Our family loves lasagna — however, I don’t always love making lasagna because it seems like I get SO many dishes dirty and make such a huge mess of the kitchen. Plus, a full pan of lasagna makes way too much food for our little family — which means we end up eating lasagna leftovers for the next week or more (unless I freeze it).
So in an effort to please the family and make life a little easier on myself, I came up with this “lasagna-like” recipe. It’s a simple, delicious recipe that tastes just like lasagna but without all the work!
If you like traditional lasagna I’m almost positive you’ll love this recipe too!
Recipe for Lasagna-Like Pasta Bake
Makes one 9″ x 13″ pan or 2 smaller pans.
INGREDIENTS:
- 16 oz. box of your favorite pasta (I would choose a bite-size noodle over the longer spaghetti noodles)
- 16 oz. tub of cottage cheese
- 1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey (optional and not pictured above)
- 6 oz. can of tomato paste
- 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
- 1.5 oz. package pasta sauce seasoning (usually in the aisle with spices, gravy mixes, etc)
- 2 c. water
- 8 oz. shredded Italian-style cheese
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350*F
- In a large pot, boil pasta until tender. Drain (but do not rinse).
- Dump entire container of cottage cheese over hot noodles and stir until combined. Set aside.
- While noodles boil, brown meat in a large frying pan. Drain grease and return pan to stove.
- Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, pasta seasoning and water to the frying pan and simmer until thick and bubbly.
- Add cooked meat into the tomato sauce and stir.
Assembly:
- Dump noodles + cottage cheese mixture into a greased 9″ x 13″ pan (or 2 smaller pans)
- Pour sauce over noodles
- Top with cheese
- Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes — or until cheese is melted.
- Eat and enjoy!
I can usually get this meal in the oven in about 20 minutes (even less time if I already have the meat cooked up in the freezer) so it’s definitely faster and easier than traditional lasagna recipes. Plus, I only have 2 pans and a spatula to wash!
I often make the meal in the morning and simply refrigerate it until dinner time — and yes, it freezes wonderfully. Oh, and I should mention that it definitely does NOT need to be made in a round pan — I was just running low on square pans so I used a 9″ in cake pan instead 🙂
This is a real kid-pleasing recipe and is also great for pot-lucks or other group meals.
Of course, you may feel free to play with the ingredients to fit your tastes. Maybe use your favorite pasta sauce, add a few seasonings or spices, play with various cheeses — I really don’t think you can mess this one up!
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Sarah says
This is definitely a keeper! I made 2 pans intending to freeze one, but they didn’t last long enough. We loved this recipe.
I only had spaghetti noodles and they worked great…like baked spaghetti that tastes like lasagna. Also, we don’t have meat very often so I cut up small bites of veg meat we had on hand, sauteed, and stirred it in. Very tasty.
Abbie says
We are in the middle of deer hunting season where I live. I substituted ground venison in this recipe for the ground beef to the rave reviews of my family. And yes, this is so, so much easier to make than lasagna! I think we will adopt Julia’s “Not Lasagna” name too : )
Andrea says
YUUUUMMMM! I love ground venison! I’m sure it was amazing 😉
Michaela says
I made this about a month ago and my kids loved it so much they have brought it up asking me to make it again at least five times! so I had to search it on your site to make it this week.
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing — glad you guys liked it!
Kristin says
Looks amazing!! Wondering what is the best way to freeze the second batch?
Andrea says
Thanks Kristin — and as for freezing, just wrap it up in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and pop it in the freezer. No special or complicated instructions!
Kris Gamertsfelder says
I made this for dinner last night. It was simple to make and tasted great! My husband and daughter loved it!
Andrea says
Thanks for letting me know — glad you enjoyed it!
Nicole says
Just made this with summer veggies instead of meat! Spinach, mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers. Can’t wait for dinner and so excited to have one to freeze! Thanks for the recipe!
Andrea says
yum — that sounds awesome!
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup says
My favorite recipes are those that can easily be doubled – one for dinner and one for the freezer! Thanks so much – this one looks delish.
Lee Cockrum says
This recipe looks good, and I like the idea, something easy to serve with a spoon, great for pot lucks! You could make a 9 x 9 pan of regular lasagna with probably the same amount of dishes and time if you used the no cook noodles. They are smaller than the regular ones, perfect for a 9 x 9 pan! They do cost a bit more than the others, but they are worth it to me!
Jennifer says
I love your creamy cheesy chicken lasagna, so can’t wait to try this. Going to have to make the spaghetti sauce from scratch though because that’s why I grow tomatoes. I store it up in the freezer for pasta dishes and pizzas.
Andrea says
yum! Love homemade sauce from scratch! Our tomatoes didn’t grow this year (not sure why) so I will not be canning “from scratch” sauce this year 🙁
Aa, says
I do something just like yours with tagliatelle and it works out beautifully, it creates a fake layer just as lasgna sheets do. And if you let it set before eating, it cuts easy and keep its structure.
I sometimes add in one layer of grilled eggplant slices, they give such a great flavour to the dish (if you like eggplant) or mushrooms.
Here in Europe we have lasagna sheets that do not need to be boiled, so it gets easier to make one, but I still prefer it with italian tagliatelle eventhough italians would have me killed for calling that lasagna, haha! The tastes is the only one that matter!
Andrea says
Sounds yummy — although I’m not sure I could get Dave do to eggplant! I’ve put zucchini in before, but never eggplant 🙂
Jaime says
We make something like this and call it lazy lasagna! I’ve always wondered how cottage cheese tastes in pasta recipes compared to ricotta, but have been too chicken to try it.
Andrea says
I can assure you that unless you have an intense hatred of cottage cheese, you will never know the difference. Plus, cottage cheese is A LOT cheaper at our grocery store!
Oh, and I love the “Lazy Lasagna” name. I might have to steal that!
Kelly says
This is one of my favorite dishes to make. We also put sour cream in at the same time as the cottage cheese. I totally agree about it being way easier than lasagna!
Barbara says
This look great, but my family would move out if I used cottage cheese in anything. Do you think ricotta would work or would it be too dry? Thanks!
Andrea says
I think Ricotta would definitely work just fine!
Kari says
Barbara,
You could try mixing an egg in with your ricotta if you are worried about it being dry. I do that in a similar recipe with good results.
Barbara says
Thanks for the egg tip, great idea!
Kristen says
Did you know today was National Lasagna Day?? What a timely post 😉
Do you freeze the second casserole after it’s cooked and then just reheat in the oven?
Julia says
We make something similar since lasagna always seems to be such a pain to make. I like to use Italian turkey sausage, and sometimes we just use half the package to make the meat go farther. I also like to put ricotta cheese in it and sprinkle a little crushed red pepper flakes on top. We call it “not lasagna,” haha. I’ve never mixed the cheese in with the noodles before adding the sauce. I’ll have to try that sometime. This looks yummy!
Andrea says
Sounds yummy Julia! And I love the “not lasagna” name too. I should have thought of something more clever than “Lasagna Pasta Bake”. Oh well 🙂