This Homemade Lasagna recipe is rich, decadent and so simple that some might even call it life-changing. Made with beef, spicy Italian sausage, and four different kinds of cheese, no one would ever know it didn’t take you all day to prepare.
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Lazy lasagna
Everyone gets excited for lasagna night, and with this recipe you can work smarter, not harder. Our lazy version of the Italian classic uses a couple of simple shortcuts to make it easy to have your favorite comfort food any night of the week.
There’s no pre-cooking noodles, making marinara sauce or even grating cheese, but it’s absolutely our favorite Homemade Lasagna. We recommend making a double batch so that you’ve got one for now, and one for later!
For a complete meal, serve with Copy Cat Olive Garden Breadsticks and your favorite side dish (try Oven Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Lemon, Rosemary and Parmesan Fingerling Potatoes or Oven Roasted Green Beans).
Ingredients in this easy Homemade Lasagna
Lasagna Noodles
- Because we pre-soak the noodles in hot water, you can use regular lasagna noodles, oven ready lasagna noodles or no-boil lasagna noodles. They will all work great!
Meat Sauce
- Olive Oil - you can also use avocado oil, or any other cooking oil that you would like.
- Onions - yellow Spanish onions caramelize nicely for this sauce, but you could also use white or red onions.
- Sausage - we love spicy Italian sausage but you could also use sweet Italian sausage
- Ground Beef - you’ll want to use a lean ground beef for lasagna to minimize any extra greasiness.
- Garlic - fresh minced.
- Salt & Pepper
- Marinara Sauce - use your favorite brand from the store to save yourself another step.
Cheese Mixture
- Cottage Cheese - any type will work great.
- Ricotta Cheese - whole milk works best.
- Mozzarella Cheese - you can use either whole milk or part skim shredded mozzarella.
- Parmesan Cheese - you want to find freshly grated Parmesan, not the kind in the can.
- Eggs - any type of large eggs will work.
- Parsley - fresh chopped is best, but you can use dried in a pinch.
- Salt
- Nutmeg
How to Make this Easy No Boil Lasagna Recipe
Let’s break this Homemade Lasagna down into 4 easy steps:
- Prepare your No-Boil Lasagna noodles: place noodles in a large bowl or baking dish and cover them completely with hot tap water. Let the noodles sit for 20-30 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Make the meat sauce: heat a large skillet over medium heat and saute your onions. Next, add your sausage and beef with a touch of water and garlic, cooking until the meats are cooked through. Season and mix in your marinara sauce, then set aside.
- Make the cheese mixture: in a large bowl, add your cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, eggs, parsley, salt and nutmeg and mix until well-combined. Set aside.
- Build your lasagna: be sure to spray your 9” x 13” baking dish with non-stick spray and then layer as directed below.
Freezing lasagna
As long as you have the freezer space, it’s always a good idea to freeze an extra pan of Homemade Lasagna. It’s great to have on-hand for busy nights, or to pass along to family or friends who could use it.
- If you know that your lasagna will be in the freezer for a while, or if you are planning to give it to someone, build your lasagna in a disposable pan so that it doesn’t take up precious baking dish real estate.
- Freeze lasagna after it is built and before it has been cooked.
- Once completely cool, wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap and cover completely with aluminum foil.
- You can store it frozen for up to 3 months, but we’re willing to bet it won’t stay frozen for that long!
How to reheat Homemade Lasagna
Once you are ready to bake your frozen lasagna, transfer the pan to the fridge overnight to thaw. The next day, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and pull your lasagna from the fridge to come up to room temp. This is especially important if your lasagna isn’t in a disposable baking dish because you don’t want glass to crack in the oven!
- Remove the plastic wrap from the pan, and recover with aluminum foil.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, then remove the foil.
- Continue baking for another 30 minutes or so, until the lasagna is bubbly and the cheese is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is lasagna better with ricotta or cottage cheese?
Ricotta cheese is classic, but cottage cheese made its way into American lasagna, presumably because it was easier to find. Nowadays, you can find ricotta cheese in just about every major grocery store, but many people still swear by cottage cheese.
When it really comes down to it, they both make great lasagna and it’s really all about your personal preference.
