Give-Me-More Meatball Lasagna

Recipe tip: I use my “Better-Than-Jarred Marinara” and “Entertaining Meatballs” for this recipe. You can find these recipes in my recipe box here in Tasty Kitchen or on my website.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Heat a large pot of water on the stove over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Drizzle in the vegetable oil (optional). Add the lasagna noodles and cook them for 4 minutes and then remove them from the pot of water to a sheet pan lined with wax paper. Don’t let them touch. If you need to, lay out a new sheet of wax paper between each layer to prevent sticking while cooling.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach and egg. Make sure the spinach is completely drained of water before adding it; I like to place the spinach in a kitchen towel and then twist to ensure all moisture is removed in order to avoid a soggy filling.
3. Arrange all of your layering ingredients close to your 9×9 baking dish. I like to cut the noodles in half (horizontally) to make them fit in my dish better.
4. Place a small amount (1 tablespoon) of marinara sauce in the bottom of the baking dish followed by a layer of noodles (2 whole noodles or 4 halves), 1/3 each of the ricotta mixture, meatballs and sauce. Then add another layer of noodles and repeat the layers … I like to only sprinkle Parmesan on every other layer, which means layer 2 and on top.
5. After the third layer, top with the remaining 2 noodles, remaining sauce, and a layer of cheese.
6. Loosely cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, gently remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the top is bubbly.
7. Then remove the dish from the oven and allow lasagna to sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Notes:
1. Make sure to cover loosely. If you allow the foil to touch, the cheese will pull off when the foil is removed.
2. With a 9×9 pan, I used 2 whole noodles on each layer, cut them in half across the middle, and then placed to fill the space.