A Nice Cheese Lasagna
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From cookbook author Julia Turshen, this cheese lasagna is light, simple, and elegant—a fresh take on a classic that’s as effortless as it is delicious!
This cheese lasagna recipe is adapted from Julia Turshen’s cookbook, Small Victories (2016), and it’s one of the simplest, lightest, and most elegant lasagna I’ve ever made. The recipe includes a few “small victories” that make it both easy and delicious: using no-boil noodles that are ready to use, replacing ricotta or béchamel with crème fraîche stirred directly into the tomato sauce for effortless creaminess (I love this cheat—the sauce is so good it’s hard to resist sneaking spoonfuls!), and a high sauce-to-pasta ratio that lets the noodles soak up the sauce’s flavor as they bake. It’s proof that lasagna doesn’t have to be complicated to be absolutely delicious.
“This is a lovely lasagna.”
What You’ll Need To Make Cheese Lasagna
Step-by-Step Instructions
In a large bowl, crush the tomatoes with your hands (this is a messy but fun job—it’s a very good one for children) until they are in bite-size pieces.
In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, cook the garlic until it begins to sizzle.
Add the tomatoes and 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let the sauce simmer, stirring every so often, until it is slightly reduced, about 30 minutes.
Whisk the crème fraîche into the sauce and season to taste with salt. Set the sauce aside to cool to room temperature while you conquer the pasta.
Preheat your oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Ladle a thin layer of room-temperature sauce onto the bottom of a 9-by-13-in baking dish. Spread the sauce with a spoon to cover the surface of the dish. Add 3 sheets of pasta in a single layer over the sauce.
Spoon over just enough tomato sauce to cover the pasta and then scatter over some of the Parmesan, mozzarella, and basil.
Repeat the layering process until you’ve used up all of your components, ending with sauce and cheese (not naked pasta or basil, both of which would burn if exposed).
Bake the lasagna, uncovered, until it’s gorgeously browned and the edges are bubbling, 35 to 40 minutes. Let it rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. This lets the pasta fully absorb all of the bubbling sauce, so you don’t end up with soupy slices.
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A Nice Cheese Lasagna
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 2 (28-oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- Kosher salt
- 1 cup crème fraîche
For Assembling
- 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (I like Barilla)
- 1 cup finely grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1½ cups coarsely grated whole-milk mozzarella cheese
- 2 large handfuls fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces if large
Instructions
For the Sauce
- In a large bowl, crush the tomatoes with your hands (this is a messy but fun job—it’s a very good one for children) until they are in bite-size pieces.
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil, add the garlic, and cook, stirring, until it begins to sizzle, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let the sauce simmer, stirring every so often, until it is slightly reduced, about 30 minutes.
- Whisk the crème fraîche into the sauce and season to taste with salt. Set the sauce aside to cool to room temperature while you conquer the pasta.
For the Lasagna
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position.
- Ladle a thin layer of room-temperature sauce onto the bottom of a 9 x 13-in (23 x 33-cm) baking dish. Spread the sauce with a spoon to cover the surface of the dish. Add 3 sheets of pasta in a single layer over the sauce. Spoon over just enough tomato sauce to cover the pasta, and then scatter over some of the Parmesan, mozzarella, and basil. Repeat the layering process until you’ve used up all of your components, ending with sauce and cheese (not naked pasta or basil, both of which would burn if exposed).
- Bake the lasagna, uncovered, until it’s gorgeously browned and the edges are bubbling, 35 to 40 minutes. Let it rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. This lets the pasta fully absorb all of the bubbling sauce, so you don’t end up with soupy slices.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I love the title ..it IS a nice lasagne . I make it exactly as stated , usually served as a starter before the main meal. It is a favorite, the best! Thanks for sharing.
Can I substitute Romano for Parmesan?
If so, same amount?
Thanks!
Yes and yes – enjoy!
I’m wondering if it would be okay to use a 9 x 13” non-stick metal pan for this lasagna?
Sure – hope you enjoy!
Hi Jenn – This is my favorite lasagna recipe! I’ve used the no-boil noodles before which was great, but I just got a pasta maker and was hoping to use fresh lasagna noodles instead. Will that come out the same? Or would I need to modify cooking times? Thank you!
So glad you like this lasagna! The baking time should remain about the same. Enjoy your pasta maker! 🙂
Delicious as expected! I used About 10 No boil noodles. I also added some Italian sausage and accidentally forgot to buy Parmigiano so increased the mozzarella To make up for it. This will be in our rotation for life! Pretty easy to make too.
This recipe is perfect! I’ll never make lasagna another way again. I use no-bake noodles and diced tomatoes instead of whole. These two (minor) swaps make this recipe so quick and easy to throw together with minimal mess! A keeper for sure!
And I forgot to add 5 stars!
Made this last night and it was fantastic! My question for next time is-would there be a difference in using crushed canned tomatoes as opposed to crushing them yourself? Thanks! Kristy
Glad you enjoyed it! For the right consistency for the sauce, I would use diced tomatoes or 1 can diced and 1 can crushed. Please let me know how it turns out if you try it that way. 🙂
Hi Jenn,
I tried this with the one can diced and one can crushed and it was good but not as delicious as made with the two cans of whole tomatoes. One can was fire roasted (crushed) so that might’ve thrown off my experiment -didn’t notice when I bought it. In the finished lasagna some of the diced tomatoes didn’t break down fully so there are some firm bits that my kids and I didn’t like. I should mention as a caveat that I originally used two cans of whole San Manzano tomatoes, and this time used a good brand of organic canned tomatoes. My last note is that when I first made this I added in some cooked Italian sausage which may also be skewing my results, that was such a tasty add in. Conclusion: For me, it’s whole tomatoes all the way! When I made this on Xmas day I thought my 4 year old would love squishing the tomatoes for me but I was wrong- the tomatoes squirted her face and she was out! Lol
*San Marzano tomatoes
I made this last night and it makes a TON of sauce! I ended up using traditional lasagna noodles with the curled edges- uncooked. I added sausage, but really, it didn’t ‘need’ it. My husband is a meatasaurus:) This was a delicious sauce with plenty absorbed into the noodles with enough left in the pan to spoon over the top of each piece. Thank you- this is a keeper. I am not a fan of ricotta in lasagna so I really liked it!
Hi- can I make this a couple of days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until I am ready to make?
Hi Ali, I think a day ahead would be fine, but not sure I’d let it sit for a couple of days. I worry that the noodles would soak up too much of the sauce and the cooked lasagna would be a bit dry.
I really liked this recipe and it was easy to make! The sauce is delicious!