This Cream Cheese Lasagna recipe will change the way you cook lasagna from here on! Italian Pasta sheets are loaded with meat sauce, cream cheese, and mozzarella. It is the BEST lasagna recipe I’ve ever had! Let me show you how to make Lasagna with Cream Cheese!
Lasagne fans need to try our Easy Lasagna Recipe that has been loved over 59K times! And if you don’t care for the stacked casserole try our Lasagna Roll-Ups with cottage cheese. Serve with a green Salad and some Breadsticks and call it dinner!
Lasagna With Cream Cheese
So many different ways to make homemade lasagna and perhaps you’re happy with your lasagna recipe. But, what if I told you you’ll convert from your traditional lasagna recipe? That’s right! I thought my lasagna recipe was perfect until I finally tried my sister’s highly raved lasagna. Let me just say it seriously holds up to all the hype!
It’s loaded to the rim and mega creamy! Every serving stretches a long way and you’ll probably go for seconds, thirds…Okay, let’s leave the calorie intake up to you, but I will say this lasagne is pretty high so it can easily feed 15-20 square portions.
Once you make this cheese lasagna you’ll know what I mean. However, no shortcuts, tweaks, or alterations! You need to try it as written even if your instinct is telling you not to add that much cheese (I’m not a fan of extra cheese but trust me it works here.)
Further ado, you won’t regret making this loaded lasagna, it was worth every minute of my time because it’s seriously the best lasagna ever, (no wonder my sister serves it nearly every time she has guests–its the lasagna you make to impress friends!)
Lasagna Ingredients:
This Lasagne recipe is simple but every amount is extremely important for successful results. You can alter the seasonings and meat but do stick to the other ingredients.
- Meat: use lean ground beef like 80/20 but if you have 70/30 (30% fat) just drain the fat after the meat has cooked.
- Vegetables: a blend of mushrooms, carrot, and onion take this to a whole other level of goodness! Use canned mushrooms to shorten the cooking time, they are still plump and delicious!
- Mozzarella Cheese- I know it calls for way more mozzarella cheese than standard lasagna recipes but this is a loaded casserole with tons of meat sauce and veggies so it balances out just right.
- Cream Cheese- this calls for 1 1/2 pounds of cream cheese and is way better than ricotta or any other creamy cheeses! Can’t believe I’ve been missing out this long!
- Spices- I used a blend of Italian seasoning, oregano, garlic salt, black pepper, and sugar.
- Lasagna Noodles (semolina flour and water)- I do not recommend using oven-ready lasagna noodles. In order, to do that you’d have to tweak the liquid proportions and cooking time, which can alter the overall taste of the dish. Use any pasta-wide flat sheets (I used lasagna with ruffle edges) that you can boil like Barilla lasagna sheets.
- Tomato Sauce- the filling for this lasagna pasta is like an Italian Ragu only with a Russian twist (carrots and onion.) Use any pasta sauce to make this meat sauce (I used Reggano traditional pasta sauce from Aldi.)
Favorite Pasta Recipes:
- Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti Al Forno (Copycat)- Baked ZIti
- Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo
- Shrimp Alfredo
- One-Pot Creamy Angel Hair Pasta Recipe
- Olive Garden Ravioli di Portobello Copycat Recipe
Everything You Need To Make Lasagna:
- STAUB Deep-dish Casserole Pan- or any pan at least 3 inches deep to hold this lasagna, plus its even freezer safe!
- Calphalon 5-quart pan– perfect for making meat sauce.
- Rubber Spatula- a much-needed cooking utensil for stirring.
- Large Mixing Bowl– to cool meat sauce in before you layer lasagna.
- Box Grater- for grating cheeses.
- Aluminum Foil- you’ll need to cover this lasagna dish when baking in order for the cheeses to melt.
Q&A
What Is Lasagna?
Lasagne (plural for lasagna) is an Italian dish made from wide flat sheets of pasta then stacked between fillings and cheeses. This dish is considered a casserole since it bakes with tomato sauce inside a lasagna pan.
Best Lasagna Pan?
You’ll need a deep-dish lasagna pan to make this recipe! Although this calls for 9 sheets of lasagna noodles, it is stacked high and loaded with cheese, meat sauce, and veggies. So, look for anything deeper than 3-inches deep, preferably a 16x10x6 (or a 13x9x3 if baked on a sheet pan).
How To Make Lasagna Step-by-step?
- First, brown the beef and drain any excess fat. Set aside.
- In the same skillet add 4 Tbsp of butter, carrot, and onion. Saute vegetables until soft (5 minutes.) Add the canned mushrooms, browned beef, tomato sauce, and spices. Stir and remove from heat (DO NOT BOIL.) Transfer to a bowl to cool.
- Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles for 20 minutes (you want ready pasta sheets for this.) Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside.
- Grate the cream cheese with a box grater.
- Assemble the layers in the following order; 3 pasta sheets, 3 cups of meat sauce, 8 oz cream cheese, and 3 cups of grated mozzarella cheese. Repeat with two more layers ending with an extra cup of mozzarella cheese to cover the casserole well (this helps from the pasta sheets from drying out.)
