Million Dollar Lasagna
Basic lasagnas have their time and place, but our million-dollar lasagna lays on the luxury with a trio of cheeses plus ground beef, pork, bacon and a medley of vegetables.
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 jar (7 ounces) julienned oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
- 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
- 1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce
- ASSEMBLY:
- 12 no-cook lasagna noodles
- 3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup crumbled tomato and basil feta cheese or feta cheese
- Grated Parmesan cheese, optional
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a Dutch oven, cook the ground beef, Italian sausage and onion in olive oil over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink, breaking up the meat into crumbles as you cook. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Remove the meat mixture with a slotted spoon to a bowl and set it aside.
- To the same Dutch oven, add the mushrooms and cook and stir until they’re tender. Stir in the broth, spinach, drained sun-dried tomatoes, basil, nutmeg and pepper. Bring the mixture just to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the marinara sauce, reserved meat mixture and bacon crumbles, then remove the sauce from the heat.
- Spread 1 cup of the sauce into a greased 13x9-inch baking dish. Layer that with three noodles and 2/3 cup of mozzarella cheese. Repeat those layers three more times. Top the lasagna with the remaining sauce and mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle the tomato-basil feta cheese all over.
- Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake it for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking it for 10 minutes or until the noodles are tender. Let the lasagna stand for 10 minutes before serving it. If desired, sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese.
How did we decide to crown this lasagna recipe with million-dollar status? With its three types of meat, three different cheeses, sweet sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and lots of spinach in every layer, it felt like a no-brainer to add this to our lineup of million-dollar recipes.
Our million-dollar lasagna lives up to its pricey reputation in taste alone, not for the grocery bill (can you imagine?). It’s straight up luxurious, and a wonderful deviation from a classic lasagna when you’re trying to shake up a weeknight dinner or really impress at the potluck. No-cook lasagna noodles keep assembly a breeze—it’ll be bubbling away in the oven before you know it.
- Meat: Ground beef, Italian sausage and bacon are all used in this million-dollar lasagna. Bake the bacon ahead of time so it’s ready to be crumbled into the mixture.
- Vegetables: Yes, there’s a good amount of meat, but there are even more vegetables! Onions, mushrooms, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes are in every layer of this lasagna. Make sure to thaw and squeeze the spinach dry, and drain the sun-dried tomatoes.
- Broth: Feel free to use either vegetable or chicken broth in this recipe. Although I’m a meat eater, I prefer vegetable broth because it has a more complex flavor.
- Basil: Fresh basil is key here for that traditional lasagna flavor. Place the basil leaves on top of one another, roll them up and chop them.
- Marinara sauce: If you can, splurge on the best pasta sauce at the store. Marinara is a safe bet, but we’ve been really loving Rao’s creamy roasted garlic sauce.
- No-cook lasagna noodles: You might see lasagna noodles at the store labeled “oven-ready,” “no-bake,” “no-cook” or “no-boil.” They all mean the same thing, and any of them is suitable for this lasagna. As you can probably guess, there’s no need to cook them ahead of time. Just assemble them right into the lasagna from the box!
- Cheese: We really leaned into the million-dollar of it all with three types of cheese: mozzarella, tomato-basil feta, and Parmesan. Make sure you’re using part-skim mozzarella, as fresh mozzarella is too watery.
Spread 1 cup of the sauce into a greased 13×9-inch baking dish. Layer that with three noodles and 2/3 cup of mozzarella cheese. Repeat those layers three more times.
Top the lasagna with the remaining sauce and mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle the tomato-basil feta cheese all over.
