One of my favorite things in the world to do is make my totally from scratch lasagna. I mean like SUPER from scratch: homemade pasta, homemade sauce – we even home make the ricotta (actually super easy). I make it when there’s a really special occasion or when I’m feeling like spending an afternoon in the kitchen cooking something super labor intensive, because that can be calming and therapeutic for me if I’m in the mood.
And that lasagna, people – it’s so good it’s just wrong. BUT – it takes forever to make and has approximately ten billion steps. There is totally a time and place for a lasagna like that, and there is a time and place for a lasagna like this 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼.
THIS lasagna is on the total opposite end of the spectrum on effort. You literally do NOTHING except for brown the sausage to prep for this recipe. It was a total Hail Mary experiment – “how will a lasagna taste if I use zero homemade ingredients and make it as easy and shortcut-packed as humanly possible?” And guess what? It’s still freaking good. It still has the taste and feel of lasagna with a tiny, tiiiinnnyyy minuscule fraction of the effort. You guys need to get in on this action.
Let’s talk about alllllll the short cuts we take here that cut down alllllll the time and effort:
- Jarred sauce. Since we aren’t doing anything to amp up the sauce, try and get a really yummy one. DeLallo brand has really good sauces, and we also really like Newman’s Own (which is what we used here). Newman’s own doesn’t have any added sugar or other unnecessary extras, so we like that.
- Cottage cheese. No adding egg, herbs, etc to a bowl of ricotta. Just scoop the cottage cheese straight from the carton into the lasagna. We like to use cottage cheese because neither Seth or I are huge fans of ricotta – we don’t love the flavor or texture, so we like to use cottage cheese because it still brings that creaminess without adding the ricotta-ness. (P.S. It’s also healthier for you.)
- Italian cheese blend. Now we are getting really lazy. No grating your cheese – you don’t even have to buy separate bags and mix your cheese. You just open the bag of Italian blend, which has a bunch of different yummy cheeses, and go to town.
- NO BOIL NOODLES. Y’all. I wasn’t a believer. I have never used these before while making lasagna, and I was soooooo, SO skeptical about how they would turn out. But – we loved them! Especially if you are wanting to try this recipe for the simplicity and convenience – this is your ticket. The amount of time you save by not having to worry about bringing a big pot of water to a boil and cooking the noodles?? YESSS. Just open the package and layer them in – it’s magical.
So here’s what you’re left with: you have to brown your sausage. That’s literally it. Other than that, you are all ready to go. Set everything out and get layering….