- Bake covered at 300°F for 1 1/2 hours.
Can I Use Oven-ready Lasagna Noodles?
The lasagna noodles I used were regular lasagna pasta sheets. You don’t want any no-boil lasagna noodles for this. Using oven-ready noodles for this would alter the whole dish. In order to use oven-ready pasta, you need to stick to certain liquid proportions and cooking times. Since the pasta is pretty much cooked here, it would only need to be heated in the oven to melt the cheeses and make the filling hot.
How To Layer Lasagna?
The lasagna layer order is as follows: 3 pasta sheets, 3 cups of meat sauce, 8 oz cream cheese, and 3 cups of grated mozzarella cheese. Repeat with two more layers ending with an extra cup of mozzarella cheese to cover the casserole well (this helps from the pasta sheets from drying out.)
Can I Use Other Meat?
Ground chicken, venison, beef, turkey, pork, or bison can be used for making lasagne.
How Long To Cook Lasagna?
Lasagne vary in cooking times depending on how al dente your noodles are and how much filling you have. This recipe takes 1 1/2 hours to bake since it’s loaded with meat sauce and cheeses. In order to find out how long to bake lasagna set your timer on to 1.5 hours and check from there until cheeses look melted.
What Tempeture to Cook Lasagna?
This casserole can be baked anywhere from 300-350°F (bake at 300°F for a moist lasagna that doesn’t dry out.) However, baking it low and slow results in perfectly soft noodles and gooey cheese.
Cook’s Tip: cover the top layer with an extra cup of cheese to prevent the noodles from drying out. If the cheeses still look like they didn’t melt uncover the casserole and broil until bubbly.
Storing Lasagna?
Once lasagna bakes it is best stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Don’t the lasagna sit out for too long at room temperature as it can go sour.
Can You Freeze Lasagna?
If you’re wondering how to freeze lasagna you totally can! Cool and assemble the lasagna per instructions (DO NOT BAKE). Then cover the casserole dish with a double layer of aluminum foil to prevent frost and wrap it in a grocery bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
How to reheat fried lasagna: thaw the frozen lasagna before baking for 2 hours at 300°F.
This frozen lasagna is far better than any Stouffers lasagna!
How To Use Cream Cheese In Lasagna?
You can use cream cheese for lasagna! Typically the cheeses that go into lasagna are ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella. However, cream cheese surpasses any curd-like cheeses out there!
To use cream cheese in lasagna, you’ll need a box grater to grate the cheese. Cream cheese can be messy to grate with so if you want to make the process easier, simply pop the cream cheese into the freezer for at least an hour. Grating will be a breeze, although I don’t mind the mess.
Best Tips Making Lasagna:
- Cover the top layer with an extra cup of cheese to prevent the noodles from drying out.
- Use a flavorful tomato sauce like the Aldi Reggano Traditional Pasta Sauce.
- Freeze the block of cream cheese before grating, it will make the process a breeze.
- Use regular lasagna noodles (no-boil or oven-ready noodles will not work for this cream cheese lasagna.)
- Buy a deep-dish casserole dish to fit all the layers in. Preferably a 16x10x6 (or a 13x9x3 if baked on a sheet pan).
- Bake long and slow so the cheeses don’t dry out.
How To Make Cream Cheese Lasagna:
Cream Cheese Lasagna Recipe
Equipment
- 1 deep-dish casserole (3-inches deep or more)
- 1 5-quart pan
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef*
- 1 carrot (shredded)
- 1 onion (diced)
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 9 Lasagna noodles
- 13 oz canned mushrooms (2 small cans, drained)
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 9 cups mozzarella cheese (grated)
- 36 oz pasta sauce (4 1/2 cups Reggano Traditional Pasta Sauce)
Instructions
Directions:
Brown the beef and drain any excess fat. Set Aside.- In the same skillet add 4 Tbsp of butter, carrot, and onion. Saute vegetables until soft (5 minutes.) Add the canned mushrooms, browned beef, tomato sauce, and spices. Stir and remove from heat (DO NOT boil.) Transfer to a bowl to cool.
- Meanwhile, boil the lasagna noodles for 20 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside.
- Grate the cream cheese with a box grater.
- Assemble the layers in the following order; 3 pasta sheets, 3 cups of meat sauce, 8 oz cream cheese, and 3 cups of grated mozzarella cheese. Repeat with two more layers ending with an extra cup of mozzarella cheese to cover the casserole well (this helps from the pasta sheets from drying out.)
- Bake covered at 300°F for 1 1/2 hours.
Notes
- Notes:
- Be sure to cool the filling ingredients before assembling the lasagna.
- My sister does half-ground pork and chicken. If using beef drain liquid after browning or if using my sister's combo cook until all liquid evaporates.
- Use a deep-dish pan because this gets high (anything 3-inches deep or more.)
- You can freeze the cream cheese an hour in advance before grating. It's easier to handle, work with one package at a time to keep others chilled.
