Homemade Lasagna is a family favorite and a great way to feed a crowd.
In this classic lasagna recipe, sheets of pasta are layered with a cheesy filling, a rich meaty tomato sauce, and more cheese and then baked until bubbly and browned.
While there are a few steps, this lasagna recipe is relatively easy to make and has so much flavor.
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This Is Our Go-To Lasagna Recipe Because…
- This recipe has been called the best by many and has thousands of 5-star reviews!
- It uses simple ingredients that you likely have on hand, and it packs big flavor!
- This is an easy lasagna recipe. It requires just one pan, one bowl, and a 9×13 baking dish.
- It reheats well and can be made ahead of time. You can freeze lasagna either before or after baking.
Lasagna Ingredients
- Cheese Filling: For this classic lasagna recipe, the cheese filling has ricotta and parmesan with seasonings. You can make homemade ricotta cheese or replace it with cottage cheese.
- Meat: I use both Italian sausage and ground beef for great flavor. If using all beef, add ¼ teaspoon of fennel seeds and some Italian seasoning to the meat mixture for flavor, or make my homemade Italian sausage.
- Sauce: To keep this sauce quick, I use pasta sauce or marinara sauce (it’s easy to make from scratch with crushed tomatoes and canned tomatoes if you’d prefer). If using store-bought sauce, I love Rao’s for flavor.
Spinach (variation): Spinach is optional but delicious in lasagna. For spinach lasagna, thaw 10oz of frozen spinach, squeeze out the moisture, and add it along with the cheese layer.
How to Make Lasagna
While homemade lasagna may have a few steps, each step is easy – and I assure you it’s worth the time; the perfect Italian meal!
- Boil pasta: In a large pot of salted water boil lasagna noodles per the recipe below.
- Prepare meat sauce: Cook sausage and beef with onion and garlic. Drain well, add the pasta sauce (I love this brand) & simmer it for a few minutes to thicken.
- Combine cheese mixture: Stir the cheese mixture together in a bowl.
- Layer & bake: Layer the meat sauce and cheese mixture with lasagna noodles and bake until the top of the lasagna is golden brown.
How to Layer Lasagna
- Spread about a cup of meat sauce into a 9×13 pan. Add a layer of noodles.
- Top the noodles with some of the ricotta cheese mixture. Repeat the layers, ending with a layer of noodles and sauce
- Cover with foil and bake. Remove foil, top with mozzarella and parmesan, and bake for another 15 minutes.
Once you have prepared the meat sauce and the cheese mixture, you’re ready to layer. This is the order of layers:
- sauce – noodles – cheese
- sauce – noodles – cheese
- sauce – noodles – cheese
- noodles – sauce (bake) – cheese
Serve with a big slice of homemade Garlic Bread and garnish with fresh basil or a couple of tablespoons of parsley. Finish the meal with a Caesar salad or Italian salad.
Holly’s Tips for the Best Lasagna
Here are my tips to ensure this is the best lasagna recipe you’ve ever had!
- Choose a quality pasta sauce.
- Bake this lasagna recipe for one hour.
- Cover it with aluminum foil for most of the cooking time so it doesn’t dry out.
- Add the cheese during the last 15 minutes of cooking so it becomes browned and bubbly.
- Let it rest at least 15 minutes before cutting.
Make Ahead
Lasagna can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 2 days before baking. It can also be frozen before or after baking.
To Freeze Lasagna
Lasagna is one of the best meals to make ahead and freeze. Double or triple the recipe and store it tightly wrapped in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed. If the lasagna is cold from the fridge, it may need an extra 20 minutes or so of cooking time.
How To Reheat Lasagna
If you’ve frozen leftovers, pop them in the oven at 350°F covered until reheated. This should take about 30 minutes! Of course, leftovers are perfectly heated in the microwave too!
More Baked Pasta Recipes
Did you enjoy this Homemade Lasagna? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna noodles uncooked
- 2 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Tomato Sauce
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 36 ounces pasta sauce *see note
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt more to taste
Cheese Mixture
- 2 cups ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook until al dente (firm) according to package directions. Drain, rinse under cold water, and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet or Dutch oven, brown the beef, sausage, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until no pink remains. Drain any fat.
