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Ravioli Lasagna

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This ravioli lasagna recipe is super-easy to make with 8 ingredients and only 15 minutes of hands-on prep time.

Ravioli Lasagna

Say hello to one of my longtime favorite shortcut recipes — ravioli lasagna. ♡

We’re all big lasagna fans here in our house. But let’s be real, layering up a pan of classic lasagna is a labor of love, and one that rarely seems to fit into my schedule in this season of life with two little ones. Ravioli lasagna, however, couldn’t be easier!

Simply sauté a big pan of Italian sausage, onion and garlic and combine with your favorite marinara to make a quick meat sauce. (Or you can skip the sausage and keep this recipe vegetarian.) Layer the sauce in a baking dish with frozen tortellini (no need to thaw), ricotta and lots of mozzarella. Pop the pan in the oven and bake until the mix is hot and bubbly. Then top with extra Parmesan and fresh basil and dive on in. The ravioli swap magically provides all of the textures and flavors we all love in traditional lasagna without all of the work. And when layered with all of these classic ingredients tastes absolutely delicious.

Feel free to use whatever flavor of ravioli and marinara sauce that you love best. And if you’d like to toss in some extra veggies or greens, by all means, go for it. This recipe is incredibly flexible and reliable. So the next time you’re at the store, pop a few bags of frozen ravioli in your cart and let’s make a big pan of “lasagna” together!

Ravioli Lasagna Ingredients

Ravioli Lasagna Ingredients

Here are a few brief notes about the ingredients you will need to make this ravioli lasagna recipe:

  • Frozen ravioli: All you need are two 25-ounce bags of your favorite frozen ravoli. No need to thaw, choose whichever flavor you like (basic cheese or spinach works just fine), and you’ll be good to go.
  • Marinara sauce: Use whatever brand and flavor of marinara sauce that you love best here! You can’t go wrong with a good tomato-basil sauce, but you’re welcome to get creative with whatever other specialty sauce flavors you love best too.
  • Italian sausage: I love making this recipe with a good spicy Italian sausage, but mild or sweet Italian sausage works great here too. I prefer to use ground sausage for this recipe, but you could also buy links and slice them into coins if you prefer.
  • Garlic and onion: It’s likely that your marinara sauce already includes these ingredients, but I find taking the time to sauté an extra onion and few cloves of garlic in the sausage grease adds a helpful boost of flavor to the recipe.
  • Ricotta: Ricotta cheese adds the creamy soft texture you love in a classic lasagna along with a slightly-sweet mild flavor that balances out the other savory elements of the dish.
  • Mozzarella: I say the more, the merrier when it comes to melty, stringy, milky mozzarella in a pan of lasagna. Shredded mozzarella will work just fine here. But if you feel like leveling things up, try slicing some fresh mozzarella balls into coins and layering them into the mix — absolutely delicious!
  • Parmesan: The salty, nutty, umami flavor of Parmesan is the perfect topping to accent all of these delicious flavors. Skip the cheap green jar of powdered stuff and freshly-grate a block of Parmesan for the best bold flavor!
  • Fresh basil: I also highly recommend finishing the dish with a generous sprinkling of roughly-chopped or julienned fresh basil leaves. They add such a lovely pop of fresh aromatic flavor, as well as a lovely hint of green.

Step by step photos showing how to make ravioli lasagna

Recipe Variations

This lasagna recipe is endlessly flexible, so please feel free to customize and make it your own! Here are a few suggestions to try:

  • Use tortellini: This recipe will generally work just as well using your favorite frozen tortellini in place of ravioli.
  • Add extra veggies: Add your favorite cooked (roasted, sautéed, canned, etc) veggies to the mix. Some of my favorites include artichoke hearts, eggplant, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and zucchini.
  • Add greens: Add chopped kale, spinach or collard greens to the sauce.
  • Add pesto: Add a layer of basil pesto to the lasagna or drizzle pesto over the top of the lasagna (in place of basil) to finish.
  • Make it spicy: Add additional crushed red pepper flakes or Calabrian chiles to the sauce, or use an already-spicy marinara sauce.
  • Make it vegetarian: Use your favorite plant-based Italian sausage (we love Beyond or Field Roast) and vegetarian ravioli.

