Dutch Oven Lasagna Recipe
Dutch oven cooking impresses pretty much anyone. Present a perfectly baked lasagna to a group and you increase your chances of being invited back.
Shopping List
This shopping list is for a lasagna that will feed about 5 people.
- 2 - Boxes lasagna noodles - I like the no-boil noodles
- 4 - 15oz jars tomato Sauce
- 1 - 6oz jar Tomato Paste
- 1 - Onion
- 1 - Pepper
- 1 - Box mushrooms
- 1 - Bag spinach
- 1 - Zucchini
- .5lbs - Sausage
- 2 tubs - Ricotta
- 2 tubs or a couple bags of shredded - Mozzarella
- 1 tub - Parmesan
- 2 - Eggs
Feel free to add any other vegetables, cheeses, or meats you like. Only a real Italian will be upset if you add some non traditional items in.
Red Sauce
The red sauce is pretty straight forward. Combine tomato sauce and paste in large mixing bowl. Add any additional spices you want. We like to add extra black pepper, dried basil, garlic power, oregano, and thyme. Stir all together and set aside.
Red Sauce
Ricotta and Spinach
The ricotta is going to help hold your lasagna together and not be a saucy mess. Add 2 eggs and the spinach and mix well. Since ricotta doesn't have a strong flavor feel free to add some more spices here as well.
Ricotta and spinach
Time to Assemble
Assembly is pretty straight forward. Start with a layer of red sauce on the bottom of the dutch oven. Add a layer of noodles next. Spread some of your ricotta mixture right on top of the noodles. Put some veggies and sausage on top of that. Add a couple slices or a handful of mozzarella with some red sauce on top. Repeat this until you have run out of filling. Finish the top off with a layer of red sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan.
Time to Assemble
Time To Bake
Everyone has their own method to how many coals. I have found the "3 less on bottom 3 more on top" method works best for me. So if you have a 14" dutch oven, 11 coals on the bottom, 17 coals on top.
Time To Bake
When baking with more than one dutch oven it is helpful to stack them up. When stacking I like to follow "3 less on the bottom of the stack, the same number as the dutch oven size on top of the middle such ovens, and 3 more on the top most dutch oven" method. The first place dutch ovens burn is the bottom. Too many coals on the bottom will almost guarantee something to burn. The more dutch ovens you have the more impressed everyone will be.
Serve and enjoy!
Plan on these baking for a good solid 45 minutes or so. Do your best to keep everything level, out of the wind, and be ready with more coals. The nice thing is most things are pre-cooked, you just have to make it all hot.
Once it is done let it cool for 10 minutes or so. This will help it set and not be lasagna soup.
Scoop and Enjoy
This recipe can be customized to meet many food preferences. Vegetarians around? Subtract the sausage. Meat lovers? Add a few different types of sausage. Gluten free? Use eggplant and/or zucchinis for noodles.
