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.
delicious
Can you quantify the amount of sauce in cups? It’s kind of hard to gauge how much sauce in oz, not sure if it’s fluid ounce or ounces in weight. Thanks!!
It would be about 4 ½ cups of sauce.
I have been making this regularly for months. As a singleton I use a small baking dish – but big enough to get two meals out of it – and cut back on the ingredients accordingly. I have done beef, sausage, seafood and veggie lasagna and the recipe has never let me down. Thanks.
Great idea Douglas! Thank you for the tip!
Assembly hack – I have found if you place your noodles on waxed paper on the counter and spread the cheese mixture onto the noodles, assembly is much easier.
Thanks for sharing that tip, James!
Easy and delicious!
Excellent!
it was so easy to nake and very yummy never have much leftovers, second time making it today a big hit
There are so many lasagne recipes out there. Most make it WAY more complicated than it needs to be. This recipe is perfect. I used all cottage cheese mostly because I don’t really care for ricotta but also because it is less expensive and fewer calories than ricotta. I forgot to use the egg. I did make the homemade Italian seasoning and that was great. I used Raos as my sauce since it’s better than any I’ve made myself. I used a combination of ground beef and ground sausage as suggested and probably used more than was called for. I cut down on some of the mozzarella in the layers but put a good amount on the top. Family and guests loved it. No one could tell it had cottage cheese. Some even asked what restaurant I purchased it from. Thank you Holly. I truly enjoy your site
I’m so glad you’ve loved the recipes Lisa!
I’m gluten free and don’t like tomatoes so I made some substitutions.
Instead of the lasagna noodles I used thinly sliced golden potatoes, and instead of the tomato sauce and paste I used half & half cream. I also swapped the mozzarella and ricotta for gruyere for a stronger flavor. I left out the meat so my vegetarian friends could also enjoy it and served it with an optional side of thick-sliced ham that paired with this dish perfectly.
It was amazing! Everyone loved it!
Super delicious and easy to follow recipe. The kids devoured it! I also made a second tray with gf noodles and it was just as amazing!
This recipe came out REALLY good! Simple to put together and very filling. Will definitely make again… Do not be intimidated, if you just follow the directions you will end up with a delicious meal!
This recipe was so yummy! I’ve never made lasagne before so I was intimidated, but it was simple and wonderful. I used all beef, and cut the recipe in half as I have a small family. Cut the cooking time by a bit and it was perfect. My hubby (usually the cook in the family) was very impressed. Plus my 3 year old enjoyed it, so that is a special win.
Can this be made without using an egg in the cheese mixture?
Yes, that should work well. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Can I freeze this and bake it later?
To freezer the lasagna: 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.
This was my very first attempt at making lasagna completely from scratch and “Oh My Word”! I am so proud of my beautiful delicious Lasagna Thank you so very much for sharing your recipe
Makes a decent lasagna.
Note to authors: weight of ingredients really helps in recipes along side volume measurements. Especially with ingredients such as shredded cheeses
Glad you enjoyed it, Stewzky! Thank you for your suggestion.
Was just curious since we don’t eat red meat in my family what would be a good substitute?
Thank you :)
If you eat pork, Italian sausage is a great substitution. If not, turkey sausage or ground turkey are great options.
Thank you! What about the meat sauce… do I just take that out and use something else
You can replace the beef in the sauce with ground turkey, ground pork, or sausage.
Can I use regular sausage like Jimmy Deans type in place of the ground beef or even just ground beef?
Sure you can!
Add an ingredient list with measurements. Very simple
To find the ingredient amounts you can scroll to the bottom to the recipe or hit “jump to recipe” in the top bar. Also make sure that you are not on Reader View, as the recipe will not show correctly. I hope this helps!
Wow!! First time ever making lasagna and this was a huge hit!
We used homemade noodles rolled to a 4 on a KitchenAid mixer and cut into 8, roughly 4″x12″ pieces (no par-boil, just put them in there as 2 per layer). Also used homemade Italian sausage, 40 oz. of Rao tomato/basil sauce and cottage cheese instead of Ricotta. Also left out the wine as was too early to open a bottle and, well, an open bottle doesn’t stick around long in this household. Made the day prior to cooking. Fantastic! I might go with 44 oz. sauce in the future as the fresh pasta did absorb a bit but it was still nice and firm and stood up after cutting.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi I made your slow cooker spaghetti bolognese today and it was delish! I have tons left over, wondered if I could use that as my sauce in the lasagna? Might help save a step for a busy mom.
Absolutely!