Classic Lasagna
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Learn how to make a lasagna that rivals the best Italian restaurants, with layers of savory meat sauce, creamy ricotta, and gooey mozzarella. This easy-to-make dish is the perfect balance of comfort and sophistication, sure to become a family tradition.
I love this lasagna recipe because it combines the comforting flavors of the lasagna I grew up on with the refined taste of a restaurant-style dish. It’s surprisingly easy to make, thanks to oven-ready noodles that save time and effort while delivering a texture that rivals fresh homemade pasta—a definite win!
The layers are packed with a flavorful meat sauce made with Italian sausage and vegetables, plus four types of cheese. Baked until bubbly and golden, it’s the perfect cozy dish for a crowd—and it reheats and freezes beautifully, too. This lasagna is a longtime family favorite, right alongside other crowd-pleasing dishes like baked ziti, stuffed shells, and manicotti. After all, everyone loves Italian!
“Best lasagna recipe—ever! Conversation at the dinner table was reduced to sighs of delight and the utterance of an occasional OMG or YUM.”
What You’ll Need To Make Lasagna
- Onion, Garlic, Carrots, and Celery: These vegetables form the aromatic base of the sauce.
- Italian Sausage: Adds richness and loads of flavor to the sauce. If you’d like to use ground beef instead, add extra garlic and spices to match the flavor.
- Red Wine: Ådds acidity and complexity to the sauce.
- Canned Crushed Tomatoes: Provides body, acidity, and tomato flavor to the sauce.
- Heavy Cream: Added to the tomato sauce to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and wine.
- Ricotta Cheese: Mixed with egg, cream cheese, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, used as a creamy layer in the lasagna.
- Cream Cheese: Adds extra creaminess and tang to the ricotta mixture, and prevents the ricotta from becoming grainy when baked.
- Egg: Acts as a binder in the ricotta mixture, helping it to set when the lasagna is baked.
- Parmigiano-Reggiano: Mixed into the ricotta for depth of flavor and sprinkled on top for a golden, cheesy finish. Skip the green can and use the real deal—it makes all the difference!
- Oven-Ready (No Boil) Lasagna Noodles: These noodles do not require pre-boiling; they absorb moisture from the sauce and cheese during baking. I like the Barilla brand.
- Mozzarella Cheese: Adds stretchy, melty texture to the layers. Pre-shredded cheese is fine; use the whole-milk variety for best results.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Make the Sauce: Place the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery in a food processor. You need to give them a rough chop first, otherwise, they won’t chop evenly. Pulse until minced but not puréed, so that they melt into the sauce. (Alternatively, you can chop by hand.)
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, and add the sausage. Cook, breaking the sausage into small pieces, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add the minced vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are very soft, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add the wine and continue cooking, stirring to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, until the wine is mostly absorbed by the vegetables, a few minutes.
Add the tomatoes, cream, salt, pepper, sugar, thyme and bay leaves.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes. Add the sausage back to the pot and continue simmering until the sausage is fully cooked and the flavors all meld together, about 10 minutes.
Make the filling: Combine the ricotta, cream cheese, egg, garlic, Parmesan, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Process until evenly combined, then add the basil and pulse until finely chopped.
Assemble: Spread about 1½ cups of sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles over the sauce, then spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the noodles, and sprinkle with ¾ cup mozzarella cheese.
Repeat the layers of sauce, noodles, ricotta filling, and mozzarella twice more. Top with the last 3 noodles, the remaining sauce, mozzarella, and ¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Bake until bubbling and golden, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Lasagna can be assembled and refrigerated up to 1 day ahead of time or frozen for longer storage.
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Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1½ pounds Italian sausage (bulk or removed from casing)
- ¾ cup dry red wine
- 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1½ teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
For the Ricotta Mixture
- 1 (15 oz.) container whole milk ricotta (about 1¾ cups)
- 3 oz. cream cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
- ¾ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup roughly chopped fresh basil
For Assembling
- 12 oven ready (no boil) lasagna noodles (such as Barilla)
- 16 ounces shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Instructions
For the Sauce
- Place the onions, garlic, carrot and celery in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade; pulse until finely minced but not puréed.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the sausage into the pan and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking the sausage into small pieces, until slightly browned but not cooked all the way through, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the partially cooked sausage to a plate. Set aside.
- Add the remaining tablespoon olive oil to the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and add the minced vegetables. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are very soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not brown; reduce the heat if necessary.
- Add the wine; continue cooking, stirring to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, until the wine is mostly absorbed by the vegetables, a few minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, cream, salt, pepper, sugar, thyme and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, transfer the sausage to a cutting board and chop into smaller pieces (big chunks don't work well in lasagna).
- Add the sausage back to the pan and continue simmering, covered, until the sausage is fully cooked and the flavors meld together, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Fish out the bay leaves and discard.
