What sold me on this recipe was that you don’t have to cook the lasagna noodles beforehand. It sounds silly, but I am terrible with pasta. I manage to miss al dente by a couple minutes every time I try.
I was nervous the first time I dished this out on dinner plates, but those nerves were short lived. It was a big success. I’ll never get the nerve to make it for Grandma, but I’m thrilled to find an alternative that makes everyone happy.
Ingredients
1 pound Jimmy Dean Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cans (15 oz. each) Contadina Tomato Sauce w/ Italian Herbs
2 teaspoons McCormick Dried Basil Leaves
½ teaspoon Morton’s Course Kosher Salt
2 cups shredded Sargento Classic Chef Style Mozzarella cheese
1 15 oz. Sorrento part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
15 uncooked Barilla Lasagna noodles
Instructions:
Cook sausage and onion in a large skillet over medium heat 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt.
Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses.
Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into 6-quart slow cooker; top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with 5 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with remaining 5 noodles and remaining sausage mixture.
Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender.
Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes.
Quick Tip: Use dried basil leaves and not ground basil. The leaves are more flavorful in the slow cooker.
Thank you to Betty Crocker for this simple twist on an old fave!
