Lasagna is a pretty complicated dish, and out of all of the various Italian pasta dishes I make, it’s the one that’s by far the easiest to mess up. In fact, most of the time when I make it, it doesn’t go well.
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So this time, I decided to try it out in my dutch oven. It’s a little different from a normal lasagna because of the shape of the pot, and I take a shortcut by using oven-ready no-boil noodles, but those two things combined made something layered, cheesy, and tasty, so I’m not going to complain.
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Can you use normal lasagna noodles? Sure! Boil them first and reduce the cooking time by a few minutes. You might also want to reduce the amount of salt in the recipe if you salt your pasta water (which you should), but that’s up to personal taste. I think my recipe is fine; my partner likes to add a bit more to his portions.
Can you add meat to the dish? Of course! Ground beef is the go-to, but you can also use some Italian sausage, or really anything you like. Just cook it first before you mix it in and you’ll be good to go.
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Why ricotta and cottage cheese? I find that just plain ricotta is a little one-note in both flavor and texture, and honestly, I don’t much care for the texture of ricotta itself. Mixing it with some small-curd cottage cheese solves those problems, so I tend to do it in all of my ricotta-using recipes. Feel free to replace the cottage cheese with more ricotta if you prefer!
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Easy Dutch Oven Lasagna
Equipment
- Large Dutch Oven
- Mixing Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 Box Oven-Ready Lasagna Noodles
- ½ Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella
- 1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
- 1 Cup Small-Curd Cottage Cheese
- 1 Cup Chopped Mushrooms
- 14.5 Oz Diced Tomatoes
- 28 Oz Crushed Tomatoes
- 1 Cup Chopped Spinach
- 1 Egg
- 1 Cup Water
- 1 Onion Diced
- 5 Cloves Garlic Minced
- 2 Tbsp Oil
- 2 Tsp Oregano
- ½ Tsp Seasoned Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Over medium heat, heat the oil in the dutch oven.
- Add your diced onion and cook about five minutes, until translucent.
- Add the garlic and cook about a minute.
- Add the tomatoes and mushrooms, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- While simmering, mix the ricotta, cottage cheese, egg, oregano, salt, and spinach in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In another bowl, mix the mozzarella and Parmesan together.
- Transfer the sauce to another mixing bowl, leaving the dutch oven empty.
- Assemble your lasagna layers. Add a layer of sauce, then of noodles, then ricotta mix, then mozzarella mix, then repeat. Sauce -> Noodles -> Ricotta -> Mozzarella. You should have enough ingredients for 3-4 layers depending on the size of your dutch oven.
- Top with any additional mozzarella and parmesan. Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes, or until the noodles have your preferred texture.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes out of the oven before digging in and serving. Enjoy!