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
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese shredded and divided
- ¾ teaspoon salt more to taste
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
Cheese Mixture
- 2 cups ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 large egg beaten
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 ⅓ 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 the remaining 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.
First like to mention this is a great recipe. I always deviate some….black olives, mushrooms etc… One trick I use on meatloaf as well…cook your lasagna on a charcoal grill. Indirect heat, same temp and time. I always geta funny look when i tell people this trick. Think of the difference in a burger grilled opposed to fried. Thank me later…
Very interesting, Ron! I have never tried that but it sounds delicious.
It’s really the perfect lasagna recipe. I’ve made it so many times and everyone loves it. Thank you.
The whole family loved it! Even our 11 month old baby!
You don’t have to cook the pasta first. The sauce will cook it for you. I added more cheese, but everything else worked wonderfully.
I’ve never made Lasagna before so I was looking for an easy recipe and stumbled upon this one. It turned out so good and was really easy! I substituted bison instead of beef and threw in some diced peppers for a little kick :). Will definitely keep this one in rotation.
will be making this this weekend. just wondering if leaving the egg out will affect it too much? I don’t care for scrambled egg at all and worry this will have a scrambled egg texture to it. anyone left the egg out?
It should be fine to leave the egg but when mixed well with the cheese I find it is barely noticeable, texture wise, in the lasagna. I hope that helps!
You won’t see or taste eggs in lasagna.
Delicious and easy (for lasagna). I subbed all turkey for the meat, and used four noodles per layer. I had enough filling, sauce, etc to have four layers.
Easy to follow and tasted as good as it looked.
What temperature do you bake it??? I don’t see that anywhere. Thanks.
The temperature is listed in step 1. Enjoy the recipe!
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large pot of salted water, boil lasagna noodles until al dente according to package directions. Drain, rinse under cold water, and set aside.
What a great basic recipe. My family loves it! It’s become part of our usual rotation. We use plant-based Beyond Beef instead of meat, and I use a mix of regular and unsalted sauce.
My guests loved it, best lasagna ever
Hey there, why isn’t the 5 cups of mozzarella cheese listed in the ingredients? Or the 1/2 cup parmesan? Those are important omissions!
They are listed above the sauce (the second and third ingredients).
As someone who never made lasagna before, this recipe was so easy. I subbed in dried parsley instead of fresh, but other than that I followed the recipe. It tasted just like restaurant quality lasagna and it was very easy to pull together. You have to time things a little bit, but other than that it was flexible and enjoyable. Thank you so much!
Best lasagna I’ve ever made! Delicious and super easy! My new “go to” lasagna recipe!!
My daughter and husband gave me the thumbs up for this lasagna! It is delicious!
I forgot to mention I added a half cup of sour cream to the cheese mixture. It really boosted the flavor for us.
I made this recipe and it was amazing. I used fresh mozzarella and freshly shredded parmesan cheese because the store bough shredded cheese has the cellulose on it so it does not stick together. Only thing I would do different next time is use a leaner beef to keep the oil down and not toast the cheese for more than ten minutes. Thank you for this.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was wonderful! I usually prefer the recipe ready noodles, but precooking the noodles made it easy for me to split the recipe in half … one half for us, the other for my friend’s family. I added spinach and mushrooms but otherwise followed the recipe. I’ll be making this again (and again!) … hopefully when the weather is cooler ;-) Thank you for yet another good one Holly! You are my ‘go to’ when I want to find an easy, delicious dinner to share. Yummy!!
looks yummy!!!
Super easy to follow and make. I’ve tweaked it a little to our taste but a great recipe.