Frozen ravioli is one of my favorite “cheat” ingredients. It’s a nice item to stash in your freezer for last-minute quick dinners when you don’t have anything else planned. And instead of just boiling them and adding sauce, sometimes I like to bake them up lasagna-style! This Baked Ravioli is a truly easy comfort food that takes next to no planning. You’re going to love it!
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“Just when I think Beth and the BB team can’t possibly outdo themselves, I come across this recipe – as I like to call it, “lazy lasagna” 😂 10/10 – I made it exactly as written. Easy, quick, and soooo yummy!”
Rachel
Easy Recipe for Baked Ravioli
This super simple dish is a lot like lasagna, but with a LOT less fuss. It’s simply layers of ravioli layered with a rich red meat sauce, then topped with cheese and baked to perfection. For this recipe I use a really simple homemade meat sauce to take everything up a notch, but you can totally use your favorite store-bought red sauce as a sub to make everything even easier.
Budget-Saving Tips
I’ll admit, this recipe is a little indulgent with all of that sausage, and using convenience products, like frozen ravioli, will also make the cost a bit higher. BUT there are some swaps you can use to bring the cost of this recipe down even further. Here are some tips:
- Swap half of the Italian sausage for sautéed mushrooms, peppers, or spinach.
- Make your own Italian sausage by buying plain ground pork and adding in your own spices.
- Buy your cheese in bulk to bring the price per cup down.
- Use a store-bought red sauce (you’ll need about 32 oz.)
- Watch for sales on the sausage and ravioli, then stash them in the freezer to “lock in” that sale price until you’re ready to make this recipe!
Baked Ravioli
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 lb. Italian sausage* ($3.57)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.70)
- 1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes ($1.67)
- 1/4 cup tomato paste ($0.37)
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning** ($0.30)
- 25 oz. frozen cheese ravioli*** ($2.98)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella**** ($1.97)
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional garnish) ($0.10)
Instructions
- Add the Italian sausage to a large skillet and cook over medium until fully browned.
- While the sausage is cooking, dice the onion. Add the onion to the skillet with the cooked sausage and continue to cook and stir over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and Italian seasoning to the skillet. Stir to combine and bring the sauce up to a simmer.
- Once simmering, place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat down to medium-low, and allow the sauce to simmer, stirring occasionally, while you cook the ravioli.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the ravioli and continue to boil for 3-4 minutes, or until cooked through (check the cooking instructions on the package for the recommended cook time). Drain the pasta in a colander.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Add 1 cup of meat sauce to the bottom of a casserole dish and spread it to cover the surface.
- Layer in half of the ravioli followed by half of the shredded mozzarella and 1 cup of sauce.
- Layer in the second half of the ravioli followed by 1 cup of sauce and the second half of the shredded mozzarella.
- Cover the casserole with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove the foil, turn the oven from bake to broil, then return the casserole to the oven. Broil for a few more minutes, watching very closely, or until the cheese is browned. Top with chopped parsley if desired, then enjoy!
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Baked Ravioli – Step by Step Photos
Brown the sausage: Add 1 lb. Italian sausage to a large skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sausage is fully browned.
Add the onion: While the sausage is cooking, dice one yellow onion. Add it to the skillet with the sausage and continue to cook until the onion is soft and translucent (about five minutes).
Make the meat sauce: Add one 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes, ¼ cup tomato paste, and 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning to the skillet. Stir to combine.
Simmer: Bring the sauce up to a simmer, then lower the heat to medium-low. Place a lid on the skillet and allow the sauce to simmer, stirring occasionally, while you cook the ravioli.
Boil the pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add one 25 oz. bag of frozen cheese ravioli and boil for 3-4 minutes, or until cooked through (check the recommended cook time on the package). Drain the pasta in a colander.
Assemble the casserole: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Add about 1 cup of the meat sauce to the bottom of a glass casserole dish and spread it around to cover.
Layer in half of the cooked ravioli, then top with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella.
Layer in another 1 cup sauce, the second half of the ravioli, another cup of sauce, then one final cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake: Cover the casserole with foil and bake in the preheated 350ºF oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, switch the oven from bake to broil, and return the casserole to the oven.
Broil and serve: Watch the casserole closely and broil for just a few minutes more or until the cheese is slightly browned on top (this can happen quickly, so keep a close eye). Remove from the oven, top with parsley (if desired) and enjoy!
Storage Instructions
This baked ravioli will hold up in the fridge for about 4-5 days, so it’s great for meal prepping the week ahead! If you want to store it even longer, divide it into single serving portions and then once it’s chilled completely in the refrigerator you can transfer it to the freezer for longer storage (about three months). The frozen portions can be reheated quickly using a microwave for a super fast homemade meal!
