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 love the recipe! Although I only used sweet Italian sausage-no ground beef and my own home made sauce. It’s basically my mom’s recipe-always a family favorite ❤️
Great
Made this ahead and froze it for later. It was delicious. Great recipe that I will keep as I am sure it will become a family fav. Thanks.
Soooo…….no temperature settings? Just 45 Minutes at whatever? Are we assuming 350 F specified for the re-heat is what we use for the first bake?
Hey Mike, for best results we recommend baking it at 350°F as mentioned in step 1.
I made this for the first time for dinner with friends and it was amazing! I used all beef because I couldn’t find sausage and I used Trader Joe’s no-boil lasagna sheets – still turned out so good. I assembled the lasagna earlier in the day, wrapped the top in foil, and popped it into the oven an hour before my dinner started and it was perfect. Would highly recommend.
Absolutely loved this recipe. Perfect portions of meat sauce to cheese in each layer. Everyone loved it, this is now my favorite lasagna recipe of all time.
I did make a couple of changes:
1. used 1/2 pound of chicken instead of beef (beef is too expensive and no one could tell)
2. Minced 8 baby portobello mushrooms, slow cooked with garlic and onions in olive oil. cooked meat separately, strained it and then made sauce.
3. Used 10 cloves of garlic
Everyone loved it.
This is the BEST lasagna I have ever had!! I have never made lasagna from scratch let alone the sauce as well but THIS was soooo good. I made this for a little dinner party and all my friends LOVED it! Some are Italian and they said it was Italian approved haha!
I do have a question. How long would I have to bake the lasagna for if I baked it straight from frozen? – note it wouldn’t have the cheese on it yet.
made it with my sis very nice intimate meal with a tasty lasagna!; I didn’t screw it up
feel free to tweak the amount of sauce used as the original was preposterous!
This recipe is sooooooo good!
Made for a large group, and served with your recipe for garlic bread. Phenomenal! Thank youuuuu!
Couple of changes : I subbed some of the ricotta with cottage cheese as per your suggestion, and I used a 4:1 ground beef-to-sausage ratio.
Made this for hubby and me and we loved it. Thank you for sharing.
Easily the best homemade lasagna I’ve ever had!! I made a double batch thankfully ! Can you tell me if it’s okay to add the cheese and freeze or does that need to be left off until after it’s baked 45mins?
Rylie, freeze it without the cheese and then add it after it has baked for 45 mins. To save time you can pre shred the cheese and freeze it in a air tight container with the lasagna. That way it will be all ready and prepped for cooking day!
print recipe?
Deb, if you scroll down to the recipe, there is a print icon on the recipe card. I hope that helps.
Thanks for the recipe! I just had a question. I doubled the cheese mixture as my family loves the extra cheese. Would you recommend baking for an extra 15 minutes?
You will want to bake it until browned and bubbly. You can broil for 2-3 minutes if you would like but it shouldn’t need an extra 15 minutes to fully bake. I would love to hear how it turns out for you.
Easy recipe that tastes as good as any other lasagna recipe I’ve come across. I did 1lb ground beef, no sausage, and was liberal with the cheese and garlic.
I plan to make this and freeze it for a friend so she can make it post-surgery. I’d like to keep it simple, can I add the final layer of cheese and have that baked the full hour, or does it really need to be added in the final 15 minutes of baking? Has anybody tried adding it at the beginning? Thanks!
Amazing recipe! Made it for a family get-together, and everyone went back for seconds. This is now a family favorite. Thank you for sharing!
Can we use oven ready lasagna noodles?
Many readers have successfully used oven ready noodles with no other changes! Let us know how it goes!
Question: can this be made two days in advance? Obviously would store it in a refrigerator. How should it be reheated?
Gaby, 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 you don’t plan on freezing just assemble and keep in the refrigerator covered overnight. If the lasagna is cold from the fridge, it may need an extra 20 minutes or so of cooking time.
Help!!!! I’ve made this many times and it’s our family fav! I HAVE A QUESTION that I hope you answer overnight.. I’m sorry I k ow I’m asking too much but it’s Thanksgiving on Monday after tomorrow and I want to make this lasagna but I am also making a turkey and I have 1 oven! What do you think I should do? Bake it the day before , put in the fridge and reheat? Help Penny ❤️
This can absolutely be prepared ahead of time! I would remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before reheating and then bake at 350°F until heated through, about 30 minutes or so! Happy Thanksgiving!
thanks again.it was great