In the realm of culinary delights, few dishes can rival the timeless allure of lasagna. This iconic Italian dish, with its layers of savory meat, creamy cheese, and tender pasta, has captured the hearts and appetites of food lovers worldwide. Whether you're a seasoned chef or a novice cook seeking to elevate your culinary skills, embarking on a journey to find the "best ever lasagna" recipe can be an exciting and rewarding pursuit. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the secrets of crafting this delectable dish, exploring a variety of recipes that showcase the diverse flavors and techniques used to achieve lasagna perfection.
Here are our top 9 tried and tested recipes!
THE BEST EVER LASAGNA
My brother, Joe, created this lasagna based on our mom's recipe. It's a family favorite at Christmas, thanks to the special ingredients that make it magnifico. -Stephanie Marchese, Taste of Home Visual Production Director
Provided by Taste of Home
Categories Dinner
Time 3h45m
Yield 15 servings
Number Of Ingredients 18
Steps:
- In a Dutch oven, cook onion in olive oil over medium heat until tender, 4-5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 3-4 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, water, fresh basil, 2 teaspoons sugar and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally., Meanwhile, cook bulk sausage in a skillet over medium heat until no longer pink, breaking into crumbles, 8-10 minutes; drain. Add to sauce; simmer until mixture is thickened, about 1 hour longer., While sauce simmers, preheat oven to 350°. Place sausage links on a rimmed baking sheet; roast until cooked through, 35-40 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly; slice into 1/4-in.-thick pieces., In a small bowl, mix ricotta cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, egg, dried basil and remaining sugar., In a greased 13x9-in. baking dish, spread 2 cups sauce. Arrange 4 noodles over sauce; spread with a third of the ricotta mixture. Add 7 provolone slices, a third of the sliced sausage and 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers 2 more times, using only 1 cup sauce per layer. Spread with 2 cups sauce (reserve remaining sauce for serving on the side), remaining 2-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese (dish will be full)., Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, uncovered, until bubbly and deep golden brown, 60-65 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Serve with remaining meat sauce.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 509 calories, Fat 33g fat (15g saturated fat), Cholesterol 106mg cholesterol, Sodium 1185mg sodium, Carbohydrate 27g carbohydrate (9g sugars, Fiber 3g fiber), Protein 29g protein.
GRANDMA'S BEST EVER SOUR CREAM LASAGNA
This is my grandma's famous recipe, except that I use sour cream instead of the traditional cheeses (a trick I picked up from my mother-in-law). She always made it for birthday dinners and special occasions. This makes a large amount. I halve it when making it for my boyfriend and myself. It's very cheesy - sometimes I add a little extra tomato sauce. Enjoy!
Provided by e.oliver365
Categories World Cuisine Recipes European Italian
Time 1h50m
Yield 8
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Stir in the lasagna noodles, and return to a boil. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook and stir the sausage, ground beef, and garlic until the meat is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain any excess grease. Stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, parsley, basil, oregano, and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 30 minutes.
- Stir together the sour cream, eggs, Parmesan cheese, green olives, salt, black pepper, and 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese in a bowl.
- To assemble the lasagna, spread a thin layer of the meat sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover with 1/3 of the lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the remaining meat sauce, 1/3 of the sour cream mixture. Repeat this layering 2 more times. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese evenly over the lasagna.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the sauce is bubbly and the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 670.1 calories, Carbohydrate 31.2 g, Cholesterol 189.3 mg, Fat 42 g, Fiber 2.4 g, Protein 41.3 g, SaturatedFat 22 g, Sodium 2105.5 mg, Sugar 5.9 g
THE BEST LASAGNA EVER (PIONEER WOMAN)
Make and share this The Best Lasagna Ever (Pioneer Woman) recipe from Food.com.
Provided by AmyZoe
Categories < 60 Mins
Time 1h
Yield 12 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil with oil and salt.
- In a large skillet or saucepan combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic.
- Cook over medium high heat until browned.
- Drain half the fat (less if you're feeling naughty).
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley, basil, and salt.
- After adding the tomatoes, the sauce mixture should simmer for 45 minutes while you are working on the other steps.
- In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside.
- Cook lasagna until al dente (not overly cooked).
- Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary.
- Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly.
- Cover cottage cheese with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Spoon a little less than half the meat/sauce mixture over the top.
- Repeat, ending with meat/sauce mixture. Sprinkle top generously with extra Parmesan.
- Either freeze, refrigerate for up to 2 days, or bake immediately at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
ABSOLUTE BEST EVER LASAGNA
My family's favorite. This is a very meaty lasagna. We prefer it with cottage cheese, but you can easily substitute ricotta.
Provided by ratherbeswimmin
Categories Cheese
Time 2h30m
Yield 12 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 18
Steps:
- Brown ground meat, onion and garlic.
- Add salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, basil, chopped tomatoes with juice, tomato paste; stirring until well mixed.
- Cover and simmer 1 hour (or longer,but watch for getting too dry).
- Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside.
- Spray a 13 x 9" baking pan with cooking spray.
- Combine riccota cheese, eggs, pepper, 2 tablespoons parsley, Parmesan cheese and 1/2 1lb of mozzarella cheese; In a lasagna pan, layer noodles, meat sauce, and cheese mixture; repeat.
- Top off with layer of noodles; sprinkle evenly with remaining mozzarella cheese; make sure to cover noodles completely.
- Bake at 375F for 40-60 minutes, or until cheese mixture is thoroughly melted. (I cover w/ foil for about 40 minutes, then uncover for 15-20 minutes.
- Let sit for 15-20 minutes before cutting and serving.
BEST-EVER LASAGNA
Yikes, another lasagna recipe you say? I love all the variations of this Italian classic, but this one is the best I've ever had. I think it's originally from the Taste of Home cookbook series, but I've tweaked it to my family's taste...and hopefully yours too. Note: Allow about 2 hours and 40 minutes from kitchen to table because the sauce needs to simmer for 1 hour and then the lasagna, once assembled, needs to cook for 50-70 minutes and rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Provided by RedhairMac
Categories One Dish Meal
Time 2h40m
Yield 8-10 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 20
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large skillet, brown beef and sausage together over medium heat until crumbly and no longer pink. Drain well.
- To meat, add tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, sugar, Italian seasoning, capers, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat; simmer uncovered for one hour, stirring occasionally.
- In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add parsley. Fold in cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese. Refrigerate until sauce is done.
- Spray the bottom of a 9"x13" pan with non-stick spray. Spread about 1 cup of the sauce in the bottom of the pan.
- Place 1/3 of the noodles on top of the meat sauce, overlapping as needed to cover all the sauce.
- On top of the noodles, layer the provolone cheese slices, 1/2 of the cottage cheese mixture and about 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Place another 1/3 of the noodles on top.
- Layer approximately 2 cups meat sauce, the remaining cottage cheese mixture and 1-2 cups mozzarella cheese.
- Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce and mozzarella.
- If desired, garnish with black olives and green onions scattered on top.
- Cover and bake for 50 minutes.
- Uncover, bake 10-20 minutes longer, just until the cheese reaches a golden doneness.
- Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
- Leftovers freeze well.
BEST EVER LASAGNA
This is the best lasagna that I've eaten. Way better than what you can get in a restaurant. This recipe is to use the sauce "Khandi's Spaghetti Sauce". It makes gallons, or you can size down the recipe to make less. But the sauce is the basis - it must be meaty and spicey to get the full effect. I buy those plastic 8 inch square pans to make these in, and then freeze. You can cook these from frozen, or thaw overnight to decrease cooking time. I've also made this up in 2 of those huge aluminum roasting pans with handles. It fed about 30 people each and had to cook about 2-2 1/2 hours. The basis for this lasagna is the sauce. Depending on how much you want to make is how much cheese mixture to mix up. I usually do this from feel, so amounts are approximate. One recipe of sauce makes about 8 small lasagnas, 4-5 larger (8X13") lasagnas, or 2 giant roasting pan size lasagnas depending on layering. (Directions for 1 lasagna at bottom.)
Provided by Khandi Howard
Categories One Dish Meal
Time 1h15m
Yield 8-60 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- Mix up cheeses reserving about 4 cups to top lasagna.
- Add eggs and Italian seasoning.
- I do this with in two batches.
- Now you are ready to assemble lasagna.
