There is nothing better than a big pot of sauce cooking on the stove. I never make just enough for one dinner. I need to have extra sauce to use for other meals during the week but I love to have some in the freezer too. Just in case. So when I knew I wanted to make homemade lasagna, I made a huge pot of sauce the night before.
As you can surely tell from this picture… we woke up like this lol! Pajamas, crazy hair, and ready to cook! You most definitely do not need to make your own noodles from scratch to make a delicious homemade lasagna. We just happened to have the time on this morning. It was a fun project to do with my daughter because cooking together is one of our favorite things. Especially when we get to use the pasta attachment!! So if you want to save yourself some time, and mess :), don’t worry about grabbing a box.
I am known for not measuring or writing down my new recipes and often don’t make things the same way I do it the first time. So, I don’t have the exact recipe for the homemade pasta. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be sharing the homemade lasagna noodles because I have never done it before and wasn’t sure how it was going to come out. Next time I will write down the precise amounts I used.
For the noodles made from scratch…
This time I started with a few cups of flour and made a well with 3 eggs in the center. I combined the eggs and flour by slowly working them into the flour using my stand mixer. Then, added some olive oil. Wait until it comes the dough together and add flour slowly if it is still wet. If you add too much flour, just add a little bit of water and it will come back. Which I did have to do this time and the dough still came out great.
Then, I was planning to let it rest. But my daughter could not wait very long so most of the pasta dough only rested a few minutes. Which again is why I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out and if I was going to share. Roll out the dough and then run it through the machine a few times. I like to make them nice and thin but careful not too thin or they will fall apart when boiling. So happy that the noodles from scratch turned out great and were easy to work with!
Tip: If you do make the homemade pasta noodles, precook them before building your lasagna, but only for 2 to 3 minutes!!!
The Best Homemade Lasagna
What you need:
Lasagna noodles
Sauce
Ricotta cheese (32 ounce container but I used about half of it)
Mozzarella Cheese (16 ounces)
Sausage
(olive oil, salt and pepper)
Parmesan Cheese (optional to top with)
What to do:
- Make the noodles. Precook.
- Chop or shred the mozzarella.
- Optional: add a little olive oil, salt and pepper to season the ricotta.
- First, make a base layer or coat the bottom of the pan using either sauce or olive oil. This time I did sauce.
- Build a layer of noodles on top of that. Make sure to fill the whole space and don’t leave any gaps.
6. Now we are ready to fill the first layer. Add a little bit of sauce, half of the ricotta in dollops, and sprinkle half of the mozzarella and half of the sausage or whatever meat you are using.
7. Cover this layer with more lasagna noodles like you did the first layer.
8. Repeat and add all the fillings. As you can tell my second layer was a bit more aggressive than my first. Originally, I thought I was going to make it three layers but only ended up doing two. Don’t worry about the fillings or the layers being even it will all come together!
9. Cover with last layer of noodles.
10. Add sauce on top. Spread evenly.
11. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
12. Let bake without foil for about 10 minutes. I love the crispy top layer.
13. Top with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!
Another reason why I love making lasagna is because it’s open for interpretation. I personally don’t like lasagna made with the ground beef. I like using sausage because I don’t like the meat in every single bite. It’s like a tasty surprise, great to get a piece but I love the bites with just cheese!
Also, you can skip the sauce and make a “white pizza” lasagna and throw in some spinach instead of sausage. Which is delicious and healthier than the meat 🙂
Need something light and sweet to follow up this meal, try my https://talesofatiredmom.com/2019/04/07/black-bean-brownies/
