Okay, now that it’s been established that I’m not in serious trouble for posting my slightly-nicer-than-average, Harry Potter-spoiling brother-in-law’s authentic lasagna recipe, I can go easy on the sucking up. I have made a few changes out of sheer convenience and I’m hoping if he can forgive his own wife for leaving out the Béchamel sauce altogether, he can forgive me for mixing stuff together. It’s all going to the same place, right? RIGHT?
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
8 oz. shredded mozzarella, divided
4 oz. shredded fresh Parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 16-oz. tub Ricotta
Béchamel Sauce1/4 c. (1/2 stick) real butter, NO SUBSTITUTES
1/4. c. white flour
2 1/2 c. milk
Preheat oven to 350.
To prepare Béchamel sauce, melt butter over medium-low heat in a medium saucepan. When melted, whisk in flour until combined. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly. Heat until bubbly and thickened to a medium consistency that that looks like this on a spoon:
Now…this is where I start tinkering with his recipe. And it was ONLY tinkering out of an attempt to make things easier and less messy, not that I thought I could make things better. Traditionally, when you make a lasagna with Béchamel sauce, you have a layer of red sauce and then a layer of Béchamel on top. But for me, I could never get the proportions of red sauce to white sauce right. So one day, I just mixed the two. Maybe I’m a blasphemer, but I do it all for the sake of lasagna-eaters everywhere who want to eat it more than once every five years. So if you feel like taking a walk on the wild side, mix the Béchamel in with the red sauce. What are you, chicken? Come on, you know you want to…
After you’ve made (and mixed) the Béchamel, combine 6 oz. mozzarella (about 1 3/4 c.), ricotta, Parmesan, and the beaten egg. At this point, I like to set up a little lasagna-making station:
Using a ladle that measures 1/2 c. (or a 1/2 c. measuring cup), spread 1 c. of sauce onto the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Add 3 noodles. Spread a layer of the cheese mixture. Spread 1 1/2 c. sauce and repeat so you have 4 layers of noodles. You should end with a layer of sauce on top. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella (and some extra Parmesan if you have some left over).
Cover tightly with foil and bake about 50 minutes.
Remove from oven and remove foil. It will probably look a little runny. Don’t be scared–you still need to let it stand about 15-20 minutes. During that time, it will thicken up nicely and it won’t even be that oozy when you cut it.
This serves 12. And wanna know what’s awesome? If you use super lean ground beef, it has around 250 calories and 5 Weight Watcher points! Seriously, the TASTIEST, most filling 5 points you’ll ever have in your life.
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12 no-boil lasagna noodles
8 oz. shredded mozzarella, divided
4 oz. shredded fresh Parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 16-oz. tub Ricotta
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) real butter, NO SUBSTITUTES
1/4. c. white flour
2 1/2 c. milk
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.
To prepare Béchamel sauce, melt butter over medium-low heat in a medium saucepan. When melted, whisk in flour until combined. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly. Heat until bubbly and thickened to a medium consistency that that looks like this on a spoon:
Now…this is where I start tinkering with his recipe. And it was ONLY tinkering out of an attempt to make things easier and less messy, not that I thought I could make things better. Traditionally, when you make a lasagna with Béchamel sauce, you have a layer of red sauce and then a layer of Béchamel on top. But for me, I could never get the proportions of red sauce to white sauce right. So one day, I just mixed the two. Maybe I’m a blasphemer, but I do it all for the sake of lasagna-eaters everywhere who want to eat it more than once every five years. So if you feel like taking a walk on the wild side, mix the Béchamel in with the red sauce. What are you, chicken? Come on, you know you want to…
After you’ve made (and mixed) the Béchamel, combine 6 oz. mozzarella (about 1 3/4 c.), ricotta, Parmesan, and the beaten egg. At this point, I like to set up a little lasagna-making station:
Using a ladle that measures 1/2 c. (or a 1/2 c. measuring cup), spread 1 c. of sauce onto the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Add 3 noodles. Spread a layer of the cheese mixture. Spread 1 1/2 c. sauce and repeat so you have 4 layers of noodles. You should end with a layer of sauce on top. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella (and some extra Parmesan if you have some left over).
