How to Cook Frozen Lasagna

When making a lasagna, many people will end up making a couple at the same time to have one immediately, and the other at a later date as it cuts down on meal prep time. Naturally then, you may have frozen the second lasagna in order to keep it fresh for later consumption. If so though, you may be curious about how to cook frozen lasagna and if the process is significantly different from unfrozen lasagna.

Table of Contents

• Can You Cook Lasagna From Frozen?
• How To Cook Frozen Lasagna Faster
• Cooking Frozen Lasagna Vs Defrosted Lasagna
• Answered: How to Cook Frozen Lasagna
• FAQS – Baking Frozen Lasagna

Can You Cook Lasagna From Frozen?

Whilst you can definitely wait for it to thaw before cooking frozen lasagna noodles this will take quite a significant amount of time. This is because, similarly to something like ground turkey, a frozen lasagna will need roughly a day to thaw. As such when thawing your frozen leftover lasagna it is best to leave it in the refrigerator overnight at the very least before baking.

However, since this will take a long time to do, you naturally may be curious if you can bake frozen lasagna without thawing it out. Well great news, you can!

However, whilst a thawed or fresh lasagna in the oven can be cooked within sixty minutes, a frozen lasagna that is hasn’t been thawed will take at least ninety minutes to cook to completion. Of course, this will save you the time of defrosting the lasagna though so it still works out being quicker.

When cooking frozen lasagna or its frozen leftover though, it is important to note that a particularly large dish may take an additional twenty minutes to cook the whole way through.

However, using a high temperature in conjunction with a convection oven will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to reheat thawed frozen lasagna.

How To Cook Frozen Lasagna Faster

When cooking frozen lasagna, the issue of how much time it will take to cook may be off-putting to some people. However, there is, fortunately, a few ways to reduce the difference in cooking time between frozen and refrigerated lasagna.

In order to reheat frozen lasagna as quickly as possible, you can follow the steps below to ensure that cooks in good time:

1. Take your lasagna from the freezer. 
2. Wrap your lasagna in foil and leave it on the side. A foil covered lasagna will allow the heat to disperse more evenly throughout the dish, meaning the middle cook well without the cheese burning.
3. Preheat oven to 400°F (or roughly 204°C). It should take roughly five to ten minutes for this to happen.
4. Bake covered lasagna for roughly sixty to seventy-five minutes.
5. Take your lasagna from the oven and remove the foil.
6. Return the baking dish to the oven until the ricotta cheese is nicely melted and the sauces are nice and bubbly. This should take roughly thirty minutes to happen.
7. Leave the dish to cool slightly for a couple of minutes, following which you can serve it.

This method will ensure that your frozen homemade lasagna turns out as perfectly as possible in a reasonable amount of time. 

However, one word of caution, whilst a metal oven-safe dish will be fine, if your freeze lasagna in a glass pyrex dish you will have to defrost it. This is because glass is particularly susceptible to thermal shock, meaning that when exposed to sudden changes in temperature it is prone to shattering or cracking.

Unfortunately, this means that when using a glass oven-safe dish for your leftover lasagna, it can’t be placed in the preheated oven, even though the pyrex heat limit is incredibly high.

Cooking Frozen Lasagna Vs Defrosted Lasagna

Whilst not thawing the frozen lasagna can skip the process of defrosting, it does ultimately cause the cooking process to both take longer and be slightly more complicated. As such, if you are planning to cook a frozen lasagna in the near future you will likely be better off defrosting it in advance.

If you do choose to defrost your lasagna first though you have two options for how to do it. These are as follows:

• In the fridge: This will take a while but will make for the best results as you can be sure that the lasagna will have defrosted evenly.
• In the microwave: Alternatively, you can also use the microwave to defrost it more quickly. However, the risk with this is that it may begin to cook the lasagna and it can be hard to tell if it has completely thawed.

Again though, it is important to mention that if you are using a pyrex or glass dish, you absolutely shouldn’t expose to sudden changes in temperature. With this in mind, in order to keep your pyrex safe, always defrost frozen food in pyrex dishes in the fridge.

Answered: How to Cook Frozen Lasagna

Frozen lasagna can be cooked without thawing so long as it is not in a glass oven dish. To do so, you should cover your lasagna in tin foil and cook for about an hour before removing the foil and cooking for an additional half an hour. 

That said though, whilst you can cook lasagna from frozen, it may not always be best to do so. This is because when you know in advance that you will be cooking frozen lasagna you can defrost it overnight in the refrigerator.

Alternatively, if you’re in a rush and only cooking a small amount of lasagna then you can use the microwave.

Whichever method you’ve used though, your homemade lasagna will come out a treat. However, if looking for some inspiration, why not check out our guide to making a hearty marinara sauce?

FAQS – Baking Frozen Lasagna