This easy to make Five Cheese Lasagna is a perfectly hearty meal, perfect for weeknights and special occasion alike. Layered with a meat sauce, noodles and five different types of cheese, this is a meal that will please even the pickiest of eaters.
Five Cheese Lasagna
Tips for Making Lasagna
If you’ve never made homemade lasagna, prepare yourself! It’s so incredibly simple, albeit just a bit time consuming. To ensure you have the tastiest lasagna, you’ll want to use fresh cheese that you grate yourself.
You can use a store bought sauce and add cooked ground turkey, Italian sausage, beef or chicken. If you have the time, make a scratch made sauce. They’re easy to make and taste amazing!
As the recipe is written, I mention boiled noodles. But save some time and utilize the no-boil ones! They taste exactly the same and will save you a step.
How to Freeze Lasagna
Lasagna is one of those dishes that freezes super well! You can easily double or triple this recipe and put a few lasagnas in the freezer for later.
I personally prefer freezing lasagne before baking it, but you can also freeze it after baking if you choose. Just make sure it’s cooled down entirely before you freeze it or else it won’t be as good.
To freeze an uncooked lasagna, make sure to assemble it in a disposable pan so you don’t have to worry about a cracking glass dish. Press plastic wrap on the top, covering the entire dish so there’s no room for air. This step ensures you’ll avoid any freezer burn. Next you’ll wrap the top in aluminum foil, making sure to tightly fold the ends over so there’s no space. Don’t forget to write the dish name and date you made it too!
To cook from frozen, pull out and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes while the oven warms up. Remove the plastic wrap, then tent the aluminum foil over it loosely. Bake at 375* for 55-60 minutes with the aluminum foil tent, then remove the foil. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes without the foil until the cheese is nice and bubbly.
Once it’s done baking, let it sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes and enjoy!
Homemade Five Cheese Lasagna Recipe
Homemade lasagna is so yummy! It’s a fairly hearty dish on its own, but is fabulous served in medium sized portions with a green veggie and breadsticks.
We love tossing together a light side salad with crumbled croutons, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, finely diced sweet onions and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. Easy and delicious!
While this recipe does call for five different cheeses, feel free to substitute your favorite cheeses or whatever you may have on hand. There’s been many times I only had mozzarella, Parmesan and ricotta. It still turns out delicious! If you don’t like ricotta cheese, you can substitute cottage cheese. Pulse it in your food processor until it’s smooth and creamy, with no curds.
Don’t have meat on hand or prefer to use a vegetarian option? You can easily use cooked lentils, cooked mushrooms finely chopped, cooked chickpeas or even finely chopped and cooked zucchini, carrots and squash. Yum!!
Check out these other easy and delicious recipes!
Mini Chocolate Covered Cheesecakes
Strawberry Cinnamon Roll Casserole
Easy 5 Cheese Lasagna
Ingredients
- 4 cups meat sauce
- 12 lasagna noodles cooked according to package instructions and dried thoroughly
- 1 24 oz container ricotta cheese
- 1 Egg beaten
- 3 Tbsp Italian seasoning, divided
- 1/2 Cup fresh parsley chopped, plus extra for garnish
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 Oz mozzarella cheese shredded, divided
- 8 Oz Gruyere cheese shredded, divided
- 3/4 Cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated, divided
- 3/4 Cup Asiago cheese freshly grated, divided
Instructions
- Place top oven rack in the center position and pre-heat oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg, 2tablespoons Italian seasoning, and fresh parsley. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Spray a 13 x 9” glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Add enough meat sauce to cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer and then cover with 3 lasagna noodles. Top with an even layer of the ricotta cheese mixture, followed by a layer of shredded mozzarella and Gruyere cheese, using equal amounts of each. Finish with a thin layer of grated Parmesan and Asiago cheese, also in equal amounts.
- Repeat this process three more times: meat sauce, noodles, ricotta mixture, shredded cheeses, and grated cheeses. Sprinkle the remaining Italian seasoning across the final layer.
- Loosely tent dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for another 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing. Serve topped with some freshly chopped parsley, if desired. Enjoy!
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