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.
What degree do you cook it at?
In step 1 you preheat the oven to 350F. Enjoy Samantha!
Yum! I made it just last night. I used fresh lasagna sheets and used 1.5 times the meat sauce with the Italian sausage than what was in the original recipe. I also made up the Italian seasoning you recommend. Everyone loved it.
So happy to hear that Vikki!
This was the best Lasagna I have ever made!! Sooo good and so easy too…I followed the recipe to the letter and it came out fantastic Thanks for a great meal
Thank you for this terrific, easy recipe! It is THE BEST. MY family has nominated me as the official lasagne maker now . And they are a very honest bunch! The only thing different I did was add extra garlic cloves because I always do for every recipe. But I thought the amount of sauce was perfect when you use a one cup for a scoop. We dislike overly saucy lasagne so this was perfect!!!
Lacked in flavor. Next time I would season the ground meat and sausage plus add more marinara.
Is there something you can use instead of the one egg? Daughter has an egg allergy.
The egg helps hold the filling together. If you drain the ricotta well, it should be ok without the egg.
I’ve done it without egg and it turned out great still!
Maybe 2 teaspoons of corn starch and 1/4 cup water since u want it to stay together
Made this for the first time and it was amazing! First lasagna I ever made. It had just the right amount of cheese and sauce. Perfect beginner recipe. I was intimated about making a lasagna but this recipe was so simple. Can’t wait to make it again.
Thank you Ronya, you made my day! So glad you love this lasagna!
First time to prepare,&cook for my family,it was a winner.made with homemade sauce also from here added some spinach on half and sausage and ground beef on other and oh yes the meat was all over served with a salad and hot buttery rolls, fresh corn and German cake for desert.Thanks we loved it.
Sounds like quite a feast! Glad you loved it Trish!
In step 6. Do you use the mixture of the remaining 2 1/2 cups mozzarella and 1/4 cups parmesan?
Yes, you’ll want to add all of the remaining cheeses.
I made this ahead of time to take on vacation with us during Christmas and it was sooooooo delicious!!!!!
Followed recipe except used 1 lb ground beef. I found there was NOT enough sauce! Again, I followed sauce recipe and measured sauce out for each layer.
If you prefer more sauce with the lasagna, you may want to increase it and add up to 16 more ounces to suit your “sauciness” liking Gloria.
This recipe doesn’t produce enough meat or cheese to cover noodles. Probably want to double both the sauce and cheese.
We do find there is enough meat and cheese for the lasagna. Sorry that you didn’t enjoy it Connor.
I was embarrassed making your lasagna
Invited a friend for dinner
Lasagna was very very dry. 24 oz
Is not acceptable. It should be 48oz
I will make lasagna again this week
It will use 48 oz
Followed your entire recipe and ingredients
So sorry to hear that you found the lasagna to be dry Mary. I hope that you and your friend were able to enjoy each other’s company. Definitely increase the sauce to suit your liking. Thank you for your feedback.
This was the best simple lasagna recipe I have seen! I added a few extra veggies to my sauce and made one batch with regular noodles, and one batch gluten free by substituting the pasta noodles with thin strips of zucchini. It turned out amazing! The GF was a little more loose with the sauce since the zucchini produced some extra liquid, but everyone loved it!! Thank you for the recipe!
Put salt on your veggie and let is sit so the water is drawn out. Do the same thing to the other side. You can wipe them off before putting them in.
I thought it was dry. I wish I had used the suggestion of adding more sauce, because it really needed it. The sauce was great tasting, and this is much easier than my usual recipe. Next time I will make more sauce, and probably only use 9 noodles, deleting one layer making the layers thicker. To make the leftovers better, I’m going to have to add some sauce to it.
Best lasagna I’ve ever made! So easy and super delicious. The egg in the cottage cheese made all the difference!
I love when you go to print recipe that you can adjust the recipe as per serving size and for the 2 of us that is great. Love the site.
This was the best homemade lasagna I have ever had! I did a pound of sausage and a pound of hamburger and a 44 oz jar of sauce and it was plenty for each layer! Everyone loved it!!
The sauce quantities don’t make sense. Only 24 oz of sauce? But at least 4 cups of sauce are needed to make the layers. I ran out of sauce very quickly. You’d have to double the sauce to get the correct amount or the lasagna will be dry. I will just know for next time.
You’re also adding a pound of meat and an onion, so it makes enough to cover the layers of lasagna. I just tried it last night and it worked out wonderfully.
Really great recipe for beginners! I added mushrooms and spinach to mine and it turned out well. Next time I might season the beef a bit more, needed a little salt and pepper at the end. Maybe a bit more garlic too and a little extra sauce so you don’t have to worry about running low by the end like I did but overall great for my first time making lasagna. Thank you for the easy instructions!