The Cozy Cookbook is here! This Baked Ravioli recipe can be made with refrigerated or frozen ravioli with no boiling required! It’s an easy make-ahead recipe that you can refrigerate or freeze to bake later! The meaty marinara sauce has a hint of cream with simple seasonings and the best flavor enhancers.
Baked Ravioli
My favorite part about this recipe, (aside from how delicious it is), is the fact that you don’t have to boil the ravioli prior to assembling. 🤯 There is an abundance of sauce in this recipe that the ravioli cooks in while it’s in the oven. Not only does it make the ravioli super flavorful, but you can rest assure that the ravioli will be perfectly cooked without splitting and falling apart.
💥BONUS #1: Refrigerated or frozen ravioli works beautifully for this.
Now about this meat sauce. It has a hint of creaminess to it which is a nice way to offset the acidity from the marinara, and the meat itself is flavored with the best combination of seasonings and subtle flavor enhancers, all of which makes this an above-average dish.
💥BONUS #2: You can also make it ahead of time and bake it up to 2 days later or freeze it for up to 3 months.
Be sure to serve this with Garlic Bread with Cheese and try my Classic Lasagna or Lasagna Roll Ups recipe next!
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cook the ground beef, onions, seasonings, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic in a large skillet. Drain excess grease. Add 2 + 1/4 cups marinara sauce and half and half. Stir to combine and set aside.
Spread 3/4 cup marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish and add half of the ravioli.
Top with half of the meat sauce and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
Top with remaining ravioli and meat sauce.
Top with remaining cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Remove cover and broil at 450° for 1-2 minutes. Remove and serve!
Make Ahead Method
- Refrigerator: Assemble the ravioli as outlined and cover it tightly. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days. Let it sit for 30 minutes prior to baking, or add 5-10 minutes to the baking time.
- Freezer: Assemble as outlined and cover it tightly. Freeze for up to 3 months and let it fully thaw in the fridge for 24 hours prior to baking. Let it sit for 30 minutes prior to baking, or add 5-10 minutes to the baking time.
Pro Tips
- Ravioli:
- Frozen ravioli may also be used, add 15 minutes of additional baking time, or until the cheese is melted when you lift up the cover for broiling.
- I use Rana 4-cheese refrigerated ravioli for this recipe, but any filling option that you like will work! I also use Rao’s marinara sauce, it’s a great quality marinara sauce.
- Marinara Sauce:
- If you love extra saucy ravioli or anticipate leftovers, consider using up to 1 additional cup of sauce. (32 oz. total.) The ravioli absorbs sauce during cooking and even more after it’s been baked/during storage.
- I use Rao’s marinara sauce for this recipe. You can also try my homemade marinara sauce.
- Mozzarella Cheese:
- Low moisture, whole milk mozzarella has the best consistency for this recipe. Shred it from a block to ensure it melts and tastes the best.
- I love using Dragone mozzarella.
- A combination of ground beef, pork, and/or sausage can be used in this recipe.
- The hot sauce/Worcestershire sauce act as flavor enhancers and can’t be tasted outright.
- Ensure that your casserole dish is safe for broiling, do not broil if using a glass casserole dish.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- 9 x 13-inch casserole dish– This is oven safe up to 500°
- Box Cheese Grater– Always grate the Parmesan from a wedge so that it melts and tastes the best
- Measuring Spoons– I have these magnetic ones which stay nice and organized in my utensil drawer.
- Pinch Bowls– for measuring out seasonings ahead of time.
- Ove Gloves– These make it easy to transfer casseroles to and from the oven.
Try These Next
-
- Lasagna Roll Ups
-
- Stromboli
-
- Stuffed Shells
-
- Pizza Pasta
-
- Chicken Parmesan
-
- Meatball Soup
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Baked Ravioli
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb. ground beef
- ½ teaspoon each: onion powder, dried basil, dried oregano, mustard powder, salt.
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, doesn’t make it spicy
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, mined
- 24 oz. marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
- 20 oz. refrigerated ravioli, uncooked. see notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add ground beef to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and crumble it for 3 minutes. Add the seasonings, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and the onions and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Tilt the skillet and spoon out any excess grease. Reduce heat to low.
- Spread 3/4 cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish and add the rest to the skillet with the meat. Add the half and half and stir to combine. Remove from heat.
- Arrange half of the ravioli on the bottom of the casserole dish and top with half of the meat sauce, then top with ½ cup mozzarella cheese.
- Top with remaining ravioli, then the meat sauce and remaining mozzarella.
- Cover and bake for 35 minutes. If covering with foil, spray one side with non-stick cooking spray to prevent it from sticking to the cheese while it bakes.
- Remove cover and broil at 450 to brown the top slightly. It’ll take just 1-2 minutes, watch it closely during this time.
- Remove from heat and serve!
Notes
- Ravioli:
- Frozen ravioli may also be used, add 15 minutes of additional baking time, or until the cheese is melted when you lift up the cover for broiling.
- I use Rana 4-cheese refrigerated ravioli for this recipe, but any filling option that you like will work! I also use Rao’s marinara sauce, it’s a great quality marinara sauce.
