Layers of tender pasta, tangy tomato sauce, seasoned meat, and rich, gooey cheese... these are the reasons this recipe has been so popular for so long.
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Table of Contents
❤️ Why you'll love it
- Easy recipe... we're talking only-needs-six-ingredients type of easy
- Filling, hearty comfort food
- Just as good for special occasions as it is busy weeknight meals
If your family enjoys Olive Garden's lasagna classico, they'll absolutely adore this recipe. Plus, contrary to what some may believe, classic lasagna doesn't take long at all to prep—you'll be saying "buon appetito" in no time!
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Spoon some meat sauce into a baking dish. Top with three cooked lasagna sheets and half of the ricotta cheese mixture.
- Add another layer of the tomato sauce and meat.
- Then, add another layer of noodles. Top with remaining cheese mixture.
- Repeat the process once more, ending with the meat. Bake, then add the extra cup of mozzarella cheese. Let bake again until golden brown.
🥫 Storage
The best lasagna recipes all have one thing in common: they make great leftovers. There's just something so satisfying about a warm plate of classic lasagna the next day—or, even a few days after that!
Store leftovers in an airtight container. They'll last for up to five days in the fridge or three months in the freezer.
Though you can reheat a serving of homemade lasagna in the microwave, it's best to warm larger portions in the oven.
Simply cover the leftovers in an oven-safe dish with some aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for about a half hour, or until warmed through. If from frozen, it may take a little longer.
📖 Variations
- Feel free to use Italian sausage instead of ground beef, or use a combination of both.
- Don't like beef? This recipe also works with ground turkey or chicken.
- Omit the ground meat altogether for a vegetarian-friendly dinner!
- If you have some leftover homemade meat sauce, feel free to use that.
- Sometimes we'll double the sauce measurement because we like it extra saucy and loose. Do whatever you please.
- Feeling fancy? Add some minced garlic cloves and a diced onion to the meat mixture, if you enjoy those flavors.
- Pack in some extra veggies by stirring chopped spinach or diced red pepper into the ricotta mixture.
- Sprinkle a tablespoon of dried Italian seasoning over your meat sauce for a more savory flavor. It's not necessary, but is a nice touch!
- Make even a quick meal feel like a fancy dinner by thinly slicing a handful of basil leaves for garnish.
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: Use whole milk ricotta cheese if at all possible. It adds a fresh flavor to the dish that makes the lasagna taste extra authentic!
- Pull out your biggest pasta pot for this recipe. You'll want to use a large pot of salted water, with enough room for the noodles to move around without sticking together.
- Boil the lasagna noodles until they're al dente. The layers of pasta will continue to soften—but just a bit—in the oven.
- Don't forget to prep the baking dish with some cooking spray. Be sure to coat the sides too, not just the bottom!
- Shred your own fresh mozzarella for extra flavor. I'll pop the ball of cheese into the freezer for just a bit to make it easier to handle!
- This classico lasagna recipe is a great freezer meal. Make double the batch at one time and store it for an easy freezer-to-oven dinner.
- If cooking the lasagna from frozen, you may have to add an extra half hour or so of cook time. Keep it covered with tin foil for the first half hour.
👩🍳 FAQs
Simply prepare the recipe as directed, covering the dish with foil instead of baking it. Refrigerate or freeze until you're ready to cook!
You can, but I don't think it's worth saving a handful of calories. However, if you want to use cottage cheese, go for it—it's a 1:1 ratio replacement. Just be sure to buy full-fat cottage cheese or it may make the lasagna watery.
Oven-ready noodles are pre-boiled before being dried and packaged. Unlike uncooked lasagna noodles, the pre-cooked variety only needs the heat of the oven to soften again.
Sure! They're not exactly traditional to a classic lasagna, but I do love anything that cuts a few minutes off of prep time. Just be sure to read the box carefully, making sure they'll work without any boiling water or recipe adjustments. If you're nervous, add a little more sauce to the meat mixture.
📚 Related recipes
- Chicken Lasagna with Alfredo is a delicious, white-sauce twist on the classic Italian dish. Bonus points for making your own béchamel sauce!
- Done in just about 20 minutes, Lasagna Soup combines your favorite elements from the traditional meal into a slurp-worthy super-soup.
- Cheesy Mexican Lasagna takes a few notes from the layered Italian meal, but with a Tex-Mex twist! Taco Tuesdays have never been better.
- Need it quick? This skillet lasagna has all the flavor in a fraction of the time.
🍽️ Serve with...
- Italian Green Bean Salad adds a fresh pop of flavor to dinner!
- Garlic Breadsticks and lasagna are a match made in food heaven.
- Tiramisu is an Italian classic. You'll love this easy, tropical version!
🥄 Restless Chipotle recommends
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📞 The last word
I love any kind of pasta but lasagna tops the list!
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Easy Lasagna Classico
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 9 lasagna noodles
- 25 ounces marinara sauce, I use double this amount because I like it saucy!
