The Easiest Cottage Cheese Lasagna

This quick and easy cottage cheese lasagna exemplifies classic comfort food! It can be made up to 5 days in advance, allowing you to prepare it whenever you have time and enjoy a substantial, home-cooked meal when it is most convenient for you!

Jump to:

• You Will Love This
• Ingredients and Substitutions 
• How to Layer Lasagna
• Instructions
• Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Make-Ahead, Storage, Freezing, and Reheating 
• Serve Lasagna With 
• More Pasta Recipes
• Recipe
• Meaty Lasagna with Cottage Cheese
• 💬 Comments

You Will Love This

• The whole family will adore this simple, homemade lasagna dish, which is loaded with cheesy goodness! It consists of three cheeses, four spaghetti layers, and a straightforward hearty tomato sauce. It's the ideal meal to prepare in advance, and the leftovers taste great!
• If you enjoyed this cheesy lasagna, you should definitely visit my Creamy Greek Yogurt Alfredo Pasta Sauce, Protein Cottage Cheese Mac and Cheese, Easy Boursin Pasta, and Buffalo Wild Wings CrockPot Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta Recipe.

Ingredients and Substitutions 

This quick and easy cottage cheese lasagna recipe only requires simple ingredients. The full proportions are listed on the printable recipe card below.

• Lasagna noodles - For this dish, use normal lasagna noodles. No-boil noodles tend to become soggy and do not hold up as well. If you prefer, you can use whole wheat lasagna noodles instead.
• Look for ground beef with an 80/20 or 85/15 ratio. Fat equals flavor, therefore ultra lean ground beef will not taste as nice. Replace half of the meat with ground Italian sausage for added flavor. If you want to keep it vegetarian, you may remove the meat entirely or substitute mushrooms, but I like to add a little protein wherever possible. You could also substitute ground turkey for ground beef.
• Garlic - Freshly minced garlic will offer you a stronger scent and greater flavor. If you only have garlic powder, feel free to use it instead. To season the meat, start with ½-¾ teaspoon and add more as desired. If you choose, you may also add sliced onion!
• Spaghetti Sauce - Use your favorite jarred spaghetti sauce or make your own if you like.
• Baby Spinach - Fresh baby spinach wilts wonderfully while baking. If you dislike spinach, you may omit it.
• Parmesan - For the most robust and fresh flavor, shred your Parmesan at home. Shredded Asiago or Romano cheese is the ideal substitute for Parmesan in lasagna.
• Mozzarella - I like to use whole milk mozzarella in this homemade lasagna because of its rich flavor and great melting consistency. If you don't have any, choose Monterey jack or provolone.
• Cottage Cheese: For the finest flavor and texture, use 4% milk fat or whole milk cottage cheese. Using low-fat cottage cheese may result in a watery filling. The closest 1:1 substitute is whole milk ricotta cheese, which can completely replace the cottage cheese in this lasagna! If you enjoy the flavor of cottage cheese but prefer the texture of ricotta, try putting it through a food processor until smooth and creamy.
• Eggs - The eggs in this lasagna will help bind the filling and create different layers. If you don't have any eggs, you may skip them and still enjoy the flavors!

How to Layer Lasagna

• Apply a thin coating of olive oil or cooking spray to a 9 x 13-inch pan to lightly butter it. This guarantees that during baking, the noodles, cheese, and filling won't adhere to the pan's edge. It helps, but it's not the end of the world if you forget this step!
• Lasagna is best layered with sauce first, followed by noodles and stuffing. Layer the remaining ingredients in that order until they are all gone. To ensure that you taste each ingredient in every mouthful, it's important to distribute your components uniformly throughout the lasagna.
• For a simple lasagna, you'll need at least three layers of noodles, but if your pan can accommodate it, you may use as many as five or six layers!
• The four layers of noodles are the highlight of this cottage cheese lasagna. When portioned out from the pan, this keeps a good stack and provides you with enough layers for a classic lasagna experience.
• Remember that in order to achieve that melty, cheesy flavor and texture on top, you want to add a reasonable layer of spaghetti sauce and a hefty coating of cheese after adding the final layer of noodles.
• Additionally, before baking, coat the tin foil with a small layer of olive oil or spray it with cooking spray to keep the cheese from sticking to it. This will prevent the melted, gooey cheese from sticking to the tin foil and instead keep it on the lasagna!
• Allowing the lasagna to rest after baking is the most difficult part of the process. The lasagna will smell fantastic and look even better than it does, but it will adhere much better after 10 to 20 minutes of rest since it will have had time to absorb all the fluids from the meat, sauce, and stuffing. Even if you serve the lasagna 20 minutes after it comes out of the oven, it will still be scorching hot since it is so heated!

