by Holly
Lazy Crock Pot Lasagna is a family favorite and so quick and easy to make! A delicious meat sauce layered with cheese and spinach filled ravioli and loads of gooey cheese and cooks up perfectly in the slow cooker. A meal that everyone will agree on. Did I mention how easy this lasagna is to make?
Easy Easy Easy
This Lazy Crock Pot Lasagna is a family favorite! It seems we’re always off at some activity or event and some nights it seems like everyone is going through a revolving door. This is perfect because it’s quick to make and we can have it ready for when we get home from soccer practice.
We love lasagna and although there are a lot of steps involved in making a lasagna from scratch, the results are always worth it! This Lazy Crock Pot Lasagna uses a few shortcuts to make a lasagna dish that takes just about 15 minutes of prep and then cooks in the slow cooker but has the same great flavor.
Saucy Lasagna In Your Slow Cooker
The key to making this taste amazing is to use a high quality pasta sauce, the better the sauce, the better the dish!
Cheese and spinach filled ravioli (or you can use just cheese ravioli) replace the traditional layers of pasta and ricotta cheese making it super simple to put together and no boiling required. Adding the cheese on top right at the beginning of the the cooking allows it to get that yummy crusty edge that I love!
This recipe makes a large batch and I would suggest a 6 quart slow cooker or larger.
More Lasagna Recipes You’ll Love
- Chicken Lasagna – Creamy and so good!
- Taco Lasagna
- One Pot Lasagna – Quick!
- Lasagna Roll Ups
- CrockPot Lasagna Soup – Comfort food favorite!
Lazy Crock Pot Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 small onion , diced
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 large jar (45 oz) high quality pasta sauce
- 4 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1 large package (25-30 oz) cheese & spinach filled ravioli (uncooked)
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Instructions
- Brown ground beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until no pink remains. Drain any fat.
- Stir in Italian seasoning and pasta sauce. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
- Spray the inside of a 6-7 qt crock pot with cooking spray. Layer sauce, ravioli and cheese.
- Repeat layers ending with cheese. Cover and cook on low 3-4 hours.
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
Can you make it with fresh ravioli not frozen?
Hi Penny, for this recipe we used ravioli fresh from the refrigerator, if using frozen we recommend defrosting them first.
What high quality sauce do you suggest?
There are so many out there.
Thank you
Julie
Hi Julie, we love making our own pasta sauce! It’s always the highest quality ;)
Can I give it 10 stars? Unbelievably delicious
Thanks Sue! So happy you loved it.
My family absolutely loved this. I like that it can be made in a short time. It’d be great if you want something great for short notice guests. I added ricotta cheese.
Great addition Karen, that would be delicious.
This is SO good. Like, I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT great but wow!!! I used frozen ravioli that was partially thawed and it worked well! I also added some spinach & mushrooms to the sauce and it was so yummy. I will definitely be making this again and sharing the idea with others.
We’re blushing over here Emily, you’re too sweet! Those sounds like some tasty additions too!
DO you use frozen ravoli ?
I used fresh from the refrigerator. If they’re frozen, I’d suggest defrosting them first. Enjoy!
Yes
Just finished eating this … really good!
I halved the recipe for my 4 qt pot and it was perfect in 3 hrs.
Happy to hear it was perfect! Thank you for sharing.
Oh my goodness, this was amazing. Ifid everything as recipe said. Would not change a thing. Thank you for a new favorite!!
I’m so glad you loved it Caroline!
I wonder if you could cook this on Warm for longer instead. I was thinking of this recipe for a night when i’d have to leave the crockpot on for like 6 hrs at least if it was on Low. Which would likely overcook this recipe.
I wonder if 6 hours on Warm would work as well (instead of 3-4 on Low), anyone try it or have any ideas?
(The meat ingredients are already cooked and hot when put in the pot.)
Crock Pot says “Warm is ONLY for keeping already cooked food at the perfect serving temperature. DO NOT cook on the Warm setting.” I don’t suggest cooking the food on warm. You may want to cook for 3 hours and then have your crockpot switch to Warm.
