easy homemade lasagna

These Lasagna Cupcakes are mini, bite-sized versions of your favorite Italian dish. All the amazing flavors of lasagna packed into cupcake form!

Lasagna Cupcakes

beef

sausage

spaghetti sauce

ricotta cheese

salt

pepper

wonton wrappers

shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown sausage and hamburger in a large skillet over medium high heat and drain. Divide into 4 portions and reserve three for another night. Add spaghetti sauce to remaining meat mixture and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, combine the ricotta the salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray, and arrange a wonton wrapper in each cup. Take half the ricotta mixture and divide it among the 12 cups. Top with half of the meat sauce, and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Place another wonton wrapper over the cheese, and repeat the layers by adding the remaining ricotta cheese, meat sauce, and top with shredded cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the wonton wrappers are golden. Cool in the muffin tin for 5-10 minutes before serving.

This Italian Homemade Lasagna is made with béchamel white sauce (no ricotta) and a flavorful homemade red sauce. It is truly the BEST lasagna and can impress any guest!

Homemade Lasagna

lasagna noodles ((or no-boil noodles))

mozzarella cheese

parmesan cheese

Italian sausage

olive oil

garlic (, minced)

onion (, chopped)

spinach leaves

bell pepper ((red

tomato sauce

tomato paste

tomatoes

Italian seasonings

salt and black pepper (, to taste)

basil leaves (, finely chopped (about 10-15 leaves))

Tablespoons butter

all-purpose flour

milk

Brown meat: In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and sausage over medium-high heat, breaking the meat apart into pieces with a wooden spoon. When cooked through, remove the grease. 

(Optional) Add meat to a food processor and pulse just 3-4 times until it’s broken up into very small pieces. Remove to a bowl.

Sauté Veggies: In the same skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil. When oil is hot, add the garlic, stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Add the onion, spinach and bell pepper. Continue cooking on medium-high heat until the vegetables are softened –about 2-3 minutes. 

Remove from heat and transfer them to the same food processor. Pulse several times until they’re nearly pureed. Return mixture to the skillet.

Add Tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir to combine. Add the diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir. Cover and allow the sauce to simmer for about 20-30 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. Right before using the red sauce in the lasagna, stir in the reserved crumbled ground beef and sausage, and fresh basil. 

Cook Pasta: While the red sauce simmers boil the lasagna noodles for half the time suggested on the box. Drain into a large colander and sprinkle them with a tiny bit of olive oil to keep them from sticking together. (You can skip this step if you are using no-boil noodles).

Make the Red Sauce: (Can be made in advance).

Add the butter to a medium size saucepan or large skillet. Over medium heat. Once melted, add the flour, stirring constantly to combine 2 minutes. Gradually add in the milk, whisking until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. 

Cook over medium heat, whisking often so it doesn’t burn on the bottom, until it thickens-- about 5-7 minutes.

For the White Sauce: (Can be made in advance).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Keep in mind that there will be 3 layers of lasagna, so mentally split the sauces into thirds as you layer them to make sure you have enough at the end.

Layer: Start by layering the bottom of your greased pan with 3 lasagna noodles. Spread the red sauce over the noodles, followed by the white sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, spreading all to the edges. Top with another layer of noodles, then red sauce, white sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. 

Repeat: Add the final layer of noodles, then red sauce, white sauce and cheeses.

Bake for 30 minutes. Allow the lasagna to sit for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Serve with garlic bread or homemade breadsticks and a green salad.

Assemble Lasagna:

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/OHriDTDE.mp4

This Italian Homemade Lasagna is authentic and absolutely delicious, made with bechamel white sauce (no ricotta) and a fresh simple red sauce. It is truly the BEST lasagna and can impress any guest!

This Classic Lasagna Recipe is made with the best traditional ingredients like sausage, homemade sauce and lots of cheese. It's freezer friendly, too!

Classic Lasagna Recipe

onion,

Salt and pepper

garlic cloves,

meatloaf mix OR Italian sausage

heavy cream

tomato puree

(28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

basil

no-boil lasagna noodles

whole-milk mozzarella cheese, shredded (4 cups)

(3 cups) whole-milk or part-skim ricotta cheese

Parmesan cheese, grated (1 and 1/2 cups)

egg,

For the sauce

 Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add meatloaf mix and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream and simmer until liquid evaporates and only fat remains, about 4 minutes. Stir in tomato puree and tomatoes, bring to simmer, and cook until flavors meld, about 5 minutes. Off heat, stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the lasagna

 Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan, basil, egg, salt, and pepper in bowl.

Spread 1 cup sauce over bottom of 13×9-inch baking dish (avoiding large chunks of meat). Lay 3 noodles in dish, spread 1/3 cup ricotta mixture over each noodle, then top with 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup sauce (in that order). Repeat layering process 2 more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles, remaining sauce, remaining 1 cup mozzarella, and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan.

Cover dish tightly with greased aluminum foil, place on foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover, and continue to bake until spotty brown and bubbling around edges, 25 to 35 minutes. Let casserole cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Lasagna, prepared through step 3, can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, covered with aluminum foil, and refrigerated for up to 24 hours or frozen for up to 1 month; if frozen, thaw completely in refrigerator

To bake, unwrap lasagna, cover with greased aluminum foil, and bake on foil-lined sheet in 400-degree oven until hot throughout, about 1 hour; remove foil and continue to bake until cheese is golden, about 10 minutes

To Make Ahead

Homemade Lasagna is made easily by layering pasta, meat sauce, cheese, and then baked to perfection! While there are many variations of lasagna, our quick lasagna recipe stands out as it is homemade with cottage cheese.

Easy Homemade Lasagna

onion (chopped (about ¾ cup))

tsp minced garlic

TBSP dried parsley

Italian seasoning

TBSP sugar

oz diced tomatoes (lightly drained)

oz cottage cheese (2 cups)

eggs

Parmesan cheese

oregano leaves

mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)

lasagna noodles

Prep: Dice the onions into small pieces. If you want to pull out all the required ingredients and have them ready, that will be helpful as this recipe moves along.

Sauce: Cook the ground beef, diced onion, and garlic in a 10-inch skillet, over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the beef is no longer pink; drain excess grease once cooked. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the parsley, Italian seasoning, sugar, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Prep &amp; pasta: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cook the lasagna noodles as directed on the package and then drain when done. If using non-cook noodles, you can omit this step!

Cheese Mixture: In a small bowl, mix the cottage cheese, eggs, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley, and the oregano together until fully combined.

Assemble: Spread about 1 ½ cups of the sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Top with 3-4 noodles, whatever can fit in your pan to cover the surface. After that, spread 1 cup of the cheese mixture over the noodles and then spread another 1 cup of the sauce mixture on top of that layer. Sprinkle the top layer with ½ cup of mozzarella cheese. Repeat this process 2 more times.

Bake: Cover the baking dish with foil, place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the dish and bake about 15 minutes longer or until the top of the lasagna is hot and bubbly. Let stand for about 15 minutes before cutting. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Top 4 easy homemade lasagna recipes from across the web

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Lasagna Cupcakes

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Classic Lasagna Recipe

Easy Homemade Lasagna

Top 4 easy homemade lasagna recipes from across the web

The most viewed easy homemade lasagna recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Lasagna Cupcakes

Homemade Lasagna

Classic Lasagna Recipe

Easy Homemade Lasagna

The most viewed easy homemade lasagna recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine