Skillet Ravioli Bake
Dried tortellini simmered in a foil-packet sauce with beef crumbles and hard cheese. One pan, no oven.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 107
- protein
- 29 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried cheese tortellini or ravioli | 12 oz | the shelf-stable dry kind, not refrigerated |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 4 oz | or two 5 oz pouches of shelf-stable cooked beef crumbles |
| Onion powder | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Shelf-stable pasta sauce | 1 pouch, about 14 oz | foil pouch weighs less than a jar and packs out flat |
| Water | 600 ml | |
| Hard mozzarella or provolone | 3 oz | low-moisture block, keeps a few days unrefrigerated |
| Grated parmesan | 1/4 cup | the shaker kind is fine and travels well |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Put the freeze-dried beef in a mug with 150 ml of the water and let it sit while you set up. It needs the full ten minutes.
- Heat the oil in a wide pot. Add the rehydrated beef and the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir it around for two minutes.
- Add the dried pasta, the sauce pouch, and the remaining 450 ml of water. Stir so nothing is stuck to the bottom.
- Bring it to a boil, then drop to the lowest flame that keeps it bubbling. Lid on. Stir every three or four minutes so the pasta does not weld to the pot.
- Cook 12 to 15 minutes, until the pasta is soft and the sauce has thickened around it. Add water a splash at a time if it dries out before the pasta is done.
- Kill the heat. Scatter the cheese over the top, put the lid back on, and wait three minutes for it to melt. Parmesan over that.
The original is an oven casserole built on frozen ravioli, which is two things a camp kitchen does not have. Dried tortellini solves both: it cooks in the sauce the same way the frozen kind does, just on a burner instead of in a pan at 350. The water ratio matters more than the timing. Too little and the pasta scorches to the bottom before it softens; too much and you get soup with cheese on it.
The cheese goes on at the end, off the heat, because mozzarella in a boiling pot turns into rubber threads. Low-moisture block cheese holds up for a few days out of a cooler, which is why this is a car-camping or first-night-at-basecamp dinner rather than a week-deep one. Freeze-dried beef is the honest swap for a pound of ground chuck; if you are cooking from a cooler on day one, brown a half pound of real beef first and skip the soak.
Packing
Beef, pasta, and the spice mix go in one bag each. The sauce pouch and cheese ride separately. Bring a lid that actually fits the pot; without it the water leaves faster than the pasta cooks.
Variations
- Skip the beef and add a handful of dried mushrooms to the soak water for a meatless version.
- A shake of red pepper flakes and dried oregano covers for a plain sauce.
- Sun-dried tomatoes go in with the pasta and rehydrate along with it.
https://mealswithmaria.site/ravioli-bake