Name: Homemade Easy Lasagna
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef; 1 pound ground sausage; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning; 3 24 ounce Jars Pasta Sauce; 2 32 ounce containers Ricotta Cheese; 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning; 3 boxes Oven Ready/No Boil Lasagna Noodles; 8 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

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Sharing our favorite easy lasagna recipe today that is perfect for feeding a crowd, Holidays, sending a meal to a friend and weeknight dinners! Packed with melty cheeses and hearty meat sauce that also makes the best leftovers!

Easy Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna doesn’t have to be complicated, it’s actually quite easy to make if you are prepared. When making lasagna, I’ve found it easiest to have all of my ingredients in bowls, close to the lasagna pan for simple layering. Once you have everything close by, the layering is a breeze!

Try my Mexican Style Lasagna too! Follow Picky Palate on Instagram for daily recipe inspiration.

What You’ll Need

No Boil Lasagna Noodles– I like to use oven ready/no boil lasagna noodles, meaning you don’t have to boil the noodles first. It makes making lasagna so much easier.

Pasta Sauce– The pasta sauce, lines the bottom of the lasagna pan and on the top of last layer of lasagna noodles.

Meat Sauce– I layer meat sauce in between each lasagna noodle layer.

Ricotta Cheese– Ricotta Cheese is a main ingredient for layering between the noodles. It’s light and cheesy delicious.

Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheeses– Shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese go in between the layers of noodles and on top. Two key ingredients when making lasagna!

How To Make Homemade Lasagna

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
To prepare the lasagna meat sauce, place the ground beef and ground sausage into a large pot over medium heat. Season with salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning, cooking until meat is browned. Drain and transfer meat to a large mixing bowl and stir in 1 jar of pasta sauce. Add 1/2 cup water to pasta jar, shake and add to meat sauce. Set aside meat sauce while you prepare the Ricotta mixture.
To prepare the Ricotta cheese mixture, place both containers of Ricotta into a large mixing bowl. Add the Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning. Stir to combine.
Use two 9 x 13 inch baking pans or one large lasagna pan. Pour one jar of pasta sauce evenly into bottom of lasagna pans.
Place lasagna noodles in a single layer over bottom of pan(s). Place a few tablespoons of Ricotta Cheese over each lasagna noodle, spread evenly. Top with a few tablespoons of meat sauce and a large handful of shredded cheese (about 1 cup) over top. Sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of fresh grated Parmesan Cheese. Repeat same steps for 2 more layers. For the final layer top with lasagna noodles then cover tops completely with last jar of pasta sauce and the rest of the shredded cheese.
Bake for 45-60 minutes, until noodles are tender, cheese slightly browned on top.

Lasagna Pan

When you want to make a lasagna, you’ll need a lasagna pan. The most common lasagna pan size is 9 x 13 inches. Today, I’m using this giant 21 x 12 1/2 inch pan that my Father-in-law let me borrow, it’s basically like two 9 x 13 inch pans in one. Serves 24 people. Check Amazon or commercial kitchen stores for something like this giant pan.

How To Layer Lasagna

When you’ve got all of your meats browned and ingredients ready to go in bowls close by for easy access, it’s time to start layering. You want to pour a thin layer of pasta sauce at the bottom of your pan. For a 9 x 13 inch pan, I use half of a 24 ounce jar of pasta sauce.

How Do You Spell Lasagna

With the “g” being silent in lasagna, you might not know there’s actually a “g” in lasagna! Spelled LASAGNA.

Lasagna With Ricotta

The easiest way I’ve found to layer the Ricotta Cheese is using one of my large cookie scoops. I place 2 large scoops of Ricotta on each noodle.

Use a rubber spatula to spread Ricotta Cheese evenly. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just a nice spread over most of the noodle works just fine.

Meat Lasagna Recipe

Once you’ve got your Ricotta Cheese over the pasta noodles, the meat sauce is up next. Just a small spoonful over each noodle works. If you put too much, it makes for messy layers when cutting squares. Less is better in this case.

Here’s how much you want to layer. Don’t go over the edges of your noodles. This will make your layers look pretty when it’s time to cut and serve.

Top the meat sauce layer with a large handful of shredded mozzarella cheese. It’s roughly 1- 1 1/2 cups per layer. Top with just a light sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese. This completes the first layer! Continue these steps for two more layers.

For your last layer (top layer), top with another layer of lasagna noodles.

No Ricotta Cheese or meat sauce on the top layer. Just a layer of pasta sauce.

Spread sauce evenly over all of the tops and edges. Top with a heavy layer of shredded Mozzarella Cheese.

Can I Prepare Lasagna Ahead Of Time?

From here, you can either bake right away or prepare a day in advance, cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to bake. When you are going to bake, take it out of the refrigerator 1-2 hours before baking, to get close to room temperature before going into oven.

How Long To Cook Lasagna

As a rule of thumb, lasagna cooks for about an hour. I like to check it at about 40 minutes and if the tops are already nice and golden, cover the top loosely with tin foil so it doesn’t get too dark.

How Long Do I Wait To Cut Lasagna Into Squares?

I like to wait at least 30 minutes before cutting my lasagna into squares after taking it out of the oven. This way, your layers are set and not sliding around. If you cut into your lasagna too soon, sometimes the lasagna layers come apart. It’s worth the wait to get your nice layers you worked hard preparing.

How To Serve

Serve lasagna hot cut into squares. Serve with a side salad and garlic bread if desired.

Leftovers

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat as needed.

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