Ravioli Lasagna
Servings 12 people
This lasagna is made with ravioli for an extra thick layer of cheesy pasta goodness! Made with ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and a mouthwatering meat sauce you can prep this tasty Italian-inspired dish in just 20 minutes!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons garlic paste
- 2 (28 oz.) cans whole San Marzano Style tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ yellow onion finely diced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 Parmesan rind
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup finely grated parmesan use rind in the sauce above
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- 40 ounces cheese ravioli fresh, not frozen, uncooked
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Then add in the garlic paste and stir frequently for about one minute.¼ cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons garlic paste
- Add in the tomatoes, salt, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes and simmer for 30 minutes. Occasionally, use a wooden spoon or hand masher to help break down the tomatoes.2 (28 oz.) cans whole San Marzano Style tomatoes, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- Add onions to a separate pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and cook over medium heat until translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes.1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ yellow onion
- Add ground beef to the onions and cook until browned all over. Drain and transfer the beef and onions into the tomato sauce mixture.1 pound ground beef
- Add in the Parmesan cheese rind and simmer for another 15 minutes. Remove the soft rind before using the sauce. This should yield around 10 cups of sauce.1 Parmesan rind
- Combine the ricotta, egg, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl and set aside.16 ounces ricotta cheese, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- In a separate bowl, combine the shredded parmesan and mozzarella and set aside.1 cup finely grated parmesan, 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray.
- Layer the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of sauce, about 1 cup.
- Top the sauce with a layer of ravioli, about 20 ravioli.40 ounces cheese ravioli
- Top the ravioli with a layer of sauce, about 2 cups.
- Top the sauce with half of the ricotta mixture then 1 cup of the shredded cheese mix.
- Layer on another 2 cups of sauce, then another layer of ravioli, then another 2 cups of sauce.
- Add the remaining ricotta mixture and top with another cup of the shredded cheese mixture.
- Add a layer of sauce, then the remaining ravioli, then another layer of the remaining sauce, and then sprinkle the last of the shredded cheese mixture over the top. These last layers are optional depending on size, see recipe notes.
- Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.
Notes
- San Marzano is the best variety of tomatoes to use for this recipe, so please try and use them! These tomatoes are grown near Mount Vesuvius in volcanic soil which gives them a sweet flavor with low acidity. You can use Cento brand, or if you’re trying to keep the recipe more budget-friendly, try Hunt’s San Marzano Style tomatoes. Both are delicious in this recipe and much more flavorful than standard whole peeled canned tomatoes. If you can’t find these tomatoes, you can use regular but you might have to add a bit of sugar to make up for the sweetness. Add to taste.
- This amount of red pepper flakes do not make the sauce spicy, but it does help build on the amazing flavor, so don't skip them!
- Don’t try to speed up the prep time with high heat or food processors. Because while they might help you get the desired consistency faster, you’ll miss out on a lot of flavor if you don’t let it build!
- You "can" cook the onion and ground beef in the pan you make the sauce in by cooking those first, but in testing, we felt that the meat and onions were too overcooked by the time the sauce was ready and preferred cooking it separately and adding it in at the end.
- We usually use Giovanni Rana Ravioli when we make this. We get 2 family-sized bags which allows us to do 3 layers of ravioli, but if you'd don't need to make a huge batch, you could definitely just do one bag and only 2 ravioli layers.
- If you only do two layers of ravioli, use all of the shredded cheese in the first two cheese layers (make sure to end with a cheese layer). And you can reserve your remaining sauce for an easy dinner another night. Just store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Feel free to use ravioli with your favorite filling, we like this with Spinach and Ricotta or just Cheese.
- I do not recommend using frozen ravioli because it contains additional water content which the recipe doesn't account for and could impact the final results.
- You can make this vegetarian by omitting the ground beef, just note that this will yield less sauce and you'll only have enough for the smaller 2-layer lasagna.
- If you want to make a lazy ravioli lasagna, you can substitute the homemade sauce with 48 ounces of jarred marinara sauce, just add it to the beef and onions when they are done and simmer for 15 minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 630kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 133mg | Sodium: 1279mg | Potassium: 192mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 395IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 301mg | Iron: 11mg
Find it online: www.sugarandsoul.co/ravioli-lasagna/