Did you know that you can make lasagna without having to boil the noodles first? And I’m not talking about using no-boil lasagna noodles – I’m talking about using regular lasagna noodles. Read further to check out this hack!
The trick is to make sure that your noodles are always touching something wet (ie the marinara sauce, the ground beef mixture, etc) on both sides of the noodle. For example, most people layer lasagna with noodles first. But for this recipe, you’re going to start with a layer of marinara sauce in the baking dish first. This ensures that the lasagna noodle has plenty of moisture to soak up and cook through.
Another thing to note is that this recipe will do better with slightly runnier sauces (for the noodles to soak up), so feel free to add 1/4 water to your marinara sauce if it seems too thick.
Lasagna Recipe without Cooking Noodles (Using Regular Noodles)
Ingredients
- 14 oz ground beef
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 28 oz marinara sauce
- 12 oz cottage cheese
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 cups mozzarella, dry, grated
- ½ package lasagna noodles
- Butter, as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Heat extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and add chopped shallot. Cook until lightly golden.
- Add minced garlic and cook for an additional two minutes over medium heat.
- Add in ground beef and cook until browned.
- Stir in chopped parsley.
- Grease a rectangular baking dish with butter or olive oil spray.
- Coat the bottom of the baking dish with the marinara sauce.
- Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles, ground beef, cheese mixture, and marinara sauce.
- Repeat the layers two more times.
- Cover lasagna with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Serve sprinkled with more grated parmesan cheese and basil leaves.
- Serve with fresh seasonal salad.
Nutrition Estimate
If you like this post, then we definitely recommend checking out our Spaghetti Bake post.