I've never been a huge fan of making lasagna. Yes, I just wrote that in the opening of a post about making lasagna. Oh boy. Those giant noodles?!?. They can be impossible to manage. They break or fall apart and don't get me started when they stick together in a globby mess you can't separate. And the ones you assemble raw? I don't understand them. Also, for some reason, I don't enjoy them the way I enjoy a thin spaghetti, vermicelli or angel hair. So forget about big-noodle lasagna. Let's make the ultimate spaghetti lasagna instead.
Spaghetti lasagna feeds a crowd and also freezes well for later!
This ultimate spaghetti lasagna is perfect to feed a crowd. Sunday night dinner? No problem. Even if you're only making this dish for four people, it's perfect. Why? Because you will have lots of leftovers for lunch. I often cook with leftovers in mind. Eating out lunch is extremely expensive these days, so why not make a little more than you need?
Another thing I do is I try to make food that freezes well. I can't always do this, but with this spaghetti lasagna it works out great. After the lasagna has been in the refrigerator overnight, simply cut it into squares, wrap in plastic and stick it in the freezer for another night.
Big batch spaghetti sauce to the rescue!
As you may remember, I made my Mom's Big Batch Spaghetti Sauce a while back. I know, I know - your life is busy and you might not always have the time to make a batch of spaghetti sauce. OR - you have already made my mom's awesome sauce and all you have to do is take a couple of frozen containers out of your freezer and you're good to go.
Of course, I do prefer using my homemade sauce for this, but you can also use your favorite jarred sauce as well. Since I posted my mom's spaghetti sauce recipe last year, I've been trying to include recipes on my site that use this sauce. Like my Outrageous Chicken Parmesan, Eggplant Towers w/Cheesy Ricotta Blend and my Stuffed Chicken Pepperoni Pizza Bake. If you've made this sauce and needed some ideas - these are a great jumping off point.
This is a fantastic meal to make for family and friends. Everyone will love you for preparing this for the next special gathering or Sunday night dinner. The tradition of sharing meals and conversation is so important in life. It's a time to slow down for a minute, eat delicious homemade food, and talk to each other about how life is going. Let's try to make time for that. I know, for me, I always feel better when I do.
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The Ultimate Spaghetti Lasagna
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 portions 1x
Description
Cheese lovers will delight in this ultimate spaghetti lasagna recipe. Everyone will love you for making this. Freezes well for leftovers too.
Ingredients
- Olive oil as needed
- 1-1.38 pounds of ground sweet Italian sausage (see note #1)
- 5 cups of homemade spaghetti sauce (or your favorite jarred sauce)
- 1 cup fresh shredded parmesan (for topping)
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese (for topping)
- ¾ pound box of spaghetti (see note#2)
- Salt as needed
- Cooking spray
The ricotta cheese mixture
- 1 large garlic clove, finely diced
- ½ cup finely diced onion (any kind)
- 2 ½ cups whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley (plus more for garnish)
- 1 tablespoon fine chopped basil (plus more for garnish)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Finely dice the large clove of garlic.
- Finely dice the onion.
- Put onion in pan with about a teaspoon of olive oil on medium heat and stir a few minutes until onions are soft. Add a splash more olive oil and the diced garlic. Let it get fragrant for a minute, then mix together with the onions and cook for one more minute. Set aside.
- In another pan, on medium heat, add a teaspoon or so of olive oil and add the package of ground Italian sausage. You will need to chop this down into smaller bits as it cooks. I used two wooden spatulas to break down the pork and it worked well. Sausage should be cooked in about 10 minutes.
- On the back burner, you should start heating your spaghetti sauce which you will add the sausage to.
- On the other back burner, a pot of water to boil your spaghetti on medium heat. You should add a teaspoon and a half of salt to that water. Plan your time and cook the pasta to al dente then set aside. You should cook the pasta for two minutes less than the instructions since this will cook additionally in the oven. Once finished, I strained the pasta in a colander then drizzled with a little olive oil and tossed so it wouldn’t all get stuck together.
- Once the sausage is cooked, add that to the spaghetti sauce pot and cook on low-to-medium heat for about 15 minutes.
- Finely chop the parsley.
- Finely chop the basil. I usually stack my basil leaves on top of each other, roll them up, slice them, and then dice down into smaller bits.
- The ricotta mixture: Add the ricotta cheese to a large mixing bowl. Then add the salt, parsley, basil, eggs, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and the garlic and onion mixture. Mix all together until well blended. **Remove 1 ½ cups of the ricotta mix and set aside.**
- Add 2 cups of the homemade spaghetti sauce or your jarred option and sausage to the ricotta mixture and stir together until well combined.
- Add the pasta to the bowl and mix with the sauce and cheese mixture until all the pasta is generously coated. (my video shows all of this well)
- Lightly coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Transfer all the pasta to the baking dish and smooth out so it’s distributed evenly.
- Spread the reserved ricotta mixture on top of the spaghetti. I found it’s easier to get a warm cup of water and dip my spatula in the water to help smooth the ricotta out.
- Once the ricotta is spread out evenly over the pasta, pour 2 cups of the sauce and sausage mixture over the ricotta and spread it out evenly.
- Top with the remaining fresh shredded parmesan, plus 2 cups of mozzarella.
- Cook in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, uncovered. You do not need to cover this.
- Once it’s out of the oven, let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting into it. Serve any remaining sauce on the side if people want to add more sauce. If you think you'll need more additional sauce for servicing, feel free to heat it.
Notes
- A lot of times the grocery store will sell ground sweet Italian sausage in 1-pound packages. The day I shopped for this they didn’t have that so I bought a package that was 1.38 pounds. If you can only get a 1-pound package that’s fine too.
- I found that with all the other ingredients, one pound (1 box) of spaghetti is too much and ½ of a box is too little. So I used ¾ of the box and it worked out perfect and was the right balance with the other ingredients. I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world if you added the whole box. You just might need a little more sauce.
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