BAKED RAVIOLI

If you love to order cheese ravioli at your favorite Italian eatery, you can now have that restaurant-quality meal at home, with the no-fuss prep of a baked casserole. Using frozen ravioli means you can get right to assembling baked ravioli for a quick and delicious dinner. Baked ravioli appetizers served with spaghetti sauce or marinara sauce are a guaranteed hit.

Combine layers of frozen ravioli for our Baked Ravioli for Weeknights. This tasty baked ravioli dish is easy to assemble on even the busiest of weeknights!
With all the salads I’ve been posting lately, comfort food had to be next in line. After all, it’s all about balance, no? That’s where this creamy, comforting, cheesy ravioli comes in. And for those of you thinking you can’t break your diet for this, well, let’s just say that your diet can always start again next week. There is a popular restaurant that serves fried raviolis as an appetizer. My daughter tried them once and loved them. Not wanting to eat fried foods at home (not to mention the mess of frying anything), I decided to bake them instead. This baked ravioli recipe was an all-around success! I first tried this recipe when I was pregnant with Spencer and I was looking for freezer-friendly meals that I could stash away for the crazy newborn days. It has now become a staple in our house because it’s one of those perfect meals for busy parents. With just 4 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep, my Dump-and-Bake Ravioli Casserole is an easy dinner recipe that the whole family will love! Can I tell you a secret? I’ve been wanting to share this recipe for months. Ok, almost a year! I developed the recipe for my family and then I got busy writing a cookbook. After that, I decided to share this recipe in my cookbook, so that pretty much ruined my idea of sharing it on the book until the cookbook was available for purchase..

Ingredients

 

1 25 oz. (1 lb) frozen cheese ravioli
1 24 oz. jar marinara or spaghetti sauce
1 1lb. ground beef
1 tsp. dried basil
1 T. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 C. parmesan cheese

Directions

 

Brown ground beef and drain, add in 1 C. of the pasta sauce, garlic and basil. Remove from heat and set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook ravioli according to pkg. directions. Drain and return to pot and add in remaining pasta sauce. Stir to combine. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray and layer 1/2 of the ravioli in the bottom. Top with all the beef mixture and spread around. Top with 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese and 1/2 of the parmesan cheese. Layer the remaining ravioli on top and top with remaining cheeses. Sprinkle with parsley. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, turn on the broiler and broil for 2 minutes or until top is browned somewhat.
Courtesy of JanetsAppalachianKitchen