I Tried Joanna Gaines’s Dutch Oven Lasagna, and It’s a Weeknight Win

I didn’t really learn to cook in earnest until I was in my 20s. By then, though, Italian food had already become a big part of who I would become. Our Italian neighbors across the street were more family than friends, and I grew up in their house almost as much as my own, helping prepare everything from eggplant Parmesan to pork ragu on Sundays. Decades later, Italian is still my very favorite cuisine to both cook and eat.

Lasagna was the first dish I really got good at. It predates my passion for fresh pasta, my determination to master pillowy gnocchi, and the years I spent making risotto for everyone in my life who had no idea how personally I was taking it. It even predates culinary school. And for all the things I’ve learned to cook since, lasagna is still what my friends and family ask me to make.

So yes, I have a lasagna recipe. I have opinions about lasagna. But I’ve also had Joanna Gaines’s Dutch oven lasagna quietly filed away in my brain for years.

I own the first two Magnolia Table cookbooks, courtesy of my mother and a visit home during which I decided they belonged to me now. (Thanks, mom.) I’ve flipped past Joanna’s lasagna plenty of times, and the idea of making one in a Dutch oven has always intrigued me. After years of mentally bookmarking the recipe, I finally made it.

What is Joanna Gaines’s Dutch Oven Lasagna?

Joanna’s Dutch oven lasagna comes from her 2020 cookbook, Magnolia Table, Volume 2. Instead of assembling it in a casserole dish, the entire thing is made in a 7-quart Dutch oven, beginning with the meat sauce and ending with a thick layer of bubbling mozzarella.

There are a few other departures from traditional lasagna. The noodles go in uncooked, and Joanna uses both fresh and shredded mozzarella, plus cream cheese in the ricotta mixture. But it was mostly the Dutch oven that made me curious about this recipe. Lasagna isn’t exactly famous for being a low-dish endeavor, and the prospect of making one without involving half of the cookware in my kitchen had obvious appeal.

How to Make Joanna Gaines’s Dutch Oven Lasagna

Joanna’s recipe makes 12 servings and takes about three hours from start to finish.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground chuck (80% lean)
• 1-1/2 cups small-diced white onion
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper
• 4 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) stewed or roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 8 ounces whole-milk ricotta
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cups (16 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles
• 4 fresh mozzarella balls (4 ounces each), torn into 1 to 2-inch pieces

Directions

Step 1: Make the meat sauce

In a 7-quart Dutch oven, cook the ground chuck and onion over medium-high heat until the beef is browned and cooked through, about six minutes. Drain the excess fat.

Stir in the garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil, breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Transfer about 6 cups of the sauce to a large bowl.

Step 2: Make the cheese mixture

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Combine the cream cheese, ricotta, eggs and 2 cups of the shredded mozzarella in a large bowl.

Step 3: Assemble the lasagna

Spread the sauce that’s already in the Dutch oven evenly across the bottom. Arrange four uncooked lasagna noodles over the sauce, breaking them as needed to fit. Top with one-third of the ricotta mixture and one-third of the fresh mozzarella.

Repeat the layers twice more, dividing the reserved meat sauce between them. Top with the remaining 2 cups of shredded mozzarella.

Step 4: Bake

Cover and bake for 1-1/2 hours. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the cheese is browned and bubbling.

Step 5: Let it rest

Let the lasagna rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.

How does Joanna Gaines’s Dutch Oven Lasagna Taste?

I’m happy to report that Joanna makes a very good lasagna. It’s rich, saucy and unapologetically cheesy, and the lasagna noodles cook perfectly in the Dutch oven, with tender centers and those slightly crisp edges that everyone hopes will land on their plate. The cream cheese, which I had admittedly been side-eyeing since I read the ingredient list, doesn’t taste like cream cheese at all. It simply makes the ricotta layer exceptionally creamy. Even the full 2 pounds of mozzarella—which sounds slightly unhinged when you say it out loud—works.

What I liked almost as much as the lasagna itself was how easy it was to make. I’ve assembled enough lasagnas to know the familiar final-layer predicament: three layers in, the casserole dish is perilously full, and you’re attempting to distribute the last of the sauce and cheese without creating a disaster either on your counter or the bottom of your oven. The Dutch oven elegantly sidesteps the whole problem. It’s deep, everything stays contained, and, because you’ve already made the sauce in it, there isn’t another large pan waiting in the sink.

It’s not a particularly traditional lasagna, but it is a very smart one. And nobody at my table was terribly concerned with tradition anyway; every member of my family ate at least two portions.

I’m not replacing the lasagna I’ve spent 20 years perfecting. But Joanna’s convinced me there’s room for another one. On a weeknight when I want lasagna without quite so much production, I’ll happily pull out the Dutch oven again.

Have you tried Joanna’s Dutch Oven Lasagna? Let us know in the comments below!

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