Classic Italian Lasagna

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I've made this lasagna probably 8 times over the last 4-5 years and yes, it's a bit of work and yes, it takes some personal tweaking but the end result has ALWAYS gotten rave reviews from those I've served it to; in fact, I'm making for my family next week for Mother's Day! I also season a bit more along the way and use a 50/50 beef/pork mixture and add a bit more sauce to the bechemel than she recommends and I use barilla 'no boil' noodles...but the bones of the recipe are solid!! Again, this is NOT a weekenight meal...this is a special occasion lasagna.

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Okay I went ahead and added/subtracted a few ingredients to my taste- I wanted to make a veggie lasagna originally, so I used Portabellos instead of Ground Beef. Also- if people are looking for a good flavor boost: use 3-4 cloves of garlic and one sweet onion- saute with spinach. I also replaced the ricotta cheese with mascarpone- my market had it on sale that day and I LOVE it so I decided to incorporate that in it. I absolutely loved the bechamel sauce mixed in with the tomato sauce- homemade is the key to deliciousness! I also added some parmesan/fontina in my bechelemel sauce.I had about 3-4 good layers of pasta sheets and instead of using grated mozzarella, I use marinated mozzarella balls and pour some of the marinade on top of my lasagna for extra flavor! (I'm not a big fan of tons of grated cheese because it burns easily in a lasagna. I covered it for about half the time- 25 mins, then cooked it uncovered 25 mins. It was DELICIOUS!

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Not bad, I like a saucy lasagna. Next time I think I will use more sauce. I also think seasoning the meat a little more would be a good idea. My husband didn't care for the large amounts of spinach, but I thought it was a good balance.

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I broke my rule: read the reviews 1st.
Time-consuming, messy, expensive & bland. I've made many lasagnas, but I'm always looking for something new and different. The first time I test a recipe, I pretty much give the chef the benefit of the doubt. Still, with this one I tasted along the way and added seasoning. The end product was just not worth it.

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Here's some suggestions: Chop the spinach before adding to the layers, this should help. Also buy your favorite brand Alfredo sauce if you don't want to make the Bechamel. Bechamel can be very dull unless you add seasonings. The tomato sauce doesn't show salt/pepper, but definitely add enough to your taste. And, lastly I never use ground beef. I always use a good bulk Italian sausage which is already seasoned and adds great flavor, use mild or hot to suit your taste.

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I agree with the previous review. This was the WORST LASAGNA I've ever made. I made the tomato sauce, which was okay, but when you add it to the bechamel, it ruins everything. Super bland! The single layer of spinach was too much and it felt like chewing grass. I usually love Giada's recipes, but this one bombed. I wished I had read the Valley Forge review before I made the mistake of making this.

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This was the worst lasagna I ever made. Followed the recipe to a T and still terrible. Both sauces were flavorless which caused me to have to add an inordinate amount of salt to each. Normally I love all recipes from Giada but this was a definite miss.

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Excellent recipe - made it with the following changes:

1 Made my own tomato sauce, which used onion/mushroom/garlic/basil, seasoned with salt/aleppo pepper
2 Bechamel as written, but added 1-3/4 cup tomato sauce to thin it a little for #3
3 Cooked noodles 7 instead of 10 minutes specified on package to prevent splitting, simplify handling (kept on parchment to keep from sticking, using thinner sauce to complete cooking process
4 Used 10 oz. bag fresh spinach, wilted in olive oil/garlic, chopped, drained, cooled
5 Used 50/50 mix of ground beef and mild Italian sausage, browned, drained, cooled
6 Added 1/2 cup parmesan to ricotta/spinach mix

@timidcook is right, read the recipe, decide how you're going to time and tackle it - you don't want to be making bechamel while you're doing 3 other things - get that right on its own. In fact, get everything done but the assembly, then make the bechamel, then add the sauce and assemble.

Took about 2 hours, about 75 minutes active time.

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it was so creamy and delicious! my family does not eat meat and dairy together so we used fake beef crumble and we left out the spinach because my family doesnt like spinach. overall it was pretty good and i would deffinately make it again!

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This recipe might have been a little over my head. You need to make sure to do more than a cursory reading of it. The end product was delicious, even though I made some minor errors (made the tomato sauce while bechamel was cooking. My family was pleased - my husband doesn't typically eat dishes like this, but liked it. My father topped his with more of the tomato sauce to kick the flavor up a bit. All in all, I'm happy and will keep this recipe in my file.