Huskee's Ultimate Wood-Smoked Lasagna recipe
Even health nuts break down and have lasagna once in a while, right?
I call this lasagna Huskee's Ultimate Lasagna since I cut no corners and spare no calories. When you eat lasagna, you aren't eating it to be healthy, it's a splurge food like pizza. And when you want it, you want it right. So buckle up, here it is!
Preheat smoker to 375. My oven recipe for this is 375*F for 45 minutes, covered in foil. Remove foil for last 15 minutes to help brown the cheese. To adapt for a smoker, cook it uncovered. You want the top layer of cheese to get smokey. If you cannot get your smoker to 375 with a cold pan of lasagna in it, try to get 325-340 at least. It may take 1:15 or 1:30 at lower temps.
This lasagna goes a long way.
Bake time: 45 min to 75min
Prep Time: 45 min - 1hr
Ingredients:
2- 16oz boxes lasagna noodles (you wont need all, but you may need more than one box. Plan on about 18 noodles)
1- 48 oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce. Don't skimp on the sauce, get 48oz or close. I prefer Prego Traditional or Meat. By far my personal favorite in this recipe FWIW.
Smoke the sauce: To really take this dish up above & beyond, place your sauce in shallow dish(es) like a pie pan, and place it on your smoker for, say, half hour. Stir it at least once midway through. Then proceed.. If you want to limit the actual smokiness of the dish you can skip this step.
1 to 1.5 lbs ground beef
.5 to .75 lbs ground sausage (use mild or sweet)
Ricotta cheese, small tub (optional)
1 large 24oz. tub cottage cheese, small curd (optional but highly recommended)
Parmesan cheese shaker
2.5 - 3 lbs cheese (I like 1 lbs mozzarella, 1lb provolone mixed (or 2lbs mozz), and ~1 lb sharp cheddar) The cheese makes it! Don't skimp!
Large lasagna pan, I use a 16x11 pan, 3.25" tall.
Do this:
1) Begin browning the ground beef and ground sausage, it's easiest to do them in separate skillets. Try to chop it into small pieces, especially the sausage, it likes to clump as it cooks. I like to season my beef with salt & pepper. Drain them both well when cooked thoroughly. Mix them together evenly. Set aside.
2) Check your noodles for size. Most are roughly 9.5-9.75" long, and the inside bottom of a 16x11" pan is about 9.5" wide. I like to break my noodles (pre-boiling) to the rough width of the pan. They swell a little so you don't have to be exact. No one cares if they break jagged, but if you can't stand that you can cut them or scissor them once they're cooked.
3) Par boil about 18 noodles. Only take them to "al dente" or medium doneness, with some firmness and chew left. they will cook the rest of the way when "baking". Drain in a colander. I like to lay them flat on a plate after draining so they hold a nice flat shape for easier assembly of the lasagna. Add a little bit of water to them to keep them from sticking to one another.
4) Add a generous layer of sauce to the bottom of the pan. Spread it evenly.
5) Add the noodles, single file until it's tight on the bottom.
6) Add the ricotta cheese. 2-3 dabs on each noodle, then spread out evenly but don't get too picky, it doesn't matter much how it looks.
7) Same with cottage cheese, add some dabs of it along lengths of each noodle, spread out if you want to (not pictured)
8) Add a dusting of Parmesan cheese to each noodle.
9) Add meat to each noodle on top of the ricotta & cottage cheese, make sure you get a fairly even mix of the beef & sausage. Use about half. Plan on 2 layers of meat. Don't overdo the meat or you'll run out.
10) Add a decent dribble of [smoked] sauce on top of each line of meat.
11) Add about 1/3 of your total cheese, use most of the cheddar on these lower layers mixed with some of the provolone & mozzarella. Use all white cheese for the very top layer.
12) Place the next layer of noodles on, pressing firmly to even and flatten it all out.
13) Repeat steps 5-12 one more time.
14) For the top (third) layer- add everything except meat one more time. Use a VERY generous top layer of cheese, so that the sauce is largely not visible underneath. Try to use only the mozzarella & provolone on the top, and a little more than you used in the lower layers. You want the top layer to be thick with cheese!
If your smoker is at or above 375, and holds there, bake about 45 minutes or until top cheese looks how you want it. Nearing a nice golden color is what I shoot for.
If you cannot get 375, try to get about 330-350. It may take about 1:15-1:30 at these lower temps.
After roughly this amount of time, and once the cheese looks how you want it- it's done! No need to temp anything since everything was cooked upon assembling it.
Let rest on the counter about a half hour before trying to portion it or it will be lasagna soup.
Keeps well in the fridge, and is probably even better reheated than fresh!
Enjoy!
Smoke the sauce: This step makes it a smoky dish, if you don't want it very smokey, skip it. I took my sauce, as noted above, and put it in a couple pie pans (shallow, more surface area for smoke exposure), and placed it on the smoker for about a half hour while the smoker was heating up. I went out and stirred it once about halfway through. This will help get the sauce infused with smoke. Otherwise, only the top cheese layer gets smoke exposure. Try it!
About the smoker: You can do everything here in your indoor oven. In fact that's how my recipe came to be, all the above at 375*F for 45 min in a regular oven. I only recently did this on a smoker, and it really takes a 10/10 dish up to 11. Try it!
Wood? Use whatever wood you like. I used ash wood, and it's simply delicious. Any wood should be fine that you'd use on other things, the dish is so flavorful that the wood type really gets lost in the big picture. Be leery of mesquite though. If you use only charcoal, I highly recommend adding wood chunks! Smoke it baby!
