Many staples of Italian cuisine are born out of a labour of love ― handmade pastas are meticulously kneaded and and cut, and sauces are slowly simmered for hours. But when you, a home cook, want to slap together an Italian-ish dinner, you don’t necessarily have time for that. Frankly, you may not even have time to boil a pot of lasagna, much less struggle with the slippery ribbons as you lay them out before assembly.
This is where no-boil lasagna come in. In an effort to save our time and energy, the modern food technology gods have created no-boil (sometimes called “oven-ready”) lasagna noodles, which are layered into your dish raw and come out of the oven fully cooked. We did a little research and after asking food scientists and some Italian chefs what they think of the shortcut, the answer is clear: If you’re looking for a reliable alternative to traditional noodles that’s fast and user-friendly, they’re worth it.
But if you’re not a completely confident home cook, you may not trust yourself to replace cooked noodles with no-boil noodles in any old lasagna recipe you find. That’s why we found 12 lasagna recipes that specifically call for no-boil lasagna ― they’ve been been tried and tested, and guarantee a consistent result every time. Go ahead and make life a little easier with these 12 recipes.