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.
Needs more sauce
I skip boiling the lasagna noodles all together. Just add extra sauce. it makes putting the lasagna together easier.
i second this! noodles turn out perfect and less work!
I made mine with zuchinni sliced on the mandolin at 1/8 inch. Then lightly salted them, let sit for 30 minutes, then blotted. I used 2 jars of Raos marina that I reduced on the stove. Also did 1 cup ricotta amd 1 cup cottage cheese and did 1 pound of each meat. It was absolutely delicious. A smidge more liquid than a usual lasagna as to be expected but not soupy by any means. 10/10 I printed it off this morning to make sure I didnt loose this recipe! So good it will be put into our rotation. Thankyou for sharing!!!!
That sounds wonderful Ali! Thank you for sharing.
WOW! What an excellent lasagna recipe!
It is reader-friendly, full of pertinent details & tips AND best of all, everyone in my family loved the lasagna! Thank you very much for posting this wonderful recipe for “classic” lasagna! Bon appetit.
My son and I made this recipe today to donate to a family via the Lasagna Love organization. It looked good, but we didn’t get to taste it, so…fingers crossed they liked it! I will say that it felt like we maybe put too much of the cheese and meat sauce in the lower layers so that they were pretty sparse toward the top. I also somehow missed the direction to cook it with foil covering it and to add that cheese to the top at the end. It did appear a little browned in places on top, but hopefully still tasted good!
Delicious ! My family loved it. Thank you for sharing the great recipe ❤️
Hi Hollly,
When I make this I would use Raos Marinara or make your marinara sauce. Do I still have to add onion, garlic, tomato paste and italian seasoning since that was already in your sauce?
I most often use Rao’s but do make it both ways. Regardless of which you use, I do add the extra seasonings and aromatics.
I have been making recipe for family & guests for several years. Everyone who has eaten it has raved about it. I now make a double batch, portion it out for dinners and freeze it. We have this at least once a month if not twice ❤️ Thank you for the great recipe!!!
My family and I love this recipe! I adjust the seasonings slightly since I use two jars of pasta sauce, and I am also low sodium. I just bought an inexpensive, low sodium sauce (with a decent, simple base) since I’m adjusting seasoning anyway. We found the amount of sauce and cheese mixture to be perfect! I also undercook the noodles so that they aren’t even to al dente and remove them to a lightly oiled baking sheet so that they remain flat (found out the hard way that when they’re undercooked and removed to a colander, they ‘freeze’ into the bent shape in the colander). This is our go-to recipe for lasagna and I don’t see that changing! Thank you, Holly, for providing such great recipes, time and again!
Thank you for the kind words Lauren! I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes.
My daughter-in-law made this for my husband and me with instructions for cooking. This is so delicious and the best lasagna Ive eaten in years! We loved it!
Back in the real world I was a Chemist. I have long since retired and found I love cooking for our extended family (wife, her daughter, and my three garndchildren, including little Thalia Lynn 20 months old). My Nana from Italy used to make the best Lasagna, but I never got her recipe. She died suddenly when I was freshman in college. Your recipe is just like Nana’s!.
Rating
I had never tried Rao’s sauce, but wow, it is wonderful. This 77 year old buckaroo with skimp somewhere else so we can enjoy this marinara sauce.
Again, thank you for a great recipe!
“back in the real world” – I love that 🫣 I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, and it brought back such happy memories 🥰
Can I assemble this the night before and put in the fridge then cook about 20 hrs later? I’ll of course cook the meat and make the sauce first.
Lasagna can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 2 days before baking. If the lasagna is cold from the fridge, it may need an extra 20 minutes or so of cooking time.
You can let it sit out about an hour before baking.
It’s been years since I’ve made lasagna and was feeling confident after I saw this recipe. It was so easy to follow and the ingredients were already a staple on my house. It turned out sooo good!! Delicious. Hubby went back for seconds.
First time making lasagna in a very long time!!! Did not disappoint in the slightest!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Jodi!
I make this recipe about once every month. It’s hands down my favorite lasagna, and well worth the time it takes to make and bake. Thank you for such a delicious recipe!
Recipie could use more meat. Maybe 3/4 lbs of each instead of 1/2lb. There wasn’t enough for more than 2 layers so the bottom layer I just used plain sauce. I suppose I could have stretched it out more if I made it super crumbly but it doesn’t hurt to have extra.
This is by far the best lasagna recipe I have ever made.. instead of salt in the meat mixture I used better than boullion chicken and it sent the lasagna over the top. Thanks for posting , I’m sure to repeat again.
This recipe gave me cooking confidence. I made for Christmas. My family enjoyed the meal. Thank you for sharing a recipe that is easy to follow.
I love to hear this and am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Camille!
Delish! Family loved it and very easy to put together! Will be my go to recipe for lasagna!
the best lasagna I’ve made in years. was a hit with the whole family with everyone wanting the recipe.