Have you seen the price of lasagna in restaurants lately? The last time I saw it on a menu, it was $20 per slice! Talk about sticker shock. So I knew that if I was going to get my fix, I would have to make it at home. This super easy homemade Lasagna recipe is full of a rich and meaty red sauce, tender noodles, and a mixture of creamy Italian cheeses, and best of all, it’s closer to $20 for the whole pan, not per slice. ;)
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“My husband is a very picky eater. He said he has eaten at 5 star Italian Restaurants all over the world and not one compares to this recipe. By far the best Lasagna he has ever had. Also I’m from Italian decent and it the best I’ve ever had.”
Stacy Spinks
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this cheesy homemade lasagna recipe:
- Italian Sausage: I make a simple red meat sauce using Italian sausage because it’s already packed full of herbs and spices, making my even job easier.
- Onion: Adds depth of flavor and a subtle sweetness to the red sauce.
- Tomatoes: I use a combination of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste for the red sauce. Crushed tomatoes provide bulk to the sauce and a nice texture, while the paste gives the sauce a deep, tomatoey flavor and helps it to thicken.
- Italian Seasoning: Using a simple Italian seasoning blend keeps this ingredient list short without losing any flavor!
- Cheeses: Whole milk ricotta, Italian cheese blend, and mozzarella come together in this recipe for an intensely cheesy flavor.
- Lasagna Noodles: I always use the classic, curly-edged noodles whenever I make this recipe (not no-bake noodles).
Budget-Friendly Ingredient Swaps
If you’re looking to make this classic lasagna recipe even more budget-friendly, here are a few ingredients I sometimes swap to bring the total price down:
- Substitute the ricotta cheese with small curd cottage cheese (this does produce a “looser” texture to the filling).
- Substitute half of the Italian sausage for sautéed mushrooms. You may need to add extra Italian seasoning to make up for what’s in the missing sausage.
- Use a store-bought red sauce instead of making your own (some brands are more expensive, so make sure to comparison shop!).
- Buy your mozzarella in large blocks to get a lower price per ounce. I like to freeze half for future use because I know I’ll never get through a whole block before it needs to be used up!
Vegetarian Lasagna
To turn this classic recipe into a vegetarian’s dream, simply replace the Italian sausage with sautéed mushrooms. You can also add other chopped vegetables, like carrots, bell pepper, broccoli, or even spinach, as I use in my garden vegetable lasagna soup. I recommend chopping them small and sautéing them to remove as much moisture as possible first. I’d probably also double the herbs and spices to replace what was in the Italian sausage.
You could also slice some zucchini, dehydrate them slightly in the oven (see our zucchini lasagna recipe to learn how!), and layer them with the sauce. Or, if you want to try a recipe that’s already meat-free from the get-go, you’re going to love my homemade lasagna roll-ups. I use spinach and three different cheeses to fill the noodles rather than meat! Yum.
How to Layer Lasagna
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to assembling the layers (don’t @ me if you disagree), but there is one method I use that makes my life a whole lot easier:
- Sauce first (this keeps the noodles from sticking to the bottom of the dish)
- Noodles
- Cheese (it’s easier to spread the cheese on top of the solid noodles than on the sauce)
- Repeat: sauce – noodles – cheese two more times
- Finish with sauce and more cheese
Not into layering? Try our baked ziti recipe! It has all the same great flavors but with an easier free-form construction.
How to Freeze
Freeze after baking: Allow your dish to cool slightly, then divide it into single portions. Chill each portion in a resealable container in the refrigerator, then transfer them to the freezer for long-term storage. The leftovers will stay good in the freezer for about 3 months. To reheat, simply grab a slice out of the freezer and reheat it in the microwave. For best results, I suggest using the defrost mode first, then microwaving on high until heated through.
Freeze before baking: If you prefer to freeze everything first and bake later, simply follow the recipe below all the way through the layering step, then cover and chill it fully in the refrigerator. Once chilled, transfer to the freezer (in an air-tight container) and freeze until solid. To bake after freezing, let it thaw completely in the refrigerator for a full 24 hours first. Then, bake as directed, adding an additional 10 minutes to compensate for the chilled ingredients.
