Lasagna recipe’s are easy to find with a quick Google search, but finding one that really stands out is hard to come by. This home-made Lasagna Recipe was passed down by my mom that I had documented on a small recipe card that kept getting misplaced (hence the primary reason for this site).
No bottled spaghetti sauce for this recipe, this is the real deal. We’ll being making our own meat and cheese sauces, and combining them both into one delicious dish.
Lasagna Recipe Steps
This recipe isn’t overly complicated, but there’s a few steps that you need to follow. As with most Italian dishes, the key ingredient is the sauce, and we’ll be making that in this recipe. The pasta sauce used in this recipe, can also be used for other Italian dishes. Let’s review the ingredients we’ll be using.
- Ground Sausage (I prefer Italian) or Ground Beef if that’s your jam.
- Lasagna Noodles
- Crushed tomatoes
- Tomato Paste
- Onion / Garlic
- Cottage Cheese (since that’s what my mom used). You can substitute Ricotta Cheese if that’s more your thing.
- Cheese (Mozzarella and Parmesan)
- Egg
- Seasoning (salt, pepper, basil, and oregano)
We’ll be using canned crushed tomatoes, and since this is a primary ingredient in our recipe, don’t cheap out. I prefer using San Marzano or some other higher quality tomato. There’s multiple options to choose from.
Like I said earlier, this isn’t an overly complicated recipe to throw together, but there are multiple steps that you need to follow.
- Boil the noodles (Al dente)
- Saute onions and garlic
- Brown the meat
- Make the meat sauce
- Make the cheese sauce
- Layer the lasagna
- Bake it
- Rest!
A tip based on prior experience. Let the lasagna rest for at last 15 min after baking before serving. This lets the layers set, the sauce thickens, and the cheese firms up. Nobody likes a runny lasagna.
Calories
I’m including this section in some of my recipes for those wanting to be aware of their calorie intake. This Lasagna Recipe can be adjusted to lower the amount of calories, but be aware this could impact the taste and texture of the overall recipe.
Total calories for the entire recipe is estimated at 3,250 calories, or 325 calories per serving. The primary high-calorie contributors include (for the total recipe):
- Ground Sausage: ~1,200 calories
- 12 Lasagna Noodles: ~900 calories
- Mozzarella Cheese: ~640 calories
If you’re looking to reduce the amount of total calories, you can do the following. Substitute Ground Turkey for the Ground Sausage or try a low-fat Mozzarella Cheese. You can also reduce the number of layers and use 9 lasagna noodles instead of 12.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Boil Lasagna Noodles (El dante) and set aside
- Brown Ground Sausage
- Add Onion to Sausage and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Add Garlic and cook for 2 additional minutes.
- Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, basil, and oregano to meat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- While tomato sauce is simmering. Combine cottage cheese, 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, and egg in a separate bowl and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease 9 x 13 inch baking pan and layer meat, noodle, cottage cheese mixture, and cheese. See notes below.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan cheese and bake uncovered for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice into 10 equal pieces and serve.
Notes
- Add a small amount of the meat sauce to the bottom of the baking dish, and layer 3 lasagna noodles over sauce.
- Layer with a third of the remaining meat sauce, cottage cheese mixture, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Top with 3 lasagna noodles.
- Repeat two more times and add remaining meat sauce to the top of the noodles