Get the Recipe
- ▢ 1 pound ground turkey
- ▢ 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- ▢ 1 jar tomato/pasta sauce (25 ounces)
- ▢ 10 oz. no-boil lasagna noodles
- ▢ 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ▢ 15 ounces ricotta cheese
- ▢ 1 egg
- ▢ 8 ounces mozzarella and Parmesan
- ▢ 4 ounces cheddar cheese ( for the top)
- ▢ 1 tablespoon parsley or basil (chopped)
- Cook the ground turkey and minced garlic in a big pan or skillet until it’s done. After removing the heat, add the Italian seasoning and tomato sauce.
- Combine the ricotta, egg, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese in a mixing bowl.
- Pour the meat sauce into a rectangular baking pan in a thin layer. Then add a layer of noodles (dry, do not boil). Then a layer of the cheese mix. Continue until almost all of the noodles, meat sauce, and cheese have been used. Make an effort to coat the uppermost layer of noodles with cheese and sauce.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Add four additional ounces of cheese and the fresh herbs on top. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour, covered. Then remove the cover and bake an additional 10 minutes.
I’ve found that you need to add more sauce—not necessarily more water. I don’t want to use water or broth, but there’s a bit too much sauce for my taste. Even no-boil noodles, I’ve discovered, require additional liquid to cook through. I soaked regular noodles in hot water with two tablespoons of salt (for seasoning) until they were pliable, about 12 minutes. I stirred occasionally to make sure they didn’t stick together (some did, but the rest were fine). I used this alternative no-boil method tonight with great success. With tongs, I removed the dripping wet sheets and layered them as normal. I experimented because I was extremely exhausted. It worked perfectly. I avoided having to clean a second pot. I’ll never boil lasagna noodles again. Waste of a pot & fuel. Therefore, you can skip boiling regular noodles, but use caution (use extra sauce).
Although the outcome is somewhat different, I agree that it does work with noodles right out of the box. I’ve been making lasagna with boxed noodles for years. However, before assembling the lasagna, boiling them or even just immersing them in hot water for five minutes alters the texture of the noodles. It plumps it up. Unboiled noodles, while tender, are not as plump. Just gives it a slightly different texture. I also heard a chef on TV say something like this about lasagna noodles.
Another way to put it is that as long as the casserole is tightly covered, the bake time is adequate, and the sauce is sufficiently moist, you can use lasagna noodles as you describe when feeding the junior high wrestling team. This kind of thing has countless, countless recipes available on the internet. Boil your lasagna noodles if you want to receive a Michelin star.
Others have informed me that you can assemble and bake lasagna without boiling the noodles beforehand. They say that you can simply spread them out on the pan uncooked and assemble them as normal because the oven’s heat and the sauce’s liquid will cook the noodles to the perfect consistency. How real is this? I’ve heard of others using homemade mac to accomplish the same thing. Please take note that I’m referring to regular lasagna noodles, not no-boil ones.
My mother-in-law is from the old country, Sicilia. She showed me how to layer the noodles with ingredients after submerging them in boiling water for two minutes. Small amount of water added to the sauce. Chopped fresh spinach is another excellent addition to add color. Black olives are good too. Take it from the horses mouthe mother knows best.
