Lasagna – Can Fresh Pasta Sheets Be Used to Assemble a Lasagne and Left Overnight in the Fridge?

Like Bob said, surely boiling some noodles is way less of a bother than breaking out the pasta machine?

If you really want to make fresh pasta, I don't see any reason you couldn't use it for lasagna without boiling it - the reason one boils dry noodles is because it's hard to get them to soften in the time it takes to bake the lasagna. But just like when cooking fresh noodles, you need to be careful not to overcook it, so make sure all your fillings are fully cooked before you start layering. It also should be perfectly fine to not cut the noodles into strips - the reason dried noodles come that way is for easier handling.

It is possible to make lasagna using dried lasagna noodles without boiling them first, but you need to add more water and bake it longer. A search for "no-boil lasagna" will turn up scores of recipes.

Adding your pasta to cold water before boiling it may help. You will need to stir more often overall, but the shells won't initially stick together as soon as you add them to the water, and then you can stir to prevent the sticking as they become softer.

Harold McGee in a New York Times column wrote this:

I prefer starting with cold water, because the noodles don’t stick together at all as they go into the pot, and because I don’t notice a difference in flavor once they’re drained and sauced.

What happens is that the starch on the noodles gets rinsed off in the water before it can gelatinize and stick to everything. So you will have to stir even before the water gets warm.