Easy Homemade Lasagna Recipe | In The Kitchen With Matt (2024)

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Calling all pasta lovers. Lasagna has long since been one of my favorite comfort foods. This easy homemade lasagna recipe is amazing!

If you are a fan of lasagna give this simple recipe a try. This recipe is my friend’s mom’s recipe and I must say I am impressed how good it tastes for how easy it is to make. And I have tried many Lasagna recipes over the years.

Homemade lasagna is so much better than the store-bought frozen kind. If I can do it, you can do it. Let’s get baking!

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

In order to make this yummy easy homemade lasagna, you need just a handful of ingredients:

• Lasagna pasta
• Italian sausage – Or you can use whatever sausage that you want, or even ground beef is a popular choice of meat. Or perhaps you want a combination of the two.
• Sauce – I generally use a Prego meat sauce, but really any marinara will work. You could even use this yummy homemade pizza sauce if you would like to make a sauce from scratch.
• Cottage cheese – Or you can use ricotta instead or a combination of cottage cheese and ricotta.
• Mozzarella cheese
• Water
• Salt

Tools

• Large pot to boil the pasta
• Spoon
• Skillet
• Spatula
• 13×9 inch baking pan or specific lasagna pan
• Aluminum foil
• Cooking spray

Step 2: How to make easy homemade lasagna

Heat up a large pot of water, about half full, and add the salt to it. Bring it to a boil and then put in the 12 lasagna pasta sheets.

Only boil the lasagna pasta for about 6 minutes. It will cook the rest of the way while baking in the lasagna. If you cook it all the way now, it will be much too soft and mushy later on.

Once, the 6 minutes are up, drain the pasta in a colander, and then rinse with cold water, this will help keep the pasta from sticking.

Then place the pasta in a large pot or bowl with cold water, again this helps keep it from sticking. Another method is to lay the sheets out on a pan that has been lightly oiled or sprayed with cooking spray.

NOTE: I cook the pasta while simultaneously browning the meat/sausage.

While you are heating up the water and cooking the pasta, cook and brown the sausage. Set the burner to medium heat and add the sausage to a skillet.

You can use pretty much whatever sausage you like, I like to use the Johnsonville brand of Italian mild sausage, the Jimmy Dean brand is really good too. Or if you like you can use ground beef which is another common choice of meat for homemade lasagna. Maybe you want to use a combination of sausage and ground beef? You can do that as well if you like.

Use the spatula to break up the sausage and move it occasionally so it gets evenly browned, it will take 6 to 8 minutes to brown the sausage.

Once the sausage or beef is done, tilt the pan and see how much grease/oil accumulates. If there is a lot you may want to scoop it out with a spoon. Otherwise, the easy homemade lasagna may wind up overly greasy.

Place the cooked sausage in a large bowl.

Step 3: Assemble the homemade lasagna

Now add in the sauce with the cooked sausage. I like to use the Prego brand Meat Sauce, but you can use pretty much any marinara. If you would like to make a nice sauce from scratch try thispizza sauce recipe, which also acts as a yummy marinara.

Next add in the cottage cheese, or if you prefer, use Ricotta, or a combination of the two.

Traditionally, you would keep that cheese separate and mix it with some parmesan, mozzarella, and sometimes an egg as well, to create a separate distinct cheese layer, but this easy recipe calls for mixing it in with the meat sauce.

Mix until well combined, which leaves you with a super easy lasagna meat sauce.

Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C.

Take a 13×9 inch pan or special lasagna pan/dish and spray it with cooking spray. Then if you have a bit of sauce leftover in one of the sauce containers you can pour a bit on the bottom of the pan, about a cup or so, and spread it out. You can also just scoop some meat sauce from the bowl and add that to the bottom. This provides a nice bed for the first layer of pasta.

Then add 4 sheets of the semi-cooked pasta. Next, add a whole bunch of shredded mozzarella, about 2 cups worth. Then add a layer of meat sauce on top of the cheese and spread it out evenly.

Follow that up with another layer of 4 sheets of pasta. Then cheese, then meat sauce, then the final 4 sheets of pasta. This time add the remaining sauce on top, and then top it with cheese, instead of doing the cheese first. I like to have a cheese layer be on the top.

And just like that, the homemade lasagna is ready to be baked. Pretty darn easy right?

Step 4: Bake the lasagna

Spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray and then place it over the top of the pan. Bake the lasagna in the oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil from the pan and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is completely melted on the top.

Allow the homemade lasagna to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. If you try and serve it right away, it will be too hot, and kind of fall apart on you. Of course, it will still taste the same, just won’t present as well.

After the lasagna has cooled for a bit, it is time to dig into it. You should be able to get about 12 servings out of it. Serve it with a side of salad, homemade Italian bread, etc. Enjoy!

How long does this easy homemade lasagna last?

After cooked this lasagna will last about 4 to 5 days in the fridge, if covered with a lid or plastic wrap and kept in an airtight container.

Can I freeze homemade lasagna?

Yes! You certainly can freeze it. However, I recommend freezing it after it is assembled and before it is baked. You may wan to assemble it in one of those aluminum baking pans as well.

Here are some other recipes you make like:

Pizza Monkey Bread

Dessert Pizza

Homemade Pizza Dough

Mozzarella Sticks

No Knead Bread

Do you like this recipe? Share and Pin it! Please give it a rating and comment down below, I really appreciate it.If you make it tag me on Instagram @inthekitchenwithmatt. Also, sign up for the newsletter so you won’t miss out on any of my new posts and recipes.

Tags

italian pasta savory

8 Comments

1. BECKY DAVIS

   April 5, 2023 at 8:16 am·Reply

   
   this is how I make mine but I like to sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on the meat sauce.

   • Matt Taylor

     April 5, 2023 at 8:36 am·Reply

     Awesome!! 🙂

2. Beth

   February 16, 2021 at 9:31 am·Reply

   
   This looks so delicious and flavorful! I’m so excited to give this a try! Can’t wait!

   • Matt Taylor

     February 16, 2021 at 9:34 am·Reply

     Thank you so much! 🙂

3. Toni

   February 16, 2021 at 9:16 am·Reply

   
   This is really good! My kids had so much fun making and eating this!! It was a huge hit!

   • Matt Taylor

     February 16, 2021 at 9:23 am·Reply

     So glad you like it, Toni! 🙂

4. Diane Benson

   February 16, 2021 at 8:08 am·Reply

   
   This is the ultimate comfort food. Thank you for this delicious recipe!

   • Matt Taylor

     February 16, 2021 at 8:09 am·Reply

     Agreed! Thank you! I love eating the leftovers the next few days as well, lol.

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