This Cheesy Baked Ravioli Casserole is the very best way to get that cooking-all-day, Sunday-supper-style meal in under an hour. This one is a keeper!
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Have you ever thought about what kind of pasta is your favorite? I feel like people's pasta preferences are pretty unique across the board. Some people prefer noodles. Other's enjoy pasta in tube form.
And then there is stuffed pasta. Stuffed pasta holds a special place in my heart. To me, it's the best of both worlds. Of course you've got the pasta itself. But I love that there's always a surprise of some sort inside. I especially love cheese ravioli. It brings me back to Sunday supper at my grandma's house. On the Sundays that I found out we'd be having ravioli, I got even more excited for dinner!
So in my typical way, I set out to find a way to make it even easier. Why not take the boiling out of the equation? And while I'm at it, why not layer it up with a quick and easy meat sauce and top it with ooey, gooey mozzarella cheese?!
I really loved the idea of layering frozen cheese ravioli to make a sort of "ravioli casserole." I might even go as far as to call it ravioli "lasagna." I mean it's got all the same components, though packaged slightly differently.
This ravioli bake is an excellent way to get that cooking-all-day, Sunday supper feel in under an hour (and half of that time is downtime!). It includes basic ingredients that we all typically gave hanging out in our kitchens. And you guys, this is seriously so delicious!
This also makes a pretty good amount of food- It's designed to be baked in a 9 x 13 pan
This Cheesy Baked Ravioli Casserole is the very best way to get that cooking-all-day, Sunday-supper-style meal in under an hour. This one is a keeper!
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup diced onions
- 2-3 garlic cloves chopped or pressed
- 1 pound ground beef- I use 80/20
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 ½ cups of your favorite marinara sauce divided
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup Romano or Parmesan cheese
- 1 25 ounce bag of frozen cheese ravioli
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
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Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
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Add the onions and garlic and saute until they've softened about 2-3 minutes.
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Add the ground beef and break it up with a wooden spoon.
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Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Saute until the beef is brown, about 7-10 minutes
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Add 2 cups of the marinara sauce to the pan and stir. Place the other ½ cup of sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.
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Take the water and swirl it around the empty sauce jar (to get any left behind sauce) and then add that to the pan as well.
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Add the Romano cheese to the pan and simmer for 6-7 minutes, stirring periodically.
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While the sauce is simmering, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
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Line the raviolis up in a single layer to cover to bottom of the baking pan- the amount it takes to cover it will depend of the size of the raviolis but for me this was 4 rows of 6 ravioli.
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Next spread half of the meat sauce mixture evenly on top of your ravioli.
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Now make another layer with the remaining ravioli (you may have a couple left over) and spread the remaining meat sauce mixture evenly over the top of it.
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Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
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Remove the cover and to with an even layer of shredded mozzarella cheese.
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Return the pan to the oven and bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
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Serve immediately and enjoy!
If your sauce is on the thin side (sometimes the frozen sauce I made from scratch is a bit thinned because my Vitamix works a bit too well with fresh tomatoes!) you can thicken it with a couple tablespoons of tomato paste.
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I also love this pasta recipe:
And this is another favorite pasta dish:
Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Pasta
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