Sometimes, all I want is a plate of cheesy, gooey and downright delicious lasagna, like right now. I want it so bad I can almost taste it! But sometimes, if I’m honest, I really just don’t have time for all that goes into making one, even if by “don’t have time” I secretly mean, “I am too lazy.” And no, I don’t cave into Stouffer’s, no matter how much one of their frozen lasagnas “tastes like homemade,” I just cannot do it. My mouth is a snob. What can I say? My name is Katie, and I have a snobby mouth.
So over the years, I’ve learned a few tricks that help me in my quest for making homemade lasagna in half the time, so here’s my lazy-girl’s or ain’t-no-one-got-time-for-that lasagna recipe!
You’ll need the usual suspects: a pound of ground beef, a big can of crushed tomatoes, garlic, onion, peppers if you choose, salt, basil, oregano, ricotta and mozzarella. One of my little tricks? Use those special no-boil noodles they have now! They’re genius! Oven-ready lasagna noodles have become a Holy Grail item to me, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
What you MAY notice is that I’m still not going to use any pre-made sauce, because sometimes those shortcuts take away from that true from scratch flavor. So that’s why I take shortcuts with the noodles, and yes, in other ways too. But if you really are in a pinch, go for it with the canned stuff. Why not? Those Bertolli and Prego sauces are pretty darn delicious. Not unicorn-breath delicious, but delicious just the same.
And yes, there’s a time and a place for long simmering sauces and carefully par-boiled noodles, but that time and place isn’t here, and it isn’t now. That’s for sure.
Just preheat your oven to 375F while you chop up some fresh garlic, as much or as little as you’d like, (we like a lot, and a lot for this recipe is 4-5 large cloves), about half an onion, and we like peppers in our sauce, so about half a bell pepper and some jalapeno too. I don’t sit there and make sure my veggies are chopped perfectly. No. I just rough chop it all up, since, once again, ain’t no one got time for that. It’s what’s inside that counts.
Sauté all these yummies together with some olive oil in a large skillet, and once the onions are on the verge of transparency, add your beef. Some of you may be saying, if you’re making a quick and easy dish, why even worry about the fresh veggies? Can’t you skip them? The short answer is yes, you can. But my answer is this: I may not have tons of time, but I do want something tasty. Roughly chopped veggies don’t take forever to prep, and they just make the sauce, and therefore the finished product, that much better.
And don’t forget to season with salt! Once the beef is fully cooked and there’s no pink, strain the grease out, and then pour in the can of tomatoes. Mix in some sugar, basil and oregano and more salt to taste, and keep over low-medium heat for about 20 or so minutes, depending on the kind of time you have. Stir occasionally. If you are feeling sassy, go ahead and throw in some crushed red pepper or even some Parmesan cheese! Don’t forget to taste as you go, so you know what’s going on with your sauce. It’s not a science, so don’t freak out if you need to add a little of this or a dash of that. It’s a gut thing, really, which is why I’m not including a recipe card here. There’s no exact measurements going on here.
When you are ready to assemble, get your lasagna pan out, greased and ready. Ladle a little bit of sauce into the bottom of the pan and spread around into a thin layer. Make a layer of the oven-ready noodles over that, then some ricotta and mozzarella. More sauce, more noodles, and more cheese! Make sure the cheese layer is the top layer, and then cover your beautiful layered creation with two sheets of heavy-duty foil. This lasagna I made had a sauce, noodle, cheese, sauce, noodle cheese set-up. You can make your lasagna taller, use a smaller pan and build it up!
Bake for 45 minutes covered with 2 layers of the foil, then 10 minutes uncovered. VOILA! Delicious, EASY, AND quick lasagna, with that perfectly homemade flavor fit to curb any craving.
The only real time in this recipe is simmering the sauce for 15-20 minutes, and those 55 minutes while the lasagna is baking, and let’s be honest, you’re not really DOING anything during that time, so all in all, the real work is only about 20 minutes, depending on chopping speed and how fast your meat browns. It’s a sinch, and it’s SCRUMPTIOUS. I just ate a second piece. #ThankGodImPregnant.
