When I make pasta, dinner is on the table in less than 30 minutes. This 30 minute cheese ravioli is one of my favorite easy dinner recipes because it uses frozen ravioli, a quick homemade meat sauce, and cheesy garlic bread for a simple family meal.
I don’t simmer marinara for hours because I like fast, homemade dinners that still taste warm and comforting. This easy cheese ravioli dinner is the kind of old-fashioned meal that works for busy weeknights, picky eaters, and hungry families.
Why You'll Love this 30 Minute Cheese Ravioli
This ravioli is kind of like a “Grandma recipe.” It's a home-cooked meal that isn’t fancy. And it's easy because I use frozen cheese ravioli and make my own quick marinara sauce with meat.
I have a list of ingredients with the amounts I use in my sauce. You choose how much seasoning to add according to your taste. You can even omit some of the seasonings and add your favorites. That is the way it should be, right? That's how my grandmother did it.
Oh, and I almost forgot the bread. I buy a loaf of my favorite Italian bread, spread it with butter and seasonings, then toast it until warm and crunchy.
When you're a working mom or an old retired lady like me, you make dinner the easy way. This is it, and everyone will love this meal, especially the kids.
You can also make this a simple spaghetti dish using angel hair pasta instead of cheese ravioli. So if you have pasta in the pantry and no ravioli in the freezer, this recipe still works just fine.
Easy Cheese Ravioli Dinner
Servings: 2 (double for a family of 4)
Prep plus cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients for Cheese Ravioli and Meat Sauce
12-14 ounces frozen cheese ravioli
¼ lb ground beef
¼ lb ground Italian sausage (or use only ground beef)
1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
1 package of spaghetti sauce dry mix
Italian seasoning or Herbs de Provence, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Salt, to taste
4 slices of Italian bread
Butter, softened
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Black Peppercorns
How to Make Easy Meat Sauce for Ravioli
Brown the ground beef and the Italian sausage, and pour the grease from the pan.
Add the can of tomato sauce and ½ of the spaghetti sauce mix package.
Add a bit of garlic powder and a dash of the Italian seasonings, but don’t overdo it. You can add more later if needed.
Add water and simmer until the sauce is the consistency you like. It should not be too watery or runny. As the sauce simmers, it will get thicker.
Taste the sauce and add more seasonings as needed.
Simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Note: The packaged sauce mix helps thicken the sauce, but I don't like to add much of the mix because the taste is a little off to me. That is why I like to add garlic powder and Italian seasoning to suit my taste buds.
How to Cook Frozen Cheese Ravioli
Heat a pot of water to boiling. The water should be deep enough to cover and cook the amount of ravioli you will be serving.
Add the frozen pasta. I made two servings and cooked 16-18 ravioli.
Cook according to the package directions for the time. Our pasta wasn’t as done as we like, so I would cook it longer until it was fork-tender.
How to Make Cheesy Crunchy Garlic Bread
Cut the Italian bread into 1 or 11/2 inch slices and place on a baking sheet.
Spread with butter.
Sprinkle with garlic powder and crushed peppercorns according to your taste.
Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.
Broil on high until brown.
Put it all together:
Arrange the ravioli on the plate and cover with marinara sauce. Grab a piece or two of bread and enjoy!
I bought the frozen ravioli at Aldi. I didn't cook the whole bag for me and the hubby. This bag should be large enough for Mom, Dad, and two kids.
I prefer Italian bread over French bread. I think it has to do with the density. It holds up really well with the butter and cheese and gets nice and crisp around the edges.
When buying packaged spaghetti sauce, check the ingredients list. If sugar is the first ingredient, select another brand. I don't like sweet-tasting sauce.
I happened to have a bit of leftover ground Italian sausage in the freezer, so I used half sausage and half ground beef. Normally, I only use ground beef, and it is up to you how much to use. You may not even like meat in your sauce.
If a lot of grease cooks out of the meat while browning it, pour off the grease before combining all the sauce ingredients.
As I mentioned earlier, I would cook the ravioli longer than the bag instructions.