Ravioli lasagna in bowl

More Easy Dinner Recipes To Try

Looking for more Italian-inspired easy dinner recipes to try? Here are a few more of our favorites:

Ravioli lasagna in bowl with fork

Print
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Ravioli Lasagna

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  • Author: Ali
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1x

Description

This ravioli lasagna recipe is super-easy to make with basic ingredients and only 15 minutes of hands-on prep time.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound ground Italian sausage
  • 1 small white onion, diced
  • 4 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 (28-ounce) jars good-quality marinara sauce
  • 2 (25-ounce) packages frozen ravioli
  • 1 (15-ounce) package ricotta cheese
  • 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
  • toppings: freshly-grated Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil

Instructions

  1. Prep oven and baking dish. Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
  2. Brown the sausage. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the Italian sausage and cook until browned, using a wooden spatula to crumble the meat as it cooks. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausage to a clean plate and set aside.
  3. Sauté the aromatics. Reserve about 1 tablespoon of the sausage grease in the pan and discard the rest. Add the onion and garlic to the grease and sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened. Add the marinara sauce and cooked sausage to the pan and stir to combine. Turn off the heat.
  4. Layer the lasagna. Spread about 1 cup of the meat sauce to the bottom of the baking dish until it is evenly covered. Layer in each of the following ingredients in an even layer:
    1. one package ravioli
    2. all of the ricotta
    3. half of the mozzarella
    4. half of the remaining meat sauce
    5. one package ravioli
    6. all of the remaining meat sauce
    7. all of the remaining mozzarella
  5. Bake. Loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil, ideally without touching the cheese. Bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes. Then turn on the broiler and broil for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is lightly golden and bubbly.
  6. Serve. Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with Parmesan cheese and basil and serve warm while the cheese is nice and gooey. Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe updated in April 2024 to adjust the quantity of ravoli (as packaging sizes have changed). The original recipe also included a jar of roasted red peppers, drained and chopped, which you’re still welcome to use if you would like!

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41 comments on “Ravioli Lasagna”

  1. Looks delicious Ali! Can’t wait to try it.

    It seems everyone is heading back to school already. I’m surprised to learn that Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley seem to be the ONLY areas that start school AFTER Labor Day. The week leading up to LDW is always busy for Philadelphians, as many of us flock to the Jersey Shore (“The Shore”) for the last summer hurrah.

  2. I love ravioli lasagna. It’s so much easier than actually making a lasagna. I love making it when we’re having a casual dinner with friends. Everyone loves it! This recipe looks delicious. I love how you added red peppers for extra flavor. I will have to try that next time!

  3. This dish looks so incredibly warm and comforting! Such a perfect easy back to school meal! 

  4. Those back to school pictures are too sweet!! I love seeing my feed filled with them. This recipe looks so incredibly easy and delicious. While I am not sending kids back to school, I could definitely see myself whipping this up for an quick weeknight meal for my husband and me!

  5. Two of my favorite things in one dish? Count me in!

    Josh | The Kentucky Gent
    https://thekentuckygent.com

  6. Ahhh comfort food!  Looks delicious!!

  7. This looks delicious.  We are making it for supper tonight.   I see a few errors with the recipe.  Parmesan is not listed as one of the ingredients, but is mentioned in the directions.  Diced tomatoes are mentioned in the directions, but not as an ingredient.  I think that is where the peppers are used.   

    It smells good – we can’t wait to eat!

    • Thank you Amy! Thank you for catching those errors, we just fixed them, and we hope you and your family enjoy the recipe! :)

  8. looks great! I’m making this tonight!!

    I just wanted to point out that you listed mozzarella twice instead of Parmesan in the ingredient list! ?