We make this Homemade Lasagna with cottage cheese and ricotta cheese because personally, we love both! The cottage cheese helps reduce the fat content and calories, and no one will ever know it’s there.
How long does it take to cook lasagna?
This recipe calls for baking Homemade Lasagna at 375 degrees which will take about 1 hour and 15 minutes, give or take. Every oven is different, so it’s best to take a peek after you have removed the aluminum foil and it has been in the oven for 1 hour.
If you choose to bake your lasagna at 350 degrees, it may take closer to 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Why do you put eggs in lasagna?
Eggs act as a binder for your cheese mixture and hold everything together so that you can cut nice slices once it’s all baked. Ricotta and cottage cheese both have quite a bit of water content and the eggs ensure that you don’t end up with a soupy mess once it’s all cooked.
How do you layer lasagna?
In your prepared 9” x 13” baking dish, build in the following order, from the bottom up:
- Spread 1 cup meat sauce in the bottom of baking dish.
- Place 4 noodles on top of the meat sauce, overlapping slightly if necessary.
- Spread 1/3 of cheese mixture evenly over the noodles.
- Cover cheese with about 2 cups of meat sauce.
- Repeat two more times (noodles, cheese, meat, noodles, cheese, meat).
- Finish with a final layer of noodles and 1 cup of meat sauce, then sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
How many layers of pasta are in lasagna?
In this Homemade Lasagna recipe we use 4 layers of lasagna, for a total of 16 sheets. Different brands and types of noodles have different quantities per box, so if you need to, you can use 3 noodles per layer.
Easy Lasagna (No Boil Lasagna Recipe)
Ingredients
Meat Sauce Mixture
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 medium Yellow Onion chopped
- 1 lb Spicy Italian Sausage
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp Pepper or to taste
- 2 quarts Marinara Sauce your favorite brand
Cheese Mixture for Lasagna
- 15 oz Cottage Cheese
- 15 oz Ricotta Cheese
- 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella shredded
- 1/2 cup Parmesan grated
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 tsp Parsley chopped
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
Additional Lasagna Ingredients
- 16 each Lasagna Noodles
- 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese shredded, to sprinkle on top before baking
- 1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese grated
- 2 tsp Parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
To Prepare No-Boil Noodles
- In a large bowl or 9 by 13" baking dish, add lasagna noodles. Pour hot tap water over the noodles and let them soak in the hot water (as hot as you can get it) for 20-30 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.
To Prepare Meat Sauce
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil. Once hot, add the onions and saute until transparent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the sausage, ground beef and 1/4 cup of water to the onions and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, using a spoon to break up the meat.
- Add minced garlic, then cook until the meat is no longer pink, or about 5 minutes more. Turn off the heat and add salt and pepper to taste, then add in the marinara sauce and mix until combined. Set aside.
To Prepare Cheese Mixture
- In a large bowl, add the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt and nutmeg. Mix until well-combined.
How to Assemble and Bake Easy Lasagna
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Spray a deep 9 by 13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Spread about 1 cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of your baking dish, place 4 noodles on top of the meat sauce, spread about a 1/3 of the cheese mixture on the noodles, and cover with about 2 cups of meat sauce. Repeat two more times (noodles, cheese sauce, meat sauce, noodles, cheese sauce, meat sauce).
- To finish the lasagna, cover with a final layer of lasagna noodles and top with 1 cup of meat sauce to cover the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella and 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese evenly over the top.
- Cover the lasagna with foil and place the baking dish onto a baking sheet (to help catch anything that may fall over the edge while baking). Bake for about 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook for about 30 minutes, or until the lasagna is bubbly and the cheese is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the lasagna sit for 10 minutes before garnishing with parsley and slicing. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Here are some other pasta entrees we love!
- Baked Penne Pasta with Italian Meatballs
- Slow Cooker Tortellini Pasta Bake
- Easy Crockpot Lasagna with Ravioli
- 4 Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells
- Sun Dried Tomatoes Baked Chicken Penne Pasta
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This Homemade Lasagna recipe is rich, decadent and so simple that some might even call it life-changing. Made with beef, spicy Italian sausage and four different kinds of cheese, our lazy version of the Italian classic makes it easy to have your favorite comfort food any night of the week.
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