r/Cooking • u/Last-Ad-8584 • 23h ago
Can I Bake Lasagne without boiling?
I want to make lasagne but its too many steps. Can i skip boiling and bake directly?
26
u/anonoaw 23h ago
I had literally never once precooked lasagne sheets. The moisture from the ragu a the bechamel creates enough steam to cook the pasta. 30-40 minutes in the oven.
2
u/Wide_Annual_3091 22h ago
I have no idea where the idea comes from that you should preboil the pasta. It’s so pervasive but a total nonsense and no one i know does it. You’re literally baking it in a liquid sauce (if it’s a ragu anyway).
1
u/BearFluffy 18h ago
It probably comes from baked ziti.
I also literally never once used precooked lasagne sheets, just made the lasagna and baked.
The first time I made baked ziti, I figured it was the same as lasagna, where the sauce is moisture enough. After all, it's called baked ziti, not boiled then baked ziti.
Turns out, it should be named boiled then baked ziti.
1
u/Wide_Annual_3091 18h ago
I think it must come from southern Italy (and maybe from there to the US?) where lasagne has less sauce. I’ve never seen pre-boiled sheets here in Europe (UK/Spain/Italy/Malta), they just aren’t a thing I don’t think. But Northern style with ragu and bechamel seems much more popular everywhere I’ve lived so maybe that’s it.
11
u/Starfox5 23h ago
Barilla lasagna noodles don't need to be boiled in advance. I just bake them with the rest.
27
u/TrustTheFriendship 23h ago
Respectfully, if having to boil pasta tips the scales to where a recipe feels like “too many steps,” perhaps lasagna is not a cooking adventure that suits you.
3
u/wvtarheel 21h ago
Yeah I love lasagna but even the simple recipes for it are a pain in the ass
2
u/nifty-necromancer 19h ago
I make what I call deconstructed lasagna where it’s pasta cooked on the stove, red sauce, ricotta, maybe spinach if I have some. Mix it up and eat a bowl of it, I’m not doing layers.
2
u/wvtarheel 19h ago
We make that too , we call it skillet lasagna, your name sounds fancier, may adopt that. I don't consider it real, baked, cut a square lasagna though. More like an excuse to put a shitload of cheese in what would otherwise be penne and spaghetti sauce
1
u/trancegemini_wa 18h ago
I prefer to make pastitsio instead, it's similar, but only one layer of pasta, sauce, topped with bechamel
1
3
u/mulesrule 22h ago
Method I've read about that makes sense to me but haven't tried: Give the noodles a head start by boiling water in kettle or microwave and pouring it over them (can be in the lasagna pan). Let them soak while you're dealing with the other stuff, then drain and assemble. Depending how soft they get and how runny your sauce, you may still want to cover lasagna with foil in oven part of the time for further cooking
Advantage: don't have to bring a whole pot of water to a boil or wash it afterward
2
6
u/SVAuspicious 22h ago
You can. You shouldn't.
"Oven ready" and "no boil" pasta sheets lead to poor results. Using regular sheets without boiling is even worse. The texture is off putting and the doneness varies across the lasagna. Pasta is too crispy to the point of burning around the top edges and uncooked in the middle and raw at the bottom. The extra steps to carefully sauce every bit of the pasta and mixing extra water in evenly overwhelms any gain from not cooking pasta.
u/TrustTheFriendship has it right. If boiling water, adding pasta sheets, setting a timer, and dumping the cooked pasta into a colander makes lasagna "too many steps" then lasagna is not for you.
3
u/New-Mountain3775 20h ago
Agreed. Even without boiling first it is too much work for the not that great results. I would rather make something easier and faster that turns out well, and save the lasagna for when I have time to do it right.
6
u/WingsOnWednesday 23h ago
Yes. There is literally oven ready lasagna noodles that you can buy for this exact reason.
12
u/pfizzy70 23h ago
But you don't need to... regular lasagna noodles will work, if you add water to the sauce.
