This Pressure Cooker Lasagna is everybody’s comfort food without any of the work! Layers of perfectly al dente lasagna noodles, a hearty meat sauce, a creamy Alfredo sauce and some ooey gooey cheese, on the table in about one hour. This dish will quickly become your favorite weeknight meal!
Nothing makes my family smile like a hot lasagna on the table. After you try this Pressure Cooker Lasagna, you might want to give my Four Cheese Lasagna a try as well! 😊
Lasagna in the pressure cooker? Well, color me surprised!
When Campbells® invited me to participate in this project by creating a prepless recipe that would be helpful to busy families, I panicked.
I am always preaching “cooking as therapy”, the kind of thing you do leisurely at the end of a stressful day, with a wine glass on hand! Chopping and grating and shredding are all part of this de-stressing process.
But I’m not one to run from a challenge, so I said yes! And this Pressure Cooker Lasagna was born to defy all my preconceptions about prepless meals.
It is DELICIOUS! My family gobbled the whole thing every time I tested the recipe.
No, it doesn’t substitute my Classic Lasagna Bolognese – with its 3 hour simmering bolognese sauce – but it is a damn good lasagna for when you just don’t have the time!
And you won’t even have to take the Chef’s knife out of the drawer! No chopping, no prepping, nada. How mind blowing is that? 🤯🤯🤯
Fight hunger. Spark change.
Before we talk about the recipe, I wanted to take a moment to talk about how Campbells® and Walmart are helping the people in need and how we can help too!
Did you know that 1 in 5 children in the United States lives with hunger? Food insecurity is an alarming thing to think about and no child should have to worry about where their next meal comes from.
So Walmart has partnered with Feeding America® yet again – they’ve been doing it for the past 7 years – to help people through the Fight Hunger. Spark Change initiative.
Feeding America is a nationwide network of local food banks that feeds more than 40 million people through food pantries, shelters, and meal programs. Together with Walmart, they’ve helped secure over a billion meals for people who are facing hunger.
So, as part of this campaign, Walmart and Campbell’s® invited me to create a donation bag with pantry staples for this recipe! My bag is going to a local food pantry that I always help.
How you can help
Now, more than ever, our local food banks need our help.
Walmart knows that these are challenging times, so it has made it easy for you to help in a safe and convenient way, without even leaving your house.
How? You can donate at Feeding America®. Every dollar you give will provide at least 10 meals to families in need.
Or, you can just purchase qualifying Campbell’s® items (Pace®, Prego®, SpaghettiOs® and Swanson Broth) in-store, online, or via Online Pickup & Delivery. From April 5th to May 3rd, 2021, every item purchased equals one meal donated to Feeding America, up to $500k.
Ingredients
To make Pressure Cooker Lasagna, you will need:
- Lasagna Pasta – Buy no-boil noodles for best results. Regular lasagna noodles work as well, but you might need to cook longer!
- Ground Beef – Or half lean ground beef and half ground pork.
- Marinara Sauce – I use Prego® Traditional or Prego® Flavored with Meat Italian Sauce. More on that down below!
- Alfredo Sauce – I use Prego® Homestyle Alfredo.
- Oil – We will need a tablespoon of olive oil to brown the beef.
- Onion and Garlic Powder – Since this is a prepless meal, we will use powdered onion and powdered garlic in lieu of fresh.
- Italian Seasoning – Italian seasoning, or Italian herbs, is a mix of dried herbs that are often used in Italian cuisine. If you don’t have any, you can make your own with dried basil, oregano, thyme and marjoram.
- Cheese – We will use parmesan and mozzarella. You can shred your own or buy pre-shredded for a true prepless dish!
- Salt and Pepper
- Parsley – Optional, for garnishing.
What is the best jarred sauce for Pressure Cooker Lasagna?
With so many options at the pasta sauce aisle, buying a nice jarred sauce can be hit or miss
Of course, you can always make your own, but what do we do when there’s simply no time for that?
Cue to one of my favorite sauce brands coming to your rescue: Prego®!
Famously thick and expertly balanced to ensure the perfect combination of flavor and consistency, Prego® sauces are the best choice for my Pressure Cooker Lasagna. You want the sauce to actually stay in the lasagna instead of slipping away!
How to Make Pressure Cooker Lasagna
Making lasagna in your electric pressure cooker is quick and easy, but requires you have the right equipment.
This recipe was developed and tested using a 6qt Pressure Cooker, a 7.5-inch springform pan and a silicone sling.
You can use a smaller or bigger pot, but you might have to adjust the ingredients to fit the pan you’re using! Always make sure that your springform pan fits inside the pressure cooker before assembling the lasagna.
Recommended tools and equipment: pressure cooker, springform pan, pressure cooker trivet rack or silicone sling, foil.
Here’s how I make lasagna in the pressure cooker. As always, you will find the printable (and more complete) version of the recipe at the end of this post!
Step 1: Make the sauce.
- Using the electric pressure cooker sauté mode, heat the olive oil and sauté the beef.
- Add the seasoning and season with salt and pepper.
