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Slow-cooked Lasagna

A slow cooker lasagna made with ground beef, tomato sauce, ricotta, spinach, and cheese.

By Health Canada · From Canada's Food Guide · 13 ingredients
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Slow-cooked Lasagna

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Slow-cooked Lasagna

Serves 8

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sauce

  1. Lightly spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray.

  2. Brown beef in a large non-stick skillet, breaking it up with a spoon, then scrape the browned beef into a colander and let it drain.

  3. Wipe the skillet and return it to medium heat; cook the beef, onion, garlic, oregano, and hot pepper flakes for 5 minutes or until softened.

  4. Add passata and water to the skillet and remove from heat.

Layer and cook

  1. Stir together ricotta cheese, spinach, basil, and Parmesan cheese in a bowl.

  2. Spread some of the meat sauce over the bottom of the slow cooker.

  3. Lay lasagna noodles in a single layer, breaking them as necessary to fit.

  4. Top with one quarter of the sauce and one third of the cheese mixture.

  5. Repeat the layering twice, ending with meat sauce on top.

  6. Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours or on High for 3 to 4 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. About 15 minutes before serving, sprinkle mozzarella over the top, cover, and let cook on Low until melted.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

709Calories
57 gProtein
39 gFat
27 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 14 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Ricotta Cheese1/2 cup (124g) part-skim174
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Waternot in our table0
Lasagnanot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Health Canada. Recipe from Canada's Food Guide.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Oregano + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,767 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Garlic + oreganotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Clove + oreganotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together556 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lasagna noodles
Form the layers and give the dish its structure as they soften in the sauce.
Ricotta cheese
Adds creamy moisture and a soft, rich texture between the layers.
Extra lean ground beef
Provides the meaty body of the sauce.
Passata
Supplies the tomato base and acidity that carry the sauce.
Baby spinach
Adds leafy bulk and moisture that softens as it cooks.
Mozzarella cheese
Melts over the top to create a stretchy, golden topping.

The step that matters

Cook on Low for the full time without lifting the lid. Slow cookers hold heat and moisture, so the noodles need the full 6 to 8 hours on Low to soften fully; lifting the lid releases heat and slows cooking.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, garlic, oregano, pepper, tomato, ricotta cheese):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Basilfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, garlic, oregano, pepper, tomato, ricotta cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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