Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Baked ravioli combines the convenience of store-bought ravioli and sauce with the cozy satisfaction of a homemade dinner. It’s a meaty, cheesy, and family-friendly meal made with just 5 ingredients!
How long it takes: 1 hour
Equipment you’ll need: skillet, baking dish
Servings: 5
Five Ingredients, Zero Stress
Have you ever gotten excited about a recipe, only to see the long ingredient list and immediately close the tab? That won’t happen here. I created this baked ravioli recipe to satisfy comfort-food cravings on even the busiest night.
With just five ingredients, it’s short on shopping and prep time, but big on cheesy, cozy flavor – boasting big lasagna vibes.
Why it’s special:
Customizable: Use your favorite ravioli, swap meats, or make it vegetarian – the choice is yours.
Comfort food, simplified: All the cheesy, cozy vibes of lasagna with way less effort. Between the hearty sauce, ravioli, and all that cheese, it has lots of cozy appeal and similar flavors as manicotti and stuffed shells with meat.
Five-ingredient magic: Easy to make with a short grocery list and a tight budget.
Prep ahead: Assemble earlier in the day and bake when ready.
Recipe Tip
The first time I tested this recipe, I used jumbo round ravioli. It works in the recipe, but it makes serving a little unwieldy, so I recommend sticking with standard-size ravioli.
How to Make Baked Ravioli
Prepare. Preheat your oven to 375°F and lightly grease a large baking dish with cooking spray or olive oil.
Make the sauce. Brown the meat in a skillet set over medium-high heat, breaking it up as it cooks. Once the meat is fully cooked, with no pink remaining, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the marinara sauce.
Assemble. Pour a cup of the meat mixture into the prepared pan and spread it around so it coats the entire bottom. Add a layer of ravioli (half of the ravioli), followed by more sauce and a cup of mozzarella. Repeat this layering process again, starting with the rest of the ravioli, adding the remaining sauce, and ending with the cheese.
Bake. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes if you’re using refrigerated ravioli, or 45 minutes for frozen. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes more to melt the cheese. (If you’d like, you can broil it for a minute or two after this to brown the cheese in spots.)
Serve. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes, then garnish with fresh herbs (if you’re using them) and serve.
Recipe Variations
- Increase the yield. You can easily make a double batch of baked ravioli. Just double all the ingredients and either divvy them up between two baking dishes, or use one large baking dish (it may take a bit longer to bake if you’re using one dish).
- Make it meatless. Use cheese ravioli and marinara without the meat, or swap in your favorite meat substitute or sautéed mushrooms in the sauce.
- Streamline the process. You can simply stir the ravioli and sauce together in the baking dish and top it with a cup of cheese. Another idea to cut down the time needed for this recipe is to use store-bought meat sauce and skip the browning.
- Veg it up. Add a layer of sautéed vegetables, such as spinach, mushrooms, or zucchini, to work extra veggies into your dinner.
Serving Suggestions
Salad. A crisp salad with Italian dressing pairs well with this dish. Try my panzanella salad recipe too.
Garlic bread. Soak up any leftover sauce on your plate with Texas toast garlic bread.
Vegetable sides. Round out your dinner with a simple vegetable side dish like roasted Parmesan broccoli or air fryer green beans.
Refrigerate: Cover the baked ravioli in the baking dish if you have a lot of leftovers or transfer leftovers to an airtight container. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.
Freeze: Transfer leftovers to a freezer-safe container or wrap the entire dish tightly in foil or plastic wrap. It can be frozen for up to 3 months. You can also freeze before baking; this will last up to 3 months as well. Thaw in the fridge overnight and then follow the original baking instructions in the recipe card.
Reheat: Place the pasta in an oven-safe dish and cover with foil. Bake at 350ºF until heated through (the amount of time needed will depend on the amount you’re reheating). Alternatively, you can simply microwave individual portions.
More Baked Pasta Recipes
Baked Ravioli
Ingredients
- 16 ounces ground beef, turkey, or Italian sausage (see note 1)
- 1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce (see note 2)
- 1 pkg. (24 ounces) frozen or refrigerated ravioli (see note 3)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- fresh basil or parsley, chopped (optional garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or olive oil.
- In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground meat until cooked through, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks.16 ounces ground beef, turkey, or Italian sausage
- When the meat is fully cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Add the marinara sauce and stir to combine.1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce
- Spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture on the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a single layer of ravioli over the sauce. Spoon another layer of marinara sauce mixture over the ravioli. Sprinkle with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella. Repeat with a second layer: ravioli, sauce, and cheese.1 pkg. (24 ounces) frozen or refrigerated ravioli, 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes for refrigerated ravioli, 45 minutes for frozen ravioli.
- Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Let the baked ravioli cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh basil or parsley.
Notes
- Ground beef, turkey, or Italian sausage: Choose your own adventure! If you use sausage, you can add a little heat to this recipe by going with hot Italian sausage, or keep it mild with sweet Italian sausage. If you happen to have a pound of thawed ground beef that you need to use, that’s perfect, too!
- Marinara sauce: Jarred or homemade both work well. Use your favorite brand or homemade spaghetti sauce.
- Ravioli: Choose cheese-filled, meat, spinach, or any kind you like. If you’re using frozen ravioli, there’s no need to thaw it first. Increase baking time as instructed.
- Vegetarian: Use cheese ravioli and omit the meat or use a meat substitute. Instead of meat, consider sautéing mushrooms and/or bell peppers.
- Make ahead: This ravioli casserole can be assembled up to a day ahead of time. Cover the baking dish with foil and refrigerate until ready to bake. Remove the dish from the refrigerator while preheating the oven so it can warm up a little bit.
- Shortcut: Make the meat sauce as instructed or buy a jar of meat sauce. Instead of layering the casserole, pour ravioli into pan, stir meat sauce in, top with 1 cup cheese (you won’t need the other cup), and bake as directed.
- Nutrition: Nutritional information is calculated using 85% ground beef (ground round) and cheese ravioli. Numbers will vary depending on the ingredients and brands you use. To reduce sodium, use a lower sodium marinara sauce or homemade spaghetti sauce.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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