Do u think it’d be possible to bake this dish instead?
I would bake it covered with foil about 1 hour at 375-400 degrees.
I have a 4.5 qt cooker. Should I adjust the cook time for this meal? And if so, what would you suggest as far as time and/or temp? Super excited to give this a try!!
It should work fine in your 4.5qt cooker, just keep in mind not to fill it more than 2/3 full. :)
To cook in 4.5 qt cooker I halved the recipe. There are just two of us and was perfect
Thank you for sharing that Julie!
I usually use throwaway plastic liners in my crockpot. Could I use one instead of sprayed ?
I’ve never tried it Ann. If it works for other recipes, I would think it could work. Let us know if you try it!
My crockpot settings are high 4 hrs and 6hrs then low 8hr and 10hr
Which one should I choose?
This recipe should cook on low for 3-4 hours, so you should select the low temperature and stop it when you reach 3-4 hours and it is cooked.
This is an amazingly delicious and simple meal! Thank you for sharing it with
us! I couldn’t find Ravioli with spinach and cheese so just used cheese stuffed
Ravioli and ti was delicious! I hope by pushing the 5th dot below that it means
a 5 star recipe because the button system below didn’t make sense! This is a
5 Star Recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you loved this Lasagna!
Hi! I was wondering if you have tried it with chicken instead of beef and alfredo sauce instead of spaghetti sauce? My son in law has trouble w/ anything tomato as his mouth is sensitive to acidic foods like tomato so I’m always trying to find different ways to cook our everyday favorites. This recipe sounds amazing! Look forward to hearing back from you.
Hi Kristen, I have only tried the recipe as written. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
My daughter and I both got the ingredients to make this. I decided not to do the recipe since frankly, I have never liked moc lasagna recipes because the texture is just not the same and I feel you just get a lot of heavy fat/carb without the enjoyment of the structure of traditional lasagna. But after tasting hers, I was impressed. She used Italian sausage instead of beef (which was less work since no other seasoning or the onion was needed) and used frozen raviolis. At the 4 hour mark it was perfect. The frozen ravioli was very reminiscent of lasagna noodles, and the flavors were spot on. I couldn’t believe it. So simple, I’m definitely making this!
Yay, I’m so glad you loved it! Thank you for the compliment. :)
I have a question and what kind of uncooked ravioli? Frozen or the kind next to the pasta in the grocery in the fridge? I bought frozen since it had to cook for 3 hours I want to know for sure for future reference
I use the kind in the fridge next to the pasta.
Made this for a weekend dinner. I like recipes that make a lot of leftovers that we can eat all week- or the husband can take to can take to work, etc. This was great! The only modification I made was to add fresh spinach and mushrooms to the mixture. They cooked perfectly as the lasagna cooked in the crockpot. Yummy.
Yum, mushrooms are my favorite, great addition!
I made this last week and it is the best tasting lasagna ever. Loved it and it was so easy to make!!!!!
Of course will be making again.
Instead of using hamburger I used mild sausage but it was so delicious and hardly any work to it at all.
That sounds like a great alteration to this recipe! I like sausage in my lasagna too!
Very Good. Great time saver!
I am glad you enjoyed this recipe Marcy!
This is the best recipe. I’ve shared it many times already. I use the frozen Louisa Spinach and cheese raviola. It’s the best!!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe. I am going to look for that ravioli! It sounds good!
About how many does this feed? Approximately how many servings? I usually cook for about 20 plates once a week using 2 crockpots, need to guestimate…? Any suggestions?
This makes about 8 servings.
Bachelor here with a 4 qt crockpot. Will this recipe work as is for my cooker or should I adjust for the smaller size. Thanks in advance…
To be safe, I would adjust to a smaller size, or prepare to freeze half of the recipe for an easy crock pot meal in the future.
What an awesome, delicious, and easy to make recipe! I make it at least twice a month, and every time get compliments from my family. :-)
Easy and compliments? Can’t ask for better! Enjoy!
