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| Holiday Lasagna |
Lasagna is a classic holiday-time meal. Also great to serve at a holiday buffet party.
Holiday Lasagna was a traditional Christmas Eve dinner when I was growing up.
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| Holiday Lasagna is loaded with cheese, meat and sausage |
My mother always made turkey for Christmas Dinner and used to serve lasagna the night before because it was so radically different from turkey!
This classic casserole is also a buffet party favorite. Slice it up in serving portions, and let guests help themselves.
I tend to buy the solid lump of mozzarella and cut it up in chunks or thick slices. This melts EVER so much better than pre-shredded. Slicing it is also easier than shredding the lump, but if you don’t mind, then by all means!!! I try to save time and it’s so wonderful to get a nice melted lump of mozzarella….well, you know what I mean 🙂
And this one is loaded with meat–ground beef and sliced sweet Italian sausage! You can always use ground Italian sausage meat if your store carries it. Hot or sweet doesn’t matter…use what you like! This is a “man-pleasing” meal because of the good amount of meat and the combination of meat. Oh, and don’t forget the copious amount of cheese too!
Ground pork, chicken or turkey can easily substitute for the beef and you can certainly leave out the sausage or ALL the meat for that matter and go strictly vegetarian on this. If you do, try adding some spinach or broccoli to keep it interesting.
Like the baker? It’s Revol Belle Cuisine in Slate. My go-to pan!
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| You just can’t get too close to a great lasagna! |
Holiday Lasagna
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna noodles no-boil (oven-ready) noodles*
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 tbsp parsley
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
- 16 oz mozzarella cheese slices or 4 cups shredded
- 8 oz Italian sausage
- 8 oz lean ground beef
- 26 oz pasta sauce
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. You will need a deep 11 x 7-inch or 13 x 9-inch pan.
- In a large skillet, brown ground beef, breaking up large clumps. Drain and set aside.
- Place Italian sausage in a saucepan with 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Drain and cool slightly. Slice in 1/8-1/4-inch slices. Set aside.
- Mix ricotta, parsley, oregano and parmesan cheese in a small bowl.
- Mix pasta sauce, water and ground beef in a large bowl.
- Place 1 1/2 cups of sauce mixture on the bottom of the pan. Lay 3 lasagna noodles across the bottom.
- Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over noodles. Spread 1/3 of the mozzarella slices or shredded mozzarella over the ricotta mixture. Distribute 1/3 of the sausage slices over the top of the cheeses. Drizzle with 1/3 of the sauce mixture. Repeat 2 more times. Top with the last 3 lasagna noodles, spreading remaining sauce over the noodles. Sprinkle with additional shredded mozzarella if desired.
- Cover with greased aluminum foil and place the baking dish on a baking tray and bake at 375 degrees for 55-60 minutes.
- Remove foil and test noodle doneness with a knife. If noodles are soft, replace the foil cover and let stand for 10 minutes. If noodles are still "al dente" then return to oven for an additional 10 minutes.
- Makes 9 servings.
Notes
Nutrition
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| A great lasagna should never be “neat.” ENJOY! |
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James Hodges says
Good
Teresa Steward says
Just question. If cook noodles leave out water in sauce and lower oven temp is this right and if using uncooked noodles add the water to the sauce and hotter oven or do I have it wrong? Can’t wait to try this
Judith Hanneman says
If you cook the noodles, you can eliminate the extra water. You can keep the temp the same though. It’s just cooked longer with uncooked noodles. You’ll really like this lasagna!! Happy Holidays!
Chrys says
Hi, I have a weird question. Do I cook the ground beef before mixing it with the pasta sauce and water or keep it raw and it’ll bake/cook from the oven?
Judith Hanneman says
Cook it first then mix the sauce in the same pan–more taste!
Ellen says
I made this for Christmas Eve. Everyone loved it !! I did use 1.5 lbs of ground beef though instead of 8 oz and I used 3 links of mild Italian sausage and sliced them. I had never used fresh mozzarella and it was so much better than sliced. I used the biggest jar of Pre go I could find. This will now be my to go lasagna recipe.
Judith Hanneman says
So glad you liked it–and you can never have too much meat in this!