I call this lasagna Huskee's Ultimate Lasagna since I cut no corners and spare no calories. When you eat lasagna, you aren't eating it to be healthy, it's a splurge food like pizza. And when you want it, you want it right. So buckle up, here it is!
Preheat smoker to 375. My oven recipe for this is 375*F for 45 minutes, covered in foil. Remove foil for last 15 minutes to help brown the cheese. To adapt for a smoker, cook it uncovered. You want the top layer of cheese to get smokey. If you cannot get your smoker to 375 with a cold pan of lasagna in it, try to get 325-340 at least. It may take 1:15 or 1:30 at lower temps.
This lasagna goes a long way.
Bake time: 45 min to 75min
Prep Time: 45 min - 1hr
Ingredients:
2- 16oz boxes lasagna noodles (you wont need all, but you may need more than one box. Plan on about 18 noodles)
1- 48 oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce. Don't skimp on the sauce, get 48oz or close. I prefer Prego Traditional or Meat. By far my personal favorite in this recipe FWIW.
Smoke the sauce: To really take this dish up above & beyond, place your sauce in shallow dish(es) like a pie pan, and place it on your smoker for, say, half hour. Stir it at least once midway through. Then proceed.. If you want to limit the actual smokiness of the dish you can skip this step.
1 to 1.5 lbs ground beef
.5 to .75 lbs ground sausage (use mild or sweet)
Ricotta cheese, small tub (optional)
1 large 24oz. tub cottage cheese, small curd (optional but highly recommended)
Parmesan cheese shaker
2.5 - 3 lbs cheese (I like 1 lbs mozzarella, 1lb provolone mixed (or 2lbs mozz), and ~1 lb sharp cheddar) The cheese makes it! Don't skimp!
Large lasagna pan, I use a 16x11 pan, 3.25" tall.
Do this:
1) Begin browning the ground beef and ground sausage, it's easiest to do them in separate skillets. Try to chop it into small pieces, especially the sausage, it likes to clump as it cooks. I like to season my beef with salt & pepper. Drain them both well when cooked thoroughly. Mix them together evenly. Set aside.
2) Check your noodles for size. Most are roughly 9.5-9.75" long, and the inside bottom of a 16x11" pan is about 9.5" wide. I like to break my noodles (pre-boiling) to the rough width of the pan. They swell a little so you don't have to be exact. No one cares if they break jagged, but if you can't stand that you can cut them or scissor them once they're cooked.
3) Par boil about 18 noodles. Only take them to "al dente" or medium doneness, with some firmness and chew left. they will cook the rest of the way when "baking". Drain in a colander. I like to lay them flat on a plate after draining so they hold a nice flat shape for easier assembly of the lasagna. Add a little bit of water to them to keep them from sticking to one another.
4) Add a generous layer of sauce to the bottom of the pan. Spread it evenly.
5) Add the noodles, single file until it's tight on the bottom.
6) Add the ricotta cheese. 2-3 dabs on each noodle, then spread out evenly but don't get too picky, it doesn't matter much how it looks.
7) Same with cottage cheese, add some dabs of it along lengths of each noodle, spread out if you want to (not pictured)
8) Add a dusting of Parmesan cheese to each noodle.
9) Add meat to each noodle on top of the ricotta & cottage cheese, make sure you get a fairly even mix of the beef & sausage. Use about half. Plan on 2 layers of meat. Don't overdo the meat or you'll run out.
10) Add a decent dribble of [smoked] sauce on top of each line of meat.
11) Add about 1/3 of your total cheese, use most of the cheddar on these lower layers mixed with some of the provolone & mozzarella. Use all white cheese for the very top layer.
12) Place the next layer of noodles on, pressing firmly to even and flatten it all out.
13) Repeat steps 5-12 one more time.
14) For the top (third) layer- add everything except meat one more time. Use a VERY generous top layer of cheese, so that the sauce is largely not visible underneath. Try to use only the mozzarella & provolone on the top, and a little more than you used in the lower layers. You want the top layer to be thick with cheese!
If your smoker is at or above 375, and holds there, bake about 45 minutes or until top cheese looks how you want it. Nearing a nice golden color is what I shoot for.
If you cannot get 375, try to get about 330-350. It may take about 1:15-1:30 at these lower temps.
After roughly this amount of time, and once the cheese looks how you want it- it's done! No need to temp anything since everything was cooked upon assembling it.
Let rest on the counter about a half hour before trying to portion it or it will be lasagna soup.
Keeps well in the fridge, and is probably even better reheated than fresh!
Enjoy!
Smoke the sauce: This step makes it a smoky dish, if you don't want it very smokey, skip it. I took my sauce, as noted above, and put it in a couple pie pans (shallow, more surface area for smoke exposure), and placed it on the smoker for about a half hour while the smoker was heating up. I went out and stirred it once about halfway through. This will help get the sauce infused with smoke. Otherwise, only the top cheese layer gets smoke exposure. Try it!
About the smoker: You can do everything here in your indoor oven. In fact that's how my recipe came to be, all the above at 375*F for 45 min in a regular oven. I only recently did this on a smoker, and it really takes a 10/10 dish up to 11. Try it!
Wood? Use whatever wood you like. I used ash wood, and it's simply delicious. Any wood should be fine that you'd use on other things, the dish is so flavorful that the wood type really gets lost in the big picture. Be leery of mesquite though. If you use only charcoal, I highly recommend adding wood chunks! Smoke it baby!
Comment