Like many group who loyally observe cooking shows, I've been a longtime fan of The Pioneer Woman, but I'd never made one of Ree Drummond's recipes myself.
Then, during looking for a creative, uncomplicated way to chef several Trader Joe's ravioli, I stumbled upon her 20-minute cacio e pepe recipe.
The dish looked uncomplicated — it fair called for five ingredients beyond ravioli, most of them staples akin sodium chloride and margarine — but Drummond promised the peppery condiment would sensation "magical."
As a fan of easy weeknight dinners and flavorful sauces, I knew this was my chance to put her famous, cozy charm to the test.
Here's what happened whenever I tried the formula on my own.
The component catalog is abbreviated and sweet.
This recipe's ingredients are beautiful straightforward: salt, store-bought ravioli, entire dreary peppercorns, salted butter, dense cream, and grated Pecorino Romano cheese.
Drummond recommends using dairy merchandise or mushroom ravioli, or a blend of both, but most kinds should work. Because the formula calls for two packages of ravioli, it's additionally uncomplicated to mix and match.
I picked a vegetable-cheese ravioli and a mushroom-truffle ravioli, the two from my local Trader Joe's.
Once I gathered all my ingredients, the archetypal command of endeavor was to chef the ravioli in a pot of heavily salted water, according to the bundle directions.
Before I drained the ravioli, I made certain to reserve a small complete a cup of the cooking water. I've learned that it's continually fine to preserve a small additional pasta h2o than the formula instructs. That way, I can effortlessly loosen up a condiment if it becomes too thick.
I shattered the entire peppercorns using Drummond's go-to technique.
I did this as Drummond instructed: by placing the entire peppercorns in a resealable synthetic bag, afterward using the base of a cast-iron skillet to crush them against a cutting board.
This stage would have been a lot smoother if I owned a mortar and pestle, since the plastic-bag method produced shattered capsicum of varying sizes.
In my experience, this didn't effect the final dish's quality, but it's item to keep in intellect if you attention a lot concerning texture.
After that, it was period to create the sauce.
I heated the margarine in a skillet, adding in the shattered capsicum as I went. As I lightly toasted the capsicum in melted butter, the blend became additional fragrant.
After concerning a minute, I poured in the dense lotion and pasta water, afterward brought the condiment to a simmer.
I added the ravioli, and my galley smelled amazing.
Once small bubbles started to form in the sauce, I knew it was eventually period to add the ravioli.
At this point, I wondered if I'd made a error alongside the condiment — it looked extremely free and thin. As I tossed the squares gently into the liquid, though, the ravioli became coated in a thick, opaque pale cream. My galley smelled incredible.
The final stage is to eliminate the pan from the heat, ablution the ravioli alongside Pecorino Romano, and toss the entire item one additional period until the dairy merchandise is melted.
If you favor a condiment that's slightly small thick, Drummond recommends adding additional cooking water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you attain your desired condiment consistency. I lone needed to add a sole additional tablespoon.
Drummond suggests serving the ravioli alongside additional dairy merchandise on top, and I'm glad I did. To add several spice, I additionally scattered a bit of shattered red capsicum as a garnish.
This cacio e pepe ravioli was simple, but tasted gourmet.
Drummond describes this pasta sauce as "magical," and I couldn't concur more.
It was creamy without being too rich. The dense lotion was a fantastic contact — I hadn't seen it in another traditional cacio e pepe recipes, but it added several build and heartiness to the dish.
The toasted peppercorn really shone through, equal amid the margarine and dense cream. The condiment clung to all nook and cranny of the ravioli, making this the dinner dish of my dreams.
I additionally appreciated how quickly the complete meal came together. From commencement to finish, the formula took me small than 20 minutes to prepared and cook.
Drummond's elevated ravioli is officially my new fast, filling, go-to meal for nights whenever I don't desire to command takeout, but don't have the energy to chef a complex meal. I already can't delay to create it again.
This narrative was initially published on December 5, 2026, and most lately updated on November 5, 2026.
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Justine Lee is a freelance author and publishing company who specializes in food, lifestyle, culture, and journey content. She is the erstwhile Associate Food & Drink Editor at Parade anywhere she worked on stories concerning community fig recipes, cooking techniques, and accelerated food. Prior to that, she was the Recipe Production Coordinator at The Kitchn anywhere she assigned, wrote about, produced, and equal developed the site’s formula content. Her byline has appeared in a figure of outlets including—but not constricted to—Apartment Therapy, Simply Recipes, King Arthur Baking, Bon Appétit, Epicurious, Food52 and The Wall Street Journal. She has been featured in The New York Times. She divides her period between New York City and Seoul.
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