Easy Lasagna Without Ricotta Cheese
Love lasagna but don’t love ricotta cheese? This Easy Lasagna Recipe without Ricotta Cheese is a must make! Use my simple, secret ingredient to get the perfect creamy texture for homemade lasagna without ricotta cheese.
Nothing says comfort food to me like a big, hearty, plate of homemade lasagna. It’s one of my favorite meals to make because my family loves it and it’s one of those dishes that looks like it took more effort than it really did.
Most lasagna recipes call for ricotta cheese, but there’s just something about the texture that ruins it for me. I’m coming around, there’s a really yummy stuffed shells recipe that uses ricotta and I love it, but I just don’t seem to like it in my lasagna.
What is Ricotta Cheese?
Ricotta is a creamy white, mild, fresh cheese with a soft texture and a slightly sweet flavor that is commonly used in pasta dishes and even desserts. It’s like a fine-textured cottage cheese and can be eaten as is with a little salt, pepper and fresh herbs.
Ricotta can be added to salads and dips, used as a filling for pastas like Ravioli and Tortellini, served as a dessert cheese with honey and fruit, or added to Cannoli and cheesecake recipes.
Ricotta translates to “re-cooked” and gets its name from the way it was originally produced using leftover whey from making Mozzarella and Provolone.
Easy Lasagna Recipe Without Ricotta Cheese
I may use Ricotta occasionally and welcome it in certain recipes, but I have never liked it in my lasagna. Something about the texture disrupts the whole dish for me. I want smooth and creamy bites of cheese that melt in with the hearty sauce and tender noodles. Ricotta, especially when done poorly, comes off as more chunky than creamy.
The secret to deliciously creamy homemade lasagna is a hidden milky egg mixture that goes between the layers. Something about mixing eggs with evaporated milk makes this lasagna magical.
No need to worry that you’ll have “scrambled eggs” in your lasagna… it all bakes up bubbly and perfect. You won’t even have to tell anyone there’s a secret ingredient in there.
How to Make Lasagna
Fully cook the meat, add the sauce and let simmer while your noodles cook. Once the noodles are fully cooked, layer the ingredients in a baking dish in this order: sauce on the bottom, followed by noodles, egg mixture, sauce, cheese and repeat for three layers.
Tips for Freezing Lasagna and Reheating
- Fully cook the lasagna as directed below and allow to cool before freezing.
- Freeze in an airtight container. We typically eat 1/2 of the pan first and then freeze the remainder.
- To reheat: place the frozen lasagna in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until fully heated through.
- To reheat from frozen: Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, or until fully heated through.
- Never put a cold glass pan into a hot oven!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 24 oz jar of Marinara Sauce
- 12 Lasagne Noodles
- 4 cups mozzarella cheese
- 3 eggs
- 3 tbsp evaporated milk
- Italian Seasoning to taste
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Garlic Powder to taste
Instructions
- Brown the meat over medium heat in a large skillet.
- Once the meat is fully cooked, drain and add the sauce.
- Add the spices and simmer over low heat. (Start with 1/4 tsp and adjust as needed, how much you add will depend on your preferences and how seasoned the sauce you use already is.)
- Cook the noodles as directed on the package.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Once the meat and noodles are cooked, whisk the eggs and milk together in a small bowl.
- Add a thin layer of meat sauce to a 9x13 glass pan.
- Layer with noodles, egg mixture, sauce, and cheese.
- Repeat this for a total of three layers.
- Top the final layer of noodles with the remaining egg mixture and cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and melted.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally Published December 11, 2013 | Updated August 29, 2018
Looking for more lasagna? Try this delicious Lasagna Soup recipe!
I like my lasagna meaty and saucy. Along with the pound of ground beef, I add in a pound of sausage for some extra flavor. I also use two jars of pasta sauce, and I found that doubling the amount of eggs and evaporated milk works as well. But this is a phenomenal recipe, as I don’t care for ricotta cheese.
Great recipe! I cannot stand ricotta so this was perfect! I will say for those like me who don’t like ricotta or family that doesn’t do as my mom does….she uses 2 jars of spaghetti sauce and stirs the ricotta into it so you can’t tell it’s in there! I love her recipe and never knew it had ricotta in it!!
Can I make this as instructed but leave it in the fridge overnight before baking the next day?
I like ricotta but had none on hand so I was happy to find this recipe! I used 1 and 1/2 cups of Greek yogurt instead of eggs because one of my daughters has an allergy and it came out great! It’s hard to find things all three of my preschool/toddler aged daughters will eat but this one was a hit! I also hid some spinach and shredded squash in the sauce because it is so hard to get them to eat veggies. Wanted to post in case someone else might be looking to substitute the eggs. 🙂
I used this recipe to do lasagna instead of the traditional Christmas dinner, and it’s in the oven now.. the only thing I did differently is I used oven ready lasagna noodles, added parmesan to my layers and the leftover sauce went on top with more of the cheese mix. Hopefully, it turns out to be good, I’ll have to put an update once it comes out.
