How To Make Sausage Lasagna for a Crowd
This How To Make Sausage Lasagna for a Crowd recipe is how I make a big tray of lasagna for a crowd. That crowd is my huge family!
I don't make lasagna very often because it is a huge meal to make for my large family. Even though my two adult children live on their own they come running back to mama when I have lasagna on the menu. I make two trays, a huge 11 x 16 tray and a small 8 x 8 tray. It is a great family recipe that my family enjoys and I hope yours will also.
Some of the family doesn't like ricotta cheese hence the small tray. Are they crazy or what?
I had originally planned to make homemade lasagna noodles which takes some planning but on Saturday I needed something for dinner and I said forget the homemade noodles and went to the store for some boxed pasta.
Start by cooking your sausage and setting it aside to cool while you are preparing the rest of the lasagna.
Johnsonville Italian Sausage
How to make Sausage Lasagna For a Crowd
Ingredients
- 1 package Sweet Italian Sausage
- 1 extra large jar of Pasta Sauce (64 oz)
- 2 boxes lasanga noodles
- 1½ lbs ground beef
- 1 large container Ricotta Cheese
- 16 oz ball of whole milk mozzarella cheese
- 2 lb bag of shredded mozzerella cheese
- couple sprigs of fresh parsely
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Finely mince parsley. Beat the egg in a medium sized bowl and add the container of ricotta cheese. Mix the egg, ricotta, parsley and salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator until your ready to assemble your lasagna.
- Get the largest pot you have and fill ¾ with water and place on a burner on medium low heat. This will be the pot you'll boil your lasagna noodles in. Don't try to squeeze the long noodles in a pot that is too small. The noodles will stick together and tear while they are cooking.
- Cook the sausage in a skillet per package directions. Drain on a paper towel and slice into medallions.
- Brown the ground beef in a large pot with the chopped garlic and drain well. Put the ground beef back in the pot you browned it in and add the jar of sauce. Simmer on low, stirring occasionally.
- While the sauce is warming and the water for the noodles is heating dice up the ball of mozarella cheese. Turn the heat up to high on the pot of water. Bring the water to a boil. Add ¾ of one box of the lasagna noodles. You want the noodles to be able to move around in the boiling water without sticking and tearing. It's a bit more work to cook the pasta in batches like this but I have found that it cuts way down on the number of noodles that tear and stick together.
- Allow the pasta and water to come back up to a boil and cook for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the noodles aren't sticking to each other or the bottom of the pot.
- Assemble your ingredients on the counter. Place a collander over a bowl next to the pot of boiling pasta. Turn the heat off on the sauce.
- Once the 12 minutes is up carefully remove each piece of pasta from the pot with tongs and put it into the colander. Once you have all the pasta in the colander run cold water over the pasta being sure to move the pasta around so each piece comes in contact with the cold water. This helps to keep the pasta from sticking together while you are assembling your trays.
- Add more water to the pot you cooked the noodles in and bring back to a boil. Add the rest of the first box of lasagna noodles and half of the other box. Cook the pasta the same way you cooked the first batch.
- Now begin assembling your first layer of lasagna by ladling some sauce onto the bottom of both the large and small baking pans until it is covered. Begin layering the lasagna noodles, slightly overlapping them in the bottom of each baking pan. Next ladle a layer of sauce on top of the noodles. Now randomly drop tablespoons full of ricotta over the sauce. Next sprinkle some of the shredded mozzarella cheese over the sauce and ricotta cheese. Now add a layer of sausage.Now sprinkle with some of the diced mozzarella cheese. This completes your first layer.
- Repeat step 8,9 and 10 with the remaining ingredients. You should get 3 layers in each of your pans out of the amount of ingredients I used. Keep a watch on the amount of cheese you are using for each layer. You want to make sure you have enough cheese for the top and final layer.
- Loosely cover tray with aluminum foil and bake for 60 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling.
You can print the Sausage Lasagna for a Crowd recipe below.
