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.
Recipe was easy and delicious!! First time ever making homemade lasagna and this will be my go to recipe!
So delicious keep the standard up
Nearly 3 cups of cheese on top??
We sprinkle 2 ½ cups mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup parmesan on top for a wonderfully cheesy topping. Enjoy!
it’s a keeper! simply delicious!
SO good!!! The whole family enjoyed it! Will need to double the recipe.Or triple.
Made this last night using my own sauce but everything else as written. It was delicious.
Great recipe and notes!
I love Lasagna; it’s always what I order at Italian restaurants. This is by far the best Lasagna I’ve ever had in my life!! My new go-to recipe!!!!
The lasagna was good. I used sauce I made previously and frozen. That made assembling very easy. I USED THE OVEN-READY NOODLES WHICH WAS A BIG MISTAKE. It changed the taste and texture of the dish. I would have given the recipe five stars otherwise, but that was my own fault. I do not recommend taking this short cut.
Hello! Could you use fresh mozzarella with this recipe?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Rylie, but other readers have with great success. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Hi!
Can you share your favorite jarred pasta sauce ?
Going to make next week
Thank you!
We love making a homemade marinara sauce for this lasagna, but whichever brand of pasta sauce that you prefer can be used.
Hello, I can’t wait to make this lasagna. I make so many recipes from ‘Spend With Pennies’ (all fabulous). Before I begin though, I would like to be sure about the cook time if I make the lasagna a day ahead. Other reviewers are saying to increase the cook time if it’s been made ahead and refrigerated before baking. Can you please tell me how long I should bake the lasagna for if it’s going into the oven cold from the fridge? Is it still 45 minutes and then an additional 15 with the added cheese or does that time change? Thanks so much!!!
Hi Erica, I would remove the lasagna from the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking if possible. Otherwise I would start by adding on an extra 15-20 minutes to the covered cook time. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
I served this lasagna to my family tonight and all 7 said it was delicious. I did add extra sauce and I used 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 1 cup of cottage cheese.
This is a decent base recipe for lasagna but it needs some tweaks. When I make it I do double and freeze a tray. 2lbs of hamburger total, 1 pound of Italian sausage. I also use more sauce, 90ish oz and I make it homemade and let it cook for 6-8 hours in the crockpot. I also add a pack of cream cheese (per tray, so two total) to the ricotta/mozzarella mixture. Major game changer. Mushrooms are a must as well!
This was the first lasagna I have ever made and it was delicious! Rave reviews from my husband and from me as well. Lots of leftovers to freeze for another day. Excellent recipe!
We did not have the best luck with this recipe. First, even after resting 20 minutes, the lasagna did not hold its shape when cutting. The noodles slid off. It may need to rest 25 minutes or more. Also, the cheese filling totally overwhelmed the sauce taste. Not sure why I had these issues, but will experiment and look at fillings from other recipes to see if I can pinpoint my issues.
It’s probably worth mentioning:
You can assemble a lasagna the day before and put it in the fridge.
BUT this increases cooking time. Lasagna recipes tend to assume the ingredients are going into the oven hot.
I didn’t learn that lesson with this recipe, but I did learn it the hard way — trying to impress the in-laws.
I couldn’t say how long it would take if you just set it and forget it. If, after the first 45 minutes, you keep nervously looking into the oven every 10 minutes, it takes about an hour and a half from cold until done.
You don’t even say what temperature to bake this at. That may help people like me who would like to know what temperature to bake it at.
never mind I missed that!
I haven’t made lasagne in years and this turned out fantastically. Also made the garlic bread with it. All my family loved it and love the leftovers
I just made this dish today, it was my very first time making lasagna. I just got engaged so I wanted to make this dish to impress my fiancé and he loved it so much! This was a success I’m definite making this dish again. Plus I love how much left overs there are.
Congratulations on your engagement!! So glad you loved the lasagna.
The cooking time might be off as I had to cook it for an hour and a half. It’s a hearty lasagne and smell wonderful.
Thank woo for laying out a recipe in a way that makes sense. In a sea of recipes that are basically the same this one was great and easy to understand