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.
This is the best lasagna recipe I’ve ever used. Absolutely delicious. I appreciate the work done by the author. It is definitely sweet and zesty.
Love this recipe, I’ve made it three times, but each time I have come up short of the meat sauce…can you, or anyone else help me with tweaking the recipe ( for sauce only) I’d ideally like half again of the sauce or 1 1/2 of the original.
Thanks !!!
Sandy
My family is still raving over how good this recipe was. They asked me about making more. I made one variation and used Italian cheese mixture which I found in the store.
Anyone try it with oven ready noodles?
Did mine with oven ready and came out great!
Wonderful recipe, a new family favorite!
It was my first lasagna and it was the best!
It tasted very professional. I was very happy with the result 👌🏽
I love this recipe!! It’s my go-to when I want AHMAZING lasagna (which I only eat this…lol) I’ve tried others, and they weren’t bad, but this one….so good!
Everyone in my family loves it when I make it!! Definitely a hit at our house!!! 😋
I made this for my family tonight and everyone of them told me this was the best lasagna they ever had. I made one with the meat and one without. Both were fabulous!
Super easy and tasty fam fav!
Didn’t have all ingredients but loved it!! Can’t wait to try with all the ingredients.
The best lasagna recipe I have ever made. It was excellent!
Delicious, just a tad more ricotta, and mozzarella 🙂 have made this recipe 3 times and will continue to
Super yummy!
I forgot to add that we added another pound of sausage in the recipe.
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!
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!
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.
It was very good and the recipe was easy to follow. Thanks for sharing!
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!
Easy recipe. It tastes great. Didn’t cost much to make. My family loved it