Posted by We’ve had a long cold winter here in Utah so you can imagine my happiness when I spotted the most beautiful fresh basil plant at my local grocery store! I brought it home, sat it on the counter, watered it for a week and wondered what to do with it. Then one day, when I was extra tired and hungry, I looked over at that basil plant and it hit me: One Pot Lasagna with fresh basil! Making lasagna usually requires a pasta pot, sauce pot and baking dish to clean up, which is just too much work, especially when you’re as tired as I was! So I boiled the lasagna, drained the water, cooked the meat, added the sauce ingredients and then layered the lasagna right there in ONE POT!
And man oh man was this lasagna good! I used turkey instead of sausage or beef to reduce calories and fat. I used store-bought sauce (with clean ingredients) to save time and added plenty of my fresh basil. I didn’t have any ricotta on hand so I used cottage cheese instead. I also happened to have parmesan cheese already grated and some mozzarella in the freezer just waiting to be added to something delicious like One Pot Lasagna!
After a hard day of work around the house, Bill figured dinner was gonna be PBJ’s. So when that pot of lasagna came out of the oven, in all its bubbling glory, he did the happy dance right there in the kitchen!
You’ll love One Pot Lasagna, filled with a hearty savory sauce, fresh basil, plenty of cheese and a lot of love. Serve with my Roasted Vegetables and Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons to make this meal even more heavenly!
One Pot Lasagna
- ½ pound lasagna noodles
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 egg
- Sprinkles of garlic granules, parsley, pepper and onion powder
- 1 T olive oil
- ½ large onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- 1 pound ground turkey or hamburger
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 1 T tomato paste
- ½ cup water
- 2 T fresh basil, chopped or 2 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp each garlic granules, onion powder and salt
- 2 tsp herbs de Provence or Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp fennel (optional)
- 2 T sugar
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
Put cottage cheese in a bowl, add egg; sprinkle in some garlic granules, parsley, pepper and onion powder; mix to combine and set aside.
Fill pot with water; add a splash of olive oil and some salt. Bring to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
In the same pot on medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, onion and garlic. Sauté for 2-3 minutes then add the ground turkey; crumble with a spatula and cook until turkey is no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat. Add can of diced tomatoes (including liquid), spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, water and spices; stir to combine and simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove most of the sauce from pan (leaving enough to cover the bottom); add a layer of lasagna noodles and some spoonfuls of the cottage cheese mixture; sprinkle lightly with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Repeat with 3 more layers, ending with sauce; top with mozzarella and torn fresh basil leaves. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes until warmed through and bubbling. Serve with garlic bread and salad.
Root Notes
- Warning: your house is going to smell amazing, your family is going to be hapyOne Pot: I use a my “Island Spice Red Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven” which I love. and bought for only $79.90 on sale on Amazon. Here’s the link and they come in lots of different colors too!
- I like using ground turkey which tastes just as good as ground beef but has fewer calories and fat.
- I break the pasta noodles in half before cooking so they fit in the pot better and cook more evenly.
- Fennel you ask? I love fennel in spaghetti sauce but not everyone is a fan…your sauce, your preference.
- Tomato paste hack: since I rarely use the entire can of tomato paste, I put the excess in small silicon ice-cube trays and freeze them. Then I just pop out one of the frozen squares of tomato paste and throw it into my recipe.
Family ~ Food ~ Roots 