Walmart's Best Marketside Prepared Pasta Is So Good You'll Want It On Repeat

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Making stuffed pasta from scratch is a labor of love, and it's certainly worth the effort. But for those busy weeknight dinners, store-bought will have to suffice. Luckily, Walmart's Marketside prepared pasta line offers a wealth of fresh options that are ready in mere minutes, and many even rival homemade versions. We tasted and ranked 10 Marketside fresh pasta varieties according to flavor, texture, and Italian-inspired authenticity, and determined our favorite to be the brand's Italian Style Beef Ravioli.

The ravioli features a blend of mirepoix, braised beef, and ricotta cheese, wrapped up in sun-shaped pasta. Beginning a filling with a mirepoix is already a recipe for success as the fried aromatics and veggies impart a rich savoriness to the beef that is further elaborated with the addition of red wine, cream, tomato paste, parmesan, and butter. The combination of umami-rich flavors, salty and nutty parmesan cheese, and the decadence of creamy dairy products creates a restaurant-worthy flavor explosion. Furthermore, the braised beef is fall-apart tender, while the ricotta is delightfully creamy. The icing on the cake is that the ravioli boasts a generous filling. The pasta itself was also supple, chewy, and very fresh. 

We really have no notes for these unique ravioli as they are hearty, comforting, and bursting with Italian flavors. Considering the pasta take less than five minutes to make, this is a weeknight meal that you're going to want to enjoy on repeat.

On Walmart's website, customers wrote numerous rave reviews for Marketside Italian Style Beef Ravioli. One customer deemed it "restaurant-level ravioli." Another wrote, "This product needs to be available all the time. It's that good ... 5 stars across the board."

Customers also praised the prepared pasta's convenience, with one stating, "Very good ravioli ... easy to prepare and great for a quick [weeknight] dinner. Just added this to our 'yes please' menu rotation." The pasta boils much quicker than dried pasta and even takes less time to heat up in the microwave than a frozen meal. So, you can skip the frozen section the next time you're craving ravioli. In fact, one Walmart customer thought the Marketside prepared pasta was "better than the smaller frozen ones" and "of a higher quality," especially because many of the frozen varieties are already smothered in sauce. To that effect, you have more freedom to create different meals with a few packages of the beef ravioli by switching up the sauces.

Many customers recommend pairing the pasta with a simple store-bought marinara sauce as the velvety tomato sauce will play up the umami-rich flavors of both the tomato paste and beef. A creamy mushroom sauce would also work really well with the ravioli, as well. Of course, you can always keep things simple with a brown butter sauce infused with garlic and sage, like we use in our pumpkin ravioli recipe. Toss in some sun dried tomatoes or a bag of frozen peas for a pop of color and a more well-rounded, one-pot meal.