- Marinara Sauce:
- If you love extra saucy ravioli or anticipate leftovers, consider using up to 1 additional cup of sauce. (32 oz. total.) The ravioli absorbs sauce during cooking and even more after it’s been baked/during storage.
- I use Rao's marinara sauce for this recipe. You can also try my homemade marinara sauce.
- Mozzarella Cheese:
- Low moisture, whole milk mozzarella has the best consistency for this recipe. Shred it from a block to ensure it melts and tastes the best.
- I love using Dragone mozzarella.
- A combination of ground beef, pork, and/or sausage can be used in this recipe.
- The hot sauce/Worcestershire sauce act as flavor enhancers and can’t be tasted outright.
- Ensure that your casserole dish is safe for broiling, do not broil if using a glass casserole dish.
Make-Ahead Method:
- Refrigerator: Assemble the ravioli as outlined and cover it tightly. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days. Let it sit for 30 minutes prior to baking, or add 5-10 minutes to the baking time.
- Freezer: Assemble as outlined and cover it tightly. Freeze for up to 3 months and let it fully thaw in the fridge for 24 hours prior to baking. Let it sit for 30 minutes prior to baking, or add 5-10 minutes to the baking time.
Storage:
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutritional Information is per serving. The number of servings are at the top of the recipe card in the middle. This recipe has 6 servings.
This definitely wins the crown of “family pleaser” hands down. We used mild Italian sausage and added a layer of fresh baby spinach in between the rav layers…perfect! Paired with a fresh tomato and artichoke salad our kids devoured this, even the picky one who’s only eating “blue” food this month. Many thanks for the great and easy recipe.
I’m so happy this wins “Family Pleaser”, nice Betty!💖 I love that even the picky eater approved. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
Adding to my previous comment.
I also wanted to say that my raviolis I chose for this dish were the refrigerated kind and were filled with “porcini mushrooms and mozzarella”. I did manage to get some mozzarella into this dish. lol
Yummmm! I’m such a mushroom fan. My husband not so much. Thanks again Ditzy!💖
ANYONE CAN MAKE THIS DISH!!! I was in a hurry, rushing around in my kitchen, and failed so miserably at putting this thing together and it came out fantastic! I failed to add the heavy cream until the end, so I mixed it with the last bit of the sauce for the top. I put a layer of raviolis touching across each layer, instead of doing as you said, to put half on one layer and half on the next. This made me have raviolis leftover. I only put 1 cup of cheese on my layers. It looked like not enough cheese, so I had added a 3 cheese grated mix onto each layer. Then, I noticed at the end it had said 2 cups of cheese! I had to add a lot more cheese on top because of this. When I had shopped for items to make this dish, I had failed to get marinara or mozzarella. I subbed spaghetti sauce with onions and garlic and gouda cheese. I didn’t have all the spices either, so I added celery salt and salt free seasoning, and the seasonings I did have that the recipe called for. I still can’t believe it came out so good. We love hot-spicy foods. So, next time, I’m going to slow down and follow directions, but also add habanero pepper flakes on each layer. Also, I will put 1/4 lb. hot Italian sausage and 1/4 lb. ground beef chuck. Thank you for this great recipe!
Great job Ditzy! I love how forgiving this one is too. Sounds like you definitely pulled it off in the end. Thanks so much for the great comments and review!💖
Love this recipe! Anyone ever try using ground turkey instead of beef or sausage to make it a little healthier?
Hi Linda! You could absolutely substitute ground turkey in here instead!
Excellent recipe. I also use Rana and Rao’s Marinara sauce. I add some Italian seasonings and a pinch or two of oregano. Always delicious! And so easy.
Thanks so much for the great comments and review Sarah! I’m so happy you’re enjoying this one💖
Delicious recipe!! So glad I found this. I ran out of ravioli halfway through the second layer and used bow tie pasta to finish it off. Yum!!!
Hi Shannon! I’m so happy that you enjoyed it, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review as well!! 🙂 -Stephanie
This is easy and delicious! I added a cup more marinara with some spinach and sautéed mushrooms tossed in the sauce. Used the whole 1 lb. pack of ground beef. Also only used half the mozzarella and put dollops of ricotta on the top. Family loved it!!
I’m so happy the family loved it Kristin, wahooo! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖
Made this today modifying the spices etc for the meat to my family’s preferences. Overall easy to make, easy to modify, difficult to mess up! Thanks for the recipe idea!
Hi Dana! I’m so happy that you loved the Baked Ravioli and modified the seasonings to what you and your family like!! Nicely done!!! Knowing how to season is big! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review 🙂 -Stephanie
Super easy, full of flavor and a nice pop of heat from the hot sauce!
I’m so happy you liked it Jacquleine! One of my favorite dishes for feeding a hungry crowd in a hurry. Thanks so much for the great review!💖
Loved this recipe so much!! The flavors in the meat sauce are amazing! Definitely will be making again!
I’m sooo happy that you love it Brittany!! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, I really appreciate it! -Stephanie