This personal pan lasagna is a mini and magnificent combination of store-bought ravioli, pasta sauce, and cheese. Consider it an easy cheater’s lasagna. And you won’t care what it’s called as soon as you taste this individual lasagna made with no ricotta.
This “lasagna” [EDITOR’S NOTE: Um, we typed that word while winking and coughing politely] is both shameless and savvy. Rather than layer lasagna noodles and a made-from-scratch sauce with a ricotta mixture, it cheats—brilliantly—by relying on ravioli, store-bought sauce, and cheese. Did we mention brilliantly?–David Leite
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO SERVE LASAGNA?
The perforated ravioli sheets make it a cinch to cram the lasagna into any size dish. So while the tactic works quite well in skillet form, like this easy skillet lasagna, or in the diva of baking dishes, the 9-by-13-inch, it’s also eminently easy to do in several wee-size baking dishes–perfect for when you want to ensure everyone at the table has his or her own personal lasagna that didn’t touch anyone else’s. The recipe also makes it easy to customize flavors, mixing and matching ravioli flavors with various sauces. Or not. It’s all up to you. Our only caveat? With so few ingredients, what you taste is going to depend squarely on the quality of said items. But then, you already knew that.
☞ Contents
Personal Pan Lasagna
Ingredients
- Olive oil for the baking dish
- One (26- to 32-ounce) jar fresh pasta sauce
- One (15- to 18-ounce) box frozen ravioli (any kind)
- 2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheese such as mozzarella
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Oil a 9-by-5-inch baking dish, two 4-by-6 baking dishes or six 2-by-3 dishes or ramekins of some sort.
- Assemble your lasagna in layers, starting with 1/3 of the sauce, then 1/2 the ravioli, followed by 1/2 the cheese. Spoon 1/2 of the remaining sauce over the cheese, then layer the remaining ravioli on top. Dump the remaining sauce over the ravioli and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until warmed through and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes more. If a crisper surface is desired, run it under the broiler for a few minutes.
- Let it stand about 5 minutes or so before serving. Originally published February 14, 2011.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This personal pan lasagna is a totally genius way to throw together dinner on a busy weeknight!
It’s also a recipe you can play around with. I layered some fresh basil and leftover shredded chicken between the sauce and ravioli layers (I made three layers of each). I also used 1 3/4 cups of mozzarella and topped the whole thing with 1/4 cup of Parmesan. I couldn’t find ravioli sheets so I used refrigerated ravioli and squished the pieces together as close as possible. (I can see how using the sheets would resemble lasagna better.)
This was a casual dinner eaten in front of the tv and it’s as delicious as you want it to be—using the very best quality sauces and raviolis is key. You’ll be able to feed 4 super-hungry people or 6 people comfortably.
This is a great idea for a weeknight meal. It’s so easy to put together, and there are endless possibilities for using different sauces, cheeses and types of frozen ravioli. I love tackling complex recipes on weekends when I have more time, but on a weeknight, something simple like this usually calls my name when I arrive home.
I used mozzarella cheese, cheese ravioli, and our favorite mushroom pasta sauce. Since we’re big eaters, I ended up with 3 individual servings. With the addition of salad and some garlic bread, I had dinner on the table in no time. The baking time was right on the mark, but I did run the lasagna under the broiler to brown the cheese a bit at the end.
I love baked ravioli! I make a similar version of this but in a much bigger quantity, as I have 5 mouths to feed. We used lobster ravioli and it was out-of-this-world good.
This lasagna was so very quick and easy to prepare, I made it twice.
The first time, I followed the recipe exactly, using chicken and four-cheese ravioli, in 8 individual casserole dishes. I baked them while covered for 30 minutes, then for an additional 10 minutes without the lid. The second time I made these, I doubled the sauce, and they were fantastic. It was just the right amount of sauce to the ravioli. We served this with a salad and garlic bread, and it was a perfect meal. This is one very quick, inexpensive meal to put together—a new quick-fix meal for our house.