    • Oops, thanks for catching the mistake, we just fixed it! We hope you enjoyed the lasagna, thanks for making it! :)

  9. After “discovering” ravioli lasagna a few years ago, I’ve never made it any other way. It’s just too dang simple! Pre-boil noodles? Ain’t nobody got time for that! ;) I haven’t made it in a while, and this recipe looks yummy! Italian sausage is the way to go, too – I find that it gives the lasagna a much needed boost of spice and flavor vs. ground beef!

  10. I love Ravioli lasagnas! Kinda like two of my favorite Italian foods-in-one! Ali, as always, pictures look mouth-watering! 

  11. Looking delicious! I heard for a very first time about ravioli lasagne but I can’t wait to try it this weekend. Perfect recipe for upcoming Saturday night. Thanksss! 

  12. This recipe looks so easy as well as delicious. I love such kind of dish and I will try it that next time. Thanks a lot for sharing such informative recipes.

  13. I made this last night for some friends and it was such a hit!! Thank you so much for your recipes! You do a great job! I like that your stuff is tasty, healthy, and quick! 

    • That’s awesome Katherine, we’re happy to hear this was a hit with you and your friends! And thank you for being a fan of the blog! :)

  14. Quick question – I couldn’t find frozen so I bought a couple of packages of fresh ravioli from the refrigerated section of my store. I assume this would mean I should cut back on cooking time? Any thoughts on cook time/temperature? Thanks!

  15. Hmmm, I may have to see if I can trick my husband with this recipe.  He doesn’t like ravioli (or other pre-stuffed pastas, like tortellini) but he likes lasagna.  I see so many yummy raviolis that I want to eat but he always turns his nose up at the idea (I know he’ll eat whatever I put in front of him but I hate to make something that I know he doesn’t like).  I may try to very neatly layer the raviolis and I think if I layer enough cheese in there, he wouldn’t even notice it.  :D  Thanks for the recipe!

  16. Hi! I made this last night for my family, and we all loved it. I used fresh homemade pasta from Whole Foods, and it was delicious. I cut down on the cooking time, but followed your recipe otherwise. I wish I could’ve taken pics but we were pretty hungry lol. Thank you so much for sharing your delicious, super easy recipe. The leftovers are phenomenal, by the way :D

    • Hey Fallon, that’s awesome! We bet that homemade pasta was amazing too! We’re happy you and your family enjoyed this! :)

  17. Do you think I could add in some frozen spinach as well?

  18. This looks fantastic! Quick question – if I put this together the night before and refrigerate all day and pop into the oven when I get home from work, would it still turn out ok? Would the cooking time need to be adjusted since the ravioli would most likely not be frozen when it goes into the oven? Trying to think of a way to save time on busy work/school nights! Thank you!

    • Thanks Sandy! We haven’t tried that, but we think that should work! We’d suggest baking it (uncovered) at 375 for about 20-25 minutes (or until the cheese is completely melted and is bubbling and golden brown). We hope this helps, and that you enjoy! :)

  19. Just wondering why all the recipes like this say to leave the raviolis unthawed? What would happen if i use fresh raviolis? Overcooked…

    • That’s exactly it Patty, they’d be overcooked. We hope you enjoy this! :)

  20. How many does it feed, thinking of making it for a wedding shower?

  21. Hi,
    First off, delicious and very easy. Here’s where I got in trouble…..there was no way my ravioli fit in the 9×13..I actually had to divide it into two pans. My ravioli came in 20oz pkgs so I bought three. One 20 ounce almost filled the pan. Can you share the brand you used? I used spinach and cheese, but don’t think they were any bigger than the plain cheese. I will definitely make it again…but will adjust my amounts unless I find a smaller ravioli.
    Thank you! 

    • Oh no! I have no idea why that happened. I just used a generic brand from the grocery store I think, but don’t remember exactly. Did your pan by chance have shorter sides than usual? Sorry about that…

  22. I can’t find that big a bag of raviolis!!

  23. I added spinach in too! Yummy!