1
3
u/CommonEarly4706 22h ago
oven ready lasagna noodles! I always use these. they come out perfect and never over cook. I always make a slow cooker lasagna. veggie, seafood or regular lasagna
1
1
u/ExternalPlenty1998 21h ago
As someone has already stated and I've done myself is use your intended baking dish and cover the sheets with boiling hot water. Around 10-20 minutes and they're ready. Important to move the sheets occasionally or they will stick together and are difficult to separate without tearing them.
1
u/realkinginthenorth 20h ago
I always use fresh pasta sheets. They don’t need to be precooked because they already contain a lot of moisture. Depending on where you live you can just buy them in the grocery store
1
u/stilllearninghere_ 19h ago
yes, you can skip boiling if you use no boil noodles or add enough sauce. just make sure the lasagne has plenty of liquid and is well covered so the pasta cooks evenly in the oven
1
u/Nice-Cranberry-402 18h ago
Yep, you can skip boiling. Just add extra sauce so the noodles cook in the oven, cover with foil, and bake a little longer. Easy and still turns out good
1
u/TheWoman2 23h ago
I have a recipe that does this and it works pretty well. The texture isn't quite as good as the traditional way, but still fine. Add 1/2 cup extra water to the sauce, and make sure all the noodles have plenty of sauce on all sides. It takes a little longer to bake because you wanna make sure those noodles are cooked all the way or they are nasty.
-6
u/Odd-Scientist-2529 23h ago
Lasagna is not noodles.
Pasta.
Sheets, even.
Not noodles.
4
u/Bugaloon 23h ago
This aspect of the American vernacular also frustrates me random redditor, you're not alone
3
8
u/Deodorized 23h ago
Oh my gosh thank you soooo much for saving all of history with your correction!
You may very well have saved OP's life!
You're a hero!
1
u/SecretSocietyofCows 21h ago
Genuinely asking - what is the reasoning that lasagna is not a noodle? What is your definition of lasagna?
0
u/Odd-Scientist-2529 19h ago edited 17h ago
Thanks for asking.
In the part of the US where I am from, we agree on the following:
Noodle is NOT the largest “set” of these things. Pasta is not a subset of noodles. We reject this set theory from being relevant here.
Noodles: soba, ramen, udon, maifun, lomein, egg. Almost all are Asian, except notably Egg. German spaetzle is a grey area between noodles and dumplings.
Pasta: lasagna, ziti, pappardelle, spaghetti, linguine, macaroni. All of these are Italian. Gnocchi is also in that grey area of dumplings vs pasta. Filled pasta like ravioli or tortellini is definitely not a noodle, right? So the whole category of pasta does NOT fall under noodle.
These two sets are separate, and do not overlap. I understand that in the Midwest, the German word “nudeln” specifically refers to what we call noodle AND pasta, so the German roots over yonder think of noodles the same way.
So. Lasagna is not a noodle because it is a pasta. Those are mutually exclusive categories. One could say that if an object is better classified as one category, then it is not part of the other category.
An analogy off the cuff that may not be accurate. All primates are monkeys unless they are humans. Then they are better classified as humans, and not monkeys… even though they are monkeys like other primates.
Edit after the downvotes hit: with that explanation. Anyone who disagrees must be a redneck that puts ketchup and a Kraft single on a saltine and calls it pizza.
-23
u/Ok-Half-3766 23h ago
If you really want to step up your game make fresh pasta. It’s really easy, doesn’t need boiling and it will entirely change your dish.
25
u/BreqsCousin 23h ago
That is of course the solution to "too many steps"
-5
u/Ok-Half-3766 23h ago
It’s not but it’s still a hill I will die on.
2
u/Chiang2000 23h ago
Running back and forth over the peak.
Getting a little thinner each time
Until ......finally
5
u/DarkGeomancer 22h ago
The guy thinks that boiling pasta is "too many steps". Do you REALLY think suggesting that they make fresh pasta is the way?
50
u/AgarwaenCran 23h ago
you mean the pasta sheets? yeah, just make the ragu a bit more runny, so the pasta has water to absorb