How to Make Lasagna 10x Better, According to My Chef-Husband

Although I love a good lasagna, it's not something I typically order at a restaurant. If I'm getting pasta, it's usually one of the classics (my love language is spicy rigatoni) or one of the specials, like my chef-husband Luke's creamy pumpkin carbonara.

Not that lasagna isn't a classic—it's one of the greatest!—but to me, it seems like more of a make-at-home dish. Plus it's heavy. As in, you want to be in sweats with a couch waiting in the wings after one plate kind of heavy.

So, when Luke recently proposed making lasagna at home one Sunday night I was all in. I was already in sweats and it was freezing out. Now was my chance to finally learn how to make lasagna like a chef.

Here's what happened when I followed him into the kitchen to do just that.

Related: 101 Easy Pasta Recipes

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Ingredients for My Chef-Husband's Best-Ever Lasagna

Luke tells me the main ingredients needed are homemade bolognese sauce (you can also use store-bought to save time), a mix of cheeses (ricotta, buffalo mozzarella and parmesan are his nonnegotiables), basil and superior lasagna sheets.

Although he would use the pasta extruder he has at his restaurant Elm if he were making lasagna for a crowd, he says dried pasta sheets are easier for home cooks—as long as you buy better noodles.

He loves Rummo, one of Stanley Tucci's favorite brands, because their No. 83 lasagna sheets are hand-cut in Southern Italy with bronze dies and have the wavy edges Luke says are crucial for the ultimate lasagne. "These noodles are great; I like how they hold the sauce and get crispy on the edges," he tells me. Bonus: You can find them at Whole Foods or on Amazon.

As for the bolognese, Luke was going for a clean-out-the-fridge Sunday sauce, so he grabbed a few half-used jars of tomato herb, four cheese and Parmigiana Reggiano sauce, some prosciutto, ground beef, Italian sausage and a tub of veal jus.

"Use what you have," he told me, saying any tomato sauce combo would work for this slow-simmered riff on bolognese.

How to Make My Chef-Husband's Best-Ever Lasagna

First, Luke set a big pot oven over medium-high heat, then he diced up some prosciutto and tossed that in the pot with olive oil and a ground beef patty he found in the freezer and defrosted.

Breaking up the meat to brown with the back of a spoon, he also added a hefty pinch of salt, then a few Italian sausage links he removed from their casings for a three-meat blend. "You don't need garlic or extra spices because the sausage has all that already," he said. Once browned, he added the jarred sauces to the mixture and gave everything a good stir to combine.

One of Luke's secret ingredients for making any sauce better is veal jus, which is condensed veal stock you can find in specialty food stores or online. The rich brown demi-glace is umami-packed and makes everything it touches better, including Sunday sauce.

"I also threw some Chianti from last night in there," he added. Now we're talking.

After the sauce simmered on low for an hour or so, Luke added the lasagna noodles to a nearby pot of boiling salted water to cook for three minutes. Then, he removed them with a slotted spoon and started layering the lasagna.

When I asked him the proper way to do so, he went into full demo mode, adding a thick layer of sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish, followed by some pasta sheets, another layer of sauce, slices of low-moisture buffalo mozzarella and some ricotta on top of that. "Repeat with more cheese, sauce, a drizzle of olive oil, parm, pasta, repeat, repeat," he says, adding the lasagna is all about "the right sauce, the right ingredients, the right cheese and the right pasta."

Once he reached the top, he arranged a few basil leaves around the cheese, then put the uncovered casserole in a 375° for 45 minutes to an hour. "You'll know it's done when the edges are crispy and the cheese is bubbly and brown in spots," he said.

My Chef-Husband's Tips for Perfecting Lasagna

• Choose low-moisture cheeses: Luke opts for dry buffalo mozzarella and buffalo ricotta because wetter cheeses like burrata will sweat out too much moisture and create a soggy casserole.

• Place the crimped pieces on the end: This is a crucial step. Luke is insistent that the wavy edges go along the outside of the casserole dish. "Crimped ribs on the outside and flat pieces on the inside for crispy edges," he said.

• Use what you have and get creative: A mix of sauces, a mix of meat, some red wine and veal jus or Worchestire for umami is a foolproof Sunday sauce recipe, according to Luke. Although classic lasagna involves a bechamel sauce, it is rather laborious to make so Luke chose to skip that step.

• Let it rest: NEVER break into a lasagna straight out of the oven. Luke lost it when I attempted to do so. "It needs to rest!" he shrieked. "Not only will it be way too hot and you'll burn your mouth, but everything needs to hang out and settle before you can dig in."

Fair enough. The best things in life are worth waiting for.

My Honest Thoughts of My Chef-Husband's Lasagna

"I don't think I've ever loved lasagna this much," was my first actual sentence after devouring half my plate without words. "Literal perfection."

The combination of crunchy corners—the best part of a lasagna per Luke—the melty cheesy interior, the perfectly cooked pasta and the hearty sauce, was baked pasta perfection.

Although the food coma eventually got the best of me, I woke up excited for leftovers the next day, which were just as delicious, if not better, than round one. You've gotta love a casserole you can pop back in the oven and dig into with a spoon, straight from the pan.

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