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.
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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!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Video
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 ¾ 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, ¼ cup parmesan, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, and ½ 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 ¼ cup). Layer 3 lasagna noodles, ⅓ of the ricotta mixture, and 1 ½ (level) cups of meat sauce. Repeat the layers twice.
- Add a final layer of the remaining noodles, meat sauce, 1 cup mozzarella, and ¼ 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
Check out all of my great ground beef recipes.
Best lasagna ever! Hands down ! I have never had any better even in Italian restaurants! Easy to prepare. Had my family over for Sunday dinner and they just loved it too! My new lasagna recipe !! Thank you !
Looked Amazing and tastes superb, thank you !
I love your recipe. It is fantastic!!!!
Thank you.
Where does the one egg come in?
Mix it with the cheese
In with the cheeses:
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.
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.
I made the lasagna for guests, but they were delayed for dinner and may not arrive I am hoping this will freeze for when my son comes. Any suggestions about freezing?
It may be far too late, but lasagna freezes beautifully. Cut your pieces (otherwise the whole pan takes *forever* to defrost), then wrap in wax paper & tin foil (or a freezer bag). You can reheat slowly in an oven, or pretty quickly in a microwave.
I prepared this recipe last Saturday. We invited our neighbors over to join us for dinner. Everyone loved it. My neighbors said it’s better than what you can get at the Italian restaurants. My wife loved it too. My only adjustments to the recipe were to use Herbs of Provence (Didn’t have Italian Spices) fresh basil instead of dry (only had fresh on hand), no parsley and fresh Mozzarella. It took about an hour of preparation time before I had everything in the oven but it was well worth it.
This was delicious! It was perfectly balanced between the cheese, meat sauce, and pasta. The cheese layers were flavorful, and the meat sauce was tasty and not too sweet. Thank you for sharing this recipe, I didn’t have any leftovers after cooking it!
This is like the best lasagna in the world. Everyone that’s tried it is in love with it. Even my brothers who were never fans of lasagna couldn’t stop eating it! This will be the way I make lasagna for the rest of my life. 😃
Best lasagna ever! I am not a fan of lasagna in general but my husband loves it. When I found this recipe & I wasn’t too sure I wanted to make it due to the ricotta cheese BUT I figured I’d give it a shot – I am SOOO glad I did! We both love it. Give this recipe a try, it will not disappoint!
My husband isn’t a fan of ricotta so I always replace it with cottage cheese..never will I use ricotta again. The cottage cheese is to die for!
The best I’ve ever eaten thanks
I made this recipe like two months ago for my husband and his parents and it was a huge hit. Well we just found out my mother-in-law has cancer and we are getting together for Easter and having a big BBQ with all her kids and everyone else in the family. She lives right next door to me and she walked over to my house and asked me to make the lasagna that i had made two months ago. She said it was her favorite and really wanted it. I told her of course I’ll make it for you. So glad I saved this recipe.
You are a very lucky daughter-in-law that hubbies Mom was comfortable enough to ask for your dish! I and I am sure other readers will appreciate your excellent recipe. Very similar to mine.
Heart felt well wishes to you and your family may you all have many more lasagna dinners together.
Many blessings and best wishes for your mother in law thx for sharing 🙏👏💖😇
Can you freeze this dish? I’d like to prepare it and portion it into individual servings and freeze for an easy weeknight meal.
This was a GREAT RECIPE!
It took me a lot longer to prep than 20 minutes (1.5hrs)
I would suggest using more tomato sauce and tomatoes. I used fire roasted diced tomatoes.gave it added texture and flavor. I used Mozzarella cheese in slices, made it easier to spread ricotta and meat sauce between layers without moving noodles around. I like lots of noodles so I made a 4 layer Lasagna. Thin additive layers in between.
I will definitely make this again!
Great recipe and video type! Thank you! Make it my day playing the video type back & again until I done it with my Lasagna😋my family couldn’t stop eating that Lasagna!!! It’s was too Delicious, that was my first try. And did work.🤗
This recipe turned out pretty well for me. I knew I was using a full two pounds of meat, so I had already adjusted the sauce with extra tomatoes and an extra can of tomato paste, but I didn’t think about adjusting the cheese. I think for my next attempt I’m going to double it and see what that does, since my household likes good, thick layers to chomp through.
This was my first time making lasagna, this is the best lasagna I have ever had! I will totally be making this again!
I made this recipe yesterday as I plan on taking it today for a friend and her family. I had plenty of meat sauce. In fact I had a little left over! It’s funny how some people ran short.
I agree on making it ahead. Now my pots are all clean and I’m ready to go visit. I can tell just by looking that this will be a great recipe I use over and over. Thank you for sharing!
Only used 9 noodles otherwise you run out of sauce. Really delicious though, family loved it!
It’s perfect. Followed the recipe exactly.
Made this tonight for dinner and it was a HUGE hit. My daughter (who rarely finishes half of a meal) cleaned her entire plate. By far the best lasagna recipe I’ve found. Will be using this recipe from now on!
I love this lasagna recipe! and so does my husband.