Classic Lasagna made Gluten-Free

Gone are the days of swinging through Costco and grabbing a premade lasagna, such is the life of a celiac! What do you do when your husband’s favorite meal is lasagna? Simple, you figure out how to prepare a delicious classic lasagna made gluten-free!

This recipe has morphed a few times, each time it gets better and better! Also, just recently updated it because my 15yr old said my instructions didn’t make sense 😉 Hopefully this one is easier to follow. In my defense, I like to write up my recipes so they follow the method by grouping items that all get dumped in at the same time…it makes sense to me 🙂 Feel free to send me a message anytime you feel I don’t make sense 🙂

Pre-heat oven to 425* (Total bake & cool time: 70 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground sausage (Isernio’s mild Italian chicken sausage is our favorite)
• 1 onion ~ diced
• 2 cloves garlic ~ chopped
• 26 oz pasta sauce (Classico has multiple varieties that are clearly labeled gluten-free, our favorite in this recipe is Classico Italian Sausage)

• 15 oz (1 3/4 cups) cottage cheese 
• 24 oz (6 cups) mozzarella ~ shredded (divided)
• 6 Tbsp Romano or Parmesan ~ grated (divided)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil ~ chopped
• 1 egg ~ slightly beaten

• 12-16 oven ready gluten-free noodles (Our favorite are Barilla, best place to find them is Target, I order a pack of 10 at a time online and have them shipped to my door)

Instructions:

1. Make the meat sauce first. In a large pot lightly brown the sausage, then add the onion & garlic. Sauté until translucent, then add in the sauce.
2. Next make the cheese mix. In a large bowl combine cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, 4 Tbsp Parmesan/Romano, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, basil and egg.
3. Finally, bring it all together in the lasagna dish! In a 9×13 casserole dish spread 1 cup meat sauce evenly on the bottom on the dish. Then layer in the following order and repeat for a total of 4 layers: 3-4 noodles, 1 cup meat sauce, 1/4 of the cheese mix, 1 cup mozzarella
4. Use any remaining sauce on the top layer before spreading the last cup of mozzarella evenly across the top. Finally, sprinkle remaining 2 Tbsp Parmesan/Romano.
5. Tent with foil and bake for 50 minutes.  Then remove the foil and cook for another 10.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.  (total bake and cool time 70 minutes)

Tip: Depending on which brand of gluten-free noodles you use they can take a little longer to cook properly.  You can cook it longer or just make this ahead of time and serve it the next day.  If you want to add a little twist to the classic lasagna and shorten the baking time you can use gluten free fusilli noodles, pre-cooked instead. The Barilla noodles linked above are the best for this recipe.