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From Season 3: Pasta Quick and Easy
Over the past few years, no-boil (also called oven-ready) lasagna noodles have become a permanent fixture on supermarket shelves. Much like "instant rice," no-boil noodles are precooked at the factory. The extruded noodles are run through a water bath and then dehydrated mechanically. During baking, the moisture from the sauce softens, or rehydrates, the noodles, especially when the pan is covered as the lasagna bakes. Most no-boil noodles are rippled, and the accordion-like pleats relax as the pasta rehydrates in the oven, allowing the noodles to elongate.
No-boil lasagna noodles come in two shapes. The most common is a rectangle measuring 7 inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide; we found three brands in this shape. One other brand came in 7-inch squares. We made lasagnas with all four brands to see how they would compare. The two brands with noodles that are both thin and rippled worked well. Two squares of the 7-inch noodles butted very closely together fit into a 9 by 13-inch pan, but when baked the noodles expanded and the edges jumped out of the pan and became unpleasantly dry and tough.
Several readers reported they used traditional noodles instead of their no-boil counterparts in our Faster Lasagna and laid them right in the pan raw without parboiling. Needless to say, we were intrigued, so we put this substitution to the test.
We cooked two lasagnas, one with no-boil noodles, the other with traditional, straight from the box noodles, and the results were clear: The no-boil noodles were preferred for superior texture; the traditional noodles were starchy and gummy.
We also wondered what would happen if we made our recipe using traditional lasagna noodles but parboiled them before layering them into the pan. The overall structure of this lasagna—soupy and oozy—left us pining for the firm, moist structure of the original recipe. The cooked noodles did not absorb the extra moisture we had added to our original recipe to help soften the no-boil noodles.
Our conclusion: No-boil and traditional lasagna noodles are not interchangeable, even if you cook the traditional noodles first.
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| Product Tested | Price* | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Highly Recommended | |||
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Columela Extra Virgin Olive OilOur favorite premium extra-virgin olive oil from a previous tasting, Columela is composed of a blend of intense Picual, mild Hojiblanca, Ocal, and Arbequina olives. This oil took top honors for its fruity flavor and excellent balance. Tasters praised its big olive aroma, big olive taste with a buttery flavor that is sweet and full, with a peppery finish. One taster said: Its very green and freshlike a squeezed olive. Another simply wrote: Fantastic. |
$19 for 17 oz | |
| Recommended | |||
 |
Lucini Italia Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive OilTasters noted this oils flavor was much deeper than the other samples, describing it as fruity, with a slight peppery finish, buttery undertones, and a clean, green taste that was aromatic, with a good balance. It has the flavor that some good EVOOs have, said one admiring taster. |
$19.99 for 500 ml ($39.98 per liter) | |
 |
Colavita Extra Virgin Olive OilVirtually tied for second place, this oil was deemed round and buttery, with a light body and flavor that was briny and fruity, very fine and smooth, and almost herbal, with great balance. Good olive flavor. I could smell it and taste it, approved one taster. In a word, pleasant. |
$17.99 for 750 ml ($23.98 per liter) | |
| Recommended with Reservations | |||
 |
Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive OilA clear step down from the top oils, tasters noted overall mild flavor and very little aroma, with only a hint of green olive and a hint of spiciness at the end. In pasta, it was initially not complex, but gradually bloomed in your mouth. Overall, it was worthy of a second bite. |
$12.49 for 750 ml ($16.65 per liter) | |
 |
Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive OilWhile some tasters found this oil sweet and buttery with medium body and slight spice at the end, others complained that it had zero olive flavor and was so floral its almost like eating perfume; still others noted a bitter aftertaste. In pasta, it was extremely mild to the point of being boring. |
$10.99 for 750 ml ($14.65 per liter) | |
 |
Goya Extra Virgin Olive OilComments: The best comments tasters could muster were mild and neutral. Some liked it on pasta (though one called it Snoozeville), but complaints were myriad: metallic, soapy, briny, hints of dirt. Carped one taster, I cant imagine what is in here, but they have a nerve calling it EVOO. |
$13.99 for 1 liter | |
 |
Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive OilComments: While some tasters called this oil mild and smooth, others found it thin, greasy and not very interesting. I bet the cooking water had more olive flavor, speculated one taster; could be canolait is so bland, mused another. A few noted an objectionable aftertaste that was soapy, chemical or mentholthink |
$9.99 for 473 ml ($21.12 per liter) | |
 |
Botticelli Extra Virgin Olive OilWhile a few tasters liked this potent oil, others said they detected mushroom, rotten walnuts, a Band-Aid wrapped in a cherry blossom, and a quality that was downright medicinalTriaminic, anyone? Several deemed it overpowering and musky, with a rank, off-flavor. Tastes not like olives but like the armpits of olive laborers, shuddered one. |
$10.99 for 1 liter | |
| Not Recommended | |||
 |
Carapelli Extra Virgin Olive OilItaly, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Cyprus, Morocco, and Syria Comments: Nothing remarkable herejust greasy, no flavor, summarized one taster. Where did the olive go? said another. This oil was judged to have a kind of rancid aftertaste that was reminiscent of not only soil, tree resin, and ammonia and grass, but even kitty litter smells and a set of sweaty hockey pads. |
$10.99 for 750 ml ($14.65 per liter) | |
 |
DaVinci Extra Virgin Olive OilAlthough this oil won top place in a previous tasting, because olive oil is an agricultural product, it can differ from year to year. This time, tasters found it washed out and muted, if nice, in a totally bland and unremarkable way. Tasted plain, objections ranged from insipid, with no real complexity to tastes like EVOO mixed with vegetable oil. |
$17.99 for 1 liter | |
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Star Extra Virgin Olive OilOrigin: Spain, Italy, Greece, and Tunisia Comments: Boring and not very complex, this oil came across as plastic-y and industrial; some hint of olives, but it fades quickly. Tasters identified off-flavors that were unpleasant, dirty, like rubber and metal, with a sour aftertaste, or at least a bit funky, with a strange taste that was spicy, but in a motor oil kind of way. One simply wrote, Blech. |
$11.99 for 750 ml ($15.99 per liter) | |
