Easy Lasagna Recipe

Who loves Lasagna? Well here is a quick and very tasty Easy Lasagna Recipe. What happens if you’re short on time and still craving that classic lasagna flavor? This easy lasagna recipe comes to our rescue often. By using your favorite spaghetti sauce you can make this quickly and easily!

Lasagna with Ricotta or Cottage Cheese

I love Lasagna with ricotta cheese but when I was growing up, I always had lasagna with cottage cheese. I didn’t really eat any ricotta until I got older and started experimenting with different cheeses. We always put cottage cheese in lasagna in place of ricotta but not anymore.

Now that I’m older, I can love ricotta in lasagna. You can use either cottage cheese OR ricotta in this recipe. Use the same for either cheese you choose. Both are delicious, but ricotta is more authentic.

How to Make Lasagna

There are two steps you must start with in order to make the lasagna:

• prepare the meat sauce
• prepare the cheese filling

Here’s the details of each:

• In a large skillet over medium heat brown the ground beef and sausage together. Drain off and discard any fat.
• Add the minced garlic and spaghetti sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the ricotta, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, eggs, ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese, dried parsley, salt and ground black pepper. Mix well.

Do you have to cook noodles for lasagna?

In this recipe, we don’t cook the noodles before we assemble the lasagna. The liquids from the spaghetti sauce should be enough that the noodles will cook beautifully in the oven as the lasagna bakes.

How to Layer Lasagna

Make sure you spray your baking pan with cooking spray so that the lasagna doesn’t stick. If you have a pan that is a little bigger than 9×13 or has deep sides, use that pan so that the lasagna doesn’t overflow.

• Spread ¾ cup of sauce on the bottom of the baking pan.
• Cover the bottom with 3 uncooked lasagna noodles.
• Top with ⅓ of the cheese mixture and then ¼ of the sauce.
• Repeat layers (noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce).
• Top with 3 noodles, remaining sauce, remaining 1 cup of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Do you cover lasagna when you bake it?

Some recipes may not require that you cover the lasagna while it bakes. However, it is important with our recipe to cover it so the sauce can get hot and soften the pasta. Cover the pan with a single layer of aluminum foil and bake covered for all but 10 minutes of the baking time.

**Pro Tip: Spray one side of the foil with cooking spray, then lay that side down on top of the lasagna and press the edges to seal. The spray helps the cheese not stick to the foil!**

How long do you bake lasagna?

Bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes. The top should get slightly golden brown and the edges should be bubbling.

Allow lasagna to sit for about 10 minutes before you cut into it. This will help you get clean slices.