- Stir in the pasta sauce, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Simmer uncovered over medium heat for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Taste and season with additional salt if desired.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ricotta, parsley, egg, and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce in a 9×13 pan or casserole dish. Top it with 3 lasagna noodles. Layer with 1 cup of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup of meat sauce. Repeat twice more. Finish with 3 noodles topped with remaining sauce.
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove the foil and sprinkle the top of the lasagna with 2 ½ cups mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Broil for 2-3 minutes if desired.
- Rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
Video
Notes
- Ricotta cheese can be replaced with cottage cheese.
- Use all beef (or even ground turkey) in place of sausage if needed. If using all beef, add ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning to the meat (and ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds if desired).
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This sounds amazing… can I make the night before and bake the next day?
Absolutely.
Looking forward to trying this recipe for Xmas. Can I use “no boil noodles” if I’m not baking right away and keeping in the refrigerator overnight?
Hi Donna, we have only made this recipe as listed. But other readers have used no-boil used and had great results. I can’t say for sure but others have had to add ¼ to ½ cup of water to the pan to ensure the noodles are cooked.
I used the Barilla oven ready noodles and it came out great! Also this was my first time ever making a lasagna so I was really careful to read over the directions like 20 times. Only complaint my husband had was there was “too much ricotta”Yeah ok, there can never be too much cheese in my book so I’m warming some up in the oven but his piece I picked out some of the dreaded ricotta and planted some more mozzarella. I thought it was amazing, I used 1 LB grass fed ground beef 90/10 plus maybe 1/4 LB ground turkey plus I chopped up some Bella mushrooms and put that in the sauce. Loved it!!!
My mother made a lasagna (different recipe) last month with “no-boil” pasta. My sister said it tasted spongey when they ate it. After sitting over night it was fine the next day.
I originally purchased the no-boil variety but after the feedback, I decided not to risk it. There’s too much effort that goes into this dish to have one component be a question mark.
Thank you for this recipe. I plan on using it tonight, minus the recipe for the sauce. I used a family recipe for that.
I added/adjusted as follows: added 1/2 C of red wine to pre-made marinara sauce to total 36 oz, added red pepper flakes, and salt because the pre-made sauce from Aldi was lacking it. Increased Italian seasoning to 1 1/2 t. Also used the oven ready noodles from Aldi, but par-cooked them using hot water (just used a coffee maker to make hot water quickly) and let them soak in an extra 13×9 pan for about 5-10 minutes while finishing the sauce/cheese mixture-didn’t dry noodles just shook excess water off when putting in pan. Also added sliced mozzarella (I love cheese) in between the lasagna layers which added to the gooey factor.
I am here for this same question, that was all that was at the store and I grabbed it without even realizing until I got home, going to have to try and see I guess. I love “spend with pennies” I have been researching how long I should cook it, apparently others say the box says 25min but most of the recipes call for an hour, I’m thinking the hour is right? I don’t want to mess up Christmas dinner Merry Christmas
I made it, but was unsure of the amount on your 4th step. I guessed. I had about a cup and a half of ricotta mixture left over. Is this normal? It still turned out great…but I hated to throw away the extra mixture. My daughter also made one for her boyfriend!
I meant to give this 4 stars!
Vicky
Hi Vicky, in Step 4 we combine all of the ingredients for the cheese mixture and then layer noodles, a third of the cheese mixture and a cup of sauce and repeat until all the ingredients are used. There shouldn’t be any extra
The best thing to do is to weigh the ricotta mixture when it is done, and then it is easy to divide it in three, leaving nothing left over. Just one more reason that everyone should have a kitchen scale and should learn to use it whenever they are cooking, it makes everything so much easier.
Making this for Christmas Eve dinner. If I am making your Easy Marinara Sauce (pasta sauce hyperlink), will the Tomato Sauce recipe (in the Lasagna directions) end up with 4 tablespoons of tomato paste – 2 in the “pasta sauce” and then the 2 tablespoons listed in the lasagna Tomato Sauce ingredients? Since there are some duplicate ingredients, I was a little confused. I assume the onion & garlic listed after the ground beef & italian sausage is to season the meat, but wasn’t sure if it still needed an additional 2 tablespoons tomato paste after the marinara sauce is made. Can you clarify? Thanks.
