Cottage cheese does the job ricotta usually does, bound with an egg and loaded with two cups of chopped spinach. It sets into the pale layers the cut slice shows.
Two temperatures matter and they are different. The sausage is browned to 160 degrees Fahrenheit before it is layered, and the assembled casserole comes to 165 in the cooker.
Why This Recipe Works
- No-boil noodles broken to fit are designed to soften in sauce, which is exactly the environment a slow cooker gives them.
- An egg beaten into the cottage cheese is what stops the layer weeping as it heats.
- Ending with sauce and mozzarella rather than noodles is what browns the top.
- A twenty-minute rest lets the layers set enough to hold their shape in a slice.
Ingredient Notes
- Breakfast sausage
- A pound. It is the breakfast marker in this dish, browned to 160 degrees Fahrenheit before layering.
- Cottage cheese
- Two cups, bound with an egg. It stands in for ricotta and makes the pale layers the slice shows.
- No-boil lasagna noodles
- Nine, broken to fit the cooker. They soften in the sauce rather than needing boiling first.
How to Make It
Brown the sausage to 160F
Brown breakfast sausage with onion until the sausage reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit; drain.
Mix the cheese layer
Mix cottage cheese, egg, spinach, Parmesan, Italian seasoning and salt.
Layer it up
Lightly grease the slow cooker. Layer marinara, noodles, cottage-cheese mixture, sausage and mozzarella; repeat, ending with sauce and mozzarella.
Cook to 165F
Cook on Low 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until noodles are tender and the center reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rest before slicing
Rest 20 minutes before slicing so the pale cottage-cheese, spinach, meat-sauce and browned-cheese layers hold together.
How the Layers Stack
Layered twice, in the same order both times, and finished deliberately with the two things that brown. What comes out is judged on the cut face.
Marinara, on the base
Sauce first into a lightly greased cooker, so nothing sits directly against the hot ceramic and catches.
No-boil noodles, broken to fit
Nine in total across the layers, snapped to the shape of the pot. They are designed to hydrate in sauce, which is what a slow cooker provides.
The cottage cheese mixture
2 cups of cottage cheese with an egg, 2 cups of chopped spinach, Parmesan, Italian seasoning and salt. The egg is what sets it rather than letting it weep into the sauce.
Sausage, then mozzarella
The browned breakfast sausage and onion, already at 160F, then a scatter of mozzarella. Then the whole sequence repeats.
Sauce and mozzarella last
The top layer is deliberately not noodles. Sauce and cheese are what brown under the lid into the darkened top the slice shows.
3 1/2 to 4 hours on LOW to 165F in the centre, then a 20-minute rest - without which the layers slide apart on the plate.
Success Tips
- Break the noodles to fit before you start layering rather than wrestling them in place.
- Drain the sausage properly; fat left in pools under the layers.
- Take the full twenty-minute rest. Cut hot, the layers slide apart.
Serving Ideas
Eight servings, sliced after resting, each showing the pale cottage-cheese and spinach layers against the meat sauce under a browned cheese top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the egg layer?
There isn't one. The breakfast sausage is what makes this a breakfast dish, and the recipe does not add an egg layer the finished dish never shows.
Why are there two temperatures?
The sausage is browned to 160 degrees Fahrenheit on its own; the assembled casserole comes to 165 in the cooker.
Can I use ricotta instead?
The recipe is built on cottage cheese.
