5 Different Pasta Shapes To Try In Your Next Lasagna

As a comfort dish filled with layers of pasta and sauce, lasagna offers a truly heartwarming meal in every bite. Though making it is typically a laborious process, it's worthwhile as it yields a large amount of food guaranteed to last at least a little while. With so many amazing lasagna recipes you'll keep coming back to, you can stack just about any type of sauce, protein, and vegetables between layers of flat and wide pasta noodles and cover it all with cheese for the ultimate bake. If you're short on lasagna noodles and still want to make a layered pasta variation of the traditional recipe, there are plenty of other pasta shapes that will still suit your needs.

Consider that the type of pasta you'll want to use is one that's on the larger side with a fair amount of surface area to hold a lot of sauce and cheese — like big shells, farfalle, pappardelle, penne, or even ravioli. While flatter pastas work best, a little creativity will go a long way to making a lasagna-inspired dish with unconventional pasta shapes. Choosing alternatives to lasagna noodles might not fit the specifications of a typical recipe, but the practice comes in handy when you're short on pasta sheets. The most important thing is getting the right size and texture so that your filling has somewhere to go where it will stick. Also, unlike certain types of lasagna noodles, you'll want to cook your pasta prior to layering and baking it.

One especially obvious choice for substituting lasagna noodles is pappardelle. Distinctly different from fettuccine as a thicker and wider noodle, this shape of pasta has the ideal flatness and consistency for a mock lasagna bake. A simple mixture of eggs and flour, a fresh pappardelle recipe is nonetheless a process that requires both effort and patience. If you happen to have a box of Frankies 457 Organic Pappardelle Pasta or any other brand on hand, you're already halfway to making the best lasagna-style bake possible. All that's left is to prepare the pasta for layering and assemble your ingredients.

If you want to get close to a classic lasagna Bolognese recipe while subbing in pappardelle noodles, you can start by cutting the cooked strips of pasta into dish-sized pieces to create layers between your meat sauce and cheese. Make sure to use an ample amount of the pappardelle pasta to get full coverage. And definitely don't skimp on the cheese. Once it's put together, you'll be pleasantly surprised how easily this mimics the mouthfeel of a typical lasagna.

Assembling a lasagna using big shell pasta like Jellybean Foods Jumbo Stuffing Shells might resemble something a little closer to a baked stuffed shells recipe, but with a little bit of ingenuity as far as your filling and layering technique are concerned, you'll have yourself a delicious lasagna dish that's as simple to put together as it is enjoyable to eat. The shape of big shell pasta and its considerable surface area mean that each piece can hold quite a bit of sauce and cheese, but you'll likely only be placing one actual layer of pasta that's stuffed with your respective fillings and then covering it with sauce and cheese to bake.

Make sure to cook more shells than you think you'll need so you can have enough intact should any of the pasta pieces break in the boiling process. Furthermore, feel free to get creative with your blend of cheeses, knowing these shells can hold quite a bit of filling. Don't be shy about spooning generous portions of any of your favorite béchamel-based sauces over the big shells in your baking dish before heaping on a final layer of red sauce and cheese that will melt and crisp up in the oven for a perfect topping.

Known colloquially as "bow tie" pasta, farfalle is a unique choice as a lasagna noodle substitute for its cute shape and sauce-holding surface area. Because the pieces are relatively flat, it's really a matter of putting them together like a pasta-shaped puzzle to make each layer of your lasagna. Considering the way these pasta pieces are thin in the middle and flared on either side, get clever with your layout and tesselate the pieces for optimal coverage. This would make an excellent pasta to use for a lemony spinach pistou lasagna recipe, provided you've taken care to cook the farfalle first.

Starting with your favorite brand, such as Rao's Homemade Farfalle Pasta, there's a number of ways you can turn this into the lasagna-inspired bake of your dreams. Whether you want to keep your dish on the lighter side or load it up with a heavy meat sauce, these little bow ties will hold your sauce and fillings really well. Try making a mixed mushroom lasagna recipe with farfalle and enjoy not just the pasta swap but a different source of protein.

Of the pastas mentioned on this list, penne might seem like an outlier for its tubular shape, but don't let this deter you from swapping it in for your next lasagna night. The shape and texture of this pasta will actually work in your favor for holding sauce, cheese, and fillings such as with a baked creamy red pepper penne pasta recipe. The hollow shape of the pasta is particularly useful if you're using a vegetable-rich lasagna recipe with a hearty marinara sauce because the tubes make room for the sauce to fill in and permeate your dish in a most delightful way.

It's as simple as determining what kind of sauce, cheese, and proteins you want to use and having a little extra patience for making your lasagna layers with a more rounded pasta, but it will certainly pay off. Try using a box of penne in a white spinach and artichoke lasagna recipe for a twist on a classic red sauce bake. As a good rule of thumb, always remember to cover your lasagna in the baking process to ensure that your noodles don't dry out.

It's so simple to make a lasagna using ravioli that you'll probably be wondering why you hadn't always done it this way. Given the additional ingredients in each ravioli, you can pack more flavor into every bite. Cheese ravioli would make a great layering pasta in a vegetarian lasagna bake for even more protein. If you're preparing a hidden vegetable ravioli lasagna recipe with a rich red sauce, try using Whole Foods 365 Butternut Squash Ravioli to sneak in even more vegetables. For those who like seafood, layers of crab or lobster ravioli would be a good choice paired up with a garlic cream sauce in your next lasagna bake.

The only limit to unique pasta choices beyond lasagna noodles is that of your own creativity. As long as you have a good idea of the kinds of fillings and sauce you want to use, this can inform your choice of alternative pasta — or vice versa! At the end of the day, it isn't a matter of whether or not your pasta choices align perfectly in the pan but how good your dish tastes. A homemade lasagna rich in flavor and texture is the best result.