(Last Updated On: August 16, 2022)
With plenty of lean ground beef, onions, minced garlic, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and just the right amount of spices, this lasagna recipe is, for sure, the best around town!! And… we have the recipe right here for you. We will tell you how to make lasagna that everyone in your family will love. It’s also very simple to make too.
Key Ingredients For Lasagna
- 1 pound of lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup of chopped onions (1 medium-sized onion)
- 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons of fresh parsley – chopped
- 1 teaspoon of dried basil
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 14 ½ ounces of whole tomatoes – undrained
- 1 can of tomato sauce – 15 ounces
- 1 container of Ricotta cheese – 15 ounces
- 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
- 1 ½ teaspoons of dried oregano leaves
- 8 lasagna noodles- oven ready
- 2 cups of mozzarella cheese
Step-By-Step Instructions With Photos
Preparing The Ground Beef Filling For Lasagna
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
To begin with, we need to chop up the onions! Depending on how big or small you like your onions to be, you can use your discretion whether to chop the onions or dice the onions. At least, in my opinion, it won’t make that much of a difference in the lasagna.
In a frying pan, add 1 pound of lean ground beef together with 1 medium chopped onion and 1 teaspoon of minced garlic.
Browning The Ground Beef Mixture
Then, brown the ground beef mixture on medium heat. As the ground beef is cooking, turn it over, mix it up, and chop it up as it cooks.
Keep browning the ground beef until there is no longer any pink showing. At this time, you can drain and discard any accumulated fat from the pan that you don’t want.
Next, add 2 tablespoons (save 1 tablespoon for later) of the parsley together with 1 teaspoon of basil, and 1 teaspoon of sugar to the ground beef mixture.
Mix thoroughly while the ground beef mixture is still frying on the stove on medium heat.
Then, add the 14 ½ ounce can of whole tomatoes – undrained, and 1 can of tomato sauce – 15 ounces – to the ground beef mixture. Break up the whole tomatoes into smaller pieces. Thoroughly mix all of the ingredients we have in the frying pan so far.
Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Then reduce the heat to simmer. Let the ground beef mixture simmer, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, or until you can see it has slightly thickened.
Preparing The Cheese Filling
While the ground beef mixture is simmering on the stove, in a separate medium-sized bowl, put one 15 ounce size container of Ricotta cheese together with 1/4 cup (save 1/4 cup for later) of parmesan cheese, 1 ½ teaspoon of dried oregano leaves, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley we saved earlier.
Mix all together until well blended.
In the meantime, the ground beef mixture has thickened so remove the frying pan from the burner. In the next step below, we are going to layer all of the ingredients in a baking dish.
Making The Lasagna Layers
In a 9×13 inch baking dish, spread “half” of the ground beef mixture evenly in the dish. Note: You don’t need to spray the baking dish with cooking oil.
Lay 4 (of the 8) oven-ready lasagna noodles over the top of the ground beef mixture.
The next layer is the ricotta cheese mixture. Spread “half” of the ricotta cheese mixture over the top of the 4 lasagna noodles.
The last layer, before we repeat the layers, is the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle “half” of the mozzarella cheese over the top of the ricotta cheese mixture.
Repeat The Layers Again
We are now going to repeat all of the layers, starting with the ground beef mixture. Spread the remaining ground beef mixture over the top of the mozzarella cheese.
Place the last 4 lasagna noodles over the top of the ground beef mixture.
Spread the last of the ricotta cheese mixture over the top of the lasagna noodles.
Then, sprinkle the last remaining mozzarella cheese over the top of the ricotta cheese mixture.
The final layer is to sprinkle the rest of the 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese (that we saved earlier) over the top of the mozzarella cheese.
Getting Lasagna Oven Ready
Place a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the baking dish to cover the lasagna. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
After baking for 30 minutes, take the aluminum foil off of the baking dish and bake the lasagna for another 15 minutes.
The lasagna has finished baking in the oven and is now ready to serve.
Lasagna – hot out of the oven and it looks fantastic and tastes so yummy! Garlic bread and a salad or veggies are our side dishes. Enjoy! Try some homemade ice cream for dessert. Yum!
How To Make Lasagna
🫕 Equipment
🧂 Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 medium-sized onion – chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 tsp minced garlic in water
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley (chopped)
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 can whole tomatoes – undrained (14 ½ ounces)
- 1 can tomato sauce (15 ounces)
- 1 tub Ricotta cheese (15 ounces)
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 ½ tsp dried oregano leaves
- 8 lasagna noodles (oven-ready)
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
👩🍳 Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Preparing the Ground Beef Mixture
- Start browning the ground beef, chopped onions, and garlic over medium heat. Stir occasionally.
- Add two-thirds of the chopped parsley (save the other for later) to the ground beef mixture. Keep browning the ground beef until it is no longer pink.
- Drain to remove any accumulated fat.
- Add the basil, sugar, whole tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Break up the whole tomatoes with a fork.
- Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes until slightly thickened.
Preparing the Cheese Mixture
- Mix the ricotta cheese, half of the parmesan cheese (save the other half for later), oregano, and the rest of the chopped parsley we saved earlier.
Layering the Lasagna
- Use an ungreased 9×13 inch baking dish.
- First layer – half of the ground beef mixture.
- Second layer – half of the lasagna noodles.
- Third layer – half of the cheese mixture.
- Fourth layer – half of the mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat the four layers ending with mozzarella cheese and the remaining parmesan cheese we saved earlier.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes.
*️⃣ Recipe Notes
- Hot “out of the oven” garlic bread and buttered green beans with lots of pepper are great side dishes with lasagna.
- This lasagna recipe uses oven-ready lasagna noodles. If you prefer, you can use the lasagna noodles that are boiled in water. There is no difference in taste, just more work in the kitchen using the lasagna noodles that need to be boiled.
- Unbaked lasagna, covered with aluminum foil, can be put into the freezer for up to two months.
A wife, a mother to a son and a daughter, and a grandmother to three granddaughters. Flo loves sharing recipes passed down from her own mother, her mother-in-law, and her grandmother as well as new recipes created with her daughter, Tamara Ray.
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