Homemade Lasagna is a classic recipe that every cook should have in their rotation.
Tender sheets of pasta, a creamy ricotta cheese filling, and a rich meaty tomato sauce are all topped with more cheese and baked until browned and bubbly.
While there are a few steps to this lasagna recipe, it’s easy to make and has so much flavor. This dish can be made ahead of time and freezes well either before or after baking!
Homemade lasagna may have a few steps, but each step is easy – and I assure you it’s worth the time; the perfect Italian meal!
The best lasagna recipe is made with ingredients that you know, and it’s not difficult at all! All you’ll need for this easy lasagna recipe is one pan, one bowl, and a 9×13 baking dish!
Lasagna Ingredients
- Cheese Filling: For this classic lasagna recipe, the filling contains ricotta and parmesan with seasonings and a couple of tablespoons of parsley. No ricotta? No problem, cottage cheese works just fine in this recipe!
- Meat: I use both Italian sausage and ground beef for great flavor. If using all beef, add a ¼ teaspoon of fennel seeds and some Italian seasoning to the meat mixture for flavor.
- 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).
Spinach (variation): To make a spinach lasagna, squeeze out most of the moisture of defrosted frozen spinach and add it along with the cheese layer.
Lasagna ingredients don’t have to be limited to the ones you see here. Substitute meats or different cheeses, or try different meat sauce variations.
How to Make Lasagna
Homemade lasagna may have a few steps, but each step is easy – and I assure you it’s worth the time; the perfect Italian meal! This is a really easy lasagna recipe.
- Boil pasta: Cook in a large pot of salted water per the recipe below.
- Prepare meat sauce: Cook sausage and beef with onion and garlic. Drain well, add the pasta sauce & 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 browned and bubbly.
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
How Long to Bake
Bake this lasagna recipe for a total of one hour. To get a perfect browned cheese topping, you’ll need to bake it in two stages.
- Layer and cover it tightly with aluminum foil to retain the moisture.
- Once cooked, and heated through, remove the foil, top with cheese, and return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is browned and the lasagna is bubbling.
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.
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!
Easy Homemade Lasagna
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna noodles uncooked
- 4 cups mozzarella cheese shredded and divided
- ½ cup parmesan cheese shredded and divided
Tomato Sauce
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- 1 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
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- 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.
- In a large skillet or dutch oven, brown 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 thickened.
- In a separate bowl, combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella, 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 with the remaining 2 ½ cups mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup parmesan cheese. Bake 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.
Excellent!!! I will be making this again! The whole family loved it
Uhm. when do you add the meat?
Hi Nick, in step 2 and 3 you are adding and preparing the meat sauce, and in step 5 it starts walking you through the order in which to layer everything into the pan including the meat sauce. I hope that helps!
Hi! If I were to make the lasagna a day in advance and then refrigerate it until the next night, will it become soggy?
It won’t become soggy. You’ll need to allow for a bit of extra baking time.
The video doesn’t batch the written instructions. It does not have Parmesan and mozzarella cheese mixed in with the ricotta cheese mixture.?
Hi Michelle, some of the Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese are mixed into the Ricotta mixture, but some is also sprinkled on top. In the recipe card, the whole amount is listed but has a note that says *divided. I hope that answers your question!
I chose this from among many lasagna recipes online. The combo of beef and Italian sausage appealed to me. I also made the pasta sauce.
Is it ok to use no boil noodles? I bought some Italian ones without realizing it.
Thanks,
Sue
I haven’t tried this with no boil noodles so I can’t say for sure. Some readers have been successful with no boil by adding up to to 1/2 C water to the sauce. Let us know how it goes!
Planning on making this for my family Christmas dinner. If I put together a day ahead before baking and store in fridge, what is the exact baking time needed at 350 degrees?
Hi Melissa! If it’s chilled from the fridge, it will need about 20 minutes extra to cook. I would also suggest removing it from the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking.
Havent made this yet, about to try. The tomato sauce ingredients include garlic, onions, tomato paste and pasta sauce. Then the link to the pasta sauce uses garlic, onions and tomato paste. Do you use those ingredients in the pasta sauce, then again in the tomato sauce?
Yes, if you are making homemade pasta sauce for this recipe you will want to prepare 36 ounces of it then follow the lasagna recipe to make the final tomato sauce for the dish. I hope that helps!
Excellent! Smelled so good the neighbors came begging for a piece and was roundly praised by all. I did add a splash of wine to the sauce when combining the meat with the tomato products for even more depth of flavor.
Great recipe. My family loved it. I used ground turkey only for my meat and my sauce had no sodium. Kroger sells some canned goods that don’t contain salt.
Wow!! This was a hit! I made it with 1/2 lb bison and 1 lb ground turkey. Seasoned the meat with Italian seasoning and fennel seed. So delicious.
love this recipe! Has anyone tried freezing this and cooking at a later date? wondering how the cook time differs and if it’s just as good?
Yes, it freezes well. You can find this information in the post. Enjoy!
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.
There’s no information on what temperature and how long it needs to be baked for.
Hi Dave, we have found that if you are using a “reader view” you may not see the site correctly. The first instruction says “Preheat the oven to 350°F.” Instruction 6 says to bake for 45 minutes, and the next instruction says to bake for an additional 15 minutes. Hope that helps.
gonna make this next week. it’s decidedly simple. would it be advantageous to include basil ribbons with the cheese?
Hi Sam, I think there is a lot of flavor in this recipe already but you definitely could! It sounds like a great addition.
Amazing
can you use no boil noodles and what would be the bake time difference be?
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. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Looks delicious, doubled the recipe and cookin now,it won’t let me add a pic
This was made for a family reunion. I made two batches using regular noodles and one batch using gluten free. Everyone raved about it all. They were amazing. We did as more sauce as some suggestions stated. Next time I will spice it up a little with spicy sausage and maybe some jalapeño tomato sauce!
Do I put the mozzarella cheese on top of the ricotta mixture?
In step 4 we mix a portion of the mozzarella into the ricotta cheese mixture and then in step 7 we use the remaining to sprinkle on top of the final sauce layer. I hope that helps!
This was so disappointing! I only make lasagna once or twice a year – it’s an indulgence. Thought I would try a recipe. Followed this one to a T, including making the marinara sauce. This recipe gives you a soupy, wet meal, where the individual cheeses can’t be discerned. Combining the cheeses does NOT work. I gave it two stars because it’s lasagna. Otherwise, it gets a one.
I am sorry heat that, Kathryn that is disappointing for sure. We haven’t had that problem with this recipe so I am not sure what happened. Did you leave it rest for 15 minutes before serving. That helps the lasagna set properly and cut properly.
Cooking the sauce now – a few deviations: added red wine, canned chopped tomatoes with herbs, added a lot more garlic, a couple of rines of parmasean. I also used italian sausage and lean ground beef. Made my pasta last night. Will let the sauce cook for a couple of hours :) Should be tasty – thanks for the recipe!!