Do You Need Ricotta Cheese to Make Lasagna
Easy homemade lasagna with ricotta is one of those classic comfort foods. I've used this recipe for years, only I usually make with it with cottage cheese, instead of ricotta. My husband has been requesting that I substitute the cottage cheese for the ricotta, for quite some time. Well, I finally relented and guess what?…He was right!
While I still love lasagna made with the cottage cheese, I have to say this was as good, if not better, with the ricotta. The consistency was definitely better, as the ricotta holds it together perfectly.
I'll have to give him this one. He was right. This recipe is winner and would make a great meal for any holiday or special occasion. Of course, it's great any other time of the year as well.
easy homemade lasagna with ricotta
As you can see, there's not too terribly many ingredients. I forgot to add the ground beef in the above pic.
In a large skillet or pot, crumble and cook the meat and onion until it's no longer pink. Drain, then add the 24 oz can of pasta sauce, tomato sauce and water.
In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, egg and Italian seasoning together until blended.
Put a cup of sauce on the bottom of the casserole, then layer 4 noodles, 1/3 of the cheese mixture and sauce, then repeat two more times. End with sauce and the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan. Go ahead and add extra cheese if you prefer. I always do. :)))
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Take out of the oven and let stand for about 5-10 minutes.
I served it with the Simple Avocado Tomato Salad and garlic toast and it was awesome! This lasagna also freezes well.
I hope you enjoy it and if you make it, I'd love to hear from you. Let me know how it turned out in the comments, below!
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Easy Homemade Lasagna with Ricotta
Recipe type:Main
Cuisine:Italian
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves:10-12
- 1 lb ground chuck/beef
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 24 oz jar pasta sauce (I used Del Monte chunky)
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 15 oz container of Ricotta cheese
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese (divided in half)
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 cup water
- 12 lasagna noodles ( I used oven ready. No boiling required)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Scramble the ground chuck/beef with the chopped onion until browned. Add some salt, pepper and garlic powder, if desired. Drain grease off, if needed.
- Add pasta sauce, tomato sauce, a cup of water and stir.
- Mix ricotta, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup of parmesan, the beaten egg and Italian seasoning until blended.
- Take a cup of the sauce and spread it on the bottom of a 13x9 casserole pan. Lay down the 3 lasagna noodles and add a fourth, at the bottom of the pan (if needed.). You may have to break a small portion off to get it to fit.
- Take ⅓ of the cheese mixture and spread it over the noodles.
- Repeat layers of sauce, noodles, the cheese mixture 2 more times, ending with the sauce.
- Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
- Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray and cover and bake for 45 minutes.
- Let stand about 10 minutes before serving.
3.5.3228
Do You Need Ricotta Cheese to Make Lasagna
Source: https://www.lovetofrugal.com/easy-homemade-lasagna-with-ricotta/