Lazy Lasagna has all of the amazing taste of regular lasagna. However, it uses store-bought, cheese-filled ravioli in place of the typical layering of the lasagna noodles, and ricotta cheese mixture. This equates to less time in the kitchen and more time to do other things. As an added bonus, Lazy Lasagna can be put together ahead of time, can be frozen and makes awesome leftovers.
Ingredients
I like to make my own meat sauce that is cooked low and slow for this delicious lasagna. However, feel free to use your favorite meat sauce in this recipe.
For the meat sauce, I used mild Italian sausage. The spices were simple – dried basil, dried oregano, Kosher salt and black pepper. Added to the taste were onions and minced garlic. For the liquids, I used petit diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, red wine and water. I also use a bit of light brown sugar.
Once the meat sauce was prepared, the other ingredients consisted of store-bought cheese filled ravioli, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
Making the Meat Sauce
I started by browning the Italian sausage in a large skillet over medium heat. While the sausage was browning, I tried to break it up into small pieces. Once the sausage was cooked, I removed it from the skillet and drained it on paper towels.
After I removed the Italian Sausage from the skillet, I wiped out the skillet with paper towels. Then, I added the onions. I cooked the onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Next, I returned the Italian sausage to the skillet and stirred to combine everything.
I added the basil, oregano, salt, pepper and minced garlic to the onion/sausage mixture and stirred to combine everything. I let the mixture cook for about 30 seconds until the garlic was fragrant.
For the liquids, I added the petit diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, red wine and water. I also added a bit of light brown sugar to temper the bitterness of the tomatoes. I stirred the mixture to combine everything and brought it to a boil. Then I covered the pan and lowered the heat to low.
I let the sauce simmer for three hours. At this point, I could have refrigerated the meat sauce for use the next day, but carried on!
Putting the Lazy Lasagna Together
I started by spraying a 9×13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray. Then, I spread about a cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of the dish (Photo 1). Next, I added half of the ravioli (Photo 2). After that, I added half of the remaining meat sauce (Photo 3) and topped the meat sauce with half of the mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese (Photo 4).
I repeated the layering with the remainder of the ravioli, meat sauce and cheeses. Then, I covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked the Lazy Lasagna in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, I removed the aluminum foil and baked the lasagna for an additional 20 minutes.
To say that the Lazy Lasagna was amazing is an understatement. All of the ingredients perfectly blended together for an unforgettable dish.
I served the Lazy Lasagna with a loaf of freshly baked Crusty French Bread for an unforgettable meal. Yum!
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Lazy Lasagna
Ingredients
Meat Sauce
- 1 pound (16 ounces) mild Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 medium onion chopped, (about 1 ½ cups)
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (1 teaspoon)
- 14.5 ounce can petit diced tomatoes
- 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ¼ cup dry red wine
- ½ cup water
Lasagna
- Meat sauce from above
- 18 ounce package cheese ravioli (See Tip 1)
- 2 cups (8-ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- ½ cup (2-ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Meat Sauce
- Brown Italian sausage in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Transfer paper towel lined plate to drain. Allow to cool; rub meat between fingers to break up into small pieces.
- Wipe skillet with paper towel to remove any remaining grease. Add onions; sauté over medium heat for about five minutes.
- Return sausage to skillet; stir to combine. Add basil, oregano, salt, pepper and garlic. Stir well to combine; cook for 30 seconds or until garlic is fragrant.
- Add petit diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, brown sugar, red wine and water; stir well to combine. Bring to a slow boil.
- Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for three hours, adding more liquid if necessary. (See Tip 2)
- Correct the seasonings if necessary. Yield: 8 servings. (See Tip 3)
Lazy Lasagna
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray 9 x 13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Spread one cup of meat sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Top with half of the ravioli, half of the remaining meat sauce, half of the mozzarella cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat the layering with the remaining ingredients.
- Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake in preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake an additional 20 minutes.
- Yield: 8 servings.
Chula's Expert Tips
- I used fresh ravioli stuffed with mozzarella cheese, but you could also use frozen ravioli. If using frozen ravioli, increase the covered cooking time by 5 minutes.
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If you're making your own meat sauce, you can cook it on the stove top or can transfer mixture to a crock pot and cook on high setting for 5 hours; or cook covered in 300° F oven for 3 hours.
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This amazing meat sauce makes a delicious base for baked ziti and is awesome served over pasta.
- Leftovers if any are delicious. Also leftovers can be frozen for later use.
Looks great will try
Great idea lazy lasagna will be making this for company soon
It’s amazingly delicious!
Chula
Tricia,
You won’t be disappointed. It’s really, really tasty.
Chula
Looks so easy! Im going try it this weekend,
Donna,
It is easy – and delicious!
Chula
This recipe looks to be easy and delicious. My only question is with the cheese ravioli. Can these be purchased in the refrigerated section of the grocery store? If the raviolis can only be purchased in the frozen section, should they be thawed before baking or should they be boiled first or put them in the baking pan frozen?
Hi Tonya,
I purchased my ravioli in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. You can also use frozen ravioli. It is not necessary to either thaw or boil the frozen ravioli. I would, however, add about 5 minutes to the baking time when the dish is covered.
Chula
If we want to buy the sauce and just have the ground sausage and jar marinara sauce, how much jar sauce would we need in ounces to make the same amount as the homemade?
Taylor,
I would use 29-ounces of jarred marinara sauce.
Chula
Worth taking the time to do.
Can/should I add ricotta cheese?
Joy,
I don’t think that I would add ricotta cheese to the Lazy Lasagna. The cheese Ravoili aleady has ricotta cheese in it.
Chula
Made this last night. Substituted my own sauce very similar to yours. It turned out fantastic. Will definitely make again! I don’t make lasagna often because it’s so time-consuming. Thank you for such an easy recipe.
Kay,
I’m so glad that the Lazy Lasagna turned out for you. I agree about the time-consuming nature of regular lasagna!
Chula
Will definitely try it.Thanks for shy
Thank you. I am glad I checked. I can’t wait to make this for Christmas.
Hope you enjoy it. Merry Christmas!
Chula
So much easier and it is simply delicious!
I made it! Family loved it! I plan to make it again!
Excellent Joy! I’m so pleased that your family approved of the Lazy Lasagna!
Chula
This was so good. I made a half recipe in an 8×8 pan with frozen ravioli, no meat and jarred meat-flavored sauce. To amp up a jarred sauce I usually stir in an egg yolk and 5 tablespoons of butter and then heat on low just until the butter melts. Now that I think about it, I suppose you could melt the butter in the microwave and then just stir it into the sauce!! Baked the same amount of time since the ravioli was frozen. Will for sure make this again. Thank you.
Thanks so much for your comment! I never would have thought to add an egg yolk and butter to jarred sauce. Sounds delicious!
If im using jarred sauce, do i still have to simmer for 3 hrs?
No. Simmering for three hours is unnecessary if using jarred sauce.
I didn’t have any wine so I used jar sauce instead. This is delicious, next time I will make the meat sauce
I have made this Lazy Lasagna several times and it’s absolutely delicious. The first time making it was for a potluck at work and it was devoured quickly. Fantastic recipe!
Marcia,
I’m so glad that the recipe worked out for you. It’s one of my favorites!
Chula