Classic American Lasagna with Ricotta and Mozzarella
The lasagna most Americans grew up with: a quick beef, pork and veal tomato sauce, a basil-flecked ricotta layer and a blanket of melted mozzarella, built with no-boil noodles.
Italian-American lasagna takes its cue from the south of Italy: Wikipedia notes that Italian-American recipes show Neapolitan influence and often use ricotta in place of béchamel. Red Sauce America, citing Diane Ashley's 1939 New York restaurant guide, says Colucci's in New York served a baked lasagna with ricotta and a meaty tomato sauce in the 1930s, and that Mama Leone's in Times Square was known for a layered lasagna with ricotta and meatballs. The dish reached the frozen-food aisle through companies like Stouffer's, which says it began making frozen entrées in 1954; the year its lasagna launched is not documented in anything we found.
🇺🇸 This one is American
The lasagna most Americans grew up with: a quick beef, pork and veal tomato sauce, a basil-flecked ricotta layer and a blanket of melted mozzarella, built with no-boil noodles.
🇮🇹 The original
In Bologna, lasagne are thin green spinach pasta layered with a slow meat ragù, béchamel and Parmigiano. No ricotta and no mozzarella. See the Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Cream in the meat sauce
Simmering the meat in a little cream before the tomatoes keeps it tender and gives a quick sauce the body of a long one (ATK).
Egg in the ricotta
The egg sets the ricotta layer as it bakes so slices hold their shape instead of oozing (ATK).
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 375°F with a rack in the middle. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat 2 minutes, add the onion and cook 2 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more.
- Step 2
Turn the heat to medium-high, add the meat, salt and pepper and cook, breaking it up, about 4 minutes, until it loses its raw color. Add the cream and simmer about 4 minutes, until the liquid is gone. Add the tomato purée and drained diced tomatoes and simmer 3 minutes.
- Step 3
In a bowl, mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the Parmesan, basil, egg, salt and pepper with a fork until creamy.
- Step 4
Spread 1/4 of the sauce in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and lay 3 noodles on top. Spread with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella and spoon on 1/4 of the sauce. Repeat twice.
- Step 5
Top with the last 3 noodles, the rest of the sauce, the remaining 1 cup mozzarella and the last 1/4 cup Parmesan.
- Step 6
Cover with oil-sprayed foil and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and bake about 25 minutes more, until the cheese is spotty brown, the sauce bubbles and the center reads 165°F (which also takes the meat past 160°F).
- Step 7
Rest 15 minutes, then cut and serve.
Classic American Lasagna with Ricotta and Mozzarella
Serves 8 · one 9 by 13-inch lasagna · 1 hr 40 min total
Meat sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb meatloaf mix (1/3 lb each ground beef, ground pork and ground veal)
- 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 can (28 oz) tomato purée
- 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
Ricotta layer
- 15 oz whole-milk or part-skim ricotta
- 2 1/2 oz Parmesan, grated (1 1/4 cups), divided
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper
Assembly
- 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (one 8- or 9-oz box)
- 16 oz whole-milk mozzarella, shredded (4 cups)
Method
- Heat the oven to 375°F with a rack in the middle. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat 2 minutes, add the onion and cook 2 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more.
- Turn the heat to medium-high, add the meat, salt and pepper and cook, breaking it up, about 4 minutes, until it loses its raw color. Add the cream and simmer about 4 minutes, until the liquid is gone. Add the tomato purée and drained diced tomatoes and simmer 3 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the Parmesan, basil, egg, salt and pepper with a fork until creamy.
- Spread 1/4 of the sauce in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and lay 3 noodles on top. Spread with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella and spoon on 1/4 of the sauce. Repeat twice.
- Top with the last 3 noodles, the rest of the sauce, the remaining 1 cup mozzarella and the last 1/4 cup Parmesan.
- Cover with oil-sprayed foil and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and bake about 25 minutes more, until the cheese is spotty brown, the sauce bubbles and the center reads 165°F (which also takes the meat past 160°F).
- Rest 15 minutes, then cut and serve.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "Simple Lasagna with Hearty Tomato-Meat Sauce" (2007, serves 6 to 8). We keep ATK's ingredients and oven temperatures, add a 165°F center check, and extend the rest to 15 minutes. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- No-boil noodles soak up liquid, so use all of the sauce, and make sure the top noodles are fully covered.
- Assemble up to a day ahead, cover and refrigerate; add 10 to 15 minutes to the covered bake.
- Leftovers reheat best covered at 350°F until the center is 165°F.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Ricotta instead of béchamel. Documented as the Italian-American way (Wikipedia).
- Ricotta or cottage cheese. Disputed: most American recipes use ricotta, but America's Test Kitchen's 2007 Spinach Lasagna says "We preferred cottage cheese to ricotta", and a 1988 Galveston Daily News recipe reprinted by Red Sauce America mixed the two.
- No-boil vs boiled noodles. Disputed: ATK uses no-boil here for speed; its Lasagna di Carnevale says no-boil noodles "won't work" in that recipe.
- Stouffer's made lasagna a mainstream American food in the 1950s. Disputed / unverified: Red Sauce America says so without a source; Stouffer's own timeline dates its frozen entrées to 1954 but does not mention lasagna.
- Garfield made Americans love lasagna. Folklore: Garfield's first strip ran on June 19, 1978 (HowStuffWorks:), long after New York restaurants and frozen-food makers sold lasagna. No source we found measures any Garfield effect.
Every other lasagna
Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese
Thin sheets of green spinach pasta layered at least six times with slow-cooked ragù, a light béchamel, butter and plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano. No ricotta, no mozzarella.
Neapolitan Carnival Lasagna (Lasagna di Carnevale)
Curly dried lasagna layered with a long-simmered Neapolitan tomato ragù, tiny meatballs, sliced sausage, ricotta, fresh mozzarella, hard-boiled eggs and salami: the Carnival feast before Lent.
Vincisgrassi alla Maceratese
The Marche's protected baked pasta: seven or eight layers of Marsala-scented egg pasta with a ragù of chunked chicken, veal and pork plus chicken livers, a little béchamel and a crisp Parmigiano top.
White Chicken Lasagna (Alfredo-Style)
A tomato-free lasagna of tender poached chicken and golden mushrooms in a garlicky Parmesan white sauce, under a lid of melted mozzarella.
Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna
A meatless lasagna with a bright green spinach-ricotta filling, a fresh basil tomato sauce and plenty of mozzarella and Parmesan.
Lasagna Roll-Ups
Curly lasagna noodles spread with herby ricotta, rolled into spirals and baked in a beef, mushroom and pepper tomato sauce under melted mozzarella.
35-Minute One-Skillet Lasagna
Broken lasagna noodles simmered right in a meaty tomato sauce in one covered skillet, finished with Parmesan and creamy dollops of ricotta. No oven, no layering.
Restaurant-Style Lasagna Classico, Inspired by Olive Garden
Inspired by, not official: a big, saucy restaurant-style lasagna with a beef-and-Italian-sausage meat sauce and four cheeses: ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan and Pecorino Romano.
Meatballs of the World
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Chicken Tsukune
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