What To Do With Leftover Lasagna Noodles If You Don't Have Classic Lasagna Ingredients Like Ricotta

Lasagna noodles may be the last pasta boxes standing in the grocery aisles these days, but don't sell 'em short! You can actually do a lot more with lasagna noodles than you might think — even without making actual lasagna. 

In fact — no ricotta? No problem, Rach says. 

"Traditional lasagna is just layers of meat sauce and bechamel," she says. "So to an Italian, you don't need ricotta to make lasagna to begin with." (Rach includes a simple bechamel recipe in her White Bolognese Lasagna.) 

Even so, you can use the noodles for recipes other than traditional lasagna — and of course, Rach has suggestions. 

1. Break 'Em Up + Toss With Butter and Cheese
"You can break [lasagna noodles] up into regular pieces and toss them with butter and cheese," Rach explains. "And that's the real, original recipe for fettuccine alfredo. It's just cheese and butter." 

2. Add Them To Soups
"You can stir them into soups — make chicken or vegetable soup," she suggests. "Add your broken pieces of lasagna to that. Yum." 

3. Make a Mexican Lasagna

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"You can go anywhere you want with lasagna," Rach says. "You can make Mexican Lasagna and layer it with chili. I make a 3-Meat Chili that would be delicious layered with lasagna."

4. Make a Blue-sagna
Make a blue-sagna, Rach suggests, with parm, lots of gorgonzola dolce and a little wine in a thickened white sauce. Layer that with fresh or frozen spinach and your lasagna noodles. Delish!