We eat this delicious side dish practically weekly. good with meals of chicken. The next day, my girls prefer it cold as a snack.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch dish |
Ingredients
- 1 quart milk
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 (24 ounce) jar Barilla® Meat Sauce
- 8 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, julienned
- 1 (9 ounce) box Barilla® Oven Ready Lasagne
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Bring milk to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a separate saucepan over medium heat. Add flour; cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk hot milk vigorously into butter-flour mixture and bring to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt, and pepper into bechamel until smooth.
- Pour 1/4 of the meat sauce and 1/4 of the béchamel into the bottom of a 9×13-baking dish; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons basil. Cover with 3 noodles and repeat for 3 layers. Spread remaining meat sauce and béchamel on top; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven until edges are bubbling and slightly brown, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 496 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 55 g |
| Cholesterol | 68 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 19 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 882 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We love this recipe with the substitutions we make so that it is a vegetarian lasagna. I substitute 16oz (yes the whole box) for the sausage. Instead of sautéing the spinach, I add it to the bechamel once it is finished, which is also a great time saver. Make sure all the spinach is coated. For the tomato sauce – I sauté garlic, onion and then add squash or carrots and seasoning. Then layer as normal. Once baked, the spinach comes out perfectly. Also a great way to sneak in greens for picky little ones.
so quick and easy and it was delicious! My husband loved it.. its a keeper for sure.
great dish for family, needs more parmesan in the bechemel to keep lasagna from being runny. if you want very firm bechemel as in moussaka fold beaten egg into cool bechemel before baking.
Very easy and came out delicious!!! I made my own Bolognese the day before and used it instead of the bottled one. I never made béchamel before but this recipe was super simple and very flavorful! I’ll be making this again very soon!!!
Classic Italian recipe, just easier with the no-boil noodles.
This was a nice change from our regular lasagna recipe. I absolutely loved the béchamel sauce and will use it again in other recipes. My 5 year old son asked for seconds of this recipe, which hardly ever happens. My 15 year old boy loved it but my husband and 11 year old girl only said it was “ok”.
I made a mistake and did not get the oven ready lasagna noodles. I remedied it by boiling the noodles for about 5 minutes before assembling. I added ground beef for more substance (and onions and garlic). This was a resounding eight thumbs up. This is a huge achievement in our house, especially with two who aren’t fond of baked pasta and one who hates the texture of ricotta. The bechamel really does wonders for it and cuts down on the acidity of the tomato sauce. This is moving into our family favorites file and I will definitely be making this again! I also left the basil on the side for those to add it as desired.
Easy and delicious!
First time making a sauce like this for lasagna. I made a half version in a 9×9 pan. I also added a little shredded mozzarella with each layer. The flavor is good, but I think I still prefer a ‘regular’ lasagna with ricotta.
I have been making lasagna for many years so I am a bit of a lasagna snob, this was just plain to us, it needed more, sausage, meat not sure – I also miss the ricotta cheese. I did make my lasagna after this using the bechamel here and it was delicious – a great addition so the recipe did some good for us. I wont make it this way again.
I’m not sure what I did wrong but my sauce looked a little orange. The Bf loved this because it did not have ricotta or cottage cheese. I could not get meat sauce so I added ground beef. I did use some fresh mozzarella that I shredded and added when I added the parmesan. I love how easy it was and will be making this again with a little less milk next time.
Very easy and very tasty! I did however make a few changes…I opted to use Barilla’s marinara sauce that I added a little wine, garlic, and seasonings along with some ground beef, ground sausage, and a 14.5 oz. can of seasoned diced tomatoes. I did two layers as the meat sauce was quite thick. I baked it covered for 25 minutes and uncovered for an additional 25 minutes. Overall, very good with warm garlic bread, a fresh garden salad and a nice glass of wine!
The noodles cooked up really easy and had good flavor! We liked the different taste of the Bechamel sauce. The Barilla meat sauce was very tasty and made the dish spectacular. Ease of preparation also gets 5 stars!
After reading other reviewer’s suggestions and making some adjustments, this is a good recipe. I’m not a huge fan of jarred sauce, but this is really good! I added in extra garlic, crushed red pepper, onion, garlic, and Italian sausage. Before a lot of people write in and complain that I totally changed the recipe, I’ll tell you that you are right. As it stands, it is bland and blah. I mean, just looking at the photo, it doesn’t appear to be a 5 star recipe. SO, BECAUSE of my changes, I felt like I really needed to be honest. Not hating it, but the only way I will make this again will be with the adjustments.
My kids enjoyed this dish but my husband and I weren’t as impressed. The bechamel sauce was great – I plan on incorporating that into our regular lasagna recipe in the future. But the rest reminded us too much of the pre-made lasagna you purchase from the store. I added some cooked ground beef to this (per reviews here) and I’m glad I did, else I’m not sure we’d have liked it at all. For the baking dish size, I couldn’t quit fit in 5 layers (I’m chalking that up to the meat.) The dish seemed like it needed a lot more tomato sauce as well in comparison to how much bechamel sauce there was. I also had to cook it for an additional 20 minutes and believe another 10 wouldn’t have hurt it.
I loved the addition of the béchamel sauce to totally change up the flavor and texture of a traditional lasagna. Definitely more dirty dishes and effort, but well worth it. A deliciously comforting meal with a Caesar salad and cheesy garlic bread. I am looking forward to the leftovers. 🙂
I guess I am just not a fan of jarred sauce and no-bake noodles. This tasted very similar to a frozen lasagna to me. I cooked for the 20 minutes and when I took the foil off gave it another 10 minutes in the oven. I did like the addition of the bechamel sauce and think I will try that with my own recipe. For anyone who needs a quick dish, this is it.
Fabulous! I added about 3/4 lb browned crumbled Italian sausage in between layers (checked two stores, neither had Barilla meat sauce- went with Tuscan Herb) as well as some shredded mozzarella. I suggest you do not opt to omit fresh basil as I felt it was a great addition the recipe! I found two things needed a bit if altering- 1) I wanted more red sauce than 1 jar in order to have a ratio of bechemel to red sauce that looked right to me. 2) mine needed about 10-15 more minutes to achieve bubbly goodness (yes, oven was preheated). The result was a wonderful lasagna! And even better second day! All gone, no leftovers! Thanks Barilla, loved it!
This was very different than any other lasagna I have ever had. I added a little ground turkey to the red sauce to make it a little hardier. I also added a touch of mozzarella to the top so I could get a nice browned cheesy top. I had never worked with the oven ready noodles before and they were a huge time saver and cooked perfectly. I did think the lasagna was a little heavy due to the rich bechamel. I would use the bechamel again, but, with my homeade sauce instead of jarred sauce. I would rate this 3-1/2 stars.
Not your traditional lasagna, but not a bad dish. The pasta sheets will expand so don’t worry when they don’t cover the pan across. I will use a little bigger pan next time so I can use all the noodles in the box. Also, it would be good to add a meat or thinly sliced eggplant. I would like my lasagna more hearty. But, the taste is good and the noodles do cook in the described time.
Wonderful as is, but my husband prefers meat in his lasagna. Will be tweaking this recipe.