by Holly
Homemade Lasagna is a classic that every cook should have in their rotation. Tender sheets of pasta, a cheese filling, and a rich meaty tomato sauce make the perfect dish!
While there are a few steps to this recipe, it’s easy to make and has huge flavor. This dish can be made ahead of time and freezes well either before or after baking!
How to Make Lasagna
Homemade lasagna may have a few steps, but each step is easy – and I assure you it’s worth the time; the perfect Italian meal!
The ingredients in this recipe are all things you know and it’s not difficult at all! All you’ll need for this easy lasagna recipe is one pan, one bowl, and a 9×13 baking dish!
A quick overview of the layers:
- Cheese Filling Mix the ricotta and cheeses (per recipe below) with an egg in a bowl, and set aside. No ricotta? No problem, cottage cheese works just fine in this recipe!
- Meat Sauce Brown the onion, garlic, and meat in a pot on the stovetop. Add the pasta sauce and tomato paste & simmer a few minutes.
- Layer Together Layer the meat sauce and cheese mixture with noodles and bake until bubbling
SPINACH LASAGNA To make a spinach lasagna, squeeze out most of the moisture of defrosted frozen spinach and add it along with the cheese layer. Lasagna ingredients don’t have to be limited to the ones you see here.
Substitute meats or different cheeses, or try different meat sauce variations.
How to Layer Lasagna
Once you have prepared the meat sauce and cheeses, you’re ready to layer. This is the order of layers:
- sauce – noodles – cheese
- sauce – noodles – cheese
- sauce – noodles – cheese
- noodles – sauce (bake) – cheese
- Spread about a cup of meat sauce into a 9×13 pan. Add a layer of noodles.
- Top the noodles with some of the 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 another 15 minutes.
How Long to Bake
Baking time lasagna for this recipe is about one hour total. To get that perfect browned cheese topping, you’ll need to bake it in two stages.
- Layer, cover it tightly in foil to retain the moisture.
- Once cooked, remove the foil, top with cheese, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the top is browned and your easy lasagna is bubbling.
Important Tip: Let the lasagna sit/rest for at least 15 minutes once removed from the oven (even 30-45 minutes is fine). This will keep it from becoming runny and help it to keep its shape when cut.
Resting is not required when reheating.
Serve this easy lasagna with a chunk of Homemade Garlic Bread.
We love serving a classic lasagna dinner, complete with a caesar salad or Italian salad and dinner rolls slathered in Homemade Garlic Butter. It’s the world’s best meal!
Make Ahead
Lasagna can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated up to 2 days before baking. It can also be frozen before or after baking.
To Freeze
Lasagna is one of the best meals to make ahead and freeze. Double or triple the recipe and freeze some for another day. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed.
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 Italian Favorites
- Spaghetti Carbonara – quick
- Chicken Lasagna – 5 star recipe
- Baked Rigatoni Pasta
- Baked Ziti
- Easy Chicken Parmesan – personal favorite
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
Did you enjoy this Homemade Lasagna? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Easy Homemade Lasagna
Prep Time 30 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna noodles uncooked
- 4 cups mozzarella cheese shredded and divided
- ½ cup parmesan cheese shredded and divided
Tomato Sauce
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- 1 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 36 ounces pasta sauce *see note
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Cheese Mixture
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
- 1 egg beaten
Follow Spend with Pennies on Pinterest
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Rinse under cold water and set aside.
- Brown beef, sausage, onion and garlic over medium high heat until no pink remains. Drain any fat.
- Stir in pasta sauce, tomato paste, Italian seasoning. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Make Cheese Mixture by combining 1 ½ cups mozzarella, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ricotta, parsley, and egg.
- Add 1 cup meat sauce to a 9x13 pan. Top with 3 lasagna noodles. Layer with ⅓ of the Cheese Mixture and 1 cup of meat sauce. Repeat twice more.Finish with 3 noodles topped with remaining sauce.
- Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes.
- Uncover, sprinkle with remaining cheese (2 ½ cups mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup parmesan), and bake an additional 15 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Broil 2-3 minutes if desired.
