Béchamel Vs Ricotta: What A Pair Of Pros Think About The Ultimate Lasagna Debate

Among the many mistakes everyone makes when cooking lasagna is assuming there's only one way to make the dish. That is, using ricotta instead of a béchamel sauce as the creamy element between layers of meat and pasta. Some people consider the debate worthy of settling in a cage match, but a couple of experts are more diplomatic about the competing fillings. "We like both of these lasagna styles for different reasons," chefs Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito told Chowhound. The husband-and-wife duo own the Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Don Angie in New York City's West Village and co-wrote the cookbook "Italian American: Red Sauce Classics and New Essentials," so they know a thing or two about lasagna, to say the least. 

Tacinelli and Rito are also participating in City Harvest's BID 2024: CHTV!, an annual fundraiser taking place this year on October 29, 2024. The nonprofit organization works with restaurants, farms, grocers, and others food industry professionals in and near New York City to rescue surplus food and redistribute it to those who need it most. Guests who attend the event can expect food and drink samples from some of the city's best restaurants and bars, along with entertainment and more — all for a good cause. Lasagna might even make an appearance, but it'd be hard to say in which form. Béchamel sauce is true to the traditional Italian-style dish, while ricotta puts an American spin on it. But the Don Angie co-owners believe both lasagna fillings have their merits.

If you've only ever tried ricotta-filled lasagna, you're missing out. In fact, Italians commonly substitute the cheese for besciamella, another name for béchamel sauce, which is made with flour, milk, butter, and basic seasonings, and is one of the five mother sauces in France. When it comes to Lasagna Bolognese specifically, the dish features layers of pasta, béchamel, and bolognese meat sauce, topped with one type of cheese: Parmesan. The end result is rich, velvety, and full of flavor.

However, béchamel requires some elbow grease and time to make from scratch. "The Italian-style lasagna with béchamel does take more effort to make," note Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito, emphasizing, "But it is worth the effort." Despite the rich flavors, the final dish isn't so heavy. "[Béchamel] makes for a more delicate, luxurious end product that's a little lighter than the American-style lasagna made with ricotta," they say. It seems the creamy béchamel also keeps the layers of pasta together better than ricotta. Of course, Tacinelli and Rito have shared other tips to help ensure your lasagna holds its shape, too.

Meanwhile, ask most Americans and ricotta is the only way to go. It's probably how their parents and their parents' parents made lasagna. After all, the small curds of the soft Italian cheese complement ground meat nicely. "We love the satisfying textural contrast that the ricotta provides to the American-style lasagna," Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito say, adding, "And we like it for nostalgic reasons as well. But this style can be a bit heavy."

When using store-bought ricotta, be sure and strain it well. This step is highly recommended for desserts, but is also useful in a well-made lasagna. It removes excess moisture that might otherwise pool at the bottom of the dish and cause the pasta to slide around or even fall apart when served. Alternatively, you can swap out the lasagna's ricotta for cottage cheese, which holds together better and doesn't require straining, but still provides a similar tangy taste and pleasant textural sensation.

It's worth noting there's also a best-of-both-worlds solution that saves you from having to decide between the two options. When making lasagna, you can simply combine both classic fillings into one dish. You'll get the velvety creaminess of the béchamel sauce and the sweet-and-tangy bite of the ricotta curds.