One-Pan Sausage Lasagna with Spinach and Mushrooms
By America's Test KitchenPublished on September 11, 2020
Time
1½ hours
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Before You Begin
We prefer the flavor of whole-milk cottage cheese here, but low-fat cottage cheese can be substituted; do not use nonfat cottage cheese. Our favorite jarred marinara sauce is Victoria Marinara Sauce.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in bowl.
- Combine sausage, mushrooms, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoons pepper in bowl, cover, and microwave, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink and mushrooms have released their liquid, about 9 minutes. Stir in spinach and microwave until wilted, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to colander and let drain for 5 minutes, pressing on mixture with back of spoon to remove as much moisture as possible.
- Grease 8-inch square baking dish. Spread 1 cup marinara sauce into prepared dish and lay 2 noodles on top (noodles may overlap slightly). Top with half of sausage mixture, half of cottage cheese mixture, and ½ cup mozzarella. Repeat layering with 2 noodles, 1 cup marinara sauce, remaining sausage mixture, remaining cottage cheese mixture, and ½ cup mozzarella. Lay remaining 2 noodles on top, cover with remaining marinara sauce, and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. (Assembled lasagna can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours; increase covered baking time in step 4 to 45 minutes.)
- Cover dish tightly with greased aluminum foil and bake until bubbling around edges, about 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until cheese is spotty brown, 10 to 15 minutes, rotating dish halfway through cooking. Remove dish from oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Time
1½ hoursYield
Serves 4Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
Instead of making the usual laborious béchamel and tomato sauces on the stovetop, we opted for a quick and flavorful no-cook cheese sauce and a jar of our favorite marinara. For the cheese sauce, we chose cottage cheese as our base, as it proved more flavorful than ricotta and turned creamy (instead of grainy) when cooked. To bump up the cheesy flavor without adding excess moisture, we mixed in Parmesan. For the filling, we chose the supersavory combination of Italian sausage, cremini mushrooms, and baby spinach. To speed up the prep, we microwaved the filling, allowing the sausage to cook through, the spinach to wilt, and the mushrooms to shed their moisture. After pressing out any of the filling’s excess moisture, we began layering. Working in an 8-inch square dish—just the right size for four servings—we layered the marinara, no-boil noodles, sausage filling, cheese sauce, and some shredded mozzarella. We repeated these layers once more and topped the lasagna off with plenty of mozzarella for a bubbly, cheesy crust.
Before You Begin
We prefer the flavor of whole-milk cottage cheese here, but low-fat cottage cheese can be substituted; do not use nonfat cottage cheese. Our favorite jarred marinara sauce is Victoria Marinara Sauce.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in bowl.
- Combine sausage, mushrooms, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoons pepper in bowl, cover, and microwave, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink and mushrooms have released their liquid, about 9 minutes. Stir in spinach and microwave until wilted, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to colander and let drain for 5 minutes, pressing on mixture with back of spoon to remove as much moisture as possible.
- Grease 8-inch square baking dish. Spread 1 cup marinara sauce into prepared dish and lay 2 noodles on top (noodles may overlap slightly). Top with half of sausage mixture, half of cottage cheese mixture, and ½ cup mozzarella. Repeat layering with 2 noodles, 1 cup marinara sauce, remaining sausage mixture, remaining cottage cheese mixture, and ½ cup mozzarella. Lay remaining 2 noodles on top, cover with remaining marinara sauce, and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. (Assembled lasagna can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours; increase covered baking time in step 4 to 45 minutes.)
- Cover dish tightly with greased aluminum foil and bake until bubbling around edges, about 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until cheese is spotty brown, 10 to 15 minutes, rotating dish halfway through cooking. Remove dish from oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
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