- Rest 10-15 minutes before cutting.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
Great recipe! Can I assemble now and cook it later?
As mentioned in the post Alicia, lasagna can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated up to 2 days before baking. It can also be frozen before or after baking. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed. Enjoy!
I try the recipe loved it I put half of veal and ground pork with Italian seasonings .and salt pepper and garlic mixed. It was delicious
Made this a few weeks ago. It was the best Lasange recipe i have ever made! Hands down! My husband loved it and raves about it to our family of adult children they all wanted the recipe lol and My youngest daughter made it tonight for her family and they also agree it is the best! I am making it again this week. Thank you for such a easy no fail recipe!!!
You are so very welcome Cindy! I love hearing how much it has been enjoyed by your extended family!
I made the homemade Lasagna, the best lasagne we have had I will make it again and again. we live in South Africa and there are some ingredients we can’t get but It was easy to find them for the lasagna.
So happy to hear that Liz!
They good
Made this for my dad who’s home sick with covid and he called to tell me how delicious it was. Thank you for sharing this recipe !!
You’re so very welcome Theresa! So happy that your dad loved the lasagna. Wishing him a speedy recovery!
Just tried making this and a disaster was had. Ratio for meat is completely off.
I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy the lasagna Tara. I’m surprised, as we love it, as do most readers. What went wrong with the lasagna? Did you watch the video?
It’s amazing! Don’t mind Karen, I mean Tara, there is always going to be one in the group. Bravo! deliziosa! Buono! Squisito! And, of course, grazie!!
Prego!!
The ratio for meat to layers is entirely off…I agree with Tara. Nightmare.
Did you watch the video? You can see the layers there, and they do work well for this lasagna. What was a nightmare about the recipe?
Great recipe. Easy to understand the directions! Some whacky comments, I have noticed. I did increase the pasta sauce and added some red pepper flakes – my husband likes it meaty and a little spicy. Very easy recipe and delicious. Thank you!
You are welcome Kim!! So glad you love the lasagna!
Could you use onion powder and garlic powder instead of having to chop up the real things? Thank you
While we haven’t done that, I don’t see why not Jimmy! Enjoy the lasagna!
I made this lasagna to use the fresh ricotta I had. I also used our canned garden pasta sauce from last fall. Other than that, I followed the recipe.
This lasagna was delicious! My husband ate a third of the tray and a friend said, I took one bite and I’m already in heaven!
Holly, thank you for this delicious recipe with easy-to-find, everyday ingredients. I’m bookmarking it!
You are so very welcome Irene! You made my day. So happy to know that everyones loves the lasagna so much!
There wasn’t nearly enough of the cheese mixture to layer more than twice – which is OK cuz everything came to the very top of the pan anyway. So I was only able to use 6 noodles- not 12. That would have been impossible. It still tasted good, though.
Thank you Thank you THANK YOU for the easy breakdown of the layers!! I got to ricotta on the top and was like WHAT DO I DO?!?! I SCREWED UP! But alas it was fine.
No oven temperature listed in instructions , otherwise delicious
Instruction number 1 says “Heat oven to 350°F.” Hope that helps Carlvette.
First time making lasagna and this was a simple and delicious receipe!
This turned out great! I’d never made lasagna before and everyone loved it.
This was easy and so delicious. Even my kids who are extremely picky loved it. My husband thought it might be the best homemade lasagna he’s ever had. I made it with the extra sauce and was not disappointed. I really think the sausage adds a nice flavor along with the ground beef. Thanks for the great recipe as always!
This recipe was so delicious and easy!! I will be using it again
I found this recipe and made it last night. It was a huge hit with the family! Quick and easy to make. It’s now the family go-to recipe for lasagna .Loved it, thank you!
Easy to make. Tastes delicious.
This was my first lasagna ever and it was awesome! I will be making it again!
Where does the remaining 1/4 Parmesan go?
Sprinkle on the top for the last 15 minutes of baking.