Made this lasagna last night it was delicious thanks for sharing…
My family absolutely loves this recipe..it is inexpensive to make…super easy to make…soo love this…
Happy to hear your family loves it! Mine too!
Bless you for sharing such an AWESOME recipe. I love Lasagna
but don’t make it. This was DELISH‼️I didn’t have any hamburger
and made it without and it was so good. I will definitely be making
Lasagna from now on‼️ It will be so comforting on our cold snowy
days in Canada.
So glad you loved it!
Happy to hear that Kim!
This was such an easy recipe to make. Everyone in the house loved it.
Happy to hear that Kim!
Coukd you do this in the oven? If so what temp and for how long?
I would bake it covered with foil about 1 hour at 375-400 degrees.
What about cooking it in the oven? What temp and how long do you think??
I would bake it covered with foil about 1 hour at 375-400 degrees.
Thank you so, so, so much for this recipe!!! My son is constantly asking me to make lasagna for dinner, but I never seem to have time! This recipe saves so much time, and all the kids approved its just as good if not better than our regular lasagna recipe! Again, THANK YOU!!!
I’m so glad your family loved it!
I couldn’t find cheese and spinach ravioli…would it be ok if I just added fresh spinach to the ravioli layer or would the spinach get weird? Can’t wait to try this!
The spinach would likely cook down just fine! Any ravioli is great in this recipe. :)
OMG made it for supper SO GOOD I used frozen ravioli couldn’t find cheese and spinach used 5cheese my son and enjoyed it very much ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m so glad you loved it Debbie!
I work full time and leave pretty early in the the AM, do you think I cook this on low for 7-8 hours? Do you think it would over cook and come out dry?
I would be concerned it may dry out. If you do try it, please let us know how it goes. (Another option would be to cook it on the weekend as it reheats perfectly throughout the week).
Yummy and easy
Was delicious and super easy!
So glad that you liked it! :)
I have made this recipe you only thing I changed was I used mild Italian sausage instead of the ground beef. This was so easy to make and it was so good. I’m having some friends over for the weekend and I am making this for our get together.
So good, I make this all the time.
This is the first time I have been here Wanted to check out the recipe I am elderly and live alone and need easy recipe’s to cook.
I would love to make this for my consumers. Does anyone have a calorie count for this recipe?
I’m sorry I am unable to provide nutritional information. You can enter your ingredients here to calculate your information.
For the crock pot lasagna, did you use frozen ravioli or fresh? And if frozen, did you let them thaw first? Thanks for the recipe! Once I hear back I am totally making this!!!
I used fresh from the refrigerator. If they’re frozen, I’d suggest defrosting them first. Enjoy!
I’ve made this several times and it is a winner! Easy, delicious and my kids beg me to make it often. It’s a win-win, thanks!!
We’re happy to hear it! :)
I forgot to spray the crockpot before putting it all in. Should I try and remove everything to spray or do you think it will be okay?
What is the first layer.? Do you put sauce in than ravioli and than cheese?
Yes, the first layer is sauce, then ravioli and then cheese.
I made another recipe with frozen tots and it cracked my crock! Now I thaw everything before I start. I’m going to try another short cut – I have leftover meatballs in the freezer. I’ll let you know.
This was a fabulous idea! I am always looking for ways to keep the family excited about new things. I had tortellini on hand, so I used that instead. Came out great! Definitely felt like mine got a bit dry, but my crockpot cooks way hot, even on low, so I’m not holding that against you. Great recipe!
Has anyone cooked this in the oven instead of the crock pot?
I was wondering the same thing.
We made this for our Monday night meal and it is a hit! We added a little more sauce because everyone likes to dip their garlic bread in it. :) My son said it’s better than Stouffers.
Glad to hear that your family loved it, Tanya!
I am currently making this now. A little nervous but I hope it turns out good. Did anyone’s esle crock pot make funny sounds? Maybe its the steam or something but i keep hearing a odd sound. Anyways it smells good.