Cover tightly with foil and bake about 50 minutes.
Remove from oven and remove foil. It will probably look a little runny. Don’t be scared–you still need to let it stand about 15-20 minutes. During that time, it will thicken up nicely and it won’t even be that oozy when you cut it.
This serves 12. And wanna know what’s awesome? If you use super lean ground beef, it has around 250 calories and 5 Weight Watcher points! Seriously, the TASTIEST, most filling 5 points you’ll ever have in your life.
Questions & Reviews
Holy Cow!!! This is the BEST lasagna ever! YUM!
Just made this and it was fantastic. Even with the old points though, and assuming you only use 80% of the sauce or so, it’s still more like 7 points than 5 for a 1/12 serving. Totally worth it!
I’ve been wanting to try a new lasagna recipe. This one was creamy and delicious.
Followed the tips from other comments and made sure the Bechemel sauce was cooked until thick enough before mixing into the red sauce. Didn’t seem like it would have much Italian flavor, I couldn’t help myself and I added 1 tsp. of Italian seasoning to the red sauce during the simmering part. Next time I may add some of my fresh basil to the ricotta cheese mixture. I put all the veggies in the food processor so my kids couldn’t detect them. I liked knowing there were some extra nutrients in there. I let it sit 20 minutes before cutting and serving and it sliced perfectly! I will make this again.
I love love love the pasta sauce for this lasagna, and I always make a double batch, but it is then difficult to determine how much of it to use for the lasagna. Ideas? About how much of the red sauce should I mix with the bechamel to make the lasagna?
I have been looking for a good lasagna recipe that my family will eat and decided to try this one. It was a hit with my husband and all five of my children. They all told me they LOVED it, so I will be keeping this recipe. It does take a little bit of time to make, but is not hard at all. I did not have the NO BOIL lasagna noodles, so just used regular noodles and it worked perfect since my sauce had plenty of liquid to cook the noodles during bake time. Also, I substituted cottage cheese for the ricotta and it tasted great. Thanks again for the great recipe!
I made this last week. It was amazing! I added a little bit of red pepper flakes (about 1/4 tsp), per another reviewer’s suggestion, and it added a tiny bit extra spice that I love. I split it into 2 8×8 glass pans. I used Barilla’s no-boil noodles and I only had room for 2 noodles per layer. I did 3 layers in each pan. It worked out perfectly! It didn’t boil over and make a mess, like other reviewers mentioned. My husband and 2 year old loved this as well! We are baking the frozen one for dinner tonight. I put the frozen lasagna into a cold oven and preheated it to 350. I will report back regarding how long it took to cook. Thanks again for a FAB recipe!!!!
I made this, and it was very good! Making it for dinner guests this weekend!
I loved this! So delicious and different than the usual lasagna. And my picky 4 and 6 (and 2 year old) gobbled this up!! It was a bit of work, but worth it! Thanks~
I made this last week for company. I am SO happy about all the secret veggies you can get into the kids with this!! I grated the zucchini just to make it even less noticeable. Great suggestion!! The leftovers were even better than the first night!! This is def a lasagna worth the time and effort!!!!
I LOVE this recipe. Yum. Just FYI- I calculated the Weight Watchers Points Plus Value as 8 ppv/serving. I think the points went up on the new program! A bit of a bummer, but still TOTALLY worth the 8 points.
I’ve seen a couple people comment that they split this recipe between 2 8×8 pans (for freezing). I want to do the same and have a silly question . . . Do you just break the no-boil noodles in half? Or are they short enough that you can still use them unbroken in an 8×8 pan?
Thanks!
Ok, So I LOVE this recipe. It’s our go-to when we make lasagna, BUT I have a huge problem. . . Mine never thickens up. My entire family still loves the flavor, so it hasn’t stopped us from making it, but what am I doing wrong? We’ve followed the recipe exactly at least a dozen times. I even cut back on the amount of sauce I used, and the lasagna came out a little dry… Help please!
Try cooking the Bechamel sauce a little longer so it thickens up more–that’s the key to getting the lasagna to thicken up!:)
Thanks so much! Tried it again, and it worked…. silly me.