Overcooking the noodles

Since it's simple to overcook lasagna noodles, this is arguably the most frequent error made when assembling a traditional Italian meal. While you don't want soggy noodles, you also don't want them to be undercooked. Lasagne is more challenging to assess for doneness than other types of pasta, which may be tasted for texture and color. Noodles for lasagna should be slightly undercooked (al dente). Al dente, which translates to "to the teeth" in Italian, refers to pasta that still has some texture.

You want the lasagna noodles to be a few minutes shy of al dente so they may complete cooking in the pan because they will spend an additional 45 minutes in the oven drenched in layers of sauce. Use no-boil noodles if trying noodles seem intimidating. Noodles that don't require boiling can help you avoid this problem since you can just pile them into the casserole dish and they will cook alongside the lasagna. There is controversy around the use of no-boil noodles since some people believe they are dishonest because the cooked noodles aren't as solid (via HuffPost). However, they can save you time and help you avoid this typical error as you work on perfecting the other components of lasagna.