To make my fancy cheesy garlic bread, I slice the bread to our preferred thickness, then spread it with butter. You can use mayo instead of butter if you prefer.
Next, grind peppercorns over the buttered bread, then sprinkle with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. You can delete any of the seasonings you don't like and add your favorites, or just butter the bread and toast it!
Brown the bread in a toaster oven or regular oven. Since there are only two of us we use our small toaster oven a lot.
The frozen cheese ravioli really makes this an easy weeknight dinner. Dish it up and enjoy!
Easy Tips for the Best Ravioli Dinner
Don’t overthink this recipe. It is supposed to be easy. Cook the frozen ravioli until it is tender, even if that means going a little longer than the package says. That is what I would do. If the sauce seems too thin, just let it simmer a bit longer. If it gets too thick, add a little water.
I like to season the sauce a little at a time. You can always add more garlic powder, Italian seasoning, or salt, but you can’t take it back out. And if the meat cooks out a lot of grease, pour it off before adding the tomato sauce.
As for the bread, keep a close eye on it under the broiler. It can go from just right to too brown in a hurry.
Cheese Ravioli Recipe Variations
You can make this ravioli dinner several different ways. I used a mix of ground beef and Italian sausage because I had a little sausage in the freezer, but most of the time I just use ground beef. Use what you have and what your family likes.
If you don’t want meat in the sauce, leave it out and make it simple. You can also swap the cheese ravioli for another kind of ravioli if that is what you have in the freezer. And if you don’t have any ravioli at all, serve the sauce over spaghetti or angel hair pasta. That works just fine, too.
What to Serve with Cheese Ravioli
We like this meal with cheesy garlic bread because it goes really well with the sauce. If you want to add something else, a simple green salad is always good. You could also serve it with whatever vegetable your family will actually eat. We like sauteed asparagus!
This is already a pretty filling meal, so I usually keep the sides simple. The ravioli, sauce, and bread are plenty for us.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
If you have leftovers, combine the sauce and cheese ravioli in a covered container and refrigerate. It should be good for about 3 days.
To reheat, warm the pasta and sauce in the microwave or in a pan over low heat. If the sauce has thickened up too much, add a splash of water. For the bread, I would use a toaster oven, air fryer, or regular oven so it will crisp back up. The microwave will make it soft and chewy
Cheese Ravioli with Marinara Sauce and Cheesy Garlic Bread
Author: Recipe Idea Shop
Equipment
- 1 pot
Ingredients
- 14 ounces Frozen cheese ravioli
- ¼ lb ground beef
- ¼ lb ground Italian sausage
- 1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
- 1 package of spaghetti sauce dry mix
- Italian seasoning, to taste
- Garlic powder, to taste
- salt, to taste
- 4 slices Italian bread
- butter, softened
- grated Parmesan Cheese
- Black Peppercorns
Instructions
Instructions for the sauce:
- Brown the ground beef and Italian sausage and pour grease from pan.
- Add the can of tomato sauce and ½ package of the spaghetti sauce mix.
- Add a bit of garlic powder, and a dash of the Italian seasonings but don’t overdo it. You can add more later if needed.
- Bring to a slow simmer and add water until the sauce is the consistency you like. It should not be too watery or runny. As the sauce simmers it will get thicker.
- Taste the sauce and add more seasonings as needed.
- Simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Instructions for the frozen ravioli:
- Heat a pot of water to boiling. The water should be deep enough to cover and cook the amount of ravioli you will be serving.
- Add the frozen pasta. I made two servings and cooked 16-18 ravioli.
- Cook according to package directions as far as the time. Our pasta wasn’t as done as we like it so I would cook longer until the pasta is fork tender.
Instructions for the bread:
- Cut the Italian bread into 1 or 11/2 inch slices and place on baking sheet.
- Spread with softened butter.
- Sprinkle with garlic powder and crushed peppercorns according to your taste.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.
- Broil on high until brown.
Put it all together:
- Place ravioli on the plate and cover with marinara sauce. Grab a piece or two of bread!
Nutrition (may vary depending on ingredients and amounts used)
Kathy Owen says
My family loved this!