Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Ravioli

Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Ravioli or it really should be Trader Joe’s Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli and that will become important in a bit.

I noticed a significant uptick in the sheer volume of pumpkin related items this season. I know I missed a few so hopefully, they will be back next year and I’ll review them then. It’s not only Trader Joe’s either, I was walking around my local Safeway and saw a myriad of pumpkin cookies and muffins from producers like Pepperidge Farms. It’s become such a thing over the past few years. 

As part of Pumpkinpalooza, I grabbed almost every pumpkin related item I could find a couple of weeks ago. I finally found the time to make up this ravioli for lunch the other day. I had high hopes for it because I really like squash filled ravioli and thought this would be similar.

I did like the dual tone color of this ravioli. Red on one side and natural colored pasta on the other side. These are fairly big ravioli and I think there were only about 8 in a package. Even for the lightest eaters, you are going to have to buy two packages of this for two people.

It’s only 9oz and on the package, they say there are two servings but at only 240 calories, that hardly makes a snack in my opinion. It’s still a cheap way to make a quick meal at $3.49.

So, I fired up a pot of water and brought it to a boil. Since these are fresh, you only need to cook them for about 2 1/2 minutes. In a separate pot, I had some Trader Joe’s Arrabiatta sauce warming up. I dumped out the ravioli – many times they broke open but these all stayed intact.

 I put them in a bowl and poured the Arrabiatta sauce over them and then sprinkled some Trader Joe’s Quattro Formaggio on top. It really looked delicious!

I guess I should’ve read the package a little closer. If you look at the ingredients, you’ll see that there is a fair amount of honey, brown sugar, and molasses on the list.  If I were making a sweet pumpkin pie I would be putting that stuff in there, but I wanted this to be less sweet and more savory.

Eating the ravioli was really like eating pumpkin pie ravioli and it was too sweet for me. You can see in the closeup shot that the filling looks (I dug some of it out to taste on its own) and tastes just like pumpkin pie. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised based on the name of the product. They say right up there “Honey Roasted”!

If you like your ravioli filling a little on the sweet side, you might like this.  The mellow pumpkin pie spices were nice, but overall this was way too sweet for my taste.  I won’t be buying it again unless they change the recipe.  I am going to rate this Trader Joe’s Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli 5 Bells.

INGREDIENTS: FILLING (PUMPKIN, RICOTTA CHEESE [PASTEURIZED MILK, WHEY, CREAM, VINEGAR, SALT, STABILIZERS {GUAR GUM, XANTHAN GUM, LOCUST BEAN GUM}], BREADCRUMBS [WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, YEAST, SALT], GLYCERIN, MOZZARELLA CHEESE [PASTEURIZED MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, MICROBIAL RENNET], SWEET POTATO FLAKES, CANOLA OIL, HONEY, BROWN SUGAR, MOLASSES, FRUCTOSE, SEA SALT, EGGS, PARSLEY, NUTMEG, ALLSPICE, CLOVE, CINNAMON, BLACK PEPPER, ANNATTO EXTRACT), NOODLE (WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, EGGS, BETA-CAROTENE, ANNATTO EXTRACT, FRACTIONATED COCONUT OIL). CONTAINS MILK, EGG, WHEAT, COCONUT.

NUTRITION FACTS:
Servings per container about 2.5 | Serving size 1 cup (100g) | Amount per serving: Calories 220, Total Fat 5g (8% DV), Saturated Fat 2g (10% DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 15mg (5% DV), Sodium 180mg (8% DV), Total Carbohydrate 37g (12% DV), Dietary Fiber 5g (20% DV), Total Sugars 3g, Protein 8g, Vitamin A (50% DV), Calcium (8% DV), Iron (10% DV).
The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.