For the Ricotta Mixture
- Combine the ricotta, cream cheese, egg, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until evenly combined. Add the basil and pulse until finely chopped.
For Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Spread about 1½ cups of sauce in the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles over the sauce (there will be a bit of space between the noodles; they expand as they cook). Dollop a third of the ricotta filling over the noodles, then spread evenly to cover. Sprinkle with ¾ cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layering of sauce, noodles, ricotta filling and mozzarella 2 more times. Top with the remaining 3 noodles. Spoon the remaining sauce over the noodles, then sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano.
- Spray a large piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray. Cover the lasagna tightly with the foil, sprayed side down. Bake for 40 minutes. Carefully uncover and increase the oven temperature to 400°F. Bake, uncovered, until the noodles are tender, the sauce is bubbling, and the edges are golden and puffed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for about 15 minutes before serving.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: The lasagna can be assembled and refrigerated up to 1 day ahead of time before baking. Allow a few extra minutes in the oven if baking from cold.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The lasagna can be frozen for up to 3 months. If you choose to freeze it before baking, ensure it is thoroughly defrosted in the refrigerator for 24 hours before you follow the recipe's baking instructions. For already baked lasagna, place any leftovers in a freezer-safe container, or cut it into individual servings. Each serving should be tightly wrapped first in plastic wrap and then in foil. To reheat, cover the lasagna with foil and warm it in an oven preheated to 325°F until it is heated
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Serving size: 1 slice
- Calories: 776
- Fat: 45g
- Saturated fat: 23g
- Carbohydrates: 47g
- Sugar: 9g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 46g
- Sodium: 1812mg
- Cholesterol: 158mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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My “Debut Lasagna” was a huge hit and I forgot to add the egg to the ricotta. My Italian friend omits the egg “the whole milk makes a big difference, ricotta stays creamier & doesn’t dry out”. Culinary crisis averted!
This was delicious, new favorite sauce. I was nervous about using oven ready lasagna noodles but followed your recipe and used Batilo’s oven ready noodles. Can’t wait to make this for everyone on Christmas Eve.
Thank you for so many unbelievable recipes with excellent instructions.
Happy Holidays.
This was delicious. Since I didn’t have no boil noodles, I used boil noodles. I boiled them according to the package direction for four minutes. Then I assembled the lasagna. The portions didn’t really hold together when served and maybe that was because the boil noodles didn’t absorb enough moisture from the sauce, but it was still delicious. Next time I’ll make sure I have no boil noodles on hand and give it a try and see if there is a difference in how the lasagna portions hold together. Will definitely make again.
Hi Jenn
I doubled this recipe and made for Christmas. Unfortunately I cooked it first before freezing. What’s the best way to defrost and heat?
Hi Marybeth, I would thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat in a 350°-oven, covered, til warmed through. I’d start checking around 30 min.
Hi Jenn,
I’m wondering if I could swap out the ricotta with cottage cheese, sour cream or something else? I live out of town and that is all I have on hand. Sounds delicious, hoping I can make it for dinner tonight! Thank you!
Hi Shelly, I do think cottage cheese would work. Enjoy!
We are having so much trouble finding a supply of fresh basil in our local stores. I know it’s not ideal, but if I have to use dried basil how much should I use, and do you have a favorite brand?
Hi Anne, you’ll need just shy of 3 Tbsp. of dried basil. And I don’t really have a favorite brand. I typically buy McCormick as it’s easy to find. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jenn
I’m going to be making this for the holidays. How long can it be assembled and refrigerated before baking? What about baking and then freezing? I don’t want it to get mushy.
Thanks, Ellen (aka mousse cake obessed)
Hi Ellen! For best results, you can make it a day ahead before baking (baking and freezing is fine for leftovers, but I wouldn’t recommend for guests). Hope that helps!
When taking it from the fridge to oven… should I let it get to room temp first then oven, or should I let it heat up with the oven? (I just dont want my pan to crack, or the lasagna to be over cooked).
Hi Bridget, it should be fine to place it directly in the oven, but feel free to let it come to room temperature first. Enjoy!
Hi Jenn, I can’t wait to make this! Do you like to use a specific brand of Italian sausage? Also, sweet or mild? Thanks so much
My favorite is Harris Teeter’s store brand but if you don’t have Harris Teeter nearby, I’d look for Premio at other stores. And sweet or spicy is totally your call, based on preference. 😊
Hi Jenn,
Love your recipes – use them almost exclusively! This is a wonderful lasagna. I accidentally added too much salt to the sauce this time. I am making the ricotta mixture tomorrow and putting it all together. Can I leave the salt out of that to make up for my mistake, or will that not taste good? Thanks so much!
Hi Karen, so glad you liked the recipes! Do you know how much additional salt you added to the sauce? If so, you can reduce the ricotta mixture by the same amount.