Quick Look: Million Dollar Ravioli Casserole with Ground Beef
- Ready In: 1 hour!
- Serves: 8
- Main Ingredients: Refrigerated ravioli, ground beef, marinara sauce, ricotta cheese, cream cheese, and mozzarella cheese!
- Flavor Profile: decadent, cheesy goodness similar to our Million Dollar Spaghetti with minimal effort.
- Dietary Info: Gluten-Free friendly
- Protein: 35g/serving
- Best For: easy weeknight dinner or feeding a crowd.
Share and summarize this recipe:
Why You Have To Make This One Pan Casserole
- All the flavors of lasagna with VERY minimal effort!
- Made entirely in one pan for little clean-up.
- Veggie option with fresh spinach, zucchini, or leave them out.
- Meal prep at the beginning of the week and store in the fridge for lunches.
- Ready-to-eat in under an hour!
Key Ingredients + Substitutions
Be sure to see the recipe card below for a full listing of ingredients, instructions, and estimated nutritional information.
- Ravioli – use your favorite refrigerated ravioli in this one pan casserole. Frozen ravioli is not recommended because the cook time would vary and the result would be a little too watery. Gluten-free refrigerated ravioli would also work! We also tested using 30oz of ravioli and it worked great (in case you are feeding more people or want leftovers for the week).
- Ground Beef – it cooks right in the pan (not ahead of time), but Italian sausage would also be amazing or omit to make it vegetarian! Use 93/7 ground beef so you don’t get too much grease.
- Spinach – keep it in there, leave it out, or toss in another favorite vegetable – up to you! We have tested chopped up zucchini and it works amazing, but does leave a littler water behind.
- Ricotta – feel free to use dairy- free ricotta or even cottage cheese here (for extra protein).
How To Make Million Dollar Ravioli Casserole
Step 1 – Add a small amount of sauce and half the ravioli.
Step 2 – Break apart the ground beef on top and season with salt and pepper.
Step 3 – Add more marinara sauce and the fresh spinach.
Step 4 – Evenly distribute the ricotta and cream cheeses. Season with more salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
Step 5 – Add the remaining ravioli on top.
Step 6 – Pour on the remaining marinara sauce and the pizza sauce. Bake for 40 minutes.
Meal Prep Ahead of Time
Feel free to get the whole casserole layered in a casserole dish, cover with foil, and place in the fridge a few hours or the night ahead of baking. Allow it to come to room temperature while the oven preheats and bake as directed.
Step 7 – Add the mozzarella cheese on top and bake for 5 more minutes (or until you see that cheese get melted and delicious). Cool for a bit and enjoy!
Erin’s Testing Tips: What We Learned
- Sauce Ravioli + Cover Tightly – make sure the ravioli is covered with sauce and that you cover the pan tightly with foil. This will help avoid any dry ravioli.
- Keep it lean – use a very lean 93/7 ground beef. This keeps the grease down.
- Spinach vs. Zucchini – We tested with both zucchini and spinach – I liked the zucchini better even though it does result in a little wateriness leftover in the pan. But spinach worked amazing is what we decided to go with to avoid that excess water.
Other Pasta Recipes For Dinner You Might Like
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Ingredients
- 24 ounces marinara sauce
- 20 ounces refrigerated ravioli, see Notes
- 1 pound ground beef, 93/7, sub Italian sausage
- 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
- 1 cup ricotta cheese, sub full fat cottage cheese
- 4 ounces plain cream cheese, broken into chunks
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 12 ounces pizza sauce, sub marinara
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 400℉.
- Ravioli + Meat: In a 9×13 baking dish, spread about ½ – 1 cup of marinara sauce. Place half of the ravioli on top of the sauce. Break 1 pound ground beef into small chunks and place on top of the ravioli. Season the meat with ¾ teaspoon kosher salt and ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper. Add another 1½ cups marinara sauce.
- Spinach + Cheese: Spread chopped spinach over the sauce in an even layer and then distribute 1 cup ricotta cheese and cream cheese chunks over the spinach. Season with ½ teaspoon kosher salt and 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning.
- Final Layer: Add the rest of the ravioli in a single layer and then pour the remaining marinara sauce and 12 ounces pizza sauce (or 12oz more marinara) over the top (make sure all of the ravioli is covered in sauce so it doesn't dry out).
- Bake: Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove the foil, evenly spread 2 cups mozzarella cheese on top, and return to the oven for another 5 minutes (or until cheese is melted).
- Serve: Let it cool for a bit and enjoy!
Notes
- Ravioli: we also tested this using an additional 10oz ravioli (so a 20oz pack + a 10oz pack) and it worked great if you want to pack in some more ravioli to feed more people or just have extra leftovers.
- Ground Beef: we loved adding in the ground beef to cook right in the pan (instead of adding another step and dirty dish by cooking in a pan first), but definitely use a very lean ground beef (93/7 is recommended for best results) so you don’t get excess grease in the pan. You can sub in Italian sausage if you want or you can always omit the ground beef too.
- Cream Cheese: if you want it extra creamy you can use the whole package of cream cheese (8oz).
- Spinach: option to omit the spinach, if you prefer. We also tested this recipe with chopped zucchini – we honestly loved it, but it does result in a little wateriness. If you are okay with that, I would recommend the zucchini! If not the spinach works great!
- Gluten-Free: use a gluten-free ravioli, like Taste Republic!
- Dairy-Free: use dairy-free ricotta, dairy-free ravioli, dairy-free cream cheese and dairy-free mozzarella.
- Storage: leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
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