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.
I tried it delicious
I prepped and froze this so I’d have it ready for Boxing Day. It was such a time saver when I wanted to do nothing else but relax. We just popped it in the oven and had a delicious meal with no effort on the day! SWP Employee
So happy you were able to relax instead of spending the day in the kitchen!
This is the best lasagna I’ve ever had! Easy to follow recipe that doesn’t skimp on the flavor. This will be my go to from now on!
I doubled the recipe for a large family gathering. Everyone loved it.
Please update the recipe so that it includes all ingredients in the ingredient list. It is confusing to have some of the ingredients only listed in the instructions.
Hi Bill, we have found that if you are using a “reader view” you may not see the site correctly. Hope that helps.
Very easy to make and was absolutely delicious!!
This recipe is similar to My Grandmothers but she cooked the sauce all day .I lost it an couldnt find it anywhere :( I Made it alot around Holiday! Have not used it in a few years since the kids left home.. They are coming to dinner this year an Want Lasagna We shall see what they think of this recipe..
So Now I start somewhere else
Let us know if your family loves it, Deborah!
I am going to make a day ahead and refrigerate. I do like lasagna with a little more sauce since refrigerating it gets s little dry. if I use 48 oz instead of 36, do I need to add more meat?
I am making for Christmas day. appreciate a quick response since today is 12/23.
thank you
If you’re adding more sauce to your lasagna, you can stick with the same amount of meat. The extra sauce should help keep things moist during refrigeration.
The “Cheese Mixture” portion of this needs to be updated to reflect the addition of the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. They are called out later in the step by step portion and I missed them when making this due to the omission.
They are specifically mentioned in the recipe: In a separate bowl, combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ricotta, parsley, egg, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Based on feedback, the recipe has been updated to show it in the cheese mixture section.
Is this dish freezer friendly?
Prepare and freeze for later. What do you recommended for storage if so?
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.
I’m going to make this to freeze for later (unbaked). Do I add the mozzarella and Parmesan on top before I freeze, or when baking it (as mentioned in the recipe)?
Hi Joe, I would add it when baking since the cheese isnt sprinkled on top until the foil is removed after 45 mins of baking.
Delicious, I substituted cottage cheese for the ricotta as I like the taste better and crushed San Marzano tomatoes for the tomato sauce.
Sounds delicious, Jim!
This was fun to make and yummy to eat! Only issue at all is I could not buy half pound of hamburger and only used half the sausage. However put remaining meat in freezer to use for next batch of lasagna!!
Hi!
Do I have to use egg in this or can it be substituted?
Hi Ashley, it should be okay to leave the egg out of the cheese mixture. We would love to hear how it turns out!
Help !
I need a meat less lasagna recipe or a
Pasta dish that tastes like lasagna without the meat. No Mac and cheese please .
Thank you
I have a couple of meatless options for you Terri. Try Spinach Lasagna or my Roasted Vegetable Lasagna.
I use mung beans as a hamburger additive/substitute in Italian dishes.
Simply delicious!
hi! could you make this as a cheese lasagna??
Hi Ashley, if you want to omit the meat you can double up on the ricotta or you could also try our spinach lasagna or our cheesy skillet lasagna!
doubled up for two lasagnas and ran out of ricotta mixture after one layer and meat sauce after 4 I’d suggest doubling up on everything except noodles if you’re trying to make one lasagna.
This is definitely a 5 recipe, per usual, I don’t leisure measure anything when cooking..but I did pretty close to what this calls for and yummmmmm
I’m a simple cook. This recipe was simple and easy, it turned out yummy. I added garlic bread and a salad for a perfect meal. Thanks