Serving Suggestions
I almost always keep the sides simple whenever I make this recipe for dinner. You really can’t beat some homemade garlic bread to dip into the tomatoey sauce! But a classic Caesar salad is always a nice contrast to the rich flavors of this dish. I also made a Caprese salad when I last had this classic lasagna, and I LOVED how sweet the fresh tomatoes tasted with the cheesy layers. And, of course, I’d never say no to a side of sautéed green beans or roasted broccoli, either!
Homemade Lasagna
Servings 9Ingredients
- 1 lb. Italian sausage ($4.99)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.37)
- 1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes ($1.89)
- 3 oz. tomato paste (about 5 Tbsp) ($0.45)
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning ($0.30)
- 2 cups whole milk ricotta ($3.19)
- 1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend ($1.25)
- 1 large egg ($0.24)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper ($0.02)
- 9 lasagna noodles (about ½ lb.) ($0.90)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella ($2.49)
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional garnish) ($0.10)
Instructions
- Add the Italian sausage to a deep skillet and cook over medium heat until browned. While the sausage is cooking, dice the onion and then add it to the skillet with the sausage. Continue to stir and cook until the onion has softened (about 3 minutes).
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and Italian seasoning to the skillet and stir to combine. Partially cover the skillet with a lid, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let the sauce simmer while you prepare the other ingredients. Stir the saue occasionally as it cooks.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Add the ricotta cheese, Italian cheese blend, egg, and pepper to a bowl, then stir to combine. Set the cheese mixture aside.
- Fill a large pot with water and add ½ Tbsp salt. Bring the pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the noodles and cook just until tender (about 8 minutes). Drain the noodles in a colander.
- Spread about 1 cup of sauce over the bottom of a 9×13-inch casserole dish. Lay three noodles on top of the sauce. Spread ⅓ of the cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Repeat the layers (sauce, noodles, cheese) two more times. Finish with the remaining sauce, then top with the shredded mozzarella.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove the foil, turn the oven from bake to broil, and broil for about 5 minutes or just until the cheese gets a little brown on top. Watch the it closely as it broils!
- Top with chopped parsley if desired, and slice into nine (or twelve) pieces. Serve and enjoy!
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Nutrition
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How to Make Lasagna – Step by Step Photos
Start by browning 1 lb. of Italian sausage in a deep skillet. While the sausage cooks dice one yellow onion. Add the diced onion to the sausage and continue to cook for a few minutes more, or until the onion has softened.
Add one 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, ½ of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste (about 5 Tbsp), and 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning. Stir to combine.
Partially cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let the sauce simmer while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Stir the sauce occasionally as it simmers.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Next, prepare the cheese filling. Add 2 cups whole milk ricotta, 1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend, 1 large egg, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper to a bowl. Stir until everything is evenly combined, then set the cheese aside.
Fill a large pot with water and add ½ Tbsp salt. Bring the water to a boil, then add 9 noodles. Boil the noodles just until they’re tender (about 8 minutes), making sure not to overcook the noodles. Soft noodles tear easily and they will get mushy as the dish bakes. Drain the noodles in a colander.
Spread about 1 cup of the meat sauce over the bottom of a large baking dish. Lay three noodles on top of the sauce. Divide the cheese mixture into three portions (one for each layer), then spread one of the portions evenly over the three noodles.
Repeat the sauce-noodles-cheese layers two more times (for a total of three layers), then top with the rest of the meat sauce and two cups of shredded mozzarella.
Cover the dish with foil and bake in the preheated 350ºF oven for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove the foil and turn the heat on to broil.
Broil it for about five minutes or just until the cheese gets a little brown on top. Broilers can vary quite a bit, so watch your dish closely during this step! Top with chopped parsley if desired.
Top with 1 Tbsp chopped parsley if desired, and slice into nine (or twelve) pieces. Serve and enjoy!…Or chill the portions and then transfer to the freezer later (hello homemade Stouffer’s!)
