Polenta Lasagna – a fun twist to our traditional lasagna recipe. We ditched the noodles for slices of polenta! This is seriously delicious! Italian Sausage, Marinara sauce, polenta, cottage cheese, egg, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. You can assemble the casserole ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it for later. Serve the casserole with some garlic bread and a salad. Everyone LOVES this easy gluten-free lasagna recipe.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a skillet, cook Italian sausage or ground beef until no longer pink. Drain fat. Remove from heat and stir in marinara sauce. Set aside.
Combine cottage cheese, egg and parsley. Set aside.
Pour 1/2 cup sauce into bottom of prepared pan. Top sauce with half of polenta slices. Top polenta with half of cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese on top of cottage cheese mixture. Spread half of sauce on top of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers.
Top casserole with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Notes:
I used cottage cheese in the lasagna. If you don’t like cottage cheese, you can swap it out for ricotta cheese. Either way, make sure to drain the cheese a little before using it. You don’t want the lasagna to be too runny.
I used a jar of Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara. I like the marinara version, not the spaghetti sauce version. There is a big difference.
If you don’t have a Trader Joe around, my other favorite jarred sauces are La Famiglia Del Grosso and Rao’s.
Of course, you can always make your own sauce. Here are our favorite homemade red sauce recipes:
I like to use hot Italian sausage in the sauce. You can use any flavor of sausage, turkey sauce, or ground beef. You can also omit the meat if you want a vegetarian dish.
Can Polenta Lasagna be made in advance? Yes! You can assemble this casserole ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake.
Can Polenta Lasagna be frozen? Yes! Assemble the casserole and let it cool completely. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze. When ready to bake, thaw and bake as directed.
You can double the recipe in a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Feel free to add baby spinach, onions, or mushrooms to the recipe.
Is Polenta Lasagna gluten-free? Yes, all of the ingredients are gluten-free.