Best Cheaters Lasagna With Italian Sausage Recipes

ITALIAN SAUSAGE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Crumble sausage into a small skillet. Add onion and garlic; cook over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Combine the egg, ricotta and parsley., Spread 1/4 cup sauce in an 8x4-in. loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Trim noodles to fit dish. Layer a third of the noodle pieces over sauce; top with a third of the remaining sauce, a third of the ricotta mixture and 3 tablespoons mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers twice., Cover; bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until browned. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

CLASSIC LASAGNA

Steps:

• Make the sauce: Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add sausage, if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's starting to brown but not yet crisp, about 5 minutes.
• Add onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is totally softened and translucent (without letting it brown), 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring until the tomato paste has turned a deeper brick red color, tinting the oil and onions a fiery orange color, about 2 minutes.
• Using your hands, crush the whole tomatoes into smaller, bite-size pieces and add them and the crushed tomatoes, stirring to scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Fill one of the tomato cans halfway with water and add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato sauce has thickened and flavors have come together, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Make the lasagna: Heat oven to 375 degrees and set a large pot of salted water to boil.
• Set aside 1 cup mozzarella. In a medium bowl, combine remaining mozzarella, ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan and cream; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Cook lasagna noodles in the large pot of salted boiling water until just softened (before they are even aldente), about 4 minutes. Drain and separate any noodles that are trying to stick together, slicking them with a bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking further.
• Spoon a bit of sauce on the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish and top with a layer of noodles, avoiding any heavy overlap.
• Top with about 1 ¼ cups of sauce, and dollop ¼ of the cheese mixture over. Top with another layer of noodles and repeat three more times, ending with the last of the noodles (depending on size of the noodle/shape of the baking dish, you may have a few extra noodles) and the last of the sauce. Top with reserved 1 cup mozzarella and more Parmesan, if you like.
• Cover loosely with aluminum foil and place baking dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (to prevent any overflow from burning on the bottom of your oven).
• Bake until pasta is completely tender and cooked through and sauce is bubbling up around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and increase temperature to 450 degrees. Continue to bake until lasagna is golden brown on top with frilly, crispy edges and corners, another 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating.

THREE-CHEESE LASAGNA WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• FOR SAUCE:
• Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic; sauté until softened, about 12 minutes. Add beef and sausages to pan; sauté until cooked through, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer until flavors blend and sauce measures about 5 cups, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Cool.
• FOR LASAGNA:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Drain; cover with cold water.
• Combine ricotta and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese in medium bowl. Mix in spinach. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in eggs.
• Drain pasta and pat dry. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over bottom of 13x9-inch glass baking dish. Place 5 noodles over sauce, overlapping to fit. Spread half of ricotta-spinach mixture evenly over noodles. Sprinkle 2 cups mozzarella cheese evenly over ricotta-spinach mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups sauce over cheese, spreading with spatula to cover (sauce will be thick). Repeat layering with 5 noodles, remaining ricotta-spinach mixture, 2 cups mozzarella and 1 1/2 cups sauce. Arrange remaining 5 noodles over sauce. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese evenly over lasagna. (Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.) Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake lasagna 40 minutes; uncover and bake until hot and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Let lasagna stand 15 minutes before serving.

EASY ITALIAN SAUSAGE LASAGNA

Steps:

• In a skillet, crumble and cook sausage over medium heat until brown. Remove from heat and stir in pasta sauce and tomato sauce. In small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and Italian seasoning. Preheat oven to 375F. Spread 1 cup sauce into bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Top with 3 noodles. Cover noodles with 1/3 of ricotta cheese mixture, 1 cup of mozzarella and 1 cup sauce. Repeat layers two more times. Add last 3 noodles. Top lasagna with remaining sauce and with remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan over mozzarella. Cover and bake 45 to 50 minutes or until noodles are tender. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes to melt cheese.

HEARTY SAUSAGE AND CHEESE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage over medium heat 6-8 minutes or until no longer pink, breaking into crumbles. Remove with a slotted spoon. Discard drippings in pan., Add onions to same pan; cook and stir over medium heat until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, celery, parsley, bay leaf, brown sugar, oregano, salt and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf., Remove 1 cup sauce from pan. Stir cooked sausage into remaining sauce. Spread reserved sauce into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Layer with three noodles and half of each of the following: sausage mixture, ricotta, mozzarella and provolone. Repeat layers (dish will be full)., Bake, covered, 55-65 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.