20 Minute Baked Ravioli Casserole
This easy baked ravioli casserole takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and requires just 5 minutes of prep time because you don’t need to boil the ravioli first! Store-bought refrigerated cheese ravioli makes this simple weeknight dinner a reality even on the busiest of nights!
One pan, zero stress, lots of cheese.
- This baked ravioli quick and easy. No fancy kitchen gadgets, tedious ingredient prep, or cooking skills required. This is a dump, stir, and bake dish – which is why it’s one of my favorite weeknight dinners! It’s got all the flavors of baked lasagna, but takes just a fraction of the time!
- Only 5 minutes of prep time!? Yep, you read that right. Get the oven preheated while you’re adding the ingredients to your baking dish and stirring them together. Top with cheese and then bake – you can have this dinner cooking in just 5 minutes.
How it all comes together.
Add spinach, pasta sauce, water, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, Parmesan, heavy cream, ravioli, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper to a large skillet or casserole dish.
Stir until everything is well combined.
Sprinkle the ravioli mixture with shredded mozzarella and fresh mozzarella cheeses.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, then broil for a couple minutes. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan and enjoy!
Things I learned while testing this recipe.
- Make sure the ravioli is completely covered by the sauce. This will ensure that the pasta cooks evenly and all the way through. The moisture from the water that you add is going to help thin out the sauce so it can easily coat every ravioli.
- You don’t necessarily have to use uncooked pasta for this recipe. If you have leftover spaghetti, tortellini, penne, or any other noodle, you can still use it in this dish! Just decrease the baking time by about half so that the pasta doesn’t overcook. Repurposing leftover pasta into a baked pasta dish is one of my favorite ways to transform leftovers!
- Feel free to add cooked ground beef to this baked ravioli if you want to add some protein. Just mix it right in with the spaghetti sauce. You could also add Italian sausage or ground turkey.
Let’s talk ravioli options.
- The bake time will be different based on the brand of ravioli you use. The ravioli we like to use boils in 4 minutes, so it cooks very quickly in the oven. Other brands that have longer cook times will take longer to bake as well.
- You can use any type of stuffed pasta for this dish! Mushroom ravioli, lobster ravioli, and sausage ravioli are some of our family’s favorites. Use whatever your family enjoys!
- You can also use frozen ravioli for this casserole! If you’re using frozen ravioli, plan to add some additional bake time so that the frozen ravioli can cook all the way through.
- You’ll know the ravioli is done when it is tender and al dente. The best way to know if the ravioli is done is to give one a taste – but be careful, they will be hot straight from the oven!
Prep now, bake later.
- This ravioli casserole can be made up to 3 days in advance. Throw it together, cover it tightly, and store it in the fridge.
- Before baking, let the casserole sit out on the counter for 30-60 minutes to come to room temp before baking. Bake as instructed in the recipe card, but plan to add some additional baking time to account for the colder temperature.
Just in case you have leftovers.
- STORING: Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- FREEZING: This casserole can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
- REHEATING: Reheat ravioli in the microwave in 30-60 second increments until warmed through. Or bake, covered, in a 350-degree oven until warmed through.
Here’s what I’d serve with this baked ravioli.
- weeknight garlic bread
- sliced cheesy garlic bread (Texas Toast)
- beet and feta salad
- Caprese garlic cheese bread
- simple house salad
More easy pastas for your eating pleasure.
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Baked Ravioli
This easy baked ravioli casserole takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and requires just 5 minutes of prep time because you don’t need to boil the ravioli first!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove top & oven
- Cuisine: Italian/American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
- 24 ounces your favorite spaghetti sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 20 ounce package refrigerated cheese ravioli, uncooked
- 8 ounce fresh mozzarella cheese
- 4 ounce shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- fresh chopped parsley, for garnish
- grated Parmesan, for garnish
Instructions
- PREHEAT OVEN. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- MIX IT UP. Add spinach, spaghetti sauce, water, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, Parmesan, heavy cream, ravioli, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper to a large baking dish. Stir until everything is well combined.
- MAKE IT CHEESY. Top with fresh mozzarella and shredded mozzarella cheese.
- COVER + BAKE. Cover with a lid or a tight-fitting piece of tin foil. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until ravioli is cooked al dente and the sauce is bubbly.
- BROIL A BIT. Remove the lid/foil and broil for 1-2 minutes, or until the cheese on top starts to turn dark golden brown.
- SERVE. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and enjoy!
- SPREAD THE LOVE. If you loved this recipe, please leave a 5-star rating and review below!
Notes
- Make sure the ravioli is completely covered by the sauce. This will ensure that the pasta cooks evenly and all the way through. The moisture from the water that you add is going to help thin out the sauce so it can easily coat every ravioli.
- You don’t necessarily have to use uncooked pasta for this recipe. If you have leftover spaghetti, tortellini, penne, or any other noodle, you can still use it in this dish! Just decrease the baking time by about half so that the pasta doesn’t overcook. Repurposing leftover pasta into a baked pasta dish is one of my favorite ways to transform leftovers!
