What Makes the Best Lasagna? - Bottiglia Cucina & Enoteca (2024)

Italian Restaurant Lasagna Henderson, Nevada

What makes our lasagna so much better than the other lasagnas you’ve had? And how can you make a great lasagna at home? We’ll share the secrets to making a great lasagna below.

Use Fresh Mozzarella

Mozzarella is a prime ingredient in just about any lasagna. But if you use shredded mozzarella out of a bag, you’re sacrificing a lot of the taste that you could potentially get out of this cheese. Shredded pre-packaged mozzarella doesn’t have much of a rich dairy flavor. Instead, use fresh mozzarella to add delicious taste to the lasagna.

Fresh mozzarella isn’t difficult to incorporate. Pick up a ball of it at your local grocery store, then use a cheese grater to shred it into the lasagna. You’ll be rewarded with a wonderful taste and excellent texture.

Don’t Skimp on the Parmesan and Herbs

Mozzarella may be a foundation of any good lasagna, but parmesan cheese and herbs help to complement the mozzarella and bring out its flavor.

Choose Your Noodles Carefully

It seems counterintuitive – you would think that fresh pasta noodles would be essential to a great lasagna – but the opposite is actually true. Yes, we love the taste of fresh, homemade pasta, but often it’s a bit too soft for lasagna.

Instead, no-bake noodles often work the best. These noodle sheets offer just the right amount of firmness when fully cooked to make for a lasagna that can stand upright on your plate without being overly chewy. Just be sure to be generous with the amount of sauce you use, since the noodles will absorb some of it as they bake.

Want to use baked noodles? Then be sure to watch your cook time carefully. It’s easy to overcook the noodles before you actually introduce them to the dish. Instead, boil the noodles for 4 to 5 minutes, then put them into your dish. They’ll finish cooking as the lasagna bakes.

Watch Out for Too Much Water

Adding vegetables into lasagna can be a great way to get some variety and customize the lasagna to your taste. Vegetables like spinach, zucchini, and mushrooms are particularly popular, but they can have a negative effect on your lasagna: Too much water.

There’s nothing worse than a lasagna that’s watery and flowing all over the plate. Not only is the texture undesirable, but it makes simply serving up the dish a challenge. Vegetables can get soggy while baking, and can water down your lasagna.

If you do choose to incorporate vegetables into your lasagna, be careful about the amounts of vegetables that you add. Saute the vegetables first, then squeeze out any liquid before adding them. And if you want to use spinach? Go with a quick-cooking spinach, which releases less water as it bakes.

Create Your Layers Correctly

Making a great lasagna? Well, it starts with the layers – and this is where so many people go wrong. How many lasagnas have you had where the bottom pasta layer was torn up or even missing? If you want the lasagna to come out of the baking dish correctly, then your first layer should be sauce – always.

As you build your layers, make sure that you have room to create at least three layers. You may need to purchase a deeper pan to accommodate the lasagna, but a lasagna with just two layers? It’s not a lasagna.

Freshness

You can have the best recipe in the world, but it still won’t taste like a great lasagna unless you make sure to use only the fresh ingredients. From the mozzarella to the herbs, fresh just tastes best. There’s a noticeable difference when you’ve put in the extra effort to use fresh ingredients, and the result will be an unbeatable lasagna that everyone loves.

Lasagna Done Right

Want to enjoy a truly delicious lasagna, but don’t want to spend hours prepping it in the kitchen? Then come to Bottiglia Cucina & Enoteca and let us treat you to our own amazing lasagna.

Our Spinach Lasagna has been expertly baked by our talented chefs. Incorporating ricotta, basil, and mozzarella, this dish is loaded with flavor, and it’s no wonder that it’s such a favorite.

While you’re here, be sure to review the other delectable options on our menu. Whether you’re craving chicken parmesan, veal marsala, or even a vegan pasta dish, we’re sure to have options to keep you and your whole party satisfied.