Pair this creamy crockpot ravioli with an Italian Panzanella Salad, a Blood Orange Aperol Spritz, and Ricotta Mascarpone Cheesecake for dessert!
★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
This super easy recipe for creamy Crockpot Tuscan-style ravioli is something a little different you can try for dinner!
Creamy, Saucy, Rich in Flavor
You'll love the thick, creamy sauce combined with the flavors of spinach and sausage.
A Set-it-and-forget-it Meal
Add your favorite fresh or frozen ravioli and dinner basically cooks itself slowly in the crockpot while you go about your day. Sounds good right?
Just 6 Main Ingredients
The creamy tomato sauce is simple yet delicious and sounds super fancy when you add Vermouth but it's actually super easy to make. This crockpot dinner recipe is just 6 ingredients, 7 if you add Vermouth which is totally optional.
Cook it on the stovetop if you prefer.
To speed up cook time, you can prepare this meal in a large pot on the stove top if that fits your schedule better.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
This easy dinner recipe is made using just 6 ingredients and everything cooks in the crockpot!
Here's what goes into this dish:
- Petite diced canned tomatoes. You can go with plain or fire-roasted to add extra flavor.
- Chicken stock. Add more or less depending how thick and creamy or thin you want your sauce to be.
- Cream cheese. I prefer to use whipped as it blends better but block cream cheese works too. You can dice it to help it melt evenly or just toss in the whole brick and stir as things cook.
- Italian breakfast sausage. You can choose hot or mild depending on how spicy you want to go. Try turkey sausage for a healthier, low-fat option.
- Cheese ravioli. You can go with frozen or fresh. Tortellini also works. Feel free to experiment with other flavors beyond cheese like mushroom, meat, or spinach and feta.
- Spinach. Fresh or frozen spinach leaves.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This crockpot meal is super simple to put together.
First, just dump in the ingredients for the sauce, along with the Italian sausage, into your slow cooker. Fold in frozen ravioli. Set it and forget it! Let it cook then you'll add the spinach right before serving.
10-15 minutes before you're ready to eat, add spinach. Cook to 10 additional minutes if using fresh spinach leaves, 15 minutes if you're using frozen spinach.
Super easy!
Check out this video that shows how to make this dish!
Full recipe with ingredients list and detailed instructions, below. Scroll down!
★ Variations to Try ★
Try turkey sausage to cut fat.
I really love the flavor of sausage but don't love all the fat so turkey sausage is the perfect play here. I used regular cheese raviolis, the frozen kinds but you could do fresh if you want.
The chicken broth and cream cheese combine nicely to complement the sausage and the tomatoes and spinach add some freshness and nutrition to this dish. It's a well balanced meal all in one pot!
Make this dish vegetarian.
This dish can easily be converted to a meat-free dish with two changes:
- Replace chicken stock with vegetable stock.
- Choose a plant-based sausage substitute.
Want a more sophisticated flavor?
Try adding a splash of dry Vermouth!
Dry Vermouth is my secret ingredient to bring the flavor to a sophisticated level. Vermouth can be replaced with a red wine or left out completely if you don't have it handy.
If you want to impress your guest though, or just have something a little fancier for dinner, it's worth a trip to the store to pick up it. It stores well in a cool, dry cabinet for future use either to prepare a cocktail or use it in another recipe.
Learn more about the difference between sweet and dry Vermouth. For this recipe, we're using dry.
★ Tips ★
Crockpot ravioli is a little tricky.
But certainly nothing we can't handle here. Since ravioli can overcook, you want to be sure your crockpot shuts off after the designated cook time and changes over to "keep warm" mode.
Coming home after a long day of work to a dried up mess in the crockpot when you were expecting a nice easy dinner, isn't fun! Been there, done that.
So, be sure to take advantage of your slow cooker's timer settings. If your slow cooker doesn't have timed settings and you really wish it did, it may be time for an upgrade.
★ More Pasta Recipes ★
Want more dinner ideas?
If you're looking for more easy yet delicious meals ideas, browse all my easy dinner recipes. Pin your favorites for later!
This recipe for Creamy Crockpot Spinach and Sausage Ravioli was featured on South Your Mouth and Meal Plan Monday!
Crockpot Creamy Ravioli with Sausage and Spinach
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian breakfast sausage use turkey sausage for a healthier option
- 28 oz petite diced tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken stock add more as needed to thin your sauce
- 8 oz cream cheese use whipped for smoother sauce
- ¼ cup vermouth for added flavor
- 25 oz frozen or fresh cheese ravioli
- 1 cup fresh spinach leaves frozen spinach works too
Optional
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Add sausage. Cut up sausage into bite-size chunks. Place in crockpot, spreading out to cover the bottom of the crockpot.
- Add tomatoes and chicken stock to your slow cooker.
- Slice cream cheese* into small chunks (or use whipped cream cheese).Add cream cheese to the slow cooker, spreading it out to layer on top of the sauce.
- Optional: If you want to add Vermouth, drizzle it in.
- Layer frozen ravioli on top of sauce and cover with lid.
- Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
- Lift lid and gently fold in spinach and coat ravioli with sauce. Cook for an additional 10 minutes (or until spinach is wilted but still bright green) then serve.
Video
Notes
- Cream cheese melts better if you let it get to room temperature first and also if you used whipped cream cheese.
- If you'd like, you can brown the sausage before adding it to your crockpot. This speeds up cook time and adds flavor.
PG says
I would like to make this recipe for 20 people. Can it be cooked in the oven and get the same results ?
Angela G. says
Yes, you could cook it on the oven just be sure to cover with foil to prevent it from drying out. I would try it at 375˚ for 45 minutes - 1 hour or until sauce is bubbling. Stir as needed then add the spinach. Cook for 10-15 minutes more or until spinach wilts into the dish. You can adjust the number of servings using the slider in the recipe card labeled "Servings" to show you the quantity of each ingredient you'll need to make 20 servings. Thanks for asking!
Pg says
Thank you so much. I made this recipe in my crock pot and it was so tasty. Now I want to share it with my whole family. Thanks again.
TabR says
Tried to be as careful as I could but ravioli came apart. Good otherwise
Angela G. says
Thanks for the feedback. You could toss the ravioli in a little oil to help prevent them from sticking to each other and tearing open next time. You can also try adding them one by one so they get coated in sauce. What type of ravioli did you use? Dry, fresh or frozen?
Pamela says
Trying this tonight and using marinated chicken cooked on the stove and cut up onto pieces and mixed in. Can't wait to try it 😋
Angela G. says
Sounds good. Enjoy!
Gina says
If I use fresh ravioli should I adjust the crockpot timer any? We made them with frozen ravioli the other day and my husband raved on how it was one of his favorite meals, so thank you! 😊
Angela G. says
Hi Gina, so glad you are enjoying this dish! The cook time should only be a few minutes different if using fresh ravioli. I'd cut cook time 5-10 minutes since you do not need to defrost. Thanks for asking!
Jan says
I haven’t tried this as of yet but I would definitely pre cook my sausage before putting into the casserole I’d want to get rid of some of the fat
Angela G. says
Hi Jan, The fat actually helps create a rich sauce but you could cook and drain it if you'd like. You could also use turkey sausage which is much more lean.