The pot of water is the slowest thing here.
Frozen cheese ravioli cook in four or five minutes and float when they are ready. That is the entire night-of cooking, assuming a pound of beef got browned into three cups of marinara before you left.
Put the water on the second you walk in at 8:10 and it comes to a boil while bags hit the floor and hands get washed. Drain, fold into the sauce, parmesan over the top.
Ingredients
The recipe serves 4. Plan on 12 minutes to finish (plus earlier prep).
- 1 lb frozen cheese ravioli
- 1 lb ground beef
- 3 cups marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
How to Make It
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- While it heats, brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high, about 6 minutes, until no pink remains.
- Stir the marinara, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder into the beef and simmer on low.
- Drop the frozen ravioli into the boiling water and cook per the package, about 4 to 5 minutes, until they float.
- Drain the ravioli, fold them into the meat sauce, and finish with parmesan.
Do the Slow Part Early
Make the meat sauce before practice so you only boil ravioli at night.
- Brown the beef and simmer the sauce in the morning
- Keep the ravioli frozen until the water boils
- Grate the parmesan ahead
Store and Reheat
Store the saucy ravioli together; the sauce keeps them from drying out.
- Microwave 2 to 3 minutes, stirring gently once
- Add a splash of water or sauce if it looks thick
- Keeps 3 days in the fridge
- Serve with: garlic bread, Caesar salad, steamed green beans
Make it fit tonight
Small changes that make this one fit your night
Straight from the freezer
Frozen ravioli go into boiling water; thawed ones split and leak their filling.
Sauce on the lowest burner
A covered pot holds all afternoon and needs no watching at all.
Frozen garlic bread
It bakes in the same twelve minutes and makes this look like a planned dinner.
Store them already sauced
The marinara keeps the pasta from drying out, so mix before it goes in the tub.
Sausage-filled ravioli
Same cook time, and it makes the meat sauce optional on a lazier night.
Plan the next step
Keep fast pasta on hand
Use the planner to stock a couple of quick pasta nights like this for the hungriest practice days.