Get tuffed: ravioli come of age

Nutrition Action Healthletter, May, 2004 by Jayne Hurley, Bonnie Liebman

* Miscellaneous. It's worth going out of your way to find Buitoni Garden Vegetable Ravioli; Rising Moon Basil, Asiago & Pinenut Pesto Ravioli; or Nuovo Roasted Pepper & Mozzarella Girasole. All three were off the taste meter.

Beef, Chicken, Sausage, Seafood

* Beef. Don't expect rich flavor from beef-stuffed ravioli or tortellini. While Rosina Beef beats the Taco-Bell-like meat in Rosetto Beef Ravioli, neither is worth writing home about. And Buitoni Beef Ravioletti isn't bad, but it isn't beefy either.

* Chicken. The best-tasting Best Bite: Monterey Roasted Garlic & Chicken Ravioli, with its comforting made-by-Morn chicken soup flavor. It ran rings around the chicken-soup-mix overtones of Rosetto Chicken & Herb Ravioli. But neither could compare with the delightful hint of rosemary in Buitoni Herb Chicken Tortellini, which just missed a Best Bite. If you can't find Monterey or Buitoni, try DiGiorno Herb Chicken Tortellini.

* Sausage. Got a yen for sausage? Rosetto Italian Style Ravioli with Sausage could satisfy it without endangering your arteries. So could seductively smoky Buitoni Sweet Italian Sausage Tortelloni, which just missed a Best Bite.

* Seafood. If you want good seafood, don't look inside frozen or refrigerated pasta.

Soy

You won't miss the cheese once you bite into Soy Boy Ravioli Rosa or Ravioli Verde. Ditto for Alberto Tofu & Spinach Tortellini, Alberto Tofu & Basil Pesto Ravioli, or Rising Moon Vegan Garlic & Roasted Veggies Ravioli. You may not even realize that you're eating tofu unless you try Soy Boy's (rather plain) Original Ravioli or Cafferata's (pretty much inedible) Soy Good 4U.

The information for this article was compiled by Tamar Genger, with help from Nicole Ferring.

Ravioli Roulette

Best Bites have no more than two grams of saturated fat and 480 milligrams of sodium in a serving. The (uncooked) serving size listed on the package is in parentheses following each name. Within each section, products are ranked from least to most saturated fat, then sodium, calories, and total fat. The stuffed pastas are sold frozen unless noted.