Ina Garten’s Trick for the Best Lasagna Every Single Time

Stop losing your mind assembling lasagna.

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I am a bit of a lasagna snob, but I wasn’t always this way. I grew up with mediocre lasagna (sorry, mom!) that was made with a jar of Prego sauce, pre-shredded mozzarella, and whatever lasagna noodles happened to be on sale at the grocery store. Then, while in culinary school, I got a taste of authentic asagna Bolognese and everything changed for me. How could these two dishes go by the same name? One was heavy and laden with rubbery cheese and one was delicate and very, very delicious.

When I first set out to make a lasagna Bolognese on my own, the process was arduous. First, you have to make a slow-simmered bolognese, then you have to make homemade pasta dough and roll it out into sheets. Once the sheets are formed, they have to be parboiled by dropping and scooping them in and out of boiling water one by one—usually a slimy, sticky mess. 

Making lasagna can be a four-hour endeavor from start to finish, which with three kids is pretty much out of the question. I’ve been looking for a lasagna recipe I can make during the week and I was intrigued by Ina Garten’s Easy Turkey Lasagna that stood out because of one detail: Instead of boiling her dry lasagna noodles, Ina simply soaks them in hot water for 20 minutes. (Soak them while you put together all the other components of the lasagna.)

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This did make sense to me, based on my learnings from making lasagna Bolognese, but I was still a little weary. Would the noodles be undercooked? Would their texture change in the hot water? 

After giving it a try, I can assure you Ina’s way is the only way to make lasagna with dry noodles. Soaking them seems to give them the texture of a freshly made pasta sheet. They become pliable but not at all sticky, which makes assembly very easy. (If you've ever made lasagna, you know those noodles love to stick to each other.)

Once baked, the noodles reminded me of the texture of freshly made pasta sheets, which is amazing for a recipe that now takes me less than an hour and a half from start to finish. 

One note: I know many people like to use no-boil sheets but I would not use this tip for those lasagna noodles. I was surprised by how much the texture of the standard noodles changed in just hot water alone and I worry the no-boil ones would overcook with a hot water soak. 

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More Lasagna Tips

It’s worth mentioning that in addition to the clever way that Ina handles the noodles in her turkey lasagna recipe, she has a few more tricks up her sleeve. The addition of goat cheese in the ricotta mixture had a huge impact on the flavor. The tang cuts through a lot of the richness and gives the lasagna a very savory and distinct taste. 

The only change I made was to use pork sausage instead of turkey sausage as that’s what I happened to have on hand. I love the flavor of the sausage, but I think you could easily swap it for your preferred ground meat or sausage. 

I left a square out for my husband a few evenings ago while I was out and about with the kids and his direct quote was, “What is the magical recipe.” It’s really that good! 

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