As a busy mom with a picky eater, I find lasagna a straightforward dish with familiar ingredients that pleases my family.
I have a standard family recipe I always use, but I recently tested out lasagna recipes from the celebrity chefs Giada De Laurentiis, Ina Garten, and Ree Drummond.
Here's how the unique recipes stacked up.
Garten’s recipe calls for interesting ingredients, such as goat cheese.Garten's lasagna had ground turkey and a mix of cheeses.
Terri Peters
Garten's easy turkey lasagna is a simple take on the standard recipe with a few surprising ingredients — namely, goat cheese for the filling.
Her recipe calls for sweet Italian turkey sausage, but since I had trouble finding that at any grocery stores near me, I used regular ground turkey and seasoned it with Italian seasoning, red-pepper flakes, and a bit of sugar.
This base sauce has ground turkey and crushed tomatoes.I made the sauce first.
Terri Peters
After seasoning the ground turkey, making the sauce was pretty straightforward.
When I simmered onion, fresh herbs, canned crushed tomatoes, and tomato paste together, I had a pretty standard, meaty sauce to work with.
Garten's recipe combines goat cheese and ricotta for a flavorful mixture.I don't usually put goat cheese in my lasagna, but I was willing to give it a try.
Terri Peters
I'd never made lasagna with goat cheese, but Garten's recipe meant I stirred 3 to 4 ounces of it into 15 ounces of ricotta.
The combination was tart and flavorful. The flavors of the goat cheese stood out in the dish, especially with the lightness of the ground turkey.
The chef then tops it all off with even more cheese.I love adding fresh mozzarella to my lasagna.
Terri Peters
I really liked that Garten's recipe included fresh mozzarella cheese.
So many lasagnas lean on grated or shredded mozzarella, so slicing up a fresh log was a nice touch.
Garten's lasagna would be the winner if I were giving awards for the cheesiness.Garten's lasagna ended up being super cheesy.
Terri Peters
Garten's cheese-laden lasagna was a dairy lover's dream.
The goat cheese gave that layer some extra tang and flavor, and the fresh mozzarella provided layers of thick, cheesy goodness that made for a great cheese pull.
De Laurentiis’ lasagna recipe calls for lots of spinach.De Laurentiis has a fresh take on lasagna.
Terri Peters
De Laurentiis' classic Italian lasagna made me question the standard recipe I've been following for years.
I'm used to ground meat, cheeses, and tomato sauce. But De Laurentiis' recipe requires 20 ounces of frozen spinach and a mixture of white béchamel sauce and homemade tomato sauce.
I cooked the meat separately from the sauce.Giada De Laurentiis doesn't add her meat to the sauce right away.
Terri Peters
De Laurentiis' method puzzled me, but who am I to argue with a master of Italian cuisine?
I made a béchamel sauce and a standard tomato sauce to assemble the chef's lasagna and stirred the two together.
De Laurentiis also said to keep the ground beef separate, layering it into the dish on its own.
I needed a lot of ricotta and eggs for De Laurentiis’ lasagna.The recipe called for 1 ½ pounds of ricotta cheese.
Terri Peters
Before assembling, I followed the instructions and stirred together three large eggs and 1 ½ pounds of ricotta cheese.
I'm not a fan of a lasagna that's heavy on the egg flavor, but her recipe wasn't overly eggy in the end.
The large amount of spinach detracted from the dish's overall flavor.I don't think I'll continue adding spinach to my lasagna.
Terri Peters
De Laurentiis' recipe had a lot of spinach, and there wasn't much seasoning to add flavor.
The spinach was my least favorite ingredient in any of the lasagna recipes, and I'm usually a big fan of the leafy green.
De Laurentiis’ lasagna took the longest and was our least favorite.I'm not planning on making De Laurentiis' lasagna for my family again.
Terri Peters
De Laurentiis' lasagna disappointed me, mostly because it wasn't very flavorful.
I don't think the many steps of the complicated recipe paid off in the end.
Drummond's recipe calls for 3 pounds of meat.Drummond's lasagna was heavy on the meat.
Terri Peters
Drummond, better known as The Pioneer Woman, doesn't mess around with protein-filled meals.
Her simple lasagna recipe calls for 2 pounds of ground beef and a pound of hot breakfast sausage.
The chef also included cottage cheese instead of traditional ricotta and tons of fresh herbs, such as basil and parsley.
Drummond’s sauce was full of ground meat and fresh herbs.I liked the addition of basil and parsley.
Terri Peters
I eat a high-protein diet, so I was immediately drawn to Drummond's meat-heavy lasagna sauce.
Like Garten, Drummond's recipe relies on canned tomatoes and tomato paste to make up the rest of the sauce, along with lots of chopped, fresh herbs.
The recipe requires cottage cheese instead of ricotta.I couldn't tell the difference between the lasagna with ricotta and this one with cottage cheese.
Terri Peters
Cottage cheese is a staple for meeting my daily protein goals, but I'd never had it in lasagna.
Drummond completely did away with traditional ricotta, and in the end, I enjoyed the flavor the cottage cheese brought to the meal.
My son, the picky eater, didn't even notice the switch.
Drummond’s meaty lasagna had the most flavor, hands down.I've never put this much meat in my lasagna before, but it was delicious.
Terri Peters
Tossing 3 pounds of meat into a lasagna felt like overkill, but I ended up loving it.
Lasagna can be carb- and dairy-heavy, so I liked how protein-packed Drummond's version was.
Of the three dishes, Drummond’s is the one I’d make again.I can't wait to add Ree Drummond's lasagna to my dinner rotation.
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