This recipe is so easy that it’s almost embarrassing. I’d never have thought of it myself.
I made this in 2 batches with 2 kinds of ravioli (spicy sausage and mushroom) and a basic tomato basil sauce from a jar. Both were wonderful.
Overall, this was amazingly easy, yummy and, as promised, no broken ravioli! My husband asked for seconds, so I’d recommend it.
Next time, I’ll top the ravioli witch cheese in the last 10 minutes of cooking.
This individual lasagna was a very easy recipe to follow. It’s a timesaver and the extra flavors between the raviolis were a surprise.
I was at first leery about the assembly—not because I didn’t think it would taste good, but because I love lasagna and I’d just as soon make a real lasagna over an instant version. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I used two 9-ounce packages of herb ravioli with spinach and cheese and sprinkled the last layer of noodles and sauce with grated Parmesan. The baking time was perfect.
At first, I didn’t think this recipe was any better than serving ravioli with a sauce on top. But then I began to think of all the combinations you could come up with to make it your own. Also, it was easy to put together, I didn’t have to wait for water to boil and there was no colander to clean. I used a frozen meat ravioli and a jar of Rao’s vodka sauce. My only change would be to play around with the cheese—the mozzarella was a little too gooey and stringy for my taste.
I used a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, and ended up trimming rows off of the ravioli sheets to build a third layer.
TIP: After the stated baking time, give it a few minutes under the broiler to brown the top.
I really enjoyed this personal pan lasagna recipe and will make it again.
I made this dish using a 7-by-11-inch baking dish and it worked just fine. I used round ravioli, so I made 2 layers with the sauce and cheese. I baked it as directed, but found that it needed an additional 5 minutes. The dish browned quite nicely without having to use the broiler. It’s a good idea to let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
To be honest, I had pretty low expectations making this recipe the first time: I used jarred pasta sauce, a packet of frozen 4 cheese ravioli, shredded mozzarella – nothing homemade or ‘speciality store’ bought. I couldn’t imagine how assembling them would make these indifferent ingredients more special but I am very happy to announce I was wrong! Somehow the combination extracted wonderful flavors that pulled together wonderfully. I have now made this twice – the first time in the ‘personal’ version (I used a disposable muffin trays because I didn’t have enough ramekins) and the second time family-sized in a baking tray. Both times delicious! Definitely added to the regular rotation!
So easy a child could make it! It literally took five minutes to assemble, with a jar of Rao’s and a bag of shredded mozz. And my partner loved it! It’s a MUCH faster and easier way to satisfy his lasagna cravings. Thank you for this hectic weeknight dinner savior.
We’re so glad you’ve found a weeknight winner, Leah! That looks amazing. We can’t wait to hear what you make next.
Olivia, I’m delighted to hear! And it just goes to show: You can’t always judge a recipe by, um. the recipe!
I just found some 6 X 3 X 2 aluminum mini-loaf pans at the restaurant supply store. There is personal pan lasagne in my near future.
Um, bhhuna, you mean is there are personal pan lasagna and photos in your future…riiiight?
Hello Renee,
Last weekend I prepared this recipe in a Pyrex bakeware tray that I got from worldkitchen.com. This was delicious and my kid loved it a lot.
Thanks for the recipe.
You are so very welcome, Adamson. So glad to hear the recipe was a hit! Many thanks for taking the time to let us know.
Can you make this with fresh packaged ravioli and then freeze the individual pans? I’m thinking this would be a great thing to give friends or neighbors who are dealing with illness, time at the hospital, recovery, etc. I love the idea of individual portions so that you could take out just enough for one meal. What would be the reheat time?
Hi Jane, I don’t see why you couldn’t try it this way. I would follow the recipe to reheat it. Let us know if you give it a whirl!
so do you prepare the ravioli by the package directions before the layering or do you layer them still frozen?
Hi Angel, you can pop them in frozen..easy peasy.