30 Lasagna Recipes For Cold-Weather Comfort (2024)

FAQs

How long to cook lasagna if cold? ›

Recipe tips and variations

Freezer: Wrap the unbaked lasagna tightly in plastic wrap and freeze it for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bake as directed (preheat oven to 375 degrees, bake 25 minutes with foil, 25 minutes without foil).

In an oven preheated to 375 degrees F, this homemade lasagna should be perfectly baked in about 50 minutes (30-40 minutes covered, 5-10 minutes uncovered).

But it has other perks, too: namely, that you can prepare the whole thing in advance, and store it in the fridge overnight—ready to pop in the oven an hour or so before dinner (just before the kids start to whine). Serve it for dinner that night, and reheat leftovers all week.

Sauce Béchamel

Produced by combining a white roux of butter and flour with heated milk, it is commonly served with meats, and used as a foundation in many gravies and soups, as well as popular dishes ranging from lasagna, other pastas and pizzas to comfort foods like scalloped potatoes and casseroles.

While the two sauces share many ingredients, the main difference is in the consistency and depth of flavor. Marinara is brighter, thinner, and more tomato forward than tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is thicker, creamier, and bears some similarity with gravy, hence why some Italians call it “Sunday gravy”.

Generally, lasagna has about 3 or 4 layers of pasta, with sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, béchamel, and sometimes meat or even meatballs or sausage between those layers. Our many layer lasagna has around 12 layers of pasta, or even more depending on how thin you end up rolling the dough.

For 50 servings, use 2 pans. For 100 servings, use 4 pans.

Lasagna is a labor of love. Whether you prepare all of the components from scratch or save time with jarred sauce and no-bake noodles, it requires a bit more effort to make than most pasta dishes—which is why it's always a good idea to make it in advance if you can.

Lasagna should be cooked for at least 45 minutes in a hot oven at 350°F, though it really depends on the number of layers. To prevent an overcooked surface and an undercooked center, cover with aluminum foil halfway through the cooking process.

If uncovered, the prolonged exposure to heat will quickly dry out your lasagna, no matter how much sauce you've added. Make sure to always add a layer of tin foil over your baking dish, which will trap the moisture inside while still allowing the dish to cook properly.

How long to let lasagna rest before cutting? ›

When the cheese and sauce are at high temperatures, they're likely to escape from the noodles once the lasagna is cut. Ensure the lasagna cools at least 15 minutes before cutting if you want nice slices that maintain their shape.

Have you noticed if you cut your lasagne as soon as it comes out of the oven, it can be sloppy, falls apart easily and the sauce runs to the bottom of the dish? When you have it the next day, the sauce has had time to firm up and create an even richer tomato taste,” she says.

A: If you assemble and bake the lasagna ahead of time, you shouldn't keep it longer than three days in the refrigerator. If you need to keep it longer, it would be better to freeze it and reheat it. If you just need to make it a day ahead, you could refrigerate it before baking it.

White sauce – also known as béchamel – is made with flour, milk, and butter. It's a basic sauce that can be used as a base for other sauces or as a topping for dishes like lasagna. Alfredo sauce, on the other hand, is made with butter, cream, and Parmesan cheese, and has a much richer flavour than white sauce.

The sauce is just the base and you can use almost any sauce in your pasta and lasagna is just another form of pasta.

Don't start layering noodles until you have some sauce underneath, whether it's meat sauce or marinara. The sauce acts like a barrier between the noodles and the pan, so that the noodles don't stick to the bottom of the pan as they bake.

In most cases, Ragú had the winning flavor and texture, while Prego's Chunky Garden Combo was the only one that truly impressed me.