This Easy Lasagne with Cheat’s White Sauce is simple and delicious. It uses a cheat’s white sauce made from cottage cheese and yoghurt, so no need to make a traditional white sauce. It’s a perfect weeknight supper as it takes out that one extra step yet it still so good.
Years ago, I had Simon Rimmer on the Desert Island Dishes podcast. In this episode, Simon recounts how his mum makes lasagne in a slightly non-traditional way, using a cheat’s white sauce made of cottage cheese rather than white sauce. I’ve used yoghurt before with great success in a vegetable lasagne but I liked the idea of the tangy-ness from the cottage cheese. After some experimenting in my kitchen, I found a combination of cottage cheese, Greek yoghurt, parmesan and eggs. And it’s great! Of course, making a béchamel (white sauce) isn’t hard but this cheat’s version is even easier. This recipe means that the lasagne is made without butter, without flour, without milk and it can be gluten-free if you use the right pasta sheets. The cheese, however, is a key part of the dish and makes the lasagne so creamy and balances out all the flavours well.
If you don’t fancy making the lasagne with cottage cheese and yoghurt, there are lots of ways you can make a very easy white sauce from using cornflour as a thickener or using ricotta instead of cottage cheese.
For a more traditional lasagne, use the recipe below but swap in one measure of white sauce for lasagne instead of the cottage cheese and yoghurt mix.
Frequently Asked Questions
Making lasagne with Quorn mince is easy and delicious too. Of course, use whatever vegetarian mince you like but they all require slightly different cooking methods. If you are using Quorn mince, the best way to do this is to make the tomato sauce and then add in the frozen Quorn mince. This means following the recipe until the garlic is added. Add the tinned tomatoes, water then the quorn. To make it meatier tasting, I always add some gravy granules, a squeeze of ketchup, some Worcestershire sauce or maybe even a spoon of marmite. It always adds another layer of flavour that aims to replicate the meat flavour.
Making lasagne with aubergine is also a nice way to add some substance to the dish without meat. For this, follow the recipe and add chopped aubergine where you would usually add the mince. Make sure you season well to soften it.
Lasagne with pork mince is delicious and works really well. Since pork tends to have a higher fat content than beef, it makes a super luxurious sauce that layers beautifully in a lasagne. Just swap the beef mince for pork mince and follow the recipe as usual.
No, I never do. Typically, the lasagne sheets bought in the supermarket will say “No need to parboil”. Otherwise, it can become a bit of a mess in the saucepan, with them sticking together and it adds an unnecessary step to this recipe.
Using a cheat’s white sauce, as well as selecting the right pasta sheets, would easily make this lasagne gluten-free. A classic white sauce (béchamel) has flour which immediately means it wouldn’t be gluten-free unless you use gluten free flour. I like this one.
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Easy Lasagne With Cheat's White Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 red onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 500 g mince beef
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 125 g ball of mozzarella torn into bits
- 80 g grated parmesan
- 250 g lasagne sheets
- 300 g cottage cheese
- 200 g Greek yoghurt
- 2 eggs
- 25 g grated parmesan
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/fan/160C/gas 4. Lightly oil an ovenproof dish (about 20 x 20cm).
- Gently fry the red onion until lovely and soft. Season.
- Then add the crushed garlic and stir for another minute or so. Add the mince and up the heat a little to encourage the mince to brown. But keep stirring as you don’t want the onions and garlic to catch and burn.
- Once the mince is browned and there’s no hint of pink left, add the tinned tomatoes. Once you’ve poured them into the pan, fill the empty tin with water and add this to the pan.
- Reduce the heat and allow to bubble for 45 minutes until the sauce is lovely and thick.
- For the cheat’s white sauce, mix together the cottage cheese, yoghurt, parmesan and eggs. Season this well with salt and pepper.
- Now you are ready to assemble. Spoon the mince into the dish first, followed by the lasagne sheets and then the white sauce. Top the white sauce with grated parmesan and mozzarella and then keep going. You want at least 3 layers but I always try for thinner layers and see if I can get 4.
- Top the final layer with lots of parmesan, some blobs of mozzarella and another grind of pepper. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes until golden and bubbly and the pasta is soft when you poke it with a knife.
- Serve with a crunchy green salad with a mustardy dressing.
