EASY HOMEMADE LASAGNA

Easy Homemade Lasagna a flavorful, delicious and filling meal perfect for any day of the week. This homemade lasagna recipe is a great alternative to the store bought version, an incredible main dish for your next pasta night!

This easy lasagna is layers of long noodles, a wonderful homemade meat sauce and 3 kinds of cheese. Read on for easy steps on how to make lasagna homemade and impress your family with an amazing dinner tonight!

Homemade Lasagna with Cottage Cheese

In surveying the contents of my pantry and fridge earlier this week, I decided to make lasagna. I figured I might as well embrace the cool weather and enjoy this comforting dish. This lasagna is easy and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. I do change out a few ingredients, but it doesn’t alter the recipe much and it makes it even less expensive.

A lot of lasagna recipes use ricotta cheese in their cheese mixture which is perfectly fine, but for a slightly different texture and very similar tastes, you can swap it out for cottage cheese instead (like we did here). This is great for pickier eaters or trying to reduce costs or fat in the recipe too.

Why You’ll Love This Classic Pasta Recipe

• Easy steps to follow. Whether you are experienced in making lasagna or not, this from-scratch recipe is actually pretty simple and easy to follow along with. Making it a perfect dish for anyone to try.
• One batch makes a lot. There is no need to worry, because you’ll definitely have leftovers after this dinner is over. Lasagna always tastes better reheated the next day, in my opinion.
• Simple ingredients. We use basic kitchen staple ingredients to pull this recipe together. Which makes it great for those of us trying to use things we already have on hand or wanting to trim costs where we can.

Ingredients for Homemade Lasagna

Ground beef– You will need 1 pound of ground beef so that there is plenty of protein in every bite.

Onion– Adding in 1 medium-sized chopped onion (about ½ cup) will give the dish a nice depth of flavor.

Garlic– Adding in 1 teaspoon of garlic will really help to enhance the flavors in this dish well.

Seasonings– To give the lasagna nice Italian flavors, add in 3 tablespoons of dried parsley and 1 teaspoon of dried basil leaves.

Sugar– You will need 2-3 tablespoons of granulated sugar for the sauce. This will help to cut down on the acidity in the tomatoes.

Diced tomatoes- You will need two 14.5-ounce sized cans of diced tomatoes for a nice hearty sauce.

Tomato paste– Use one 6-ounce sized can of tomato paste for added thickness in the sauce.

Noodles– You will need 15 uncooked lasagna noodles for this recipe. This is not even an entire box of lasagna noodles.

Cottage cheese– You will need one 15-ounce sized container of cottage cheese, this is roughly 2 cups.

Parmesan cheese– Use ½ cup of parmesan cheese for even more wonderful flavor.

Oregano– Mixing in 1 ½ teaspoons of dried oregano leaves will really help to season the lasagna in all the layers.

Mozzarella cheese– You will need 8-ounces (2 cups) of shredded mozzarella cheese for even more cheesy goodness.

How to make Easy Homemade Lasagna

Prep

To get the sauce started, the onions need to be diced into small pieces. Also, if you want to pull out all the required ingredients and have them ready, that will be helpful as this recipe moves along.

Sauce

Start by cooking the ground beef, diced onion, and garlic in a 10-inch skillet, over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the beef is no longer pink; then drain the excess grease once fully cooked.

Next, stir in only 2 tablespoons of the parsley, 1 tsp of basil, the sugar, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. Proceed to 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 & pasta

Next, get the oven preheating to 350ºF. Now, cook the lasagna noodles as directed on the package and then drain when done.

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

Assemble

Now, gather all of the needed baking dishes, pasta, sauce, and cheeses. I like to use foil dishes for the lasagnas I freeze and a glass baking dish for the one being served for dinner that night.

Proceed to spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture in the bottom of the baking dish. Then top with 2-3 lasagna noodles.

After that, spread 1 cup of the cheese mixture over the noodles and then another 1 cup of the sauce mixture on top of that layer. Sprinkle the top layer with ⅔ cup of mozzarella cheese.

Repeat with four noodles, the remaining cheese mixture, 1 cup of the sauce mixture, and ⅔ cup of the mozzarella cheese. Top with remaining noodles and sauce mixture. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. I like to sprinkle a little parsley on top too!

Bake

Cover the baking dish with foil, place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then, 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!

Batch Cooking and Freezing

Something else I do that’s a little different is that I always make more than one lasagna at a time. We have 2 adults and 3 small children, so a big tray of lasagna will feed us all a few times. You can only eat so many meals of leftovers, though, so to minimize potential waste, I split the recipe into 3 lasagna, and we eat one for dinner and then freeze the other two.

It’s so nice to just pull a lasagna out of the freezer for those other two meals. Homemade lasagna, like many other made-from-scratch meals, taste so much better than store-bought.

How do you freeze lasagna for later?

To freeze a lasagna, spray 1 side of plastic wrap lightly to prevent sticking, then cover the top of the lasagna. Then wrap the entire lasagna with foil. When you are ready to eat it, there’s no need to defrost. Just unwrap it and heat in the oven about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

How long is leftover lasagna good for?

This recipe can be kept covered and stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. This should be plenty of time to enjoy a reheated slice for lunch the next day (or even a second dinner!)

What goes well with lasagna?

We like to serve our lasagna with homemade bread, but other dishes like garlic bread, breadsticks, or salad are also nice side dishes to compliment the Italian feel.

For more pasta recipes, check out these suggestions!

• LASAGNA ROLLS
• BLT PASTA SALAD
• CREAMY TOMATO SOUP WITH TORTELLINI
• PIZZA PASTA CASSEROLE
• PUMPKIN FETTUCINE ALFREDO
• RED WHITE AND BLUE PASTA SALAD
• EASY ZUCCHINI PASTA
• EASY CHICKEN MANICOTTI
• CHICKEN BACON RANCH PASTA
• COPYCAT CHICK-FIL-A MAC AND CHEESE
• CREAMY GARLIC PARMESAN PASTA
• BAKED CHICKEN PARMESAN CASSEROLE
• TORTELLINI PRIMAVERA
• LASAGNA SOUP

Easy Homemade Lasagna a delicious, comforting and filling meal for every day of the week. This homemade lasagna recipe is a fantastic alternative to store bought lasagna, a perfect main dish for pasta night!