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Learn how to make The Best Lasagna complete with a homemade hearty beef and sausage sauce, ricotta, layered with lots of mozzarella and parmesan. With my step-by-step instructions you are guaranteed the perfect lasagna every time!
The Best Lasagna
I’ve been making lasagna for a long time. I think by this point I can call myself a master in the art of layering to create the perfect ratio of sauce to meat to noodles to cheesiness! Lasagna is the perfect baked pasta dish. Each bite is loaded with comforting warm flavors.
Another amazing part about this recipe is that it’s also great to prep, freeze, and pop in the oven for those busy weeknights. Spend a Sunday making a freezer full of lasagnas that will keep everyone happy for a month! Now it’s time for the most important decision: will you take an edge piece or a center piece?
Why Make This Lasagna
- Easy to prep in advance. You can make the meat sauce and even the cheese mixture in advance, then all you have to do is layer and bake when you’re ready to serve it.
- Enough to feed a crowd. If you don’t have a crowd to feed, this lasagna makes for the perfect leftovers to eat throughout the week for lunch or dinner.
- Crowd pleaser. Yep, I really don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy a good lasagna. It will definitely make your family happy.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Italian sausage – Choose mild or hot, whichever you prefer.
- Ground beef – Use lean or extra lean so you don’t have to drain any fat.
- Onion and garlic – I like to use white onion for this recipe. Use as much or as little garlic as you like!
- Tomatoes – I use a can of each crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste.
- Water – Use as much or as little as you need to get your preferred consistency.
- Sugar – The sugar cuts through some of the acidity from all the tomatoes, so use as much, as little, or none at all if you prefer.
- Seasonings – Fresh basil and parsley, fennel seeds, and Italian seasoning.
- Salt and pepper – Season to taste.
- Ricotta – You can use fromage blanc, cottage cheese, or mascarpone instead.
- Egg – This is what will bind your cheese mixture together. I used a large egg.
- Lasagna noodles – Buy the noodles that say “oven ready” on the box, trust me, you’ll thank me. This way no boiling noodles is necessary. So much easier.
- Cheese – I used both Parmesan and mozzarella.
How To Make Lasagna
- Make the sauce: Brown the sausage, beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until the meats are fully cooked. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Prepare the cheese mixture: In a medium size bowl, mix the ricotta, egg, and parsley together.
- Assemble the lasagna: Preheat the oven to 375F. Spread about 1 1/2 cups of the meat sauce in the bottom of your lasagna dish. Arrange 4 noodles over the sauce, then spread 1/2 the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Layer 1/3 of the mozzarella, another 1 1/2 cups meat mixture, 1/4 cup Parmesan, then repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients finishing with mozzarella and parmesan.
- Bake the lasagna: Cover the lasagna with foil. Spray the side of the foil facing the lasagna with cooking spray to avoid sticking. Bake for 25 minutes, remove the foil, then bake for another 25 minutes. Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Expert Tips
- Take the time to simmer the sauce for the full one hour and a half. The longer you simmer this sauce, the better it will taste. Trust me.
- Make sure you find some “oven-ready” noodles. They cook up perfectly with the sauce in the oven without getting over-done
- Do you have some fresh herbs that need to be used up? Feel free to add some to your homemade sauce as it simmers. Make sure you remove them before layering the lasagna if they aren’t chopped.
- You’ll want to end up with 3 layers of noodles for this recipe. Make sure the layers or sauce and ricotta aren’t too thick so that your slices will stand up instead of droop.
- Get yourself a good lasagna pan. These are designed to fit the noodles perfectly. No more snapping noodles to make them fit!
How to Store Leftover Lasagna
I like to store my leftovers directly in the pan. Wrap well with plastic or foil and store in the fridge for 3-5 days. You can, of course, transfer the leftovers to an airtight container to save space if you prefer.
Reheat either in the microwave or in the oven covered with foil at 350F for 15-20 minutes, or heated through.
