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
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!
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- Two 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 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.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 390
- Fat: 20g
- Saturated fat: 9g
- Carbohydrates: 37g
- Sugar: 7g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 17g
- Sodium: 711mg
- Cholesterol: 41mg
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 sauce is what makes this lasagne a hit. Creamy and flavorful thanks to the creme fraiche.
I added chopped spinach, definitely more mozz than the recipe called for and used the no-bake noodles. Delish!
This is my favorite lasagna!! I do add 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage to the sauce. Creme fraiche has been ridiculously hard to come by lately so I tried substituting mascarpone and a bit of balsamic…it was delicious! I don’t even bother with the oven ready noodles – I use regular old lasagna noodles and they bake up perfectly!
This is a great, simple recipe. My only change was to add more mozzarella cheese. The recipe makes a LOT of sauce and I didn’t use it all in the lasagne. Should I be adding all of the sauce before baking? Or is the recipe intended to leave extra sauce to pour on top, if desired?
Hi Debbie, Glad you liked it. All of the sauce should be distributed among the layers should there really should be any leftover.
Can this recipe be made a day ahead and reheated nicely or should I plan on eating it the day it is made?
Thank you!
Hi Victoria, It’s perfectly fine to make it ahead and reheat. Enjoy!
My goodness…I’ve made this lasagna multiple times with variations – adding Italian sausage, veggies, etc., always to rave reviews. But today I made it with the homemade lasagna noodles. It’s always been very, very good, but the recipe for the pasta was easy and excellent and really put this into the “MOST AMAZING” category. Great recipe in the first place; incredible recipe with the homemade pasta. Thanks for posting this one!
Hi! Can I prep this the night before serving and then bake it the following night?
Or bake and a then reheat the following night?
Thank you!
Hi Joanne, You can definitely bake this ahead and reheat. I haven’t assembled this a day ahead, but I think that should work too. Hope you enjoy!
Just a note to say I have assembled this and baked the next day (even 2 days later). Comes out great.
Yum, I just made this. Followed the recipe, used no-boil noodles and added a bunch of roasted veggies to the layers – an orange pepper, 2 poblanos, 2 zucchinis, some mushrooms and some quickly caramelized (an hour) onion. Used a ton of basil. It is wonderful, never making another recipe again. Thank you for yet another winning recipe! Every recipe I have made from this site has been fabulous!
Hi Jen – thanks for all the fab recipes, I’m looking forward to your next book!
Can this dish be assembled the day before baking? I’m looking to prep something that my kids can throw in the oven when I’m out of town…if not this one can you recommend another?
Thanks!
Donna
Hi Donna, So glad you like the recipes, and thanks for your support with the cookbook! I haven’t assembled this a day ahead, but I think it should work. Hope the kids enjoy!
Hi Jenn,
I’m looking forward to making this recipe! I happen to have a lot of part-skim mozzarella on hand right now. Will using that instead of the whole-milk change the flavor too much?
Thank you!
Hi Ruthie, It won’t change the flavor much — it will just be less creamy. Please LMK how it turns out!
Thanks for your reply, Jenn. It turned out great and our friends enjoyed it as well! It seemed plenty creamy to me, and the sauce was silky. BTW, I made my own creme fraiche and it worked really well in this recipe. Another winner!
Ruthie
So glad it came out well — thanks for reporting back!
I’ve made this several times always with very good results. Yesterday, I decided it was time once again for this meatless lasagna (you could certainly add meat if you’d prefer) and I suddenly realized I didn’t have the creme fraiche! I did have some half and half and some 2% plain yogurt, so I mixed them together until the right consistency. The lasagna tasted exactly as it had with creme fraiche. I thought this was worth mentioning should creme fraiche not be readily available everywhere!