I am so glad to find a recipe for lasagna that does not require ricotta, because my boyfriend does not like the stuff. Well i made him this recipe last week, and he loved it and requested for me to make it again this week. It is so Yummy!
I made this as instructed except for using gluten free Catelli brand no cook lasagna noodles and cooked it in the oven for 45 minutes and it turned out perfectly. I am happy to find a delicious recipe for lasagna without ricotta, I just can’t stand that stuff. Thx for sharing.
I have made this recipe several times now. It always turns out perfectly and my family absolutely loves it. Previous to this recipe, I always ended up with a runny lasagna but with this recipe it is perfect every time. Thank you for sharing it.
Yummy! I used what I had at home. Made some homemade meat sauce. Only had heavy cream so used it instead with the three eggs. I only had 7 no bake lasagna noodles so made two layers. Still delicious. My sauce and meat is well seasoned so not bland. Easy and very delicious! Thanks for the recipe for no ricotta. This recipe is a Keeper
@Amy, how much heavy cream did you use?
Hi there,
This sounds delish! I am dairy sensitive so when it comes to lasagna, I prefer to omit the ricotta. I did some googling and your recipe came up!
Question for you: Can I make this a day or 2 ahead, cool completely, and then reheat in the oven?
Thank you! 🙂
Bake uncovered or covered? Thanks
Hi Kailey, I bake uncovered. If you see that the cheese is starting to brown too soon, you can cover with foil until safe and desired doneness.
My son dislikes ricotta so we have not had lasagna for quite some time.
This dish is on the oven right now…. All I changed is add some fried spicy sausage.
Looking forward to dinner-time!
Thank you for sharing!!!
ooops – it is IN the oven…. LOL
This turned out great! Everyone loved it. The spicy sausage added a nice kick!
This recipe is a keeper.
So glad you all enjoyed it!!
Can you make this with the no boil lasagna noodles? Should I go ahead and boil them first?
Hmm, I’ve never tried that. Let me know if it works out!
I used no boil sheets. It turned out pretty good, however the top layer was still quite hard.
i could only make 2 layers, and needed extra cheese, even though I used as little as possible in the first layer. the egg and milk mixture added a nice creaminess to it, however, I needed more.
I made alterations to the flavouring of the meat and added vegetables, since the dish seemed slightly bland.
Very easy to make
The taste all together is good, although I could not taste the milk/egg “magic”. Overall, I think this recipe is off base. I would double most of the ingredients. By the first layer, I was already out of meat sauce and had used two cups of mozzarella. For the second layer, I had to resort to tomato sauce and light mozzarella and the top/third layer only had about a cup of mozzarella. I had hardly any milk/egg mixture left by the final layer. Overall, just too little of everything for a 9 by 13 pan. Very surprised others haven’t given similar feedback. I’m bummed out because I purchased ingredients based on what is recommended on this page and it just wasn’t enough to have the full experience.
Hi Mackenzie, sorry to hear you had disappointing results. It sounds like you need to scale back how much you put per layer to divide the ingredients more equally. You definitely shouldn’t be out of sauce by the first layer or use two cups of cheese per layer. The first layer of sauce should be very thin -basically only there so the noodles don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Hope this helps.
@Mackenzie, I had a similar experience I had to make more meat sauce to fill the layers. I was out of mozzarella cheese so I couldn’t add more but I did run out of that as well.
@Mackenzie, I also found the amounts disproportionate. I ended up making another pound of beef, another half jar of sauce, and more cheese.
I used a very minimal amount of all ingredients on the first layer as well, and then just decided to brown more meat. It was good but I do agree with you on doubling to fit a 9×13 pan!
Would you do steps 1-10, and then freeze?
Hi Leah, to freeze: Fully cook the lasagna as directed and allow to cool before freezing. Freeze in an airtight container. We typically eat 1/2 of the pan first and then freeze the remainder.
To reheat: place the frozen lasagna in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until fully heated through.
To reheat from frozen: Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, or until fully heated through.
If you freeze this, are you cooking it fully then freezing after cooked or not cooking and putting straight into freezer?? Different lasagna recipes say diff things.
Hi Brianne, to freeze: Fully cook the lasagna as directed and allow to cool before freezing. Freeze in an airtight container. We typically eat 1/2 of the pan first and then freeze the remainder.
To reheat: place the frozen lasagna in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until fully heated through.
To reheat from frozen: Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, or until fully heated through.
@Larry, you never explain how to make the Parmesan sauce in your recipe??
Hi! I am using up extra meat and sauce from my freezer and have no ricotta. Saw your recipe and wondered what would happen if I add some squeezed out spinach and grated Parmesan into the egg and evaporated milk mixture. Any idea? I think I will try it tonight. Any feedback welcome!
Sounds delicious! Would love to know how it worked out for you.
What if i dont have evaporated milk. Will regular milk make it too runny?
I haven’t tried it with regular milk, but the creamy magic is in the thicker evaporated milk.
What size jar of marinara do you use for the Lasagna w/o Ricotta recipe?
24 oz
Yum!