Homemade Lasagna

Easy authentic Homemade Lasagna is made with layers of tomatoey meat sauce, lasagna sheets, and velvety bechamel sauce topped with cheese. It is the perfect dish to gather your family or friends around the dinner table. This world-famous Italian dish is absolutely everyone's favorite comfort food.

Jump to:

• Why This Recipe Works
• Ingredients and Substitutes
• How to Make Homemade Lasagna?
• Related Recipes
• Top Tip from the Chef
• Homemade Lasagna

This easy lasagne recipe makes around 8 portions, so it's an absolute crowd pleaser! You can keep the leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze them for up to 3 months.

Why This Recipe Works

• You can prepare it ahead and keep it refrigerated for up to 3 days until you need it.

• Freezes beautifully! If you have any leftovers, freeze them in an airtight container and keep them for up to 3 months.

• This recipe makes 6 large or 8 medium-sized portions, an absolute crowd pleaser!

• It's rich & full of flavour, tastes even better when reheated.

Ingredients and Substitutes

Ingredients for the ragu sauce

• Minced beef - I use high-fat content beef mince for flavour. Also, it releases enough fat for cooking the onions and vegetables without needing any olive oil.

• Tinned tomatoes - You can use fresh tomatoes in the summer when juicy and ripen ones are in season.

• Mirepoix - It is a mixture of diced onions, celery and carrots. It is the seasoning and flavouring base to meat-based dishes such as bolognese, ragout or Bourguignon.

• Tomato paste - It adds extra red colour to the sauce as well as an umami taste. 

• Red wine -  It is the traditional ingredient for bolognese but you can skip it if you are cooking for kids. Use a good quality wine that you would be happy to drink.

• Milk - Adding milk might sound strange but don’t skip it. Milk gives the sauce a smooth and velvety texture and helps the mince cooking. 

• Chilli - It is optional and should be adjusted to your taste. You can substitute it with flaked chillies. 

• Stock - The best choice is to use Homemade Beef Stock but you can also use a good quality shop-bought beef stock or stock cubes. 

• Seasoning - Make sure you add the seasoning at the end of the cooking and check before you add any salt. Always be careful when adding the salt if using store-bought beef stock or stock cubes as they contain salt already.

• Herbs - Thyme and bay leaves are traditional herbs for bolognese. Remove the bay leaves from the sauce before serving it.

Ingredients for the béchamel sauce

• Butter - Use a good quality unsalted butter. Make sure it is totally melted before adding the flour.

• Plain flour - It is also known as all - purpose flour. It is perfect for making cakes, cookies, pastries and thickening sauces.

• Milk - I use full fat or semi-skimmed milk for bechamel sauce. Add it slowly in small batches to butter and flour mixture for velvety sauce.

• Nutmeg - It is the perfect spice for bechamel sauce. I freshly grate whole nutmeg for more intense flavour and freshness.

• Parmesan - Use a good quality block parmesan. Freshly grate it just before using for the best flavour. You can substitute it with pecorino cheese.

• Cheddar - Mature or extra mature cheddar adds a bit of kick to the sauce. You can substitute it with gruyere or extra mozarella cheese for milder flavour.

• Mozarella - I use fresh mozarella balls but shredded mozarella works perfect too. You can substitute it with kashkaval cheese.

How to Make Homemade Lasagna?

Making homemade lasagna is quite straightforward but it requires some time and patience. To achieve the best results, you need to follow a few simple steps:

• Start with cooking the meat sauce - First thing first, get the meat sauce cooking. The secret to a tasty and hearty sauce is slow cooking. Don't rush it, give it at least 2.5 hours for the best result. If you don't cook the meat sauce long enough, you will end up with a bland watery sauce. To make the meat sauce, put a large pan or dutch oven on medium heat and brown the mince. Stir occasionally and break the mince using a wooden spoon to make sure there are no lumps left. Add olive oil if necessary and lower the heat. The mince will release some fat so you might need less oil than stated in the recipe. Add the onions along with the garlic and cook until they are soft and translucent then add the carrot and celery.

Cook for 5 more minutes until the vegetables start softening. Deglaze the pan with red wine and let it evaporate. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes before adding the chopped tomatoes, chili, freshly ground black pepper, sugar, milk, beef stock, bay leaves, and thyme. Give it a good stir, lower the heat, cover the lid and gently simmer for 2 hours. Remove the lid and cook for another half an hour until the sauce has thickened and the meat is tender. Stir occasionally while cooking to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan and to check if there is enough liquid.

• Make the bechamel sauce - Start making the bechamel sauce when the meat sauce is ready. If you cook the bechamel too early, it will start to thicken and will be more difficult to spread. To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat and stir in the flour. Mix well using a wooden spatula or a whisk and cook for two minutes stirring all the time.

Whisk in a little of the warm milk at a time stirring continuously until you have a smooth, velvety sauce. Cook on low heat for a few minutes stirring all the time until the sauce has thickened and the flour taste has disappeared. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the salt, nutmeg and 100 g grated Parmesan cheese.

• Assemble the lasagna - Preheat the oven to 180 °C (fan oven) and start assembling the lasagna using a rectangular dish approximately size of 33 cm x 22 cm (13" x 9") with a minimum of 9 cm (3.5") depth. To assemble the lasagna, spoon about ⅓ of the meat sauce on the base of the dish and cover it with lasagna sheets. Brake them gently if necessary to fit in the dish, they don't need to be perfectly layered. Top with a ⅓ of the béchamel sauce and gently spread it over the lasagna sheets. Repeat two more layers, and then top the last layer of pasta with the rest of the béchamel sauce.

Sprinkle on the grated mozzarella and cheddar and cook for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Let the lasagna rest for 15 to 20 minutes to let the bechamel sauce set before slicing and serving.

Related Recipes

Love pasta? Why not try my other delicious pasta recipes out:

Garlic Prawns with Pasta

Pasta with Green Sauce

Slow-Cooked Lamb Ragu

Classic Bolognese Sauce with Spaghetti

Creamy Prawn Pasta

Chicken and Chorizo Pasta

Top Tip from the Chef

For this easy homemade lasagna recipe, you need a large and deep enough dish to fit 3 layers of deliciousness without overfilling it. Make sure there is at least 1 cm space left on top of the dish to avoid spillage while baking the lasagna.

Kitchen Gadgets I Love

I hope you enjoy the process of making this delicious Homemade Lasagna as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂

Bon appétit! / Afiyet Olsun!

FOOD SAFETY

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

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