Ina Garten's Tip For Lasagna Noodles Is A Total Time-Saver

All of those layers of flavorful ingredients in a lasagna are what make it incredibly delicious. The cheese, meat, noodles, and sauce all combine for a delectable meal. While there are conventional ways to prepare and cook these layers to make great lasagna, celebrity chef and cookbook author Ina Garten has a special tip for one of those ingredients — the noodles. The "Barefoot Contessa" host has shared an alternative to boiling noodles that will make cooking lasagna much more efficient.

Garten advises soaking the noodles in hot water instead of boiling them. Incorporating this step in a classic lasagna recipe is super quick and easy, and it cooks the noodles sufficiently before baking. Also, you don't have to wait for noodles to cook thoroughly while boiling in a pot. If you've never cooked lasagna and you're wondering how long it takes to adequately boil noodles versus soaking them, know that soaking noodles is the most time-saving option.

If you plan to boil your noodles as you make your lasagna, be prepared to get stuck standing over your boiling pot of noodles for 10 minutes – time that you could spend prepping your other ingredients. Why? Boiling noodles requires stirring them so that they separate from each other and each noodle gets cooked thoroughly, as well as ensuring a soft texture that will still deliver some bite. Of course, you could stir the noodles periodically. However, that still means you'll keep returning to the boiling pot over and over again when you could focus your attention on another part of your recipe and make your lasagna quicker. This is why you should soak your noodles instead.

Soaking lasagna noodles takes much less effort. Simply load up your baking dish with your lasagna noodles and shower them with hot water from your faucet, and you're done! Then, set the noodles aside as they soak while you prepare the other ingredients until you're ready to layer your lasagna. Social media even agrees that soaking lasagna noodles is the best cooking procedure. 

In a Reddit thread titled, "For a baked pasta like lasagna can I just soak the noodles?" Redditors discussed the benefits of the noodle-soaking method. One user shared how soaking the noodles makes constructing the lasagna less difficult. They said, "It actually makes building [a lasagna] a lot easier because you aren't working with hot sticky pasta sheets."

While another Redditor advised about the risks of soaking lasagna noodles, they did confirm just how efficient it is. They explained, "If you soak too long it can become gummy or fall apart. Cooking time will be shorter." The benefit of being able to tend to your other ingredients while your noodles soak was also affirmed. Another Redditor explained, "By the time [you're] done chopping your cheeses and meats [noodles] are easy enough to handle and not overcooked and ripping when you pick them up." There are plenty of lasagna mistakes you don't know you're making, but don't make another one by boiling those noodles — just soak them instead.