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Ever found yourself with a mixer full of cheesecake batter—but no springform pan to bake it in? Bought all the ingredients to make your mom's brisket—but every dish you have is too small? Welcome to Everything You Need, where the goal is to prevent these problems from ever occurring again. First up: lasagna loot.
Enameled Baking Dish
You'll need a deep baking dish in which to assemble and cook your lasagna. We like a ceramic dish because it conducts heat well and has a pretty, homey look. This set of two Staub dishes has big handles, a classic design, and plenty of depth for building lasagna layers. The dishes are also broiler-safe and easy to clean. At around $60 for two dishes (meaning you can make multiple sizes of lasagna), it's hard to beat the price of this classic piece of cookware, which you can also use to make gratins, roasts, and casseroles.
Staub Ceramic 2-Piece Rectangular Baking Dish Set, $59.93 on Amazon
Box Grater
When you make lasagna, the cheese-shredding work is almost never done. That's why you'll also need a box grater for tackling all of that mozzarella and parmesan. This one is rated highly on Amazon for its extremely sharp edges, which handle both hard and soft cheeses well. Bonus: it includes a microplaner, so you don't need to purchase one separately. Yes, it's slightly more expensive than some box graters, but according to reviewers, the grater stays sharp for years.
Cuisipro Surface Glide Technology 4-Sided Boxed Grater, $31.95 on Amazon
Stockpot
To make the sauce for your lasagna, you'll need a large stockpot. We like this 8-quart brushed stainless steel All-Clad pot. All-Clad cookware is an investment, sure, but it's a favorite of both professional chefs and serious home cooks because it's high quality, strong, and durable. This pot—made from 3-ply stainless steel—has a heavy bottom, meaning sauce will cook evenly and won't scorch.
All-Clad 5508 Stainless Steel Stockpot Cookware, 8-Quart, Silver, $319.95 on Amazon
Small Offset Spatula
For spreading tomato sauce and ricotta or bechamel on your lasagna, a small offset spatula works wonders. This baking tool also can't be beat for frosting cakes, smoothing cake batter, and removing pies from their pans.
**Ateco 1305 Ultra Offset Spatula with 4.25 by .75-Inch Stainless Steel Blade, $5.20 on Amazon
Serving Spatula
And for dishing up your lasagna, you'll need a serving spatula. We like this one from OXO because it has a sharp edge for cutting, holes for draining excess liquid, and is hefty enough to handle the heartiest servings of lasagna.
OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Cut and Serve Turner, $7.49 on Amazon
Oven Mitts
Making lasagna involves transferring hot tomato sauce from the stovetop and taking a casserole dish in and out of the oven. With all that maneuvering of hot pans, you're going to need some good oven mitts. It doesn't hurt if they're cute, too. We like that these red-gingham Sur La Table gloves have a classic look, with a little twist that they're mini.
Hot Grab Gingham Mini Mitt, $12.00–$13.00 at Sur La Table
No-Boil Barilla Lasagne Noodles
Lasagna already has several components: It involves making sauce on the stovetop, grating cheese, and layering ingredients. Don't mess around with boiling pasta when you can buy Barilla lasagne noodles, which cook right in the oven.
Barilla Pasta, Oven-Ready Lasagne, 9 Ounce, $16.59 for a Pack of 4 on Amazon
Canned Tomatoes
In our taste test of canned tomatoes, we found that Redpack whole peeled plum tomatoes were our favorites because they had a pure tomato flavor with a nice balance of acidity and sweetness. A bonus is that this U.S.-owned company grows all of its tomatoes on family-owned farms in Indiana. You'll also need tomato paste to make your sauce—we like the ones that come in a tube so you don't waste half the can every time you open it.
Redpack Whole Peeled Plum Tomatoes in Puree, 28oz Can, $36.00 for a 12-pack on Amazon
Amore Tomato Paste, 4.5oz Tube, $2.28 on Amazon
Dried Oregano
Not all dried oreganos are the same. This one, which is organic and comes from Sicily, arrives on a whole branch(!). Not surprisingly, the aroma of the herb is better preserved than most ground supermarket brands, but it doesn't have any of the sharpness or bitterness.
Gangi Dante Organic Dried Oregano Herb from Sicily, .88 oz, $8.95 on Amazon
Ricotta
It can be hard to find a ricotta at the supermarket that doesn't have stabilizers (which can often give the cheese an unpleasant gummy texture). But Calabro brand is creamy and delicious, without any chalkiness or weird texture.
Calabro Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese, $9.49 at FreshDirect
Olive Oil
We did a taste test and determined that we like California Olive Ranch Olive Oil the best of any commonly available olive oil. We like it for cooking due to its rich, buttery flavor, with just the right note of olive flavor.
California Olive Ranch Olive Oil 25.4 FL oz , $10.35 on Jet.com
Now that you know all of the tools you need, you're ready to make lasagna:
