Cottage cheese is a fighter. It makes you pick sides—you’re either all in or you’re up in arms. If you grew up seeing cottage cheese as something dietetic, this cottage cheese lasagna might rock your beliefs. The quintessential curds and whey make a handsome stand-in for the ricotta cheese used in a lot of homemade lasagna recipes. Thanks to its defined small curds, cottage cheese stays moist instead of turning chalky as ricotta is prone to do after an extended cooking time.
To round out the cheese layer, I mix in super-melter Fontina cheese (spring for an aged Fontina for even richer flavor) and nutty, savory Parmesan cheese. Yes, this lasagna eschews shredded mozzarella cheese, but I promise you won’t miss it.
A combo of Italian sausage and ground beef provides an ideal balance of flavor and texture to the meat sauce. Save the lean ground beef for another time. The resulting fat from an 80% blend is just enough to enrich the pasta sauce, making it possible to use cans of crushed tomatoes instead of pricier store-bought spaghetti sauce or marinara sauce. If you don’t eat beef or pork, feel free to swap in ground turkey and turkey sausage, but you might need an extra drizzle of olive oil to make up for the lost fat.
A generous amount of Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste brings intense depth and long-cooked flavor to the tomato sauce that is—surprise!—barely cooked. Retaining moisture in the sauce is key since the extra liquid gets soaked up by the uncooked lasagna noodles as the casserole bakes. That’s right, this cottage cheese lasagna ensures perfectly al dente pasta without the need to boil noodles.
Between the cottage cheese mixture and the no-cook noodles, this might not be your nonna’s traditional lasagna (we’ve got BA’s Best Lasagna recipe for that), but it’s absolutely one the whole family will enjoy, whether they think they like cottage cheese or not.
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What you’ll need
Dutch Oven
$133 $80 At Amazon
Box Grater
$12 $9 At Amazon
Wooden Spoon
$7 At Amazon
13x9" Baking Dish
$20 At Amazon
Rimmed Baking Sheet
$30 At Amazon
Recipe information
Total Time
2 hours (plus sitting time)
Yield
8–12 servings
Ingredients
1
1
8
2
8
3
2
1
1
¼
1
2
6
12
2
24
12
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Heat 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high. Cook 1 lb. ground beef (20% fat) and 8 oz. hot Italian sausage, casings removed, breaking up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until well browned and cooked through, 10–12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer meat to a medium bowl, leaving fat behind.
Step 2
Add 2 large onions, finely chopped, 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped, and 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt to same pot; if pot looks dry, add up to 1 Tbsp. more oil. Cook, stirring often, until onions are translucent and golden around the edges, 8–10 minutes. Add 2 Tbsp. double-concentrated tomato paste and 1 Tbsp. dried oregano; cook, stirring constantly, until paste is brick red and beginning to stick to bottom of pot, 5–8 minutes. Return meat to pot.
Step 3
Add one 28-oz. can plus one 14.5-oz. can crushed tomatoes, ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp. sugar, and 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper to pot. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits stuck to bottom of pot. Remove from heat and stir in 2 oz. Parmesan, finely grated (about 1 cup). Taste tomato sauce and season with more salt if needed.
Step 4
Toss 12 oz. Fontina cheese, grated (about 3 cups), and remaining 4 oz. Parmesan, finely grated (about 2 cups), in a large bowl to combine; measure out 1 cup cheese and set aside for topping. Add 2 large eggs, 24 oz. whole-milk cottage cheese, and remaining 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper to remaining cheese in bowl. Mix vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined.
Step 5
Arrange 3 regular dried lasagna noodles in a single layer in a 13x9" baking dish. (If noodles are long, arrange parallel to long sides of baking dish; if noodles are short, arrange parallel to short sides of baking dish. Don’t worry about any gaps—noodles will swell as they cook.) Spread 1½ cups tomato sauce over noodles. Scatter one third of Fontina mixture evenly over sauce (mixture will be stiff; use hands to break off small pieces and scatter over sauce). Starting with another layer of noodles, repeat process, creating 4 layers of noodles in total and ending with a layer of tomato sauce. Top lasagna with reserved cheese.
Step 6
Place baking dish on a large rimmed baking sheet (to catch drips) and bake lasagna until sauce is bubbling around the edges, top is golden brown, and noodles are al dente (insert a skewer into center of lasagna to check), 75–85 minutes. Let sit at least 15 minutes and up to 45 minutes before serving.
Do Ahead: Lasagna can be baked 2 days ahead. Let cool completely; cover loosely with foil and chill. Reheat, covered, in a 325° oven until warmed through, 30–45 minutes.
Leave a Review
Reviews (5)
Back to TopIf you like this dish, enjoy this dish. But please don’t call it lasagna.
Anonymous
New York City
9/24/2023
Cottage cheese is just WRONG in lasagna! Use egg in ricotta to keep it fluffy and moist.
Karen S.
Denver, CO
9/24/2023
Why not cottage cheese? When I was a child, the grocery stores did not offer ricotta, feta and so many other items, so our lasagna had to use cottage cheese. It was all we had and remains a viable choice for many. Let’s not be snobby about a simple recipe offering an option you don’t prefer. Many keep cottage cheese & all other ingredients in pantry except ricotta. My family expects my all day Bolognese lasagne at Christmas, but they enjoy this too.
Lanierh2
Alabama
9/24/2023
My Sicilian grandmother made her lasagna with a mixture of ricotta, cottage cheese, parmesan and eggs. It might not be Italian, but it is definitely proof positive of the ingenuity of the Italian American diaspora, also it was delicious!
Gina E
Gallatin, TN
9/25/2023
Worcester sauce was overpowering would dial that back considerably next time and overall too salty despite adjusting for the preferred salt. Certainly not traditional but was a good way to use up cottage cheese. It does need time to set otherwise is a little runny. It’s a comforting lasagna adjacent dish and would probably make again if I had cottage cheese and Italian sausage on hand that needed using but otherwise I have lasagna recipes I prefer over this one.
Anonymous
Westchester NY
9/26/2023
LOVED this lasagna recipe! I used diced tomatoes (drained), no sausage, no Worcestershire sauce (2 Tbsp water instead); and sautéed onions, garlic, hamburger and simmered tomatoes and Parmesan on the stovetop. Turned out great! Thank you! Cottage cheese was NOT WRONG in this recipe- try it!
PSM67
Albany, NY
12/27/2023