Our family never puts ricotta cheese in lasagna! Here’s my family’s favorite lasagna recipe — with NO Ricotta or Cottage cheese!
This is our favorite way to make lasagna — it’s WITHOUT ricotta cheese!
Making lasagna this way allows us to make lasagna with only pantry staples — no special trips to the grocery store!
Plus, we think it tastes WAY better this way!
Here’s my recipe for making lasagna with a bechamel sauce! (instead of ricotta cheese!)
Lasagna (NO ricotta cheese!)
Ingredients
- 1 box of lasagna noodles (or make a batch of homemade!)
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 tsp olive oil to cook ground beef
- 2 15oz cans of tomato sauce
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 TBSP flour
- 2 TBSP onion powder
- 2 TBSP sugar
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups of milk
Instructions
- Cook your lasagna noodles. Keep them in a shallow bowl with cold water until ready to use.
- On medium heat, cook your ground beef in 1 tsp of olive oil and 2 tsp of Italian seasoning until fully cooked.
- Add your 2 cans of tomato sauce to your ground beef and mix together. Remove from heat, and set aside. This is your red sauce.
- Next, make your white sauce. In a medium sized saucepan on medium low heat, melt together your butter, flour, sugar, salt, pepper, basil, and onion powder. Continue to cook for another minute.
- Turn the heat to low, and add 2 cups of milk to your butter, flour and seasoning mixture. Whisk together, then turn to medium heat and continue to whisk until mixture has thickened.
- Assemble your lasagna in a 9 x 13 oven safe baking dish, starting with a layer of noodles, then a layer of red sauce, then a layer of noodles, and then a layer of white sauce. Your final layer (top) layer should be white sauce.
- Bake your lasagna in a 350 degree farenheit oven for 35 minutes.
What do I use instead of ricotta cheese?
This lasagna recipe uses a white sauce (called a bechamel sauce) instead of ricotta cheese!
Actually — this recipe is more authentic than ricotta cheese lasagnas! Italians mostly use a bechamel sauce for their lasagnas, NOT ricotta cheese!
My family loves this version of lasagna so much that they don’t really care for ricotta cheese lasagnas anymore!
What is the white sauce made out of?
The white sauce is made out of butter, milk, flour, a small amount of sugar, and spices!
Chances are, you’ll have all these ingredients on hand already!
Is there any cheese used at all in this recipe?
Nope!
No cheese is used at all!
What size lasagna does this make?
This recipe is great for making a lasagna that fits into a 9 by 13 inch dish!
How long should I bake this lasagna?
This lasagna should be baked at 350 degrees farenheit for about 35 minutes.
List of Ingredients:
- 1 box of lasagna noodles (or make a batch of homemade!)
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 tsp olive oil to cook ground beef
- 2 15oz cans of tomato sauce
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 TBSP flour
- 2 TBSP onion powder
- 2 TBSP sugar
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups of milk
Instructions for making this lasagna:
- Cook your lasagna noodles. Keep them in a shallow bowl with cold water until ready to use.
- On medium heat, cook your ground beef in 1 tsp of olive oil and 2 tsp of Italian seasoning until fully cooked.
- Add your 2 cans of tomato sauce to your ground beef and mix together. Remove from heat, and set aside. This is your red sauce.
- Next, make your white sauce. In a medium sized saucepan on medium low heat, melt together your butter, flour, sugar, salt, pepper, basil, and onion powder. Continue to cook for another minute.
- Turn the heat to low, and add 2 cups of milk to your butter, flour and seasoning mixture. Whisk together, then turn to medium heat and continue to whisk until mixture has thickened.
- Assemble your lasagna in a 9 x 13 oven safe baking dish, starting with a layer of noodles, then a layer of red sauce, then a layer of noodles, and then a layer of white sauce. Your final layer (top) layer should be white sauce.
- Bake your lasagna in a 350 degree farenheit oven for 35 minutes.
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