Hi Anita, we prepare the pasta sauce as the recipe calls for then we use it as a direct substitute for the pasta sauce in the lasagna recipe so we do still add in the 2 tablespoons of tomato paste listed in the lasagna recipe. Hope that helps!
Hi Holly! First, I LOVE your blog! Everything I have made from your recipes turns out fantastic! Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Second, this lasagna is delicious! I have been looking for an easy lasagna recipe that tasted like I spent hours on it. This will be my go to recipe from now on. Everyone in my family loved it! The instructions in the recipe were detailed and clear in how to make this and it turned out perfectly! Thanks again and Merry Christmas!
I made it. I found the cheese mixture skimpy, personal preference. It would help if all cheeses were listed in ingredients instead of in the recipe steps. Meat sauce amounts was perfect!
Thanks for the feedback Linda!
Made it but personal preference, needed more cheese mix. I had to skimp. The meat mix was perfect.
Will it taste ok if I make it the night before? Having company over and would love to just reheat it in the oven
Yes, it will taste the same if you reheat it the next day!
Hi Holly! I am a Latin and Latin Fusion food blogger. Super picky about recipes, as you can imagine. I cook a lot of Italian dishes for my family and always change the recipe up. I must to tell you that this is THE BEST LASAGNA I have ever had!!!! I don’t make any changes to the recipe because of how perfect it is. Thank you for this delicious culinary gift!
So happy to hear that you loved this recipe! ❤️
Easy and Delicious. Will be making again very soon. Merry Christmas.
My first time making lasagna and my family enjoyed it. I added mushrooms to the meat sauce and spinach to the cheese mixture.
Recipe was poorly written and this lasagna turned out terrible. Disappointed.
Which part did you find difficult Curt? Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy it. What was the issue with it? This lasagna is well loved by my family and readers too. It’s always turned out well for us, so perhaps I can offer some suggestions.
As half Italian and making everything from scratch I have to say this is pretty much how authentic Lasagna is made. I make my own sauce but use ground beef and Italian sausage for the meat sauce. Ricotta is a must with the egg and parmesan cheese, and mozzarella. Most people don’t realize you really need to put some sauce down first before starting the assembly. I do noodles, sauce, some parmesan, ricotta, mozzarella, Repeat. Great recipe for a quick and really good lasagna! You must be Italian! Thanks, DaveF
I do put the meat sauce first then start layering the rest. I use ricotta which is also a must. I melt the Mozzarella and Parmesan on top after I uncover it then bake a little longer.
The best lasagna ever! I added sausage out of the casing to the meat sauce
Can I use ground chicken instead of meat?
Hi Lynn, other readers have made this recipe with ground chicken and had great results. You will have to let us know what you think!
This looks super delicious and I’m tempted to put on the menu at our house. My only hold out is I can’t do ricotta cheese. I got sick off of it and haven’t been able to eat it since. Are there any alternatives for it? I had read maybe cottage cheese, but I can’t do that either.
Your recipes are fabulous and I thank you for sharing your gift with us!
Sorry to hear that, Elaine! Cottage cheese definitely would have been the closest substitute but you can use any soft cheese that you are able to eat. I haven’t tried using either of these but possibly cream cheese or goat cheese. You will have to let us know which one you use and how it turns out!
I have never made meat lasagne before only butternut squash lasagne. This was a wonderful recipe and very easy to follow. I probably used closer to 3/4 lb of both ground beef and Italian sausage because that’s how they were packaged, so, I added a little more tomato sauce. It was perfect. Thanks for so many great recipes.
Absolutely Awesome !!! I’m a 65 year old man who has never made Lasagna before and I gotta tell ya, it was fantastic (if I don’t say so myself) !! Everyone at the family dinner loved it !!! Thank you !!!
So happy to hear that, Craig! Glad to hear it was a hit!
Easy + wonderful + simple recipe! I had made about 30 meatballs intending to use them in lasagna. I just sliced them and put sauce over them in the sauce step. I used fresh mozzarella on top, after baking for 40 minutes… I served additional meatballs on the side with sauce and garlic bread. Thank you for a great recipe! :)
I have made this several times and everyone loves it. I only use ground beef or bison and Rao’s marinara sauce in mine. Delicious!!