Re-Tested & Approved: Our Lasagna Recipe Is Better Than Ever

Delish

Our homemade lasagna recipe is easy enough to be a staple weeknight dinner, but with a few simple (but worthwhile) steps, is fancy enough to win date night.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, pasta lovers.

00:01 How are you?

00:03 I'm Alejandro.

00:04 We are at the Delish Kitchen studios

00:05 and I'm gonna be showing you

00:07 how to make an incredible lasagna.

00:10 It is an art, really.

00:11 And it doesn't have to be a difficult one.

00:13 Usually people are very intimidated

00:16 with lasagna being a huge project,

00:17 that it's gonna take the whole day,

00:19 but we have found a couple of shortcuts

00:21 to make it more approachable and easy to make at home.

00:23 I've tested this recipe plenty of times

00:26 and I guarantee that this will be a kick-ass lasagna.

00:30 First step, bolognese.

00:32 This is what is gonna take the most amount of time

00:36 when it comes to the first steps of the recipe

00:38 before the assembly.

00:39 And over here we have ground pork, ground beef,

00:43 which is a classic combination

00:45 with bolognese sauce in general.

00:47 Pork is gonna add all that fat.

00:49 It's gonna add an amazing, rich content to our sauce.

00:53 Also, you can only use beef if you want to.

00:56 That's completely fine.

00:58 You might be wondering why we're using

01:00 already made jarred sauce

01:02 and not making our own sauce from scratch,

01:05 but in fact, you are gonna be able to save so much time

01:08 if you buy a good quality marinara sauce.

01:10 When choosing your marinara,

01:11 rule of thumb is six ingredients or less.

01:15 Sugar, no.

01:16 Corn syrup, no.

01:17 Any sort of chemical, no.

01:20 Basil, absolutely yes.

01:21 Garlic, yes.

01:22 Olive oil, that's exactly what you want.

01:25 The first thing that you're gonna do

01:26 is preheat your Dutch oven or large pot

01:29 to medium-high heat.

01:31 Heat a teaspoon of oil.

01:33 Add your ground pork and ground beef.

01:36 Once all the meat is in there,

01:37 really get to it and break down the meat

01:39 as much as possible.

01:40 You want those little individual kernels, if you will,

01:43 so that you end up with a very tender sauce.

01:46 Cook for five minutes until no longer pink.

01:48 You're probably gonna notice

01:49 that there is a lot of fat going on in the pot.

01:51 That's okay.

01:53 Just drain it in a bowl and toss.

01:55 Excess fat can lead to a broken sauce,

01:57 and we don't want that, so get rid of it.

01:58 Now, time for the tomato paste.

02:00 Add it to the pot, stir until incorporated

02:03 for about a minute.

02:04 You're looking for the tomato paste

02:05 to turn into a bright red color.

02:08 Now, add your marinara,

02:09 stir to combine, and bring to a boil.

02:11 Once it comes to a boil,

02:13 salt it, lower it down for a simmer,

02:15 and it's gonna cook for 20 minutes

02:17 until all the flavors have melded and it's thickened.

02:21 When making lasagna, you have two roads you can choose,

02:23 either ricotta or bechamel.

02:26 Ricotta is more Italian-American in some ways,

02:29 and bechamel is very authentic, classic Italian lasagna.

02:33 What bechamel is gonna give you

02:36 is a creamy, sort of melt-in-your-mouth feel,

02:40 whereas ricotta is more simple,

02:43 but it can be a little bit grainy sometimes.

02:45 We're gonna make a bechamel sauce.

02:47 It's very simple to make.

02:48 We only need four ingredients,

02:50 milk, butter, flour, and nutmeg.

02:54 First step is to heat up your milk.

02:56 You want it warm to the touch, not boiling.

02:58 You can do that either on the stove or in the microwave.

03:02 Next, you're gonna make your roux.

03:03 What is a roux?

03:04 It's a mixture of butter and flour.

03:06 You're gonna cook this for two minutes

03:08 until it's a kind of like light brown tan color.

03:11 So next, you're gonna gradually add your warm milk

03:14 into the roux and whisk vigorously

03:16 so you don't get any lumps.

03:18 Whisk continuously until the sauce thickens,

03:20 around three to five minutes, and it can coat a spoon.

03:24 Once it's all thickened, add salt, pepper, and then nutmeg.

03:27 Also, don't forget, stir your sauce every once in a while

03:32 because the meat goes to the bottom

03:33 and you don't want that to burn.

03:35 The only reason why we add whole nutmeg

03:37 and not the ground stuff is because it's gonna last longer

03:41 in your dry storage, and it also has a more pungent flavor,

03:44 which is gonna go great in your bechamel.

03:46 Guess what?

03:46 It's time for assembly, and I have great news for you.

03:50 Little bit of an ASMR moment for you.

03:54 You don't have to pre-boil your noodles.

03:56 You can just buy oven-ready noodles for lasagna,

03:59 and you can save yourself 20 minutes of time.

04:02 I tested both pre-boiling and no pre-boiling,

04:06 and they taste exactly the same way.

04:08 In a nine by 13 baking dish,

04:10 you're gonna start by pouring in

04:11 a cup and a half of Bolognese sauce,

04:13 spreading that around evenly,

04:15 three noodles, a third of a cup of bechamel,

04:20 sprinkle your freshly grated Parmesan and mozzarella

04:23 just to cover.

04:25 You're gonna repeat that process five times

04:27 with a layer of Bolognese, noodles,

04:29 bechamel, and a sprinkle of cheese.

04:32 Why do I use freshly grated cheese?

04:34 May you ask yourself?

04:35 Well, if you buy pre-grated cheese,

04:37 sometimes they come with certain starches

04:39 that won't end up melting the cheese correctly,

04:42 so it won't melt together,

04:44 but just as separate little strips of cheese.

04:47 So just buy the fresh stuff, good quality,

04:50 and you won't regret it.

04:52 We're gonna cover our dish with foil

04:54 and spray some cooking spray on it

04:56 so that the cheese doesn't stick to the foil.

04:59 Put it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.

05:02 Then we're gonna uncover it, get rid of the foil,

05:05 increase the oven temperature to 400,

05:07 and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes more

05:09 or until the cheese is nice and brown.

05:11 Look how golden and delicious this looks.

05:14 After taking it out of the oven,

05:15 let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes.

05:18 It's so hot, and it's gonna retain a lot of heat

05:20 for a long time, so you want it to settle down

05:22 a little bit before you start cutting it,

05:24 or else everything's just gonna fall apart.

05:26 To serve, sprinkle a little parsley,

05:28 fresh red pepper, and enjoy.

05:30 This is amazing.

05:32 It melts in your mouth.

05:34 The Bolognese is tender.

05:35 You can feel all that ground beef and pork.

05:39 The sauce is bright.

05:40 It brings flavor.

05:42 Everything has come together,

05:43 and this is just an amazing centerpiece

05:46 to have at the dinner table.

05:48 For other amazing Italian dishes and comfort food recipes,

05:52 stay here at delish.com.

05:54 (upbeat music)

05:56 (upbeat music)

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