How To Make Sausage Lasagna For A Crowd
Sometimes when you are expecting a crowd for dinner you need a recipe that will feed 8-12 guests. This How to Make Sausage Lasagna For A Crowd recipe will make enough to feed 12. Or split the recipe up between smaller baking trays and freeze them. Sausage Lasagna is a great freezer meal recipe.
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Ingredients
- 1 package package Sweet Italian Sausage
- 64 oz Pasta Sauce
- 2 boxes lasanga noodles
- 1 ½ lbs ground beef
- 1 large container Ricotta Cheese
- 16 oz ball of whole milk mozzarella cheese
- 2 lb shredded mozzeral cheese
- couple sprigs of fresh parsely
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Finely mince parsley. Beat the egg in a medium sized bowl and add the container of ricotta cheese. Mix the egg, ricotta cheese, parsley and salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator until your ready to assemble your lasagna.
- Get the largest pot you have and fill ¾ with water and place on a burner on medium low heat. This will be the pot you'll boil your lasagna noodles in. Don't try to squeeze the long noodles in a pot that is too small. The noodles will stick together and tear while they are cooking.
- Cook the sausage in a skillet per package directions. Drain on a paper towel and slice into medallions.
- Brown the ground beef in a large pot with the chopped garlic and drain. Put the ground beef back in the pot you browned it in and add the jar of sauce. Simmer on low, stirring occasionally.
- While the sauce is warming and the water for the noodles is heating dice up the ball of mozzarella cheese. Turn the heat up to high on the pot of water. Bring the water to a boil. Add ¾ of one box of the lasagna noodles. You want the noodles to be able to move around in the boiling water without sticking and tearing. It's a bit more work to cook the pasta in batches but I have found that it cuts way down on the number of noodles that tear and stick together.
- Allow the pasta and water to come back up to a boil and cook for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the noodles aren't sticking to each other or the bottom of the pot.
- Assemble your ingredients on the counter. Place a colander over a bowl next to the pot of boiling pasta. Turn the heat off on the sauce.
- Once the 12 minutes is up carefully remove each piece of pasta from the pot with tongs and put it into the colander. Once you have all the pasta in the colander run cold water over the pasta being sure to move the pasta around so each piece comes in contact with the cold water. This helps to keep the pasta from sticking together while you are assembling your trays.
- Add more water to the pot you cooked the noodles in and bring back to a boil. Add the rest of the first box of lasagna noodles and half of the other box. Cook the pasta the same way you cooked the first batch.
- Now begin assembling your first layer of lasagna by ladling some sauce onto the bottom of both the large and small baking pans until it is covered. Begin layering the lasagna noodles, slightly overlapping them in the bottom of each baking pan.Next ladle a layer of sauce on top of the noodles. Now randomly drop tablespoons full of ricotta over the sauce. Next sprinkle some of the shredded mozzarella cheese over the sauce and ricotta cheese. Now add a layer of sausage. Now sprinkle with some of the diced mozzarella cheese. This completes your first layer.
- Repeat step 8,9 and 10 with the remaining ingredients. You should get 3 layers in each of your pans out of the amount of ingredients I used. Keep a watch on the amount of cheese you are using for each layer. You want to make sure you have enough cheese for the top and final layer.
- Loosely cover the tray with aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated 375 F. degree oven for 60 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling.
Notes
This is a huge amount of lasagna and will easily feed about 12 people and still have a piece or two left over.
You can of course make a couple of smaller trays and freeze them if your not feeding a crowd or your family is smaller then mine. Lasagna makes a great freezer meal.
Nutrition
Calories: 952kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 55g | Fat: 51g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 181mg | Sodium: 1756mg | Potassium: 1014mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 1609IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 704mg | Iron: 5mg
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See the directions above on how to assemble the layers.
Assemble the Lasagna Layers
Serve with garlic bread and a salad. This is a crowd pleaser!
Sausage Lasagna, salad and bread plated.