How to Freeze
If you plan on freezing this, I suggest freezing it before baking. Layer the ingredients in the pan then wrap well with both plastic and foil. This will help avoid freezer burn as much as possible. Your lasagna will last 2-3 months frozen.
To reheat, make sure to remove the plastic, then bake at 375F covered with foil for 1 hours. Remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes. To reheat from frozen that is already cooked, bake for 1 hour covered and 10 minutes uncovered.
Did You Love This Recipe? Try These Pasta Recipes:
- Hamburger Helper Lasagna
- Penne Arrabbiata
- Skillet Lasagna
- Buffalo Chicken Lasagna
- Lasagna Roll Ups
- Tomato Shrimp Pasta
- Zucchini Lasagna
- Lasagna Soup
The Best Lasagna
Learn how to make The Best Lasagna complete with a homemade hearty beef and sausage sauce, ricotta, layered with lots of mozzarella and parmesan. With my step-by-step instructions you are guaranteed the perfect lasagna every time!
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 2 hours 45 minutes
Total: 3 hours 20 minutes
Resting time: 15 minutes
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 pound Italian sausage mild or spicy, casings removed
- ¾ pound ground beef extra lean
- 1 small onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 28 ounce crushed tomatoes 1 can
- 6 ounce tomato paste 1 can
- 8 ounce tomato sauce
- ½ cup water if needed
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 4 leaves basil chopped
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
Cheese Mixture
- 16 ounce ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
Lasagna
- 12 lasagna noodles oven ready
- 1 pound mozzarella cheese fresh, grated
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
Instructions
- Make the sauce: Brown the sausage, beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until the meats are fully cooked. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and simmer, covered, for 1½ hours, stirring occasionally.
- Prepare the cheese mixture: In a medium size bowl, mix the ricotta, egg, and parsley together.
- Assemble the lasagna: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spread about 1½ cups of the meat sauce in the bottom of your lasagna dish. Arrange 4 noodles over the sauce, then spread ½ the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Layer ⅓ of the mozzarella, another 1½ cups meat mixture, ¼ cup Parmesan, then repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients finishing with mozzarella and parmesan.
- Bake the lasagna: Cover the lasagna with foil. Spray the side of the foil facing the lasagna with cooking spray to avoid sticking. Bake for 25 minutes, remove the foil, then bake for another 25 minutes. Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Tips & Notes:
- Take the time to simmer the sauce for the full one hour and a half. The longer you simmer this sauce, the better it will taste. Trust me.
- Make sure you find some “oven-ready” noodles. They cook up perfectly with the sauce in the oven without getting over-done
- Do you have some fresh herbs that need to be used up? Feel free to add some to your homemade sauce as it simmers. Make sure you remove them before layering the lasagna if they aren’t chopped.
- You’ll want to end up with 3 layers of noodles for this recipe. Make sure the layers or sauce and ricotta aren’t too thick so that your slices will stand up instead of droop.
- Get yourself a good lasagna pan. These are designed to fit the noodles perfectly. No more snapping noodles to make them fit!
- I like to store my leftovers directly in the lasagna pan. Wrap well with plastic or foil and store in the fridge for 3-5 days. You can, of course, transfer the leftovers to an airtight container to save space if you prefer.
- Reheat either in the microwave or in the oven covered with foil at 350F for 15-20 minutes, or heated through.
nutrition facts
Serving: 1serving Calories: 572kcal (29%) Carbohydrates: 34g (11%) Protein: 32g (64%) Fat: 34g (52%) Saturated Fat: 16g (100%) Cholesterol: 121mg (40%) Sodium: 1103mg (48%) Potassium: 745mg (21%) Fiber: 3g (13%) Sugar: 8g (9%) Vitamin A: 1129IU (23%) Vitamin C: 14mg (17%) Calcium: 431mg (43%) Iron: 4mg (22%)