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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The first time I made this my 13 year old daughter absolutely loved it and said “this is what I think of when I think of lasagna.” I sub sour cream for creme fraiche. This dish is a Sunday staple at our house. Thank you Jenn!
I also had a lot of extra sauce after I had used my 12 lasagna noodles. So, I rolled the dice and used the rest of the sauce and all the lasagna noodles in the box (15?). I used more cheese for an additional layer. I assembled it the night before I baked it and it came out perfectly. Not too dry, not too wet. I’m not sure why I had so much extra sauce but it worked out in the end by being able to use the whole box of lasagna noodles. I will definitely make this again. It was a hit for both kids and adults.
Love this recipe! My mom wants it for her 90th birthday party. I will need to make three of them – eek! Should I assemble them the day before, refrigerate…then bring to room temp before baking? Or just assemble them a few hours before the party and just let them stay at room temp on the counter before baking?
Hi Karen, I really think you could go either way here. From a food safety perspective, I just wouldn’t let them sit on the counter for much longer than an hour. Happy 90th to your mom! 🙂
Hi Jenn, can’t wait to try this! Forgive me if I’ve missed where you’ve already answered this, but I’m wondering whether there’s any reason why this couldn’t be made the night before and refrigerated? Thank you!
Hi Brenna, I’m assuming you mean assemble it and then cook it the following day? If so, I haven’t tried it, but it should work. Hope you enjoy!
I made this last night and followed the recipe to the T using no-boil lasagna. The sauce was amazing and the lasagna tasted good. However, the baked lasagna was flat (4 layers as called for) and I had a lot of sauce left over in the pot. Would love to know where I went wrong.
Hi Helene, Did you use a 9×13-in pan?
Yes, a glass pyrex 9x 13
Hmmm – is there any chance you could’ve made a measuring error with one of the ingredients? Did you make any adjustments to the recipe?
No adjustments. Followed the recipe exactly. My grandchild couldn’t get enough of the “pizza”. I will try it again in the near future and see what happens.
I love an old school lasagna, but really appreciated how light and tasty this was! My kids loved that there weren’t crunchy edges. A really yummy alternative to the classic!
What a great and quick lasagne recipe — I’ll be using it often! Thanks.
Hi Jenn,
There is no ready to buy creme fraiche where I live. How can I make it?
Thanks,
Jenny
Hi Jenny, A few readers have commented that they’ve made their own creme fraiche. You can find out how here. Hope that helps!
I’ve made this lasagna twice; once meatless and once with Italian sausage. Both were terrific.
Can you suggest the best method for reheating the leftovers?
So glad you’ve enjoyed it Donna! If you just want to reheat a piece of it, I think the microwave would be easiest. If you have a large portion of it to reheat, I’d put it in a 325-degree oven, covered, for about 15 or 20 minutes or until heated all the way through. Hope that helps!
My sister and I both made this for our families the same weekend and agreed it was one of the best Lasagna recipes we have ever made – full family consensus. The no-boil noodles were brilliant and there is something about the flavor of the Crème Fraiche that makes this especially unusual and outstanding. I made my own crème fraiche as I had both buttermilk and heavy crème on hand. Jenn, once again, you knocked it out with this recipe along with your sensible and time saving revisions.