I come from an Italian background, so I grew up eating Italian food. I love it. I think it is delicious, hearty, and comforting. Of all the Italian dishes out there, my favorite is lasagna.
World’s Best Lasagna Recipe
You can make it in many different ways, but lasagna with meat sauce and Italian sausage is for me, the best! Italian sausage gives it a unique and spicy flavor that is balanced perfectly with the use of a creamy layer of ricotta cheese.
This lasagna recipe with beef is so good because the meat and sausage sauce is simmered for more than an hour, which makes it amazing.
You might even want to make a little extra, freeze it, and have it later with some spaghetti and Chianti!
How To Make World’s Best Lasagna?
- Using a dutch oven over medium heat, cook ground beef, Italian sausage, minced onion, and garlic, until browned
- Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, and sugar.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and two tbsp chopped parsley. Turn heat to low and simmer the sauce for 1 ½ hour, stirring occasionally.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix ricotta cheese, egg, remaining two tbsp chopped parsley, and ½ tsp salt
- preheat oven to 375F
- Assemble lasagna: Using a 9 x 13-inch baking dish,
First layer: 1 ½ cups meat sauce
Second layer: arrange precooked noodles over meat sauce to cover
Third layer: spread ½ of the ricotta mixture over the noodles
Fourth layer: top the ricotta mixture with a third of the mozzarella cheese slices
Fifth layer: Spoon 1 ½ cup meat sauce over mozzarella and sprinkle with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Repeat layers and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
Cover with aluminum foil (spray foil with oil spray to prevent it from sticking to the cheese) and bake for 25 minutes covered. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Let lasagna cool for 10 minutes before serving.
How to reheat lasagna without drying it out?
Avoid reheating lasagna in the microwave oven without covering it. This will dry it out. For best results, place leftover lasagna in an oven-safe dish, cover it with foil and place it in a 350F hot oven until the sauce is bubbly again, anywhere from 15 to 30 mins depending on the amount of lasagna.
How to layer a lasagna?
There’s no bad way of layering a lasagna really. It depends on your taste. For better results, always start with a layer of meat sauce. Then, a layer of pasta. You can then add a layer of your creamy component and cheese.
Depending on how much pasta you like on your lasagna, you can divide your creamy and sauce layers with a layer of pasta. I prefer to have less pasta in mine, so I add a layer of cheese between ricotta and meat sauce.
So, here’s how I made it: meat sauce, pasta, ricotta, mozzarella cheese, meat sauce, Parmesan cheese, and start over again with the pasta layer. Ending with a layer of meat, mozzarella, and Parmesan.
Can I Assemble Lasagna and Cook it Later:
Yes, you can, but only keep assembled lasagna, covered in plastic wrap, for one day in the fridge before baking it. Be sure to let the meat sauce cool completely before assembling the lasagna if you are not going to bake it immediately.
Using hot sauce on a dish that won’t be baked right away may promote the growth of bacteria.
Recipe Tips:
- You can use lasagna noodles that are not pre-cooked, but I find the extra step unnecessary.
- Make a little more meat sauce and freeze it. It makes for a great ready-made spaghetti sauce.
- I find it is easier to use the back of a spoon to spread the ricotta and meat sauce layers, rather than a spatula.
- Fresh mozzarella cheese is the creamiest for this recipe. If you can’t find it, you can use shredded mozzarella instead.
OTHER RECIPES YOU MIGHT ENJOY
Best Homemade Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
- ¾ lb lean ground beef
- ½ cup minced onion
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
- 2 (6.5 oz) cans canned tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1 ½ tsp dried basil leaves
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 ½ tsp salt or to taste
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 12 pre-cooked lasagna noodles
- 16 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- ¾ lb mozzarella cheese, sliced
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Using a dutch oven over medium heat, cook ground beef, Italian sausage, minced onion, and garlic, until browned
- Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, and sugar.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and two tbsp chopped parsley. Turn heat to low and simmer the sauce for 1 ½ hour, stirring occasionally.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix ricotta cheese, egg, remaining two tbsp chopped parsley, and ½ tsp salt
- preheat oven to 375F
- Assemble lasagna: Using a 9 x 13-inch baking dish,- First layer: 1 ½ cups meat sauce - Second layer: arrange precooked noodles over meat sauce to cover- Third layer: spread ½ of ricotta mixture over noodles- Fourth layer: top ricotta mixture with a third of mozzarella cheese slices- Fifth layer: Spoon 1 ½ cup meat sauce over mozzarella and sprinkle with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese- Repeat layers and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
- Cover with aluminum foil (spray foil with oil spray to prevent it from sticking to the cheese) and bake for 25 minutes covered. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Let lasagna cool for 10 minutes before serving.
