Posted Oct 21, 2026
Flour tortillas instead of noodles. Beef, a whole tub of ricotta, a mountain of mozzarella. Is it even lasagna? Nonna’s not here.
↓ Jump to RecipePosted Oct 21, 2026
Heat the oven to 375°F. Skillet on medium to medium-low so the beef doesn’t scorch while you dice the onion.
1 to 1½ lb 80/20 into the hot pan. ½ small onion, diced, in with it. 3 tsp garlic powder, 2 to 3 tsp Sunday Best, ½ tsp salt, black pepper. Brown it through.
Drain the grease. It hurts. Save it for gravy, broth, or roasted vegetables if dumping it feels wrong. Stir in about ½ cup roasted tomato pasta sauce or your usual jar. Watery sauce needs a few minutes to thicken. A thick homemade sauce can skip that.
One 15-ounce tub of whole-milk ricotta in a bowl — a little over a cup, the whole container. 2 to 3 Tbsp Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated into the bowl. ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp Sunday Best, 1 large egg. Mixy mix.
Thin smear of sauce on the bottom. Overlap tortillas so the sauce is covered — 3 to 4 per layer if you are using 6 to 8 total. Thin ricotta. Beef, spread even. Mozzarella. Repeat: tortillas, ricotta, meat and sauce, then a heavy hand of mozzarella on top.
Foil on. 375°F, 20 minutes.
Split the French bread. Butter it like toast. Garlic, basil, grated Parmesan. Sheet pan. Leave it out until the lasagna uncovers — it only needs about 10 minutes.
Foil off. Lasagna and garlic bread back in together. About 10 minutes. Bread is done when the cheese melts and the edges brown. Lasagna is done when the top is a browned, bubbling crust.
At least 10 minutes. That cheese is liquid hot magma and it will melt your tongue off. Then pick a square — corner if you have a side, middle if you don’t — and pull.
Authentic lasagna from Bologna is a slow-cooked meat ragù and a creamy béchamel. Not a red jar and a mountain of mozzarella. The ricotta is the legal defense.
One of the earliest surviving written recipes is from medieval Naples, around the early 1300s — the Liber de Coquina, a section titled De lasanis. Layers of pasta, cheese, and spices. No tomato. No mozzarella mountain. No beef. Every region has argued for centuries about the right one. Italian-American cooks put their own spin on it a long time ago. Tortillas are this one.
The word lasagna may trace back through Latin to a Greek word for a cooking vessel. That word was also associated with a chamber pot. The etymology is disputed. The joke is not. Somewhere in the history of this dish we may have gone from toilet to tortilla.
Traditionally it is made from the whey left over from making other cheese, then cooked again. Somebody looked at cheese leftovers and said, oh I know, let’s make another cheese.
Calculated on the filmed pan: 1½ lb 80/20 (drained), 15 oz whole-milk ricotta, 12 oz mozzarella, 6 flour tortillas, ~2 cups sauce. Garlic bread is not in the table.
| Nutrient | Per square (12) | Per big square (9) | Whole pan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | ~410 | ~545 | ~4,900 |
| Protein | 22 g | 30 g | ~265 g |
| Total fat | 27 g | 35 g | ~320 g |
| Total carbs | 18 g | 24 g | ~210 g |
| Sodium | ~720 mg | ~960 mg | ~8,600 mg |
A 1 lb beef pan lands about 40–50 calories lighter per small square. Same tortillas and cheese. Eight tortillas instead of six adds about 25 calories and 4 g carbs per small square. Not lab-tested.
Get new recipes + the free Sunday Best Rub formula.
No spam. We never share your email with anyone.
