Lasagna (Adapted from World's Best Lasagna on Allrecipe's site)

5 from 8 votes

Lasagna (Adapted from World's Best Lasagna on Allrecipe's site)

If you're looking for an incredible lasagna recipe, look no further. It has layers of thick and rich meat sauce, lasagna noodles, homemade ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Are you convinced yet? If not, let me add that it's easy to make, produces awesome leftovers, and freezes beautifully!

Prep Time30

Cook Time5 50

Total Time6 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 524kcal

Ingredients

Meat Sauce

1 ¼ pounds (20 ounces) lean ground turkey (See Note 1)
1 pound (16 ounces) sweet Italian sausage (See Note 2)
1 large onion chopped (2 cups)
5 cloves garlic minced (1 Tablespoon)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably salt free
16 ounces (2-8 ounce cans) tomato sauce, preferably salt free
12 ounces (2-6 ounce cans) tomato paste, preferably salt free
½ cup red wine

Lasagna

16 ounces lasagna noodles cooked according to package directions
9 cups Meat Sauce
1 ½ cups (12 ounces) ricotta cheese (See Note 3)
1 large egg
1 ½ pounds (24 ounces) whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 ounces Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions

Meat Sauce

Brown turkey and Italian sausage in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Transfer to a colander; run under hot water to remove as much grease as possible. Allow to cool; rub meat between fingers to break up into small pieces. (See Notes 4 and 5)
Wipe Dutch oven with paper towel to remove any remaining grease. Add onions and garlic. Sauté over medium heat for about five minutes. Return meat to Dutch oven. Add Italian seasoning, basil, salt, pepper, and sugar. Stir well to combine. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste; stir well to combine. Add wine; stir well to combine. Bring to a boil; transfer to Crockpot. Cook on high setting for 5 hours. (See Notes 6 and 7)

Lasagna

Mix ricotta cheese with egg. Set aside.
First Layer: Spread ¾ cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of a 8 x 6-inch baking dish. Arrange two noodles cut to size lengthwise over the meat sauce. Top with 4 ounces of the shredded mozzarella cheese, and ⅔-ounce of the grated Parmesan cheese.
Second Layer: Spread ¾ cup of the meat sauce over the first layer. Arrange two noodles cut to size lengthwise over the meat sauce. Top with ½ cup of the ricotta cheese mixed with egg, and ⅔-ounce of the grated Parmesan cheese.
Third Layer: Spread ¾ cup of the meat sauce over the second layer. Arrange two noodles cut to size lengthwise over the meat sauce. Top with 4 ounces of the shredded mozzarella cheese, and ⅔-ounce of the grated Parmesan cheese.
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Cover lasagna with aluminum foil. Bake covered in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove aluminum foil. Bake uncovered 15 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly. Remove from oven; let rest 10 minutes before serving. Yield: 4 servings per 8 x 6-inch pan; 4 lasagnas total. (See Note 8)

Notes

Note 1: I use 93% or 97% ground turkey. You can use ground beef in place of the ground turkey. However, the reasons that I always use ground turkey are that (1) it's cheaper than ground beef; (2) it's more tender than ground beef; (3) the taste of the meat sauce comes from all of the other ingredients.
Note 2: If your Italian sausage comes in casings, remove the casings before cooking the sausage.
Note 3: If possible, use homemade ricotta cheese. It's so much better than store-bought ricotta cheese, and is easy to make.
Note 4: I always drain ground turkey (and ground beef for that matter) in a colander, and run it under hot water to remove as much grease as possible. The taste of the dishes comes from all of the other ingredients, and is not impacted by rinsing the cooked meat.
Note 5: As hard as I try, I can never break the meat up into small enough pieces while it is cooking. Therefore, after it has been rinsed and cooled, I rub the cooked meat between my hands to break it up into very small pieces. This allows the meat to cook more evenly and have a better texture in the finished dish.
Note 6: Even though I have an InstantPot, I never use it as a slow cooker. The reason is that it doesn't seem to get hot enough to work well as a slow cooker.
Note 7: Rather than using a Crockpot, you can cook the meat sauce on the stove or in the oven. If cooked on the stove, the meat sauce should be covered and cooked over medium low heat for 2 hours, adding more liquid if necessary. Alternatively, the meat sauce can be cooked, covered in the oven at 300° F for three hours.
Note 8: Assembly is based on 8 x 6-inch baking dish. If using 13 x 9-inch baking dish, double ingredients in the layers.
Note 9: The finished lasagnas freeze beautifully before they are baked. To cook the frozen lasagnas, increase the cooking time while covered with aluminum foil to 40 minutes, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Also, the leftovers are incredible.

Nutrition