- Pour small amount of sauce in bottom of pan - just enough to cover.
- Layer noodles over sauce.
- Spoon cheese mixture as evenly as you can over noodles and smooth with spoon.
- Layer noodles over cheese - then pour on sauce to cover.
- Repeat with noodles, cheese, noodles, sauce again and then top with cheese.
- Then: I cover loosely with foil to prevent cheese from over browning.
- Bake in 350°F oven until bubbly, removing foil for last 20 minutes or so.
- Or prepare for freezing by cooling, covering with saran wrap then freezer lid.
- Place in freezer.
- Cook the same. Expect the frozen lasagnas to take about 1 1/2 hours to cook if in a small pan.
- ***I always cook my noodles, I prefer the texture of precooked noodles and though it is not necessary I think that uncooked noodles have a slimy texture in the lasagna.
- ********************************.
- You can cook less at a time.
- For one 8X13 in lasagna I'd start with about 1 lbs of mozzarella, ½ pound of Parmesan, and one container (1 lb) of ricotta cheese and 1 egg with 1 T of seasoning.
- You'll probably need about 9 -12 noodles and about 7 - 8 cups of sauce.
- ********************************.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 1723.5, Fat 109.2, SaturatedFat 64.7, Cholesterol 498.2, Sodium 3345.9, Carbohydrate 57.6, Fiber 1.8, Sugar 5.1, Protein 124.5
LASAGNA - THE BEST I'VE EVER TASTED
This Lasagna is uotstanding. It was a recipe from my mother which we have been using for 35 years or more. Everyone loves it. I often make 10 pans at a time to serve to a large group or to freeze.
Provided by Benson Cinnamon
Categories < 4 Hours
Time 1h30m
Yield 1 pan, 8-12 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 16
Steps:
- Cook noodles in salted water, 15 minutes - drain.
- Heat oil, cook garlic and onion, add beef and seasonings, sauté until well browned, add tomato paste and tomatoes, simmer 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Blend eggs with cottage cheese in the food processor, add parmesan cheese, blend until smooth.
- Put half of meat sauce in bottom of a lasagna pan, put half of the noodles on top, then the cottage cheese mixture, then the rest of the noodles, then the rest of the meat sauce.
- Bake at 350 degrees (325 in convection oven) for approx ½ to 3/4 of an hour or until browned and bubbly.
- After 20 to 30 minutes, cover with sliced (I prefer grated) mozarella cheese and return to oven.
BEST EVER LASAGNA
Even though my DH does not like pasta dishes, he loves this one. It's great served with french bread and wine
Provided by Nimz_
Categories One Dish Meal
Time 1h30m
Yield 6-8 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown meat in skillet with onion, and garlic, cooking slowly.
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste, olives, seasonings, sugar, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes In separate bowl beat eggs, and blend in cottage cheese.
- In a greased 2 qt casserole layer 1/2 of the meat sauce, 3-4 noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese, 1/2 mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat layers and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes.
BEST EVER LASAGNA
Steps:
- 1. Brown ground beef, Italian sausage, onion and garlic. 2. Add salt, parsley, oregano, basil, tomatoes, and tomato paste; stirring until well mixed. 3. Simmer 1 hour 4. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside. 5. Spray a 13"x9" baking pan with cooking spray. 6. Combine cottage cheese, eggs, pepper, parsley, Parmesan cheese and 1/2 of mozzarella cheese; In a lasagna pan, layer noodles, meat sauce, and cheese mixture; repeat. 7. Top off with layer of noodles; sprinkle evenly with remaining mozzarella cheese. 8. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 to 40 minutes, or until cheese mixture is thoroughly melted.
Tips:
- Use fresh lasagna noodles for the best texture and flavor.
- Don't overcook the noodles, they should be al dente.
- Use a variety of cheeses in your lasagna, such as ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan.
- Layer the lasagna evenly so that each bite has a little bit of everything.
- Bake the lasagna until it is golden brown and bubbly.
- Let the lasagna rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Conclusion:
Lasagna is a classic Italian dish that is perfect for any occasion. It is a versatile dish that can be customized to your liking. With so many different recipes to choose from, you are sure to find one that you will love. So next time you are looking for a delicious and satisfying meal, give lasagna a try.
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