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 pounds whole milk ricotta
- 2 ½ cups Mozzarella
- ½ cup Parmesan
Instructions
- Spray the casserole dish with no-stick cooking spray.
- Add a couple of tablespoons of marinara to the bottom of the casserole dish. Set aside.
- Cook the lasagna noodles according to instructions on the package. Drain.
- Cook the ground beef in a heavy frying pan until there's no more pink.
- Add the remaining marinara sauce to the ground beef and set aside.
- Stir the ricotta, 1 ½ cups shredded Mozzarella, and grated Parmesan in a medium size bowl until well mixed.
- Lay 3 cooked lasagna noodles over the marinara in the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Top with half the cheese mixture.
- Spoon ⅓ of the meat mixture over the top.
- Repeat layers one more time.
- Add a top layer of noodles.
- Cover with the meat mixture.
- Bake at 375F for 50 minutes.
- Remove casserole from oven and sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella.
- Bake for 10 more minutes, or until the lasagna is heated through.
- Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
-
- Use whole milk ricotta cheese if at all possible. It adds a fresh flavor to the dish that makes the lasagna taste extra authentic!Pull out your biggest pasta pot for this recipe. You'll want to use a large pot of salted water, with enough room for the noodles to move around without sticking together.
-
- Boil the lasagna noodles until they're al dente. The layers of pasta will continue to soften—but just a bit—in the oven.
-
- Don't forget to prep the baking dish with some cooking spray. Be sure to coat the sides too, not just the bottom!
-
- Shred your own fresh mozzarella for extra flavor. I'll pop the ball of cheese into the freezer for just a bit to make it easier to handle!
-
- This classico lasagna recipe is a great freezer meal. Make double the batch at one time and store it for an easy freezer-to-oven dinner.
-
- If cooking the lasagna from frozen, you may have to add an extra half hour or so of cook time. Keep it covered with tin foil for the first half hour.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
First published January 13, 2015. Last updated March 27, 2023 for better images and to simplify the recipe.
billiejo lear says
Great recipe!
I cant express the love of fresh cheese. I also add red wine to my sauce..it. is. a must! <3 I also so onion with my burger and I do half and half burger and sausage.
Lastly, there MUST be another layer of JUST mozzarella in the middle.Some people like to do mozzarella and sauce.
Either way...the noodles were perfect. I love making lasagna and this is a GOOD recipe. You should see some of them I see on the internet lol! 😀 Thank you for this!
**Here is a little boot for the lovers of fun flavors: Add a layer of feta, then sauce, then spinach, then mozzarella! YOU WILL BE AMAZED! 🙂 <3
Thank you! :
I should really be signed your greatest fan as I am aspiring to try all of your dishes and baked good! Please keep them coming!
Sarita says
Sorry, I did not like this recipe because the proportions and size were all off: basically, too many noodles, not enough sauce, not enough cheese for the dish, which made double the amount for one dish.
There were so many noodles that I tried to put down double to form the layers needed - well that was not smart, but I did it because the recipe said to use 1/3 of the noodles for the layers and I had not made lasagna in a while. We really just needed an 8 oz. box of lasagna noodles.
Also, I used a pan that was 9 by 13 as instructed. Well it definitely would not fit in it. I ended up making a second 9 by 13 pan. I had to add more ingredients to the second one since I had waaay too many noodles still but I didn't have enough sauce or cheese. Luckily, I had a hunk of extra parmesan that I shredded and I opened an 8 oz. can of stewed tomatoes, which I broke apart to add to the sauce. In all, it was disappointing to have the recipe's ingredients not match up to the size of the pan and cause me to now have two huge things of lasagna without a lot of flavor and another pyrex full of extra cooked lasagna noodles.
On the ingredients list the Italian Season was not written, so I just guessed when it came to that step in the recipe. I should have added more salt and seasoning. I'll probably buy a jar of spaghetti sauce in order to have extra on hand next time to get the consistency right. The sauce seemed runny. The proportions of the cheese probably would be better with more ricotta.
Having an Italian heritage myself, I wanted something to taste good which is why I opted for this recipe with whole-milk cheeses.
Well next time I will go with whatever the back of the lasagna box says.
Marye Audet says
Sorry you didn't like it. 🙂
cynthia Dawson says
I have not made lasagna in years, and this looks like a great recipe...I may have been inspired!
Laurie Emerson says
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I love making lasagna but the only recipe I have and make never comes out tasting very good.
Jill Myrick says
Lasagna paired with a green salad and homemade yeast rolls is my families favorite meal.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com
Danielle says
I love making a variety of lasagna's to change things up for the family. I even found that they like vegetable lasagnas as well. And it's a dish you can freeze the leftovers serve to a large group or make an intimate evening dinner.
Susan@LunaCafe says
Fabulous! I love homemade lasagna. And you're right--whole milk ricotta and mozzarella make all the difference.
Kathy Maloney says
I agree, I ALWAYS use whole milk mozarella and ricotta. The flavor and texture is so much better.
Patty Morgan says
This looks amazing!! I've been looking for a classic lasagna recipe, thanks!!