Would it be ok to add ricotta or cottage cheese to,this? I’ve never used either of those in a crockpot recipe before.
I think that sounds like a delicious idea!
Oh my goodness! This is amazing. The only thing different in mine is that I add Italian sausage to the ground beef. My family went gaga over this. Thank you for this simple recipe.
Could you use turkey instead of ground beef
Sure you could!
Frozen ravioli?
Do you cook the ground beef first?
Yes, the ground beef is browned in step 1.
Do you think the beef could be put in uncooked and add more cook time to cook it all? I would like to just throw it all in the crock pot and let it cook while Im at work.
I haven’t tried this with raw beef so I can’t say for sure. If you do try it, I’d suggest using a very lean beef as you won’t be draining the meat. Please let us know how it works out for you!
I have to tell you, I made this today for football Sunday….it was so easy and so fabulous! I never would have thought to layer sauce, raviolis and cheese but it’s genius. Husband loved it, it’s in the rotation. Lots of leftovers too! Thank you, loved it! I made it exactly as written-proportion of sauce to rav to cheese was perfect.
I’m so glad you loved this Laurie! :) It’s one of our favorite easy recipes too!!
I made this today during our “snow storm.” I’m so glad I did. It turned out so well
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Kim! Perfect for a snow day!
Do you think I could substitute tortellini for the ravioli?
I can not write to make all the things that I have seen on here.
What if have to cook it on high
I would cook it about 2-2.5 hours.
I might have missed this part, but when does the ground beef go in? Does it go into the crockpot first?
The ground beef is mixed with the sauce in step 2 and layered with the pasta in step 3.
Made this for dinner today and even my very picky daughter asked for seconds! Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad your family loved this!
Do you think you could assemble in your crockpot the night before, store overnight in the fridge, and then cook the next day? Thanks!
Yes, I think that would work!
I am not sure if you are suppose to put a cold crock in the crockpot. You may want to check with your manufacturer — wouldn’t want the crock to crack while cooking.
Is the ravioli from the refrigerator section, or the freezer? I’ve seen it both.
This is from the refrigerator.
What brand of pasta sauce do you like to use?
One of my favorites is the Kirkland brand from Costco. Another one I really like is Classico brand in any variety.
What about the sauce you use? Not sure what type of quality u mean, I got ragu instead of Kroger but I’m guessing now you mean something u can’t get from Walmart haha
Any sauce you personally love is great in this recipe. One of my favorites is the Kirkland brand from Costco. Another one I really like is Classico brand in any variety.
Can you put this on high instead of low?
While the time would have to be adjusted, I do think it would work.
I’m concerned about the condensation dripping off the lid on to the cheese and making it soggy. Do you think I can use the towel trick? It’s where you put a kitchen towel across the bottom of the lid and tie the ends to the handle on top. This helps absorb excess moisture.
I didn’t find my cheese to be soggy but you could certainly try the towel trick.
I’m sure this is ultra basic but do you garnish with at the end?
I garnish with parsley, mainly for presentation.
I just face-palmed. Hard. I’ve done ravioli in the oven covered in sauce and cheese, but never even considered the crockpot.
I always use frozen ravioli because I have celiac disease and we are not worthy of fresh pasta. It has never been watery in the oven.
I love it! Can’t wait to give it a shot!
Thank you for the tip about frozen pasta, frustrating you can’t find fresh! LOL, glad I’ve inspired you to try it in the crock pot!
Do you think it’ll need to cook longer if frozen pasta is used?
No, the cooking time should remain the same. Frozen pasta defrosts fairly quickly.
Do you use fresh or frozen ravioli? Do you think it’s ok to use frozen, and adjust the cook time?
I was looking to see if anyone did this? Did you end up doing this? Did frozen ravioli’s make it watery?
It shouldn’t come out watery as the frozen ravioli doesn’t have excess liquid.
I must make this!!!
It’s so easy and so good Dorothy! :)
OHMYGOSH WOMAN! This looks beyond amazing! And easy too!
Thank you Jenn, it’s delicious and so simple!