How To Turn Lasagna Into A Comforting Sandwich In The Air Fryer
Lasagna is one of the all-time classic comfort foods, with layers of cheesy, saucy, meaty goodness that sticks to your bones and fills up your belly. However, if you don't have the time to assemble this layered casserole, you can make a sandwich out of lasagna ingredients with the help of an air fryer. Using a classic lasagna recipe as its blueprint, a lasagna-inspired sandwich is a single-serving hand-held that takes a fraction of the time to assemble and bake.
Foodie influencer Hayley Dean shares the lasagna sandwich recipe in a viral Instagram post. She swaps noodles for crispy pieces of toast while still managing to capture all the flavors and textures of the classic dish. The recipe starts by spreading a garlic and herb-infused butter over two pieces of white sandwich bread to toast in the air fryer at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 minutes per side. Toasting the garlic bread will prevent it from buckling or becoming soggy under the weight of the lasagna fillings. Then, after toasting the bread on both sides, you can assemble the lasagna layers, starting with a hearty spread of bolognese or red sauce, followed by bechamel or other white sauce, and a final sprinkling of shredded cheese. Then, you can place the second bread slice on top, over which you'll slather more white sauce to anchor the final layer of parmesan and shredded mozzarella. Slide the layered sandwich back into the air fryer for another five to 10 minutes.
Variations on lasagna sandwiches
Scratch-made lasagna is a labor of love, requiring you to make each saucy layer in separate pots. But, unless you have leftover homemade bolognese and bechamel sauce you want to repurpose, you can use store-bought counterparts for a quick lasagna sandwich. We think that Rao's Homemade Bolognese Sauce is the store-bought bolognese sauce that tastes closest to homemade. You can swap bechamel for jarred Alfredo sauce from Giovanni Rana, which ranked best on our list of jarred Alfredo sauces.
Of course, a classic lasagna bolognese is just one of countless lasagna recipes you can use to inspire your lasagna sandwich. If you're a vegetarian, you can leave off the bolognese and bolster the jarred Alfredo sauce with chopped canned artichokes and spinach for a sandwich version of this white spinach and artichoke lasagna. Swap bolognese for shredded chicken and Franks RedHot buffalo wings sauce, Alfredo sauce for a blend of ranch dressing and cream cheese, and shredded mozzarella for cheddar cheese for a buffalo chicken lasagna sandwich.