The Best Way To Reheat Lasagna, According To Robert Irvine

Lasagna is one of the world's most perfect culinary creations. It is not only a classic comfort food, but a boundlessly versatile one, each layer an opportunity to edit and refine its spicy, savory, creamy potential. Those same layers make it one dense pasta dish, however, and, among other possible lasagna pitfalls, a bit of a challenge to reheat. So, Chowhound tapped celebrity chef and erstwhile muscle magazine columnist Robert Irvine at the 2024 New York City Wine & Food Festival for his exclusive tip on how to bring those starchy bricks back up to their optimal temperature. And there are no shortcuts allowed.

"Well, it's got to be in the oven," Irvine says. "You cannot microwave stuff, because it goes from the inside out. It dries out. In the oven. A little stock on top of it, because stock will loosen everything up and become better. But definitely the oven, not a microwave." Irvine's tip to reheat lasagana in the oven works not only for restaurant leftovers, but also for meal-prepped pasta. "You can make it months before, freeze it, defrost it naturally, then pop it in the oven and cook it," he says.

Robert Irvine also has some beefy thoughts when it comes to your lasagna ingredients. "Lasagna is a cheap man's meal," he says. "Sorry, it is. That's where it came from, immigrants. And I love it because it takes whatever. And by the way, there's not very much meat in lasagna. The Americans put too much meat in it, but if you go to Italy, lasagna is not that way."

Whether you're looking to create a meat lover's variety or pull back on the animal protein as Irvine advises, that ability to incorporate whatever ingredients is what transforms a standard lasagna recipe into your very own signature specialty. If you're just starting to experiment with the dish, you can swap the expected ricotta for equal parts cottage cheese. You can also use lasagna as a vehicle for all your meal-prepped frozen veggies and greens like spinach for a novel composition every time. And you can try Giada De Laurentiis' hack to achieve maximally crispy lasagna edges. Finally, you can always repurpose your cooking plans into a one-pot lasagna soup (no noodle pre-cooking needed).