waiting for the water to boil, if desired, add the panko breadcrumbs to a small pan and toast over medium heat.
- Stir occasionally, until lightly browned. Remove from heat and reserve.
- Next, make the sauce. Add the butter to a sauté pan over medium-low heat.
- Add the shallot and cook for 2-3 minutes or until translucent.
- Turn the heat up to medium high and add the wine, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes.
- Add the cream and saffron, lower heat and simmer. You can also stir in ground turmeric to ensure a yellow coloring to the sauce, if desired.
- Cook until the sauce has reduced by half, about 10 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
- Add the cooked ravioli to the saute pan and stir to coat.
- If desired, sauté some lobster pieces until warmed through.
- Add the ravioli to a plate and spoon with more sauce.
- Top with the lobster pieces and sprinkle with the toasted panko.
- Finish with chives.
Notes
If you make this recipe, share a photo on Instagram and tag me @icancookthat!
mmm! looks delicious! you had me at cream sauce.
Wow, these look amazing! I love the stripe of color 🙂 Man, my mouth is watering just looking!
Um you had me at saffron! Looks so good!!! You literally got my tummy rumbling. Come’on lunchtime!! 🙂
This looks lovely! Love the stripes. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
My husband has been trying to find Lobster Ravioli for me to try for a long time. He always goes on about how great it tastes. Yours really looks mouthwatering. Thanks for sharing, and great impressive meal!
Wish I could’ve been there…
This is so impressive and sophisticated. I definitely need to save this recipe and give it a go for when I really want to impress someone! 🙂 Thanks for sharing this!
What a stunning, elegant recipe!! Man I love Trader Joes!
I love how easy this is! It looks so elegant! I like the striped ravioli!
I’m weird and I don’t like lobster, but I think this would be awesome with any other kind of ravioli. Plus I now have a reason to splurge on saffron!
I have half and half with that work or does it have to be whipping cream?
Half and half should work just fine!
also I have white Zin would that work in place of the dry white wine
White zin is really sweet so I don’t think that would make a very tasty substitute. Look instead for a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
OMG… I made this tonight and it was extraordinary !!!!! I wouldn’t change a thing. It was also so easy to prepare. This is definitely a “wow” dish. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that Vicki! This is definitely one of my favorite recipes 🙂
We made this but added garlic and a pinch of nutmeg to the sauce. We also sauteed garlic, olive oil, fresh bread crumbs and chopped lobster meat and added it atop the plated pasta… It added crunchy texture to an otherwise creamy dish! This is delicious but high recommend the added lobster topping!
Jessica,
I love the addition of the breadcrumb mixture and extra lobster! What a delicious idea!
I’m not sure what kind of nuclear powered stove you have, but mine did not cook off the wine at medium low in 3 minutes, or even 25 minutes. I got tired of waiting for that step and for the sauce to cook down. Unfortunately, it meant the sauce ended up tasting more like wine than anything else.
I think the recipe is solid and probably tastes amazing, but it seems like at some point the temperature has to go up a bit, as do the cooking times.
Perhaps you could offer some insights?
Hi Alex, everyone’s stovetop works at different levels — the type of power (electric, gas, propane), size of burner, etc. can all impact the timing. I’d suggest turning your burner up after melting the butter to a higher level so that when you add the white wine, it immediately sizzles. Hope this helps!
I had to turn the heat up and then back down again to get these results but it came out delicious!
Loved this!
I did have to substitute quite a lot because I didn’t have white wine or cream or a shallot in the house (I did have the lobster ravioli and the saffron! 😄)
White wine vinegar (splash)
Triple sec (splash)
Water
Sour cream instead of cream
Devils dust for sweetness and spice
Normal red onion instead of shallot
It may be a different recipe now, I admit, but it was fantastic!!
Thanks for sharing! So glad I found your recipe 🙂
I made this dish today. All I can say is, “OMG, is that ever GOOD!!” I did use 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup half and half. The cream I had was kind of thick, that’s why I made that change. This was soooooo good, it caused a few growls while eating it!! Lol It’s also plate-licking worthy!! Did I lick my plate?! I’ll never tell!!
VERY good, thank you for sharing this!! I was looking for something to go with lobster ravioli since we don’t have it very often and THIS was perfection!
This was delicious. We’ll definitely make it again. We’ll add a bit more saffron next time. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Thank You for such a rich delectable dinner. I followed the directions exactly with no additions. I made this for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I served it with soft warm garlic bread. My son wiped his bowl clean and said, ” you can put this bowl back in the cabinet it’s so clean!”. I will be making it again today for a large dinner party. I am adding 2 pounds of cooked colossal shrimp to the pan a few minutes before it leaves the stove to heat up the shrimp.