Make tonight Italian with this unique and delicious cheesy ravioli casserole. The dish, which is essentially a lasagna with ravioli pasta, is layered with gooey cheese, hearty meat sauce and mounds of steaming ravioli. Busy parents on the go will love this casserole, because everything gets baked in one dish. It can be prepared the night before and refrigerated until time to pop it in the oven.
As a time-saver, this recipe uses a modified store-bought tomato sauce and frozen cheese ravioli, but feel free to use homemade sauce or ravioli. It's easy to make this dish vegetarian: Simply don't add meat to the tomato sauce. You can even sneak in some vegetables if you have finicky kids or picky eaters. It's the ideal dish to make on a cold, snowy day or for any large, informal gathering.
Cheesy Ravioli Casserole
6-8
20 minutes
35 minutes
55 minutes
1 package frozen cheese ravioli
2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
1 jar pasta sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese
28-ounce can diced tomatoes, juice reserved
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
In a heavy pot, cook and crumble the ground beef over medium-high heat until fully browned. Turn off the heat, and drain the excess grease.
In the same pot, add the tomato sauce and the diced tomatoes with the juice. Stir to thoroughly combine.
Add the black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and sugar to the pot. Stir to thoroughly combine.
Pour about one-third of the meat sauce on the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish, and spread evenly to fully cover.
Arrange one half of the frozen ravioli over the tomato sauce. Sprinkle half of the mozzarella and Colby cheeses over the ravioli. Repeat these layers in the casserole dish until you end up with the last third of the sauce on top.
Sprinkle the top evenly with fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Loosely cover with aluminum foil, and place in the oven to bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pasta is tender, the cheese is melted, and the sauce is slightly bubbling.
Carefully remove from the oven when done. Garnish with a little extra Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and serve hot immediately.
