Classic lasagna has an incredible taste, making it a favorite meal for many people, especially those who love flavorful beef. It is an excellent dish for feeding a large family and unites everyone with its taste bud-teasing flavors.
This lasagna recipe uses more sauce and cheese and more flavorful meat for an incredible taste. Another upside of lasagna is that it can serve you for days.
And that is because you can store your meal in a freezer for 3 – 5 days. All you have to do is cover the leftovers with plastic wrap and keep them away in a freezer.
You can also reheat the leftovers after covering them with aluminum foil and baking at 350°F until the lasagna is hot and bubbly.
You can use this recipe to prepare classic lasagna. We will take you through all the steps and the ingredients you need to treat your family to a tasteful lasagna.
Also, we will go through the steps for cooking this favorite dish for many using a toaster oven. So, be sure to read on for more information.
Ingredients
- ¾-pound of lasagna noodles
- 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 pounds of ground beef
- 4 minced cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
- Black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 jars of marinara (32 Oz.)
- 16 oz. of ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup of Parmesan, freshly grated
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- Kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 pounds of sliced mozzarella cheese
Directions
Step 1: Preheat the toaster oven to 350°.
Cook pasta in a large pot with salted boiling water until al dente. Cooking will take less than 2 minutes, but ensure you follow the package directions. Drain the water and drizzle some olive oil over the pasta (lasagna noodles) to prevent them from sticking together.
Step 2: Heat oil over medium-high heat in a reasonably sized pot.
Cook the ground beef in the hot oil until the beef is no longer pink. Use a wooden spoon to break the beef apart. After you’ve seen the beef is no longer pink, remove the pot from the heat and drain fat.
Step 3: Add garlic and oregano to the beef and cook for one minute.
After draining the fat, you want to return the beef to the skillet and add the ingredients above. You will stir the beef and the ingredients for a minute while cooking.
After the 1 minute is over, season the beef with pepper and salt. You can then add marinara and stir the mixture until you’ve warmed it through.
Step 4: Combine ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, and egg in the mixing bowl.
Take a large mixing bowl and combine ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, and egg in the mixing bowl, then be sure to season the mixture with pepper and salt before setting the bowl aside.
Step 5: Take a large casserole dish and spread a quarter of the meat sauce across the bottom of this dish.
Then place a single lasagna noodle layer on top of the meat sauce. Then top this layer with a ricotta mixture. Also, add a single mozzarella layer before finishing with a layer of meat sauce.
Step 6: Repeat the layering procedures in step 5 above.
But you will top the last layer of lasagna noodles with meat sauce, Parmesan, and mozzarella. After creating the classic lasagna layers, cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil. Then bake for 15 minutes.
After baking for 15 minutes, increase the temperature setting to 400°. Then bake the lasagna for 30 minutes while you have uncovered it. Use some parsley to garnish the cooked lasagna before serving.
How To Use the Bake Function in A Toaster Oven
Classic lasagna has a cook time of 45 minutes. But baking lasagna in a toaster oven requires excellent use of this kitchen appliance.
The baking dish will come in handy when baking lasagna in a toaster oven. Of course, you could also use a baking pan for baking your meal. But the dish does a more incredible job.
When looking to bake lasagna in a toaster oven, be sure to follow the steps below:
Preheat the toaster oven to 350°.
You will want to place the toaster oven on a flat and even surface. Also, ensure the kitchen appliance is away from anything that heat could deform (plastics and cupboard walls) since heat radiates from toaster ovens.
Plug the toaster oven into a wall outlet.
Turn on the switch and select the 350° using the temperature control knob. Then select the Bake setting using the cooking function control knob.
Press the preheating button, and your toaster oven will work to achieve this temperature setting.
Place the baking pan inside the toaster oven.
Use aluminum foil to cover the baking pan with the lasagna. Once the kitchen appliance has indicated preheated, place the baking pan inside.
Then select the cooking time. Since the cooking time setting goes up to only 30 minutes, you might want to use the stay-on feature for baking for 45 minutes.
But some toaster oven models allow you to adjust the time, and you can select 45 minutes using digital controls.
Once you’ve baked lasagna for 45 minutes, you can bake it without the foil for 15 minutes.
Serve after resting for 15 minutes.
You will let it sit for 15 minutes before serving it to your family and guests. There are many versions of the classic lasagna. You could also use ingredients such as tomato sauce and cottage cheese to make this classic Italian meal.
It all depends on the taste you are looking to have in your lasagna.
Conclusion
Lasagna is a classic meal with incredible flavors and nutritional content. You can use various ingredients to have the taste that thrills you more.
All you need is a recipe that embodies all the ingredients a classic lasagna requires. We hope that is no longer a challenge since we have included a recipe to help you make lasagna.
What’s more, we have gone through the steps for baking lasagna using a toaster oven. Therefore, making lasagna might be more straightforward than before.
Be sure to try out other recipes to explore the many ways you could make lasagna. And with your toaster oven, you could delight everyone in a tasteful family meal.
