Made with cheese and asparagus filled ravioli, Bolognese sauce and cheese sauce, these personal mini ravioli lasagnas are delicious and fun to feed a small party.
If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that I love baking muffins. For several years I created and published a Muffin Monday post every single week. Nowadays, we celebrate Muffin Monday on the last day of the month so that’s still a minimum of 12 new muffin recipes each year.
That said, I don’t often use the muffin pans for much of anything else. Which is a pity. Enter our Sunday FunDay host for today, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures with a fun theme which will change that: Main dish in a muffin tin!
I put my thinking cap on and initially decided to make my mother’s goulash, basically Bolognese sauce with macaroni and perhaps some added cheese that I could bake in the muffin tin. But would that REALLY be making a main course in a muffin tin or just rewarming it?
I figured I needed something just a little more complicated to rise to Amy’s challenge. And sure, I could have cooked lasagna noodles and made actual little lasagnas with more layers just like a big one but the filled ravioli add extra flavor.
My muffin pan has nine holes so I used 18 fresh ravioli. Fortunately the bag I bought had 18 good ones and one broken one which I discarded. As I mention below, you’ll have plenty of meat sauce. If your muffin tin has more holes, by all means make a little more cheese sauce and buy more ravioli. It’s all good.
Personal Mini Ravioli Lasagnas
This recipe starts with my traditional Bolognese recipe which make about 4 1/2 cups or 1130g of sauce. You will have about 1 1/2 cups or 365g leftover but trust me when I say that you won’t regret it. It’s rich, delicious sauce that is great with any type of pasta. It also freezes well.
Ingredients
For the meat sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for the pan
1 lb or 450g ground beef or pork (or half and half)
3 cloves garlic
1 medium yellow onion
1 can (14 oz or 400g) crushed tomatoes
1 can (6 oz or 170g) tomato paste
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon baking soda
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
For the cheese sauce:
3/4 cup or 127g ricotta cheese
4 1/2 oz or 126g mozzarella
1 egg
For topping before baking:
1 oz or 28g Parmesan, freshly grated
1 oz or 28g mozzarella, grated
2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
Several pinches Italian seasonings, if desired
18 fresh ravioli, preferably round ones for a better fit, filling of your choice
The ravioli I used: 
Method
In a large Dutch oven over a medium high heat, brown the ground meat in the olive oil, crumbling it into the smallest bits possible with a wooden spoon as you do.
Meanwhile, mince the garlic and chop the onion.
When the beef is nicely browned, even crunchy in places, turn the heat down and add in the garlic and onions. Cook until they are soft and translucent.
Add in the canned tomatoes with any juice and another whole can of water. Stir in the tomato paste. Add the Italian seasoning and tuck the bay leaf into the sauce.
Bring to the boil, then lower the heat. Simmer the sauce, covered, for about 1 hour.
Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the baking soda.
This helps neutralize some of the acid in the tomatoes, making the sauce a bit sweeter. Season to your liking with the salt and pepper. Set the sauce aside to cool.
Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce by mixing together the ricotta, mozzarella and egg. Season with a few generous grinds of black pepper.
Cut squares of nonstick baking parchment to tuck into your muffin pan and crumple them up. This will make them easier to shape into the pan.
Trim some of the excess off but leave enough overhang so you can remove the mini lasagnas easily once cooked.
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of meat sauce into each lined muffin cup. Top with 1 ravioli.
Spoon 1 tablespoon of meat sauce on top. Add 1 tablespoon of cheese sauce.
Top with the second ravioli.
Add 2 tablespoons of meat sauce.
Divide the remaining cheese sauce between the mini lasagnas.
In a small bowl, mix the topping ingredients together and divide them between the mini lasagnas. Finish with a few pinches of Italian seasonings, if desired.
Pop the muffin tin in your preheated oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes, turning the pan around halfway through if, like mine, your oven doesn’t heat evenly.
Remove from the oven and put the muffin pan on a wire rack. Leave to cool for about five minutes and then carefully lift each mini lasagna out by its parchment liner.
Use a small spatula to return any sauce on the parchment to the sides of the lasagna.
Serve warm or hot.
We ate two each as a main course, befitting the theme, but these would also be great as a starter with a small side salad, as pictured.
Enjoy!
As I mentioned above, it's Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing main course recipes that can be make in a muffin tin. Many thanks to Amy from Amy's Cooking Adventures for the challenge. Check out the links below.
- Bacon Cheeseburger Cups by Amy's Cooking Adventures
- Personal Mini Ravioli Lasagnas by Food Lust People Love
- Pizza Cups by Our Good Life
- Poke Cups by Culinary Cam
- Savory Chicken Muffins For Two by Sneha's Recipe
- Sloppy Joe Cups by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Teriyaki Chicken Cups by Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Tuna Noodle Casserole Cups by Palatable Pastime
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.
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