- Stir in Prego® Flavored with Meat Italian Sauce
Step 2: Assemble the lasagna.
- In a springform pan that fits inside your pressure cooker, spread a layer of the meat sauce.
- Layer some of the lasagna noodles, breaking them into smaller pieces if needed.
- Spread another layer of meat sauce, followed by a layer of Alfredo sauce and a layer of both cheeses.
- Repeat, finishing with noodles, meat sauce and cheese.
Step 3: Cook the lasagna.
- Wrap the springform pan with foil.
- Wash your insert (where the sauce was), or use a new one if you have it. Pour 2 cups of water in your pressure cooker.
- Place the pan on your pressure cooker’s metal rack (or use this silicone sling) and put it in your pressure cooker.
- Cook on high pressure for 26 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally, for 10 minutes.
- Check with a skewer or cake tester to ensure all the noodles are cooked. If they are not, return the lasagna to the pressure cooker and cook for another 5 minutes on high with a quick release.
- Optional: broil for a few minutes for the cheese on top to brown and garnish with chopped (or hand torn) parsley.
Olivia’s Tips
- For safety reasons, I highly recommend you use a springform pan. Unmolding the lasagna from a regular cake pan can be difficult and some of the hot sauce from the bottom of the pan can drizzle down and burn you! (Ask me how I know… 😭)
- To prevent any leakages, make sure to wrap the springform pan tightly with foil, including the bottom.
- Make sure to check to see if all the noodles are tender. You don’t want to serve your lasagna to find out it is raw in the middle!
What to serve with lasagna?
I like to serve lasagna with some Italian bread (or breadsticks) and a nice green salad.
Coming from a family of Italian descendants, extra parmesan (preferably aged Parmigiano-Reggiano) and freshly grated black pepper at the table are a must!
Variations
Lasagna is one of those dishes that allows you to put a different spin on it without worrying about failure!
Here are some suggestions:
- Use a blend of pork + beef or veal + pork + beef instead of all beef.
- Make it with ground chicken or ground turkey instead!
- Use any of the other Prego® sauces, like the Fresh Mushroom, Italian Sausage & Garlic or Roasted Garlic & Herb.
- Add some veggies or greens, like carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach or kale.
- If you don’t mind some prep, use a fresh onion and garlic instead of the powdered.
- Use fresh mozzarella instead of regular mozzarella!
- Add a touch of red pepper flakes for some heat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can either assemble your lasagna a day before and keep it chilled until ready to cook in the pressure cooker, or cook and refrigerate for up to 4 days!
You can freeze your lasagna baked or unbaked, for up to 3 months. If freezing baked, make sure to let it cool completely before freezing, tightly wrapped with foil to prevent freezer burn.
Thaw overnight in the fridge before cooking or reheating.
Reheat your lasagna in the oven, covered in foil, at 350ºF degrees, until it reaches an internal temperature of 160°. You can remove the foil at the end to brown the top slightly!
More weeknight Italian recipes
Pressure Cooker Lasagna
This Pressure Cooker Lasagna is everybody’s comfort food without any of the work! Layers of perfectly al dente lasagna noodles, a hearty meat sauce, a creamy Alfredo sauce and some ooey gooey cheese, on the table in about one hour. This dish will quickly become your favorite weeknight meal!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 jar Prego® Flavored with Meat Italian Sauce
- 8 to 9 ounces no-boil lasagna noodles
- 1 ¼ cups Prego® Homestyle Alfredo
- 3 ounces finely shredded parmesan
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella
- Fresh parsley, for garnishing
Electric Pressure Cooker
Pressure Cooker Trivet
Springform Pan
Preheat your electric pressure cooker on the sauté mode until it says HOT.
Add the olive oil and, once shimmering, stir in the ground beef. Cook, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 8 minutes. Stir in salt, pepper, the onion powder, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Pour in the Prego® meat sauce, stirring to combine.
Assemble the lasagna in a springform pan (that fits your pressure cooker), starting with a layer of the meat sauce. Follow with a layer of lasagna noodles, a layer of meat sauce, a layer of Alfredo and a layer of mozzarella and parmesan. Repeat until you run out of ingredients, making 3-4 layers total (depending on the size of your pan), finishing with noodles, meat sauce and cheese.
Fill a clean pressure cooker insert with 2 cups cold water. Cover the springform pan tightly with foil, then place it in your pressure cooker trivet rack (or a silicone sling) and insert in the pressure cooker.
Cook on high pressure for 26 minutes and allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes. The pressure cooker will take 5 to 15 minutes to reach pressure. Check for doneness with a skewer or cake tester. If the noodles are still raw, cook on high pressure for 5 more minutes with quick release. Carefully remove the lasagna from the pressure cooker.
Optional: pop the lasagna, uncovered, under the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown the top.
Let the lasagna rest for at least 10 minutes before carefully removing it from the pan. Then, garnish with chopped or hand torn parsley, if desired, and serve!
Calories: 423kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 33g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 14g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 123mg, Sodium: 1446mg, Potassium: 698mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 872IU, Vitamin C: 8mg, Calcium: 375mg, Iron: 3mg
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