Yummy! Made a double batch of this last night, adding chopped spinach, swapping in ground turkey and extra seasoning and salt, based on other comments! One casserole was for my family, and one is for a family that’s post-surgery. For the family I’m bringing it to tonight, I’m wondering how I can reheat it in the oven so it’s hot and ready for them to eat right away. What temperature and timing would work well to reheat the entire casserole?
I would do maybe 300F for 10-15 minutes. Really, it would likely take a similar amount of time to reheat the whole thing as it did to cook it in the first place. In the future if you want to make it to bring to someone, I would assemble it and then just pop it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake! You can bake it and bring it hot or give them instructions on how to bake at home. :)
I like this recipe and would make it again, but I have a few notes. 1) Nowhere does it specify the size of baking dish needed. I ended up dirtying an extra dish before realizing I needed to size up to the big one, 9 x 13. 2) Most importantly, the recipe definitely needs salt. The sausage and cheese are not sufficient sources on their own. I would add at least a half teaspoon to the sauce. If you parboil the frozen ravioli, add a tablespoon of salt to the water as well. 3) I also added in globs of ricotta to each layer to increase the lasagna flavor in addition to the mozzarella.
How would I do this in the slow cooker please?
We haven’t tried this one in the slow cooker, Danie so I’m not sure!
Same Process. Turns out good.
Loved this! So easy and so delicious!
Made this last night with basic ingredients from Aldi (nothing fancy) – holy smokes it’s soooo good. My husband had 2 helpings and asked me to put it into the rotation.
Yummm! This was so good! I didn’t realize until the end that it was supposed to go in a 9×13 dish and I used a 9×9. It was very full but it technically still worked, for the record! Definitely adding this recipe to our rotation!
This was delicious. My 7 & 9 yo boys devoured this. I substituted beyond sweet Italian for the pork. My husband silently caught my attention during our family conversation and pointed to his food and gave me a big thumbs up!
Another winner! Easy, cheap, filling, delicious, toddler approved.
Can you leave out the onion and meat? Use Ragu pasta sauce?
Sure! :)
Just when I think Beth and the BB team can’t possibly outdo themselves, I come across this recipe – as I like to call it, “lazy lasagna” 😂
10/10 – I made it exactly as written. Easy, quick, and soooo yummy!
This was so good! My entire family loved it and it was quick and easy for a weeknight meal, something I’m always looking for. I had made sauce over the weekend and popped it in the fridge then tonight cooked the sausage and assembled everything. I used frozen ravioli that I did not pre cook and that also worked great though bake time was almost double, which could be because I also doubled the recipe. All in all fantastic.
Such a great idea!
I made mine with layers of fresh spinach, no pre-cooking, and it was delicious.
Thanks for sharing this comment – it’s just what I came here to find!
I like to keep frozen ravioli on hand so I made this for a weekday dinner last week and it was a hit! Used seasoned vegetarian sausage crumbles and it turned out really well.
This recipe saved dinner when I had a family emergency but still had to feed my kids. It was easy – I got my 13 year old to cook the pasta and start browning the meat before I got home (and he’s not a confident cook), and the leftovers have been delicious. I used plain ground pork because that’s what i had on hand, but I was very generous with the Italian spices. Next time I will add mushrooms or spinach as per the suggestions in the recipe, but it is very good the way it is.
I’m going to quarrel with the “make your own sausage” statement as a money saver. There’s not a store in my area in which ground pork is cheaper than Italian sausage even on special. I do like to make my own sausage, though. Various forms of hamburger, are often on sale much cheaper than pork sausage or ground pork–ground chicken or turkey is usually a bit more costly. This is a wonderful recipe, no matter what meat you choose–or a great choice for plant based crumbles! If not using sausage, you can up the flavor with Italian seasonings, garlic or garlic powder, a bit of cayenne. I think the real value of this recipe is the ability to scale it up or down to fit the number of people you want to feed.
That’s a great point to consider! Thank you! I would say Beth is more so trying to let people know that you CAN make Italian Sausage with ground pork (if that’s what you already have on hand) rather than buying a package of Italian Sausage just for the recipe.
We’re also pleased to hear you love the functionality of our website and recipe cards. You can adjust the serving sizes on every single recipe in the same way! (Both on our website as well as our iPhone/Android app!) It’s a great feature! I hope you will check out some more and share more tips and opinions. We really value the feedback. ~ Marion :)