Venison Lasagna
Great for chilly nights, this cozy venison lasagna is the ultimate comfort meal! A mixture of ground venison and Italian sausage pairs perfectly with a rich cheese mixture and flavorful tomato sauce for the perfect baked pasta dish.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 523kcal
Equipment
- 9x13 baking dish
Ingredients
Lasagna
- lasagna noodles uncooked (regular, or oven-ready)
Meat Sauce
- 1 lb. ground venison
- ½ lb. Italian sausage
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 48 oz. pasta sauce 2 jars
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 3/4 tsp salt plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
Cheese Mixture
- 24 oz cottage cheese 1 tub, see notes below
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 egg beaten
- 1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- ¼ tsp. salt
For Topping
- 2½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese Really, you just want an even covering of cheese
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9×13” baking dish and set aside.
- Make the meat sauce. In a large skillet, cook the venison, sausage, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until browned and cooked through. You shouldn't have any excess fat, but if you do, go ahead and drain it. Stir in pasta sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Let it simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes.
- Mix up the cheese filling. In a bowl, combine cottage cheese, parsley, egg, 1½ cups mozzarella, ¼ cup Parmesan, and salt. Mix well.
- Assemble the lasagna. Spread a generous scoop of meat sauce in the bottom of your baking dish. Layer with uncooked lasagna noodles. Add the cottage cheese mixture, then more meat sauce. Repeat for 3 full layers. Top with the remaining sauce.
- Bake. Bake for 50 min.
- Add the cheese topping. Carefully remove from the oven with oven mitts and top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake for another 15–20 minutes until bubbly and golden on top. Broil for 2–3 minutes if you want a crispy top.
- Let it rest. Rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing to help it set.
Notes
- If the top starts to brown too quickly, you can loosely cover it with foil.
- I personally do not precook my noodles; they turn out just fine after baking in the sauce, but if you would prefer, you can do so or use no-boil noodles.
- I typically use an entire tub of cottage cheese, which is about 3 cups total.
- If the curds in the cottage cheese bother you, you can blend it up with an immersion blender to get a similar consistency to ricotta cheese, or substitute ricotta.