Despite being time-consuming to make, lasagna rewards any good with the ultimate dish of rich comfort food. One of lasagna’s star ingredients is ricotta cheese, and since cottage cheese is a similar dairy product, but sometimes easier to find, you may be tempted to sub it in for ricotta — but they have quite different textures and flavors.

Ricotta is made from dairy whey, which gives it a smooth and delicate texture, while cottage cheese is made from milk, giving it a grainy texture with larger curds that aren't as thick and creamy. When put into a lasagna, cottage cheese can remain lumpy and grainy, which is not ideal for a filling that's supposed to be smooth and creamy.

Beyond having the incorrect texture, cottage cheese's flavor is sharper and more acidic than mild ricotta, which has a sweeter taste that doesn't clash with other ingredients. For more authentic-tasting lasagna, you ought to stick to ricotta, since even the lower-quality stuff will integrate into your recipe better than cottage cheese would.