A classic and delicious recipe for lasagna! Made with layers of rich tomato sauce and ground beef, noodles, ricotta cheese and loads of shredded mozzarella and parmesan. So good.
This is a no fail, super delicious lasagna! Like the kind of lasagna that results in complete silence at the dinner table when eating kind of lasagna.
A family pleaser recipe!
I know when I make a lasagna for dinner everyone is going to be happy and I love that. Especially one that is rich with tomato meat sauce and loads of cheese.
A complete from-scratch lasagna recipe!
One of the things that makes this lasagna recipe stand out is the homemade meat sauce. As the sauce simmers for about 1 hour it becomes rich and so flavourful…honestly the best. If you have time to do this, I really recommend making the sauce from scratch.
Or keep it simple!
Now I know I said that the homemade tomato meat sauce in this recipe is the best, HOWEVER, sometimes we all need a quick and tasty shortcut for lasagna. When I’m pressed for time, or just don’t feel like making the sauce, I will use a jar of store bought pasta sauce instead. Just brown the meat, onions and garlic. Then drain. Then add the jar of pasta sauce and let that simmer for few minutes before assembling the lasagna. This shortcut is easy and tasty!
What to serve with your lasagna:
Serve with garlic bread and a side green or Caesar salad…best dinner ever.
Lasagna Recipe Tips:
- Recipe Shortcut: If you want to speed things up, feel free to substitute the homemade sauce below with 1 jar of pasta sauce and just add cooked ground beef to it. I often do this and it’s a simple and delicious lasagna!
- I use regular lasagna noodles but whole wheat noodles are delicious too.
- I like to boil the lasagna noodles until they are al dente. The noodles will soften up more as they bake in the tomato sauce.
- This is the order I like to prepare my lasagna:
- First brown the beef with the onions and garlic.
- If you’re making the sauce from scratch, do this second.
- While the sauce is simmering, boil the noodles.
- Assemble and bake.
- The leftovers are great for lunch too!
- This recipe freezes well. When I make lasagnas to freeze, I like to prepare them in a foil pan, then cover the pan well with tin foil and plastic wrap. When you’re ready to bake the lasagna, you can bake it from frozen at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.
Classic Lasagna
A classic and delicious recipe for lasagna! Made with layers of rich tomato sauce and ground beef, noodles, ricotta cheese and loads of shredded mozzarella and parmesan. So good.
- Prep Time: 75 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 8 people 1x
- Category: Pasta
Ingredients
Ground Beef:
- 1 1/2 – 2 lbs lean ground beef
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (minced)
- salt and fresh ground pepper
Tomato Sauce:
- 1 – 14 oz can tomato sauce (plain, no spices)
- 1 – 19 oz can diced tomatoes (plain, no spices)
- 1 – 5.5 oz can tomato paste
- 1/2 cup red wine (or beef broth)
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- salt & pepper
The Lasagna:
- 6 lasagna noodles
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 3 cups grated cheese (mozzarella, or a 4 cheese blend is super yummy!)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
Making the meat sauce:
- Brown the ground beef with onions and garlic (season with salt and pepper as it browns). Drain.
- Add the tomatoes (and the juices), tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, oregano, basil and salt and pepper.
- Simmer for about 1 hour, covered.
Noodles:
- While the sauce is simmering boil the noodles according to package directions. I like to boil mine until they are al dente. They will soften up more as they bake in the tomato sauce.
Putting together the lasagna:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Use a 9×13 baking dish.
- Layer the ingredients as follows: 1/2 of the meat sauce, 1/2 of the noodles, all of the ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 cup grated cheese, the remaining noodles, the remaining meat sauce, the remaining grated cheese, then sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.
- Let sit for 10 minutes, then serve!
Keywords: lasagna
More delicious pasta bakes:
- Easy Ravioli Lasagna
- Creamy White Turkey Lasagna
- Nacho Pasta Bake
- Pizza Pasta Bake
- Cheesy Butternut Squash Pasta Bake
- Ground Chicken and Spinach Noodle Bake
- Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Pasta. Bake
- Tuna Casserole
Have a delicious day!
Note: This post has recently been updated with new pictures, some recipe tips and a few changes to the recipe to make it better for you!
6 Comments
Trisha
March 29, 2011 at 2:36 AMYum! It’s one of our favorites 🙂 It so easy to sneak extra veggies in there!!
Barb
March 29, 2011 at 2:41 AMI know how good your lasagna is! my mouth is watering! I am LOVING that lasagna noodle photo!!
Lindsey Stipes
March 29, 2011 at 6:23 PMnew follower here and that lasagna looks amazing…yummy!!
Beth
March 31, 2011 at 2:08 AMJo-Anna, Lasagna is one of my favorite foods. I want to try your recipe – sounds awesome!
Blessings, Beth
Miz Helen
March 31, 2011 at 12:49 PMHi Jo Anna,
That is an awesome photo of the Lasagna Noodles. Your recipe looks very good, I like the addition of brown sugar, I will have to try that. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week!
Amy
April 2, 2011 at 8:10 AMMouth watering lasagna! You’re making me hungry! 🙂