This Easy Homemade Lasagna is so simple to throw together, but it tastes like you have been busy in the kitchen all day baking a classic lasagna recipe. And don’t worry about cooking the lasagna noodles before baking – the oven does all the work for you for this easy dinner recipe.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
What is so awesome about this easy lasagna recipe is that you can make it when you have time to meal prep ahead and store it in the fridge for later, or make it up in your favorite casserole dish and bake it to boil noodles and melt the delicious cheese.
This recipe uses a cottage cheese and ricotta mixture in the step-by-step recipe to create the best pasta dish, and your new go-to lasanga recipe.
Ingredients Notes:
- Meat: Use ground Italian sausage for the best results
- Onion: A chopped yellow onion or white onion will do
- Vegetable: We like to add a can of sliced mushrooms for added flavor
- Sauce: Pick out your favorite spaghetti sauce to pair with the cheese layer
- Cheese: You will need a combination of cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, shredded Parmesan cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese
- Egg: Adding large eggs is the perfect combining agent for the cheese filling, while adding more protein to the entire lasagna
- Noodle: Get a package of lasagna noodles
- Noodle note: There are “oven-ready” lasagna noodles available at the grocery store that are perfect to use as the layers of noodles in this homemade lasagna recipe, which will also cut down on the cooking process for this family favorite recipe.
How To Make Lasagna:
Preheat oven:
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
Cook sausage:
- In a large skillet, cook and stir Italian sausage until brown.
- Add onions and mushrooms; saute until onions are clear.
Add marinara sauce:
- Stir in spaghetti sauce, and heat through.
Make cheese filling:
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and eggs.
Layer lasagna:
- Spread a thin layer of the meat sauce in the bottom of the baking dish.
- Make a layer of lasagna noodles with ½ of the uncooked lasagna noodles, ½ of the cheese mixture, ¾ cup mozzarella cheese, and ½ of meat sauce.
- Continue layering until all ingredients are used, reserving ½ cup of mozzarella for on top of the sauce.
Bake lasagna:
- Cover the 9×13 inch pan with aluminum foil while the lasagna bakes.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
Top with cheese:
- Uncover, and top with the remaining half cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Add an additional 10-15 minutes of Bake time to let the cheese melt.
- Remove from oven, and let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Expert Tips:
- If you know that you are going to have a busy day, you could easily prep this lasagna ahead of time and keep it covered in your fridge until you are ready for it to bake.
- Use whole milk mozzarella for the best result for melting the cheese on top.
- Let the lasagna rest before cutting.
- Ensure noodles are fully covered in sauce for the best texture.
Easy Homemade Lasagna Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4.5 ounces sliced mushrooms, 1 can
- 28 ounces spaghetti sauce, 1 jar
- 16 ounces cottage cheese, 1 container
- 1 pint ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- 16 ounces lasagna noodles, 1 package
- 2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- In a large skillet, cook and stir Italian sausage until brown.
- Add onions and mushrooms; saute until onions are clear.
- Stir in spaghetti sauce, and heat through.
- In a medium size bowl, combine cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and eggs.
- Spread a thin layer of the meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan.
- Layer with ½ of the uncooked lasagna noodles, ½ of cheese mixture, ¾ cup mozzarella cheese, and ½ of meat sauce. Continue layering until all ingredients are used, reserving ½ cup mozzarella.
- Cover pan with aluminum foil.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Uncover, and top with remaining half cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, and let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
Frequently Asked Questions for Making this Simple Lasagna Recipe:
This lasagna also makes a great freezer meal or a meal to take to someone who could use a delicious homemade meal. Instead of baking the lasagna, simply put it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Pull the lasagna from the freezer to have lasagna thaw in the fridge for about 24 hours in advance. Then bake as instructed.
If you find that the sauce is too thick, you can add a splash of cold water or vegetable broth for a great way to thin the sauce.
If you want to add even more flavor to the meat sauce, consider adding some fresh herbs like fresh parsley or fresh basil to the sauce. You can even spice up the sauce by using a spicy Italian sausage or adding some red pepper flakes to the meaty tomato sauce.
Looks yummy! This is a dumb question, but will the lasagna noodles be cooked through? Do I have to use the “oven-ready” kind? I’ve seen other recipes that call for the noodles to be boiled before assembling the lasagna, so that’s why I’m asking (I’ve never made lasagna before). Thank you!
We just use regular lasagna noodles. We put them in uncooked and they cook through during the baking time.
How do you prepare as a freezer meal?
Prepare the lasagna as directed but do not bake. Cover well and place in the freezer. Thaw and cook when ready to have the meal.
We made this for Christmas dinner yesterday with a thinned out version of your bolognese sauce recipe and it was amazing! We were able to make a second smaller pan to put in the freezer for later too which is always awesome. Thank you for sharing this, it was fantastic!
Hello! I always come to Six Sisters first when looking for a recipe…love it all! Quick question on this recipe ~ do you end with the meat layer or one last layer of noodles before baking? I have several noodles left so wasn’t sure if I put them on top or not. Thanks for any help!
You might have a few noodles left over and that’s fine. Just layer as it directs in the recipe. Then the last 15 minutes remove foil and add the cheese and let that melt. You should be good to go!! Enjoy!
Two questions: how many noodles do you have in each layer? And does the recipe not include a top layer of noodles over the last layer of soft cheese mixture?
Just place the noodles so they are completely covering your 9×13 inch pan. You can break them to fit better. We followed this recipe as instructed, so we did 2 full layers.
If you wanted to double this recipe, what size baking pan and what are the cooking times?
Hi Tracy – we would recommend using two 9×13 inch pans, or one half-sheet pan (which is typically 13×18 inches)