Instructions

1. In a big skillet, cook ground beef with herbs and garlic.

2. Combine with the spaghetti sauce and simmer.

3. In a large bowl, combine the cottage cheese, eggs, fresh spinach, half of the mozzarella and half of the Parmesan cheeses, and a few generous pinches of salt and pepper.

4. Stir until thoroughly blended.

5. Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish with 1 cup of sauce after lightly greasing it. On the bottom of the dish, arrange three noodles in a layer, gently overlapping each other.

6. The spinach filling should be divided into thirds. Cover the noodles with one-third of the contents. Drizzle the spinach filling with a generous ½ cup of beef sauce.

7. Put three more noodles on top.

8. Drizzle a generous ½ cup of the beef sauce over the noodles and spread another ⅓ of the creamy spinach filling on top.

9. Put three more noodles on top.

10. Cover the noodles with the leftover spinach filling. Pour a generous ½ cup of the beef sauce over top.

11. Place the remaining three noodles on top. Evenly cover the noodles with the leftover beef sauce.

12. Add the remaining shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses to the lasagna.

13. Bake, carefully covered with foil, for half an hour. Take off the foil and continue baking for five more minutes.

14. Slice after letting sit for at least ten minutes. Add some parsley and Parmesan as garnish, then dig in!

Tips

• Don't follow the directions on the lasagna box if you want the nicest texture. Noodles should be cooked for approximately three minutes shorter than the package recommends. This guarantees that while the noodles remain workable, they won't crumble. When they are roasted, they will be exactly al dente!
• Remember to season your pasta water with salt! The water used to make pasta should be as salted as the sea. At least one or two tablespoons, and perhaps more, is what I prefer to add. The pasta itself is your only opportunity to season it. Additionally, you shouldn't be concerned about the pasta being overly salty because draining the noodles actually removes a lot of the salt.
• Add a pinch or two of red pepper flakes to your sauce to give it a little spiciness. It's a simple way to add a delicious twist to this recipe for homemade lasagna!

Frequently Asked Questions

Make-Ahead, Storage, Freezing, and Reheating 

• Make-Ahead: This lasagna with cheese is a classic for a quick weekday supper because it can be prepared up to five days ahead of time!
  Storage: Lasagna, whether cooked or not, can be kept in the fridge for up to five days in an airtight container.
• Freezing: The ideal food to prepare for your family to eat later is lasagna. If you store it in an airtight, freezer-safe container, it will remain fresh in the freezer for up to three months. I prefer to prepare it in a 9 x 13-inch ovenproof pan, wrap it in aluminum foil, and place it inside a large Ziploc bag.
• The simplest method for reheating frozen lasagna with cottage cheese is to leave it in the fridge for the entire night. After that, all you need to do is reheat it in the oven at 375°F for 30 to 45 minutes, or until it is bubbling and well heated.

Serve Lasagna With 

• Easy Garlic Bread
• Outback Steakhouse Bread
• Caprese Flatbread
• Arugula Salad Featuring Goat Cheese and Dried Cherries
• Kale and White Bean Salad
• Italian Grinder Salad

If you tried this Easiest Cottage Cheese Lasagna or any other recipe on my website, please feel free to leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. And remember to tag me on Instagram!

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Recipe