Yummy
This is a great recipe! It was fairly simple and wasn’t too time consuming. My girlfriend is lactose intolerant though so we used a lactose free ricotta cheese, Daiya italian blend, and Violife mozzarella. While these dairy free cheeses taste like dirt out of the bag, they taste great melted! Definitely on par or better than any frozen lasagna I’ve had :)
Excellent instructions very easy to follow, i am one that needs direction when it comes to cooking even though i have made something a dozen times. Thank you for recipes they are GREAT!
THANKS FOR THE LASAGNA RECIPE
Great and easy.
Good instruction step by step thanks
This was excellent. Leftovers were just as tasty, if not more. Thank you.
Cheese is NOT that cheap anymore :(
I just wanted to say that this sauce recipe is great. I’ve tried so many homemade sauces and haven’t been happy with them, but this one wins for simplicity and taste. Lasagna is often a full-day affair for me, so this whole recipe is wonderful in that it comes together quickly.
made this for christmas last year & it was definitely a labor of love but came out amazing!
Has anyone tried this with no-boil lasagna noodles?
It’s a great recipe, but you got to make a proper bolognese and add carrot and celery to complete the sofrito.
Made this lasagna for my daughter’s Birthday , Excellent 👍. Best recipe yet!
Terrific. I forgot how labour-intensive lasagna is (why do you never want to spread nicely on the noodles, cheese mixture?!) but I also forgot how absolutely delicious it is, so thank you for this tasty reminder! I used half sausage half mushroom, the latter of which I roughly chopped and added with the onions. I used spicy canned tomato sauce instead of making my own. I also used 1 cup straight mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan with the ricotta, because shredded mozzarella comes in 3 cup bags and I wasn’t buying two different bags of cheese to make this. No regrets, the whole thing was tasty and will be great for lunch the rest of the week and whenever I help myself to the freezer portions. Thanks for the recipe!
This turned out GREAT! I added 15 oz more crushed tomatoes because I like it a bit saucy, and we ran out of mozarella, so only had about a cup on top but it didn’t need more. Flavor of the sauce was wonderful. I’m a bit slow on prep, so this was more like 40 minutes of prep.
I want to try making this using vegetarian sausage. Would the spicy Italian or the sweet Italian version be more traditional? Or are they pretty much interchangeable?
Hi, Krim! It really depends on your taste preference. I would go with a mild or spicy Italian sausage substitute, which would also taste most traditional, over a sweet variety. ~Marion :)
Finally made it and it’s delicious! I used a block of mozzarella and pre grated Italian cheese blend. They’re not the best melters but dude well for this recipe. My one of two change was to add fresh grated nutmeg over every cheese slice and to forget the last sauce layer before the mozzarella. Whoops. Still tasted great. My nutmeg flavor was a little too strong so I’d recommend maybe only doing 1 layer of it if you have some on hand to grate. Worth buying though; this whole nutmeg is nearly a decade old and still tastes strong when freshly grated. I also added maybe a half Tbsp of sugar to the meat sauce to account for the tinny flavor of canned tomatoes. Highly recommend if you don’t have any Italian nonnas looking over your shoulder; it goes from a bit sour to delicious and just lightly sweet. Premade sauces probably already have this though.
Definitely open your oven every thirty seconds or so after a couple minutes. My cheese was perfectly broiled in about 3.5 minutes in an electric oven.
4 stars because it’s delicious and beautiful. 1 star off because I think it lacks some good advice on how to make it better with pricier ingredients, what ingredients to prioritize for price, and importantly the sugar trick. The latter is most important imo. That little bit of sugar turned 4 cups of tinny acidic sauce into a delicious one. Also, in the recipe it would help to note for each version (ingredient list, step by step, steps with images) to note that you divide the sauce into four parts and the cheese mixture into 3 parts.
Looks great.
I plan on trying the recipe next week. I did want to say that I couldn’t really recommend the budget friendly tip of subbing half of the Italian sausage for mushrooms.
1) most groceries sell sausage by the pound, so you’ve gotta buy all of it anyway.
2) mushrooms are at best 2.39 for half a pound versus sausage at 4.99 for a pound so it’s a very limited savings. It only works if you’re buying a pound of each and using the same amount extra half pounds for something else.