- Feel free to add cooked ground beef to this baked ravioli if you want to add some protein. Just mix it right in with the spaghetti sauce. You could also add Italian sausage or ground turkey.
i followed advise not to precook ravioli which was a mistake as it took 50 minutes to cook in a Dutch oven at 375 then 385. I don’t; think i will make again as I’ve tried other recipes with penni pasta and cheese which cost less and was tastier.
I’m so sorry that this recipe didn’t work out for you, Kathi! It’s one of our family’s favorites and something that I make at least once a month. The brand of ravioli you use may affect the baking time. Look for a ravioli that has a cooking time of about 3 minutes when boiled the traditional way. 50 minutes of baking is a LOT of cooking time – enough to cook a lasagna! So it’s more than enough to cook ravioli. I’d use a thermometer to check and see if you’re oven temperature is off as well. That’s all I can think of for troubleshooting. Hope that helps!
I think you definitely need to cook the ravioli per the package directions and then add to the baking fish with all the other stuff.
What makes you think that, Shelia? The refrigerated ravioli I use boils in 3 minutes so baking it in the oven for much longer works really well to give the pasta that al dente texture. If you were to boil it until al dente and then bake it, it will end up overcooked and mushy. I’d love to hear what you think if you give this recipe a try!
Possible Shiela was working with frozen?
Ahhhh that’s a great point, Kim! Yes! Frozen would be a totally different story!! You’d for sure need to cook that ahead of time. Thank you for sharing another perspective – I hadn’t thought of that!
Delicious! My husband said this was the tastiest pasta dish that I’ve ever served him (we’ve been married
40 years!). I did use 1/2 red wine, 1/2 water for the liquid. I also added some chopped up leftover sausage. Will definitely check out your other recipes!
WOW! WHAT A COMPLIMENT!! I’m so glad that you both enjoyed this easy baked ravioli. Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
I made this and when I pulled it out of the oven after 20 minutes of cooking the cheese wasn’t even melted and it was still cold 🙁
I would check the temp of your oven with an oven thermometer! Hang the thermometer in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 and see what the thermometer reads. After 20 minutes of baking, the cheese would definitely be melted if your oven is running at 375 degrees!
Love this dish, so tasty and customizable too. I add crumbled ground beef to the sauce sometimes. Thanks for the yummy, easy recipe!
Ground beef sounds like a delicious addition! Thanks for leaving a review, Sarah – I really appreciate it 🙂
This was great! I loved the additions of spinach and fresh Mozzarella. My whole family loved it, thanks for sharing!
I’ve made this recipe twice using Costco’s lobster ravioli and it was delicious ! Thanks for the fast, tasty and very easy recipe !
I am so glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed this recipe! It is one of our family’s favorite recipes and that Costco lobster ravioli sounds perfect for this!
This is exactly what I’m using to make it tonight. Looking forward to it!
Thank you so much I never knew that you could bake the ravioli from a frozen or fresh pasta, I thought you always had to boil it I’m doing it tonight the way you do thank you so much for this recipe keep them coming love Karen
I haven’t made this recipe yet, but I know it will be delicious. I’ve made other recipes often. Please define “large baking dish”? Do you mean 9×13, 5 quart Dutch oven? I’m not sure.
I’d recommend using a 9×13 baking dish or something similar in size and capacity. The pan that I used is linked in the recipe card if you want to check that out as well. Thanks!
Can I use frozen spinach? This sounds wonderful, my stomach is growling… Can hardly wait to make it!
I would recommend using fresh spinach as frozen spinach may release too much water and cause the ravioli to be watery.
A quick question, do you cook the sauce, spinach etc before you add the pasta and bake it in the oven? Per the recipe it does not appear that you do but just confirming.
Thank you!
You are right – no need to cook the sauce or spinach. It will all cook together and heat up in the oven!
I made this a few days ago and it was so easy and very tasty! Thanks Kylie. I’m looking forward to trying some of your other recipes.
This recipe is so good! My boyfriend and I have made it a couple times over the past few months and we love it. We went to make it tonight and noticed that the meat was no longer included in the recipe!! We couldn’t remember what it called for but we decided to add 1/2 lb of ground lamb and it looks like it will be right. I can’t tell if other parts of the recipe changed with the update a few days ago. Is there any way you can remind me of the other things that are different from the original version of this recipe? Thank you so much!
The original called for 19.5oz Italian sausage, which is just over a pound.
Looks and sounds like such a tasty dish! Love that it’s kinda fancy but also easy and rather quick to make! Addition of the red wine to the sauce must give it a lovely rich texture and beautiful flavour!
The recipe that I’m looking at doesn’t have wine in it, like another person said the original recipe they had has meat in it, what does you recipe say and how much wine do you use.
This recipe doesn’t use any wine but you are welcome to add a splash if you prefer!
Wow this looks absolutely delicious! I love the ingredients you have chosen, that I can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes and your tips and tricks are super helpful! Thanks for sharing:)
Thanks Aleta!
Love a dinner that’s loaded with so much flavor. You’ve combined two pasta staples into one amazing dinner ready in 30 minutes. I’m in love.
Thanks Jacquelyn!
Nice your pics are drool worthy! Absolutely love them and definitely wanna make this recipe :)!!!
Thanks Daniela!