This delicious White Bolognese Lasagna has layers of pasta, white bolognese sauce, béchamel, creamy ricotta, and other cheeses.
White Bolognese Lasagna
Make a delicious White Bolognese Lasagna with the leftovers from our earlier White Bolognese sauce recipe! This savory and very delicious lasagna is simply fantastic.
It has layers of lasagna noodles, white bolognese sauce, creamy béchamel sauce, ricotta mixed with eggs and other cheese, as well as slices of fresh mozzarella. It’s baked until hot and bubbling on the inside and golden brown on top.
The White Bolognese sauce is the true star of this super deep dish casserole. It’s made with pancetta, ground beef and pork, and crumbled sweet Italian sausage, plus aromatic vegetables, cheeses and other dairy, and a variety of flavorful herbs and seasonings.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- White Bolognese – See the recipe here. This lasagna uses half the recipe – so you can either make a half batch by cutting the recipe in half or make the entire recipe and freeze whatever sauce you don’t use in the lasagna.
- White Sauce – Also known as béchamel, this sauce is made with heavy cream, milk, butter, all-purpose flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and dry mustard powder
- Lasagna Noodles – We used oven-ready lasagna sheets (see the brand we used here) that don’t need to be pre-cooked before assembling the lasagna. You can use traditional lasagna if you’d like – see Cooking Tips & Tricks below.
- Ricotta Mixture – Like other lasagna recipes the pasta and meat sauce are also layered with a creamy mixture made with fresh ricotta cheese, eggs, fresh parsley, shredded mozzarella cheese, and grated Romano cheese
- Fresh Mozzarella Slices – For extra cheesiness, we also included slices of fresh mozzarella in the lasagna.
Cooking Tips & Tricks
- Our White Bolognese Lasagna is made in a 3-inch deep 9×13-inch casserole dish. You can make a standard 2-inch depth 9×13 casserole dish – you’ll cut the recipe back by about a third.
- We used oven-ready lasagna noodles that don’t require pre-cooking. They cook up with a softer pasta texture than traditional lasagna noodles. If you prefer, you can use traditional lasagna noodles that have been partially pre-cooked according to package instructions. You should add a little extra white sauce (béchamel) to each noodle layer.
- Allow the lasagna to rest for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving so the layers set up.
White Bolognese Lasagna
This delicious White Bolognese Lasagna has layers of pasta, white bolognese sauce, béchamel, creamy ricotta, and other cheeses.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 portions 1x
- Category: entree, pasta
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
4 cups White Bolognese, see recipe here
White Sauce
1 pint heavy cream (2 cups)
2 pints whole milk (4 cups)
8 tablespoons salted butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
Ricotta Mixture
3 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Other
20 ounces oven ready lasagna sheets (we used this brand)
1 additional cup freshly grated Romano cheese
2 additional cups shredded mozzarella cheese
12 ounces fresh sliced mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Heat four cups of the White Bolognese sauce.
- In a medium saucepan, heat cream and milk.
- In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium low and once melted add the flour and stir with a whisk until combined. Stir and cook for three minutes.
- Whisk the hot cream and milk into the butter and flour mixture in three pours. Whisk completely smooth as you add each third. The first pour will make a thick paste, the second a thick sauce and the third a creamy lump free sauce.
- In a small bowl, add salt, pepper, nutmeg and dry mustard and add a little sauce and mix thoroughly with a fork or small whisk. Then whisk it into the sauce. This method will prevent the spices from lumping up.
- In a medium to large bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, parsley, mozzarella cheese, Romano cheese, kosher salt and white pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a medium sheet tray with foil.
- Start assembling the lasagna as follows:
- One cup white sauce spread across the 9x13x3-inch deep casserole dish
- Four dry lasagna sheets (more or less depending on the size of your sheets)
- One cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 ½ cups Bolognese
- Four more lasagna noodles
- One cup white sauce
- One cup ricotta mixture
- Four more lasagna sheets
- Six ounces fresh mozzarella slices (break them up to partially cover the ingredients below)
- Four more lasagna sheets
- 1 ½ cups White Bolognese
- One cup white sauce
- One cup shredded mozzarella
- Four more lasagna sheets
- Remaining ricotta mixture
- 1 ½ cups white sauce
- Remaining White Bolognese
- ½ cup Romano
- Enough white sauce to coat the top
- Remaining sliced mozzarella (again broken up to cover)
- Finish with ½ cup of grated Romano cheese. (Note that leftover white sauce will be used to serve over portions.)
- Place onto foil lined pan and cover with parchment and another piece foil, dull side up.
- Bake for one hour, remove parchment and foil (but don’t dispose yet) and cook for an additional 15 minutes uncovered to brown.
- Remove from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes with the parchment and foil back on.
- After 30 minutes, cut into 12 portions. (3×4)
- Serve with the remaining white sauce over each portion. If the white sauce gets too thick, dilute with a little milk.
Notes
We made this recipe in a 3-inch deep 9×13-inch casserole dish. If you only have a 2-inch deep casserole dish, cut the ingredients back by about a third and assemble fewer layers (skip one layer of lasagna noodles, one layer of white bolognese, one layer of white sauce, one layer of shredded mozzarella).
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make White Bolognese Lasagna ahead of time? Yes, this dish needs some time to set up before slicing so you can make it ahead of time, the same day you plan to serve it. Then cover with foil (to prevent over-browning) and then reheat in the oven until just warmed through.
- How do I store leftovers? Store refrigerated in a covered container for up to three days.
- How do I reheat leftovers? Reheat individual servings in the microwave.
- Can I freeze? Yes, you can wrap individual portions (squeeze as much air out as possible) or freeze the entire pan covered well with plastic and foil. (Make sure the pan is freezer-safe.) The full pan will need to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
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