Could be a nice feature to include links to other recipes that use the same ingredients or even just suggestions on how to use leftover ingredients that spoil quickly, such as produce, meat, and dairy.
That said, mushrooms are a delicious addition to lasagna.
Hi Nick! When I use a half pound of sausage I usually just freeze the rest for the next time I make a recipe that uses sausage. Super handy! We have an ingredient index so it’s really easy to look up recipes that use ingredients that you might have leftover: Ingredient Index
My husband is a very picky eater. He said he has eaten at 5 star Italian Restaurants all over the world and not one compares to this recipe. By far the best Lasagna he has ever had. Also I’m from Italian decent and it the best I’ve ever had.
Glenda, do you use regular lasagna noodles or the no-boil type?
My recipe is a little different. This looks fine. I like a 50/50 mix of ground beef and sausage. I do not ever buy pre-shredded cheese. The anti-clumping agents and other chemicals keep it from melting nicely.
Cooking pasta as listed here is correct. “Oven ready” lasagna sheets are like putting cardboard in your lasagna.
Most recipes including this are for a 9×13 casserole. That’s a lot. Double the recipe and make five 8×8 casseroles in disposable tins. This is two meals for two people. Mostly.
Freeze before baking. It comes out much better.
I haven’t used mushrooms. I find the idea appealing. I wouldn’t sub proteins – just add the mushrooms.
This was my first lasagna ever, we are not eating pork, so I switched to ground beef and othef half was mushroom for budget reasons, I couldn’t tell there is mushroom in it. It was really delicious! Served it with a simple salad. We had a guest in our home and 3 of us ate all. I wanted to share with you, it was really good and actually easier than I thought :)
I really like your suggestions what to serve with the recipes, every week I’m making something from here. I will try a vegan January, would be great if you could add a sentence of suggestion what to use instead of meat with meat recipes. Of course it won’t be the same, usually I omit the meat and still everything is delicious.
Hi! Mushrooms are a great substitute — as sometimes are cauliflower, tofu, jackfruit, and tempeh (all in the right applications!). Of course, the Impossible/Beyond Beef products are also a good way to make that transition. Good luck! ~Marion :)
Also, you can easily search our recipes for ones that fit your new dietary changes by clicking on Recipe Index (in the main website menu) and then scrolling down to find the collection called “Vegan Recipes” or “Vegetarian Recipes.”
https://www.budgetbytes.com/recipes/
You can also hover over Recipe Index and then click on “All Recipes” On that page (on the left-hand side), you can search our entire catalog of recipes and filter by ingredient or dietary preference. ~Marion :)
https://www.budgetbytes.com/recipe-catalog/
What a wonderful teacher this is an
excellent lasagna chef. I have learn something new thankyou
I have found that, if I freeze the lasagna before baking, it works to use uncooked lasagna noodles. They’re the perfect texture after freezing, thawing, and baking. I’ve been doing it that way for years and it always works.
This is my mom’s battle dish. The version with ricotta that is popular in the US comes from Naples. She instead makes one that is closer to the Bolognese version, with bechamel (white sauce) and lots of cheese (a harder cheese than mozzarella or ricotta, something like Asiago, plus grated parmesan) instead of ricotta, and Bolognese red sauce. Any way you make it, I prefer it when the red sauce abounds.
Really good! Here’s something else you could say instead of delicious
Can this be made ahead, frozen, then thawed and baked?
Hi, Chris! This can definitely be made ahead and frozen. Beth covers this in the section of the blog post, “Homemade Lasagna is so Worth It!” My only suggestion, if you don’t plan to eat all of the frozen leftovers at once, is to refrigerate the lasagna after making it (to make for easy slicing), and then store it separately as individual servings. That way, it will reheat much faster!
Here’s a full blog post on Beth’s recommendations for freezing leftovers to peruse: https://www.budgetbytes.com/how-to-freeze-leftovers/
Best, Marion :)
I’ll just put in a vote for Beth’s amazing fast and easy Skillet Lasagna while we’re at it.