World Famous Lasagna
Homemade lasagna is the epitome of comfort food that is hearty, heartwarming and timeless. It is the perfect dish for any occasion, whether a family dinner or cozy dinner party. Following a trip to Italy, where I ordered Lasagna nearly every opportunity I had, I adapted my recipe quite a bit to closer match what I experienced - more layers of noodles and a rich, creamier tomato sauce… and I have been handing out the recipe ever since :)
Lasagna is a labor of love and does take a long time to make, so this recipe is for 3 lasagnas. These are perfect to make ahead for a dinner party or holiday, when you'd rather not be cooking while entertaining guests. Or just make them for dinner and freeze the extras to save your future-self some hassle.
You can make them all at once or over a couple of days, making the meat one night and then assemble and cook the next.
Ingredients:
- 3 Disposable Lasagna Pans
- 5 Packages of “No Boil” Lasagna noodles (12 each pack, 20 each Lasagna) *you can use regular noodles if you like, but this saves so much time, tastes just as good, and holds up to freezing well!
- A lot of sauce! About 6 regular jars, choose your favorite brand. We typically like a marinara that is not too sweet. *you will need plenty of sauce because we are using "no boil" noodles that absorb a lot of liquid during cooking. *you can make your own sauce, but that is outside of my wheelhouse
- 2 jars of Vodka Sauce
- About 1-2 cups of chicken bone broth
- 4lbs Ground Beef or Sirloin
- 1 Large Onion (or 2 small/medium)
- 2 Large Green peppers (or 3 small/medium)
- 1 Pint of Ricotta Cheese (16 oz container)
- 1 Pint of Cottage Cheese (16 oz container)
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Large bag of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 2 Packages of Sliced Provolone Cheese (about 24 slices needed)
- Italian Seasoning
- Salt and Pepper
Preperation:
Meat: Chop the peppers & onion. Split the chopped peppers and onions in half and cook with half of the meat (2lbs) using your GEO ground meat cooking tool. Add some salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning while you cook. Because you are cooking a lot of meat with peppers and onions, there will be a lot of moisture, so cook thoroughly until moisture boils out and meat is cooke through. Do not drain. Set aside and repeat with the other half of your peppers, onion and meat. Combine both sets of meat and mix together.
Sauce: Mix all sauces together, including the vodka sauce, in a very large pot or bowl. Add the bone broth to the empty jars to collect the remaining sauce and add to the pot. You will need to use the sauce liberally as it gets absorbed by the noodles so it is always best to have extra sauce. You do not need to heat the sauce.
Cheese Mix: Mix Ricotta, Cottage Cheese, and eggs in a large bowl.
Assembly:
- Sauce on bottom
- 4 Noodles (will slightly overlap)
- Cheese Mix
- Meat
- Sauce
- Sauce on bottom
- 4 Noodles
- Sauce
- Meat
- Mozzarella
- 4 Noodles
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
- 4 Noodles
- Cheese Mix
- Meat
- Sauce
- 4 Noodles
- Sauce
- 8 Slices of Provolone
Cover with Aluminum Foil. Your Lasagna could be taller than the pan so use toothpicks to tent the foil so it does not stick to provolone while cooking.
Cooking:
- 1 Qty, Fresh: Bake 325 for about 1.5 hours
- 2 Qty, Fresh: Bake 325 for about 2.5 hours
- 1 Qty, Frozen: Bake 325 for about 3 hours
- 2 Qty, Frozen: Bake 325 for about 4 hours
Remove foil and continue baking for 15 minutes or until cheese has started to brown slightly. Remove from the oven and let sit for at least 20 minutes. Resting your lasagna is very important. Your lasgana will be too soupy and could fall apart if you cut into it too soon after removing from the oven.
Enjoy!