I absolutely love this recipe, I normally don’t like lasagna and I found this is so flavourful. I made for dinner party and was complimented by someone that it was the best he had ever had.
Question, can I freeze it before baking or bake before freezing? And what type of container/dish would you freeze in?
Delicious and worth the time!
Question: if I prefer to make two lasagnas in two-9” pans, would I still cook them for same amount of time?
The meat and sauce is very good. It really makes the dish. I don’t think it’s too thick, but just right. I will use this sauce with my spaghetti, just need to thin it out a bit.
Made this for dinner last night. Followed the recipe exactly except for the cook time on the sauce, as I started later that I had anticipated. It was FANTASTIC, and all of my picky children agreed🙂
This is the best lasagna, flavorful, filling, and feeds a ton of people. My husband and family absolutely love this. My kiddo is allergic to eggs, so I just omit it from the recipe without any replacement and it still works great. I cook the sauce for a bit longer (if I have time) and I feel like it develops even more flavor.
This recipe is amazing…the only disappointing thing is a banner from Pinterest keeps “popping”on my screen to “post this recipe”. HOW ANNOYING PINTEREST!!
Delicious! A bit of work but worth it. I like spicy, so I used hot sausage and added two red habaneros minced. Hubby really enjoyed. We both had seconds. This is now my go to lasagna dish. Thank you!
Best I have ever eaten! I always make two pans so I can freeze one for another time.
Best recipe ever, even my pickiest eater loved it. I will be making this again. Thank you!!!
I made this and it’s phenomenal! I made it with impossible ground and mild pork but seriously one of the best lasagnas I’ve ever had!!
So delicious!
Love this recipe! It’s perfect. Crazy question: is it ok to freeze?
Made this tonight…. Didn’t use the water, and it turned out perfect! Huge hit with the family! Definitely putting this on the rotation.
Look no further! Best lasagna ever!! This one is the best lasagna recipe I’ve came across! Thank you for sharing this goodness!
Love this lasagna, I can’t wait to make it again. It’s the best I ever had.
Delicious! I will definitely be making this again! My Italian son-in-law loved it! I was a little nervous about making lasagna for him!
Fantastic!! Glad it was a hit, Mary!
The recipe doesn’t say what temperature to bake it at. I’m assuming 350?
I believe it said 375 🙂
What is the 1/2 cup water used for.. recipe doesn’t say when to use it?
I’m sorry! Some people feel the sauce is too thick, so I added the water to thin it out.
The water is too thin out the tomato paste. You need the sauce to be on the thicker side so that the lasagna doesn’t fall apart when left to settle for 10 minutes at the end.
I made this tonight for dinner and it was simply amazing! The only change I made was using 1/2 Ricotta and 1/2 cottage cheese. Will absolutely be making this again!
So happy you enjoyed it, Missy! Thanks for your review!
When do add the 1/2 cup of water? Or do you only add it if you want to thin the sauce?
Yes! Only if you want to thin out the sauce. Sorry for not explaining it correctly.
I made this recipe!! Loved it!! I used fresh basil instead of dried. I added a tablespoon of red pepper flakes. Everyone Loved it!!
I’m so glad to hear that!! Thank you!!
When do you add the water? Oven ready or boiled noodles?
I used no-boil oven ready lasagna noodles.
Excellent! Water is listed in the ingredients, but not mentioned in the instructions (common sense told me to just add it in with the sauce). I didn’t use Italian sausage (gasp), because I don’t like it. This is easy AND super tasty. My husband LOVES it!
I love those ideas!! So happy it’s a new favorite, Lyndi! 🙂