If you love pesto, this lasagna is for you. We do and we loved it. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make it as from scratch or store bought as you like. If you have never made homemade lasagna noodles they are amazing and you can find my recipe for the pasta/instructions in the recipe for my favorite lasagna. I was in the mood for a quicker dinner prep though, so I used store bought and it was still totally delicious.
You can also use homemade pesto or store bought. I do recommend you use a good store bought one though since it is the main flavoring for the dish. Wegman’s has a great fresh pesto they make so I used that. The sauce is a bechamel sauce flavored with pesto. That is layered with noodles, seasoned ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella. I ate 2 big pieces of this, and was really tempted to eat another one before bed 🙂 If you make a big pan like this, you can let it cool completely and then wrap individual slices in plastic wrap and freeze. Then when you want one piece, defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or oven. It reheats great and I always do that with my lasagna if we don’t eat it all.
Pesto Lasagna
Ingredients
For the bechamel:
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1/2 tsp salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups basil pesto
For the cheese mixture:
- 15 oz ricotta
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tbsp dried italian seasoning or fresh chopped basil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- black pepper to taste
For the assembly:
- 12 lasagna noodles cooked al dente
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella
- 6 tbsp parmesan cheese
Instructions
Noodles:
- Cook the noodles to al dente, rinse under cold water and toss with oil to keep from sticking. Set aside until you need them. I laid mine out on a parchment lined baking sheet so they would stay nice and flat.
For the sauce:
- Place butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and allow to melt. Add the flour and whisk, cooking over medium for a minute. Slowly whisk in the milk to avoid lumps. Season with salt, pepper and simmer for a minute until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in the pesto.
For the cheese:
- Combine ricotta and other ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
To finish:
- Heat oven to 375. Ladle a little bechamel into the bottom of a 9×13 pan and spread it around. Layer 3 noodles over and spread about 1/4 of the ricotta mix over it all. Top with 1/4 of the cheese and some more sauce. Continue layers like this until you use up all your noodles, topping the last ones with sauce and then cheese. Sprinkle parm all over and cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes, then uncover and bake until bubbling and the cheese is well browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before attempting to cut into pieces.