Every once in a while a recipe takes flight – on the internet, that is. The recent posting of Grace Parisi’s Speedy Skillet Ravioli Lasagna at Food52, and from the new cookbook, Lasagna: A Baked Pasta Cookbookby Anna Hezel (available from our Amazon affiliate) is exactly one of those recipes.
Quick-cooking, prepared in one pan, ingredients that both kids and adults will love – it’s got all the right components for a great weeknight dinner.
And for social media.
Curious to see if it really is a genius recipe, I bookmarked the page and started my grocery list. After some chatter among the Cool Mom Eats team, we decided the recipe is like one of those old-school pasta bakes and maybe not all that…revolutionary. (I’m pretty sure Betty Crocker has several good beef versions.) But in the end, it doesn’t really matter if it’s old or new; it just matters if it’s quick, delicious, and my family digs it.
Read below for my results, honest thoughts and why you might want to keep the Skillet Ravioli Lasagna in your school-year rotation.
Related: 6 mouthwatering no-cook pasta sauce recipes
Speedy Ravioli Lasagna: The basics
Essentially there are three basic steps to this recipe:
-You make the tomato sauce in the skillet
-You cook the frozen ravioli in the sauce
-You layer the ravioli with some mozzarella and parm and bake the whole thing for about 10 minutes, until bubbly.
Sounds pretty good, right?
Well, there’s a tiny bit more to it, as I discovered.
What I learned about making Speedy Ravioli Lasagna: A few tips
1. Get all your ingredients ready so when it comes to cooking, it’s streamlined and easy. (Good for my end-of-day mom brain.) The recipe is pretty forgiving so if you want a little less cheese (me) or a little more garlic (me), or you prefer to use spinach or meat ravioli, go for it.
I even used two different types of ravioli – spinach and cheese – because I didn’t have enough of one type on hand. Plus, if you use the spinach kind, you get some veggies in.
2. A lot of the pretty pictures of this ravioli lasagna showcase a cast iron pan, but I’ve always heard not to cook tomato-rich or other acidic sauces in cast iron, unless the pan is incredibly well seasoned, so I went with a stainless steel skillet.
3. The second time I made the recipe, I played around with it by browning a little sausage in the pan before adding the other sauce ingredients. Just that small amount of sausage gave it a little extra punch of flavor and a bit more of a textural bite which I really liked. (Mmmm sausage.)
It’s delicious, but definitely not necessary.
4. Want more veggies? I served it with a side salad, but you could also add chopped spinach or even finely chopped kale while the ravioli is cooking.
Related: 5 easy meals including a crowd-pleasing pasta bake the whole family will love.
Speedy Ravioli Lasagna: My final verdict
This is a pasta bake, so there’s a lot to love right there. Is it easier than classic lasagna? Hell yes. Is it delicious and forgiving and kid-friendly? Yep.
(Proof being that my girls both asked for seconds.)
Now is it the speediest weeknight pasta for busy school or sports days? Not really. But it is a perfect Friday evening, open a bottle of red, and have a cozy family dinner on the table in 45 minutes type of meal.
In my world, that makes this a great recipe to have in your playbook.
I really love the fact that the ravioli cooks in the sauce, so no need to get a big pot of water to boil first. In my opinion, that’s the most genius part of the recipe. And that, along with the simple ingredient list, is what earns Ravioli Lasagna a permanent spot on our dinner table.
