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.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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 made this with ground chicken and it was amazing. I can’t wait to make this over and over
This was my first time attempting lasagna and it was absolutely perfect! I can’t wait to make it again. If you’re looking for a little bit of a kick, use hot Italian sausage. It brought just the right amount of heat!
This recipe came out great! I made 4 at the same time, the family can’t wait to have again!!
Myself and my fiancé tried this recipe and we absolutely loved it! Will def be a staple in our household.
Made it for dinner last night great loved it so did my husband thank you
I am just starting to cook for myself , and going to try this recipe tomorrow. Was at the store when I choose your recipe and getting the ingredients there and now hopefully I can do this !haha.. Kind of confused about the Lasagna noodles cooked or not to cook . Seen two sayings , But Thanks for sharing this recipe . Yum can’t wait to see if I get the flavor and texture !! Many Thanks John !
If you purchased regular dry lasagna noodles (that don’t say “oven ready”) in the pasta aisle, they do need to be boiled first. Let us know how it goes John!
Made this with my daughter tonight, the whole family loved it. Thank you!
You’re so welcome!
Look forward to making this dish tonight. Thank you!
Fortunately, I read this entire post a couple times before making this recipe. I would definitely suggest rewriting this to make the instructions much clearer. The directions early on specify to layer the lasagna like this… sauce – noodles – cheese – sauce – noodles – cheese -noodles – (bake) – cheese, but that is NOT right. This would only give you 3 layers without sauce on the top layer. There should be an additional layer of noodles, cheese, sauce in there as well as finishing with sauce prior to adding cheese for the final 15 minutes. You wouldn’t want to bake with noodles on top or they will be very crispy. I didn’t run into the issue of not having enough sauce and cheese mixture that others had, so I would just suggest using less than you would think per layer. Very tasty lasagna, just very confusing instructions.
I am going to make the Hamburger Casserole, looks so good and easy to make. The Homemade Lasagna also looks delicious. This recipe site is great! Easy to follow instructions and helpful comments.
Thank You.
That lasagna looks delicious!
Looks easy enough to make. Can’t wait to try it!!
Thank you for ideas for dinner tonight. As always your recipes are easy and fast.
But, most of all always at my finger tips.
Easy access. Please keep them coming.
Robbin Sigmon,…
Your instructions are confusing. In your “layering” section you list: sauce – noodles – cheese
sauce – noodles – cheese-noodles – (bake) – cheese yet in your “instruction” section you call for, “Repeat finishing with noodles topped with sauce.”. It makes more sense to cover to final layer of noodles with sauce prior to covering with foil which is what I did.
Also, I found your ingredients quantities to be less than was required to properly create all the layers. I needed to make more sauce and more cheese mix.
The seasonings quantities would have created a lasagna whose flavor was too bland for my family. Thus, in addition to using 2 cloves of garlic, I added garlic salt.
The end product was good.
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! Sorry for the confusion, the final layer of noodles should be topped with sauce.
Yes this is exactly the problems I had.
Can you just use 1lb ground beef instead of the ground beef/sausage combo? Trying to work with what I’ve got!
Absolutely! You might like to add a little bit of extra seasoning. Enjoy!
Made this for my family. They loved it! But I used oven ready lasagna noodles instead and baked it what the noodle package said. Only changed I made as I’m lazy and wanted easy lol.
And by the way the recipe is not confusing what so ever. They just don’t know how to read properly;)
Love trying new and tried and true recipes
All good but where does the 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese go? I added it with the other cheeses and it tasted great!
Hi Connie, the other ¼ cup of parm is sprinkled on top before baking. Hope that helps!
I love this simple recipe. The prep is relatively easy, it’s just waiting for it to cook in the oven that’s torture as it’s smelling up the house so nicely. The one question I have is that the recipe calls for 4 cups of mozzarella cheese, but I’ve only been using 2 cups. (1/2 of a cup for the top). Is that correct? Or are there supposed to be 2 1/2 cups on top?
Hi Carolyn, this recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups on top of the casserole, but you can adjust according to your preference!
I used this recipe loosely. I used 1 pound of turkey Italian sausage and whole wheat noodles. I think it’s very basic but does the job.
Mine came out fine texture wise but a little lacking in flavor. I think it was the ricotta. It just tasted really mild. Maybe it was the brand? Any recommendations to add more spice to it?
It was more labor intensive and expensive than most meals I make so idk if I will make it again. But you can’t really go wrong with lasagna. Always delicious!
You could certainly increase the seasonings and add extra garlic. As for the ricotta mixture, some extra parmesan, fresh herbs/basil and/or spinach are great additions. A bit of additional tomato paste (and/or chili flakes) can add some zest to your sauce.