Lasagna is a delicious favorite of Italian food lovers everywhere. Whether you want to serve it up at a dinner party or enjoy it with your family, you will find an excellent idea for what to serve with lasagna in this dish.
An Italian dish with a lot of variations, lasagna is typically made with fresh lasagna pasta sheets, stacked with layers of sauce like Ragu or Marinara. Usually, you will use a bechamel sauce or cheese sauce over the top of the dish before finally baking it in the oven.
Read on to find some of the best ideas for sides to serve with a delicious lasagna that will help maximize this dish’s potential.
Best Side Dishes for Lasagna
1. Garlic Bread
A classic and something you can serve with almost every other item on this list, garlic bread is a popular side dish for serving with lasagna and would make an excellent addition to a dinner party.
You can opt for either flat garlic bread or a garlic baguette. The baguette option would be our recommendation for a party allowing you to serve multiple at the dinner table without taking up as much surface area.
Cook 2-3 garlic baguettes in the oven and make them the centerpiece of the table alongside a couple of candles and a nice bottle of wine for a real continental dinner party.
2. French Fries
This side dish is a contentious one, but french fries make an excellent side for lasagna. Indulgent mouthfuls of french fry dipped in creamy lasagna sauce can elevate even the most incredible lasagna. So make your choice wisely.
Another plus for french fries is that it is easy to cook lots of them and make sure that everyone has plenty.
While you can also serve these with garlic bread, you are then doing ‘triple carb,’ which can seriously irritate some people. So if you’re hosting a dinner party for foodies, then be careful.
3. Caesar Salad
Crisp and crunchy lettuce with some added cherry tomatoes is a popular side dish for serving with lasagna in our house, and it works well at dinner parties.
You can serve this with garlic bread, and it even pairs well with fries. Something that could prevent you from stepping on the metaphorical hornet’s nest of doing triple carb.
4. Garlic-roasted Broccoli
A great vegetable side dish for lasagna that you don’t see enough is garlic roasted broccoli. This side dish is perfect for dinner parties where you want to ‘wow’ your guests because it is both tasty and uncommon to see served.
Broccoli goes well with lasagna when cooked enough that it retains some firmness. Cooking it long enough to soften a little will reduce the bitterness of a firmer stem while also maintaining enough crunch to add a complementary texture.
Adding in the garlic only adds to the flavors, and because garlic is almost ubiquitous with lasagna, it just works.
5. Doughballs
Doughballs are an excellent alternative to garlic bread and can be basted in a little olive oil or cooked in garlic butter.
Doughballs can be easy to share and easy to cook and place in a large serving bowl as the table centerpiece. You could even argue that it would be better to serve with french fries than traditional garlic bread.
The main downside to dough balls and lasagna is that the texture isn’t as good as garlic bread.
6. Garlic Mushrooms
This suggestion is not the most common, but it is a delicious one that will become a favorite for you as quickly as it does for everyone else that tries it.
Use either chestnut mushrooms or portobello mushrooms and cut them into quarters. Add them to a frying pan or skillet with a little olive oil and cook on slow heat until thoroughly cooked. Next, add some butter and chopped garlic, now stir well. Add more butter and garlic if necessary until the mushrooms have a strong garlic flavor.
Once cooked add them alongside your lasagna, a perfect accompaniment that’ll add a unique and memorable spin to the dish.
Conclusion
No matter what your taste or preference you will find a suitable and delicious side dish to serve with lasagna in the list above. Whether you want to go double-carb or try something a little lighter one of these options will work for you.