Homemade Lasagna is a classic recipe that every cook should have in their rotation.
Tender sheets of pasta, a creamy ricotta cheese filling, and a rich meaty tomato sauce are all topped with more cheese and baked until browned and bubbly.
While there are a few steps to this lasagna recipe, it’s easy to make and has so much flavor. This dish can be made ahead of time and freezes well either before or after baking!
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 best lasagna recipe is made with ingredients that 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!
Lasagna Ingredients
- Cheese Filling: For this classic lasagna recipe, the filling contains ricotta and parmesan with seasonings and a couple of tablespoons of parsley. No ricotta? No problem, cottage cheese works just fine in this recipe!
- Meat: I use both Italian sausage and ground beef for great flavor. If using all beef, add a ¼ teaspoon of fennel seeds and some Italian seasoning to the meat mixture for flavor.
- 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).
Spinach (variation): 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 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! This is a really easy lasagna recipe.
- Boil pasta: Cook in a large pot of salted water per the recipe below.
- Prepare meat sauce: Cook sausage and beef with onion and garlic. Drain well, add the pasta sauce & 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 browned and bubbly.
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
How Long to Bake
Bake this lasagna recipe for a total of one hour. To get a perfect browned cheese topping, you’ll need to bake it in two stages.
- Layer and cover it tightly with aluminum foil to retain the moisture.
- Once cooked, and heated through, remove the foil, top with cheese, and return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is browned and the lasagna is bubbling.
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.
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!
Easy Homemade Lasagna
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
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large pot of salted water, boil lasagna noodles until al dente according to package directions. Drain, rinse under cold water, and set aside.
- In a large skillet or dutch oven, brown 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 thickened.
- In a separate bowl, combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella, 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 ⅓ 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 with the remaining 2 ½ cups mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup parmesan cheese. Bake 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.
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Came out great!
made it love it thanks
My husband and I made your recipe, including the homemade marinara.
We followed the recipe, and it was unanimous; the BEST lasagna any of u s
have ever had! The explicit instructions were the best. Letting it set was a winner. You go girl!
So glad you both loved this recipe Gail!
Hi!
I’d like to make this lasagna and freeze it for later. Should I bake it and then freeze it or should I leave it uncooked, freeze, and then bake when I’m ready to eat it?
Thanks,
Mallory
Either work well, Mallory. I often just prep and assemble this lasagna and then freeze uncooked. Let it defrost in the fridge overnight and bake according to the recipe instructions. You may need to add a little extra time if it is still quite cold.
Absolutely delicious. This is my new default lasagna recipe. Personal preferences – I used bison meat, didn’t add any salt, and used low-fat ricotta – tasted amazing. Only change I’d make personally is to reduce the mozzarella on top at the end – a little too cheesy for me
This was one of my best lasagnas I’ve ever made. It was absolutely scrumptious!
This is the best lasagna recipe! It turned out amazing, full of flavor, and my family loved it. I will be making this again soon. To save time, I had to use no bake
noodles – but it was perfectly fine. Thank you for the reminder to let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes. That was so helpful!
Amazing this is my second time making it and it’s so darn good every time! Thanks
very delicious
Tried this tonight! Amazing, it was my 1st attempt at Lasagna and both my teenage boys devoured it and came back for 2nds! definitely a keeper! Thank you!
can you use no bake lasagna
No bake noodles should work great, just skip the portion of step one that has you preboil your noodles before assembling.
yummy! and I added spinach ☺️, will consider prepping a smaller amount and freezing to use in a month or so.
In the section where the ingredients are listed out by category I think the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese should’ve been included in the cheese mixture… That was a little confusing.
We don’t list them there since the entire amount is not added to the cheese mixture. A portion (as indicated in the recipe instructions) is added to the cheese mixture but the majority is added on top in step 7.
Hi, Great recipe! I agree with Kim and was also confused. I think the cheese mixure should mention the addition of some of the Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Thank you.
I need recipes
Is pasta sauce the same as tomato sauce?
Pasta sauce is different as it is seasoned and flavored with herbs. Marinara sauce would work well in this recipe.
This is a staple in my home. We use Beyond Meat instead of ground beef. I freeze a few pieces each time I make it, and save them for rainy day lunches. Thanks for this great recipe. :)
This was easy and excellent lasagna. I reduced the onion to ½ finely chopped, increased meat to 1 ½ lb good quality ground beef (no sausage), used Trader Joe’s no boil lasagna noodles (they are shorter in size but I just improvised), and served it with extra sauce on the side, leftover in the jar. Spray foil for initial baking with non-stick cooking spray. I prepared it a day ahead, and baked with foil cover 7 minutes longer than recipe instructions. Do broil for 1 ½ minutes at end, and wait 15-20 minutes before serving as it makes a difference. I love this recipe!
either I bought extra short lasagna noodles or recipe is mistakingly calling for a 9×13 casserole dish. The lasagna noodles fit perfectly in a 10×8 casserole dish. I still used my 9×13 dish but layered with 4 (not 3) noodles lengthwise and then cut noodles to fit the bottom of pan horizontally
Still baking in oven and it smells wonderful!!
Outstanding recipe!! Doubled the recipe to freeze for leftovers. We love garlic so doubled plus the garlic amount added red wine with the sauce. Hand grate the Parmesan and Mozzarella