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
Craving More? Follow Along:

The Best Lasagna
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.
Video
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.
I made this and it was awesome, everyone loved it!!!
While it’s absolutely delicious, I’m left wondering why my sauce is runny and you can see the “grease” once it’s out of the oven. Should I have taken any grease out before i added the tomato sauce/paste?
The grease is from the cheese and/or ground beef. To reduce the greasiness of lasagna, you can use leaner cuts of meat or substitute them with vegetables, use lower-fat cheese or use less cheese, and drain excess grease from the meat during the cooking process.
It was delicious 😋 I just used 19 oz.. Of sweet Italian sausage everyone enjoyed it ! Will make again
Can you make this ahead? I have made this before and it’s wonderful. My husband and I are planning an RV trip and I want to “make ahead” some recipes.
Yes, you certainly can. Prepare the lasagna according to the recipe, assembling it in a baking dish but not baking it yet.
Cover the lasagna tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, ensuring it’s well-sealed to prevent it from drying out.
Refrigerate the lasagna for up to 24 hours.
When you’re ready to bake the lasagna, preheat your oven according to the recipe. Remove the plastic wrap or foil, replace with a new piece of foil, and bake the lasagna. You might need to add an extra 10-15 minutes of baking time since the lasagna will be cold.
So good
This has got to be the most amazing lasagna I’ve ever had! This sauce is on another level. I never realized that simmering the sauce could make such a world of difference!
Do you think I could prepare this in a casserole crock pot and cook it inside the crock pot for a potluck?
By the way, I’ve made this numerous times and I’d love to share it with my coworkers. I don’t have a way to heat it after I bring it with me. If I could cook it in a crockpot that would be awesome.
Or if I could bake it just before and keep it warm for 6 hours. I’m just afraid the noodles might get too overcooked by the time we eat it.
Hi Mai! I haven’t tried making this in a slow cooker but I think it should work. I wouldn’t keep it warm for 6 hours, that might make the noodles mushy. I would just reheat it in the oven before serving it but if you don’t have anywhere to reheat it since it’s for a potluck I would probably try making it in the crockpot. Let me know what you try and how it works for you.
Made this Saturday for my boyfriend who needed his lasagna fix
Decided to try a new recipe instead of our family recipe after seeing the good reviews
It was funny as we shopped for supplies and he came down the isle with jar sauce….no no no new recipe
Delicious-I would have given 5 stars but their is always room for improvement
Great job!
This is legitimately the BEST lasagna. I made this today for 10 people so I doubled the recipe and added a 4th layer and it was seriously so delicious. Everyone said it was the best lasagna they had ever had. The sauce was amazing! I made a couple of my own alterations with the recipe but minor changes that didn’t change much from the original magic! Thank you for sharing this recipe!! Will make again and again!
So glad you guys enjoyed it!
My wife just prepared this recipe (though substituted almond Ricotta, which was surprisingly delicious, as well as gluten-free noodles) and wow was this fantastic!! I’ve always considered lasagna to be a relatively bland dish, but the flavors in this recipe restored faith!
So glad you enjoyed it!
This is the closest recipe that I found to my mom’s. It was excellent!
So glad you liked it, Kathy!
Theee BEST lasagna I have ever made or tried. My husband keeps asking me to make it again. So good! Thanks for sharing!
This was so amazing! A former cook was very impressed and so was everyone who ate it! Delicious!
This was delicious! I’ve made it twice now and plan to make it next week. Only tweak I make is to add lemon zest to the ricotta. I would love to know what lasagna pan you have, or at least dimensions so I can find one.
I forgot to rate it!
Might be helpful to know the baking temperature and not just the temperature to reheat it
It’s all in the recipe card, step 3.