The Best Classic Lasagna Recipe – Homemade lasagna full of pasta, ricotta, a homemade meat sauce, and tons of cheese. This is the world’s best lasagna recipe!
I’ve been working on this meat lasagna recipe for over a year.
I set out to make the best traditional lasagna recipe. Every time I made it, I’d make little tweaks here and there until I thought it was just right.
I think I finally nailed it!
How to make lasagna:
- Make the meat sauce
- Make a ricotta cheese mixture
- Boil the pasta
- Assemble the lasagna
- Bake
- Cool
- Enjoy
How to layer lasagna:
- Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce in the bottom of a baking dish
- Make a layer of cooked lasagna noodles
- Spread an even layer of the ricotta cheese mixture
- Spread an even layer of meat sauce
- Repeat those layers two times
- Top it with a final layer of noodles, sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese
How to bake lasagna:
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes
- Remove the foil and bake for 15 more minutes
- Let the lasagna rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing
Wondering what to serve with this amazing lasagna recipe? Try these.
- Cream Cheese Italian Pinwheels from Amanda’s Easy Recipes
- Salad with Homemade Garlic & Herb Vinaigrette
- Zesty Tomato Broccoli Salad – From Inspire a Creation
- Homemade Garlic Bread – From Recipe Tin Eats
You may also like:
- The Best Classic Meatloaf Recipe
- The Best Classic Chili Recipe
- The Best Classic Buttermilk Banana Bread Recipe
Watch the step by step video for The Best Classic Lasagna recipe below.
Best Classic Lasagna Recipe
The Best Classic Lasagna Recipe - Homemade lasagna full of pasta, ricotta, a homemade meat sauce, and tons of cheese. This is the world's best lasagna recipe!
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 463kcal
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Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage
- 1 medium onion -chopped
- 2 garlic cloves -minced
- 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons salt -divided
- 3 teaspoons Italian seasoning -divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves -divided
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley -divided
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese -divided
- 15 oz. (1 3/4 cups) whole milk Ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese -divided
- 1 large egg
- 12 lasagna noodles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Make the meat sauce. Add beef and sausage to a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon. Add the onion and garlic. Cook until meat is browned, about 6-8 minutes. Drain the fat from the meat. Return the meat to the skillet.
- Add the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon basil, and the black pepper. Stir until well combined. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the sauce for 30 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the minced parsley.
- As the sauce cooks, make the ricotta mixture. In a large bowl, add 1 cup mozzarella, the ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, and 1/2 teaspoon basil. Stir until well incorporated.
- Cook the pasta al dente, according to it’s package directions.
- Assemble the lasagna. In a 13x9 inch baking dish, add a very thin layer of meat sauce (about 1/4 cup). Layer 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, and 1 1/2 (level) cups of meat sauce. Repeat the layers twice.
- Add a final layer of the remaining noodles, meat sauce, 1 cup mozzarella, and 1/4 cup parmesan.
- Cover with foil that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil. Bake 15 more minutes.
- Let the lasagna cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/12th of the recipe | Calories: 463kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 91mg | Sodium: 1420mg | Potassium: 812mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 1115IU | Vitamin C: 14.9mg | Calcium: 274mg | Iron: 3.7mg
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nancy says
one of my favorite dishes. i love it
Buffy Dandoy says
The absolute best lasagna recipe ever. I’ve made this for the family at least 5 times now, 6th on the stove now. It is absolutely amazing. I usually have to substitute the sweet italian sausage for the mild italian sausage because my market is always out so I add another two tablespoons of sugar. I follow this recipe exactly as written (besides the sausage and sugar modification). One thing I would like to mention regarding the instructions. It says to preheat the oven to 350 as step one but then says to cook the sauce for 30 minutes so your oven will be on all that time. I usually wait until I’m ready to assemble to turn the oven on.
Wendy says
Really good recipe!
Patrice Singleton says
I realized after I put this all together, the sauce is missing that touch of fennel. Next time and it will be beyond perfect!
Maria Jennings says
Made this recipe today as a part of our Thanksgiving dinner. It was absolutely delicious. Other than running short on the meat sauce and ricotta, this recipe gets two thumbs up from me. Thanks for sharing.
Kris says
As others said, the cheese mixture as outlined in this recipe wouldn’t cut it. I used 32 oz of ricotta and 1.5 cups of mozzarella. That seemed to be just right.
For my and my husband’s taste, this was way too tomato forward. We mostly tasted sweet tomato. The taste of the meat is completely lost in the tomato sauce. We bought really good quality beef and sausage, but you couldn’t tell that.
After eating a slice, I just taste salt and sugar. There was too much of both in this recipe.
The order of the steps made the cook time longer. The step to cooking the lasagna noodles should occur closer to the direction to simmer the meat sauce. It takes a while for that quantity of water to boil. I figured this was a no-boil recipe since I didn’t see the direction to boil earlier. I was wrong.
The lasagna was not bad, but definitely not the best that I’ve tasted. I probably won’t make it again.
Femali says
Yes I agree it definitely needed more ricotta cheese. I shred a carrot for the sweetness instead of sugar.
Sherri Tyree says
Excellent! My mother-in-law said it was the best lasagna she’s ever had! I only had one can of tomato paste so I used a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes instead of the 15 oz size. It turned out great. I am saving this to my favorites folder.
Ssndy says
I’ve made this twice now both times to raves…it is a very good recipe, not like another recipe that my wife said tasted like “Chef Boy Ardee” (not good)
Cindi says
Love this recipe!
Jackie says
you did nail it!! I’ve made quite a few lasagnas before and they were always good but never IT. This was IT!! My family said “above restaurant quality” so thank you:) delish!! My now go to recipe.
Leatrice Redmond says
Easy recipe. It tastes great. Didn’t cost much to make. My family loved it
Kita says
Hi! Also from the STL. I prepared this recipe for Christmas. Best lasagna I ever made! My husband was so satisfied! Thanks for a happy holiday, cheers!
Melissa says
It was very good and the recipe was easy to follow. Thanks for sharing!
Amy says
I have never made lasagna before, so I scoured the internet for a “traditional” recipe, one that would remind me of my childhood. This is it. It was so easy to make and my family was impressed. I loved it! The only modification I made was that I added another cup of mozzarella to the top, for just that extra cheesy layer. I will definitely make this again.
Greg says
So making this for my family for the first time. Everyone has to try the meat sauce before it was even in the actual lasagna! Everyone says how amazing it is and I’m about to run a piece to my wife at work! Thank you so much, by the way, it’s my first time ever making lasagna and I’m pretty stoked!
Amanda Shipwash says
I made this for the first time last night. My family all loved it! I made a few alterations. I added more cheese and didn’t measure out the salt and pepper. I mean this recipe is BOMB! HIGHLY recommend and WILL be making again!
Amanda Shipwash says
I forgot to add that we added another pound of sausage in the recipe.
Jaime says
Super yummy!
Trent B says
Delicious, just a tad more ricotta, and mozzarella 🙂 have made this recipe 3 times and will continue to
Donna DiBuo says
The best lasagna recipe I have ever made. It was excellent!