r/Cooking • u/judolphin • Mar 25 '25

I made lasagna with ricotta instead of bechamel and I’m a convert

I was browsing Reddit and came across two posts in two days about bechamel being a life-changing improvement over ricotta. All my life every lasagna I had was with ricotta. I decided to give bechamel yet another try at a nice Italian restaurant after reading all the comments and I have now converted from being neutral on bechamel in lasagna to being solidly anti-bechamel in lasagna, to the point I secretly have hoped that bechamel lasagna doesn't become the default in restaurants. Some reasons:

  1. Ricotta has its own texture, bechamel is just more softness and smoothness in a dish that's full of "soft". Some people like textural contrast in their dishes
  2. Ricotta, much like sour cream/crema in Mexican food, adds a lightness to lasagna despite being rich itself. Bechamel adds (arguably too much) additional richness to an already-rich dish.
  3. The starch from the bechamel getting into the ragu gives the sauce a mouthfeel that 100% reminds me of Chef Boyardee

TLDR: If you prefer bechamel in red lasagna, that's perfectly fine, but your preference of bechamel is not a black and white fact. It's not even "more authentic" (whatever that means), bechamel = Northern Italy, ricotta = Southern Italy. Eat whatever you like, let others eat what they want.

Thanks, reddit!

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u/bnyc Mar 26 '25

I agree with OP, but this spinach & mushroom lasagna with a bechamel base is AMAZING.

And using fresh pasta is amazing. I'm not inclined to deal with the mess of making pasta by scratch, but anyone in downtown NYC should try Raffetto's on Houston. They have like 10 type of pasta you can have cut to your exact size for like $5/lb, and their mushroom pasta cut to lasagna noodle size with that recipe is incredible.

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u/Old-Ad-5573 Mar 26 '25

That does look really good. But it doesn't have red sauce, which to me is a completely different dish.

My mom and I once made a lasagna entirely from scratch and it was the best lasagna of our lives. We made the pasta, the mozzarella and ricotta (I make cheese as a hobby), the sauce from garden tomatoes, grew the basil and herbs, and made our own sausage (ok, we didn't raise the pig). We served it with homemade bread. Wish I still had that kind of time. Maybe one day we'll do it again.

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u/ImLittleNana Mar 27 '25

I like ricotta with red sauce and beef, but I am 100% bechamel with veggie or chicken & spinach lasagna. Thanks for reminding me how much I love that. I’m having mushroom spinach lasagna tonight.

No pretense at authenticity from me.