A simple but delicious lasagna with meat sauce, layered with a homemade ricotta filling and generously topped with cheese. This lasagna is the perfect dinner meal and makes great leftovers.
Preparing to Make Lasagna
Lasagna is one of those dishes that is slightly time-consuming, but it is easy to do. You can prepare all the components (excluding cooking the noodles) ahead of time. I love making a big tray of lasagna because it makes for an easy dinner for the rest of the week. It stores really well in the fridge and in my opinion, the leftovers taste even better as time goes on!
Lasagna actually originated from Italy, in Naples in the 14th century. Over time the components of lasagna have changed. Nowadays, depending on what region of Italy, the ingredients can differ. For example, I’ve seen some recipes with boiled eggs in the lasagna layers. However, from my experience, North Americanized lasagna typically contains these four components:
1. Meat Sauce, also known as Ragu
2. Ricotta Filling
3. Noodles
4. Cheese
Meat Sauce, Ragu
Lasagna in my opinion is so good because of the sauce. Each layer is coated with sauce, which keeps the noodles moist and the entire dish cohesive. The most classic version of lasagna will use some sort of tomato meat sauce. This is also known as Ragu in Italy, and can be made with a variety of meats. I commonly see beef, pork and veal used.
However, in my meat sauce, I only use ground beef. You are welcome to add whatever meat you like! If you are vegetarian, you can skip the meat, and add additional vegetables like celery and peppers.
The secret to making a delicious ragu is by cooking it over medium-low heat for at least an hour. That gentle heat helps bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes and helps reduce any extra liquid. You can definitely make the sauce in advance, up to 5 days, and use it when you are ready to assemble the lasagna.
Ricotta Filling
Ricotta is necessary to make creamy and delicious layers in lasagna. I highly recommend you try making lasagna with homemade ricotta. It definitely makes a difference in the flavour! If you don’t have the time, you can use store-bought ricotta as well. Of course, I have my own recipe for homemade ricotta which can be found here!
I have to be honest with you, lasagna is probably not the most healthy dish out there. I mean it is layers of ragu, cheese, more cheese and noodles haha! This is why I add some extra vegetables and sneak some blanched spinach in the ricotta filling. You really don’t taste it, and if you cut up the blanched spinach into smaller pieces, it’s less noticeable, especially for those with kids or adults that hate vegetables.
The ricotta filling can also be made one day in advance. Because of the spinach, it’s probably best to make it fresh, but up to one day is perfectly fine. For the homemade ricotta itself, I make a batch every 2-3 weeks and store it in my fridge in an airtight container.
Lasagna Noodles
Lasagna noodles can be found in pretty much every grocery store and it is pretty affordable. One pack of lasagna noodles will be sufficient for this recipe. There are basically two types of lasagna noodles you can find. Traditional lasagna noodles that you need to cook ahead of time, and No-Boil Lasagna Noodles. I have yet to make my own lasagna sheets, but I will definitely do that one day haha.
For the No-Boil Lasagna Noodles, all you do is add the noodles as is when you are assembling your lasagna. It definitely saves time and dishes. However, I’ve tried a few and found the end result to still have some bite. I prefer pasta that is cooked past al dente in the final dish, therefore I traditionally stick to regular lasagna noodles. If you have found a No-Boil Lasagna noodle that works best for you, let me know :).
It is best to cook your lasagna noodles before you assemble the lasagna. If are using regular lasagna noodles, make sure you salt the water and cook the noodles to al dente. The lasagna will continue to soften and cook in the oven.
Cheese
What makes this dish extra decadent is of course the cheese! I always use a generous amount of cheese in between the layers. I’ve seen some recipes only use parmesan in the middle layers, however, I like to use grated cheese throughout all the layers.
Most lasagna will use mozzarella on top, and parmesan in between. I like to use either mozzarella or parmesan only, or I will use a blend of cheddar and mozzarella and parmesan. In this recipe, I opted to use both cheddar and mozzarella, with parmesan in the ricotta filling and as a garnish. You can use whatever cheese you like! Just make sure if you are using lots of parmesan, it is quite salty so you can adjust the salt in the recipe!
The Best Lasagna with Homemade Ricotta
Course: Dinner, Pasta10-12
servings30
minutes2
hours2
hours30
minutesA simple but delicious lasagna with meat sauce, layered with a homemade ricotta filling and generously topped with cheese. This lasagna is the perfect dinner meal and makes great leftovers.
Ingredients
- Meat Sauce
1 Large Onion, finely diced
1 Carrot, finely diced
4-5 Cloves of Garlic, minced
500g Ground Beef (I use Lean Ground Beef)
1/2 Cup (125g) Ricotta Whey* (or substitute white wine, or vegetable stock)
2 28oz Can Crushed Tomato
14oz Water (Half of One Tomato Can) *
Spices: Salt, Pepper, 1 Tsp Italian Seasoning , 1 Tsp Chilli Flakes
- Ricotta Filling
2.5 Cups (625g) Ricotta* Homemade or Store-bought
One Bunch (60g) Spinach
2 Garlic Cloves, grated
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Parmesan, grated
Spices: 1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper, 1/8 Tsp freshly grated Nutmeg, Salt, Pepper
- Other
Lasagna Noodles – Dependent on your baking dish, I used 16 sheets
3 Cups Cheese, grated – I used Mozzarella and Cheddar
Garnish: Additional Parmesan Cheese and Dried Parsley
Directions
- Meat Sauce
- Chop your vegetables: Dice one large onion and one carrot. Mince the garlic cloves.
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Sauté onion until translucent. Add carrot and sauté until slightly softened. Add minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and chilli flakes.
- Add ground beef and break it up apart. Once it’s around 80% cooked, add the ricotta whey or wine or stock to help deglaze the pan.
- Add two cans of crushed tomato sauce and ½ can of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and slightly cover, leaving space for the water to evaporate. Let it simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. If your tomatoes are acidic, you can add 1 tbsp of sugar to neutralize the acidity.
- *Prepare the ricotta filling and cook the lasagna noodles 10 minutes before the sauce is done cooking! That way when the sauce is done, you can assemble everything at once.
- Ricotta Filling
- Make ricotta in advance either a few hours prior, or days before. You can also use store-bought ricotta.
- In a medium pot filled with water, bring to a simmer. Add one bunch of spinach and stir around for 30 seconds. Remove from heat immediately and rinse with cold water. Drain spinach and squeeze excess water. Cut the spinach into thirds.
- In a large bowl, add ricotta, blanched and squeezed spinach, 2 eggs, freshly grated garlic, grated parmesan, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix until well combined. Set aside.
- Lasagna Noodles
- In a large pot filled with water, bring to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt. Cook your lasagna noodles as per your package directions. Remove when the noodles are al dente (you want them to have some bite).
- Drain your noodles and let it cool slightly, so it is easy to handle.
- Assembling the Lasagna
- Preheat Oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Arrange your sauce, noodles, ricotta filling, and grated cheese next to each other. In a large baking dish (9×13), add one ladle of sauce and spread it on the bottom of your dish. It does not need to completely cover the bottom.
- Arrange the lasagna noodles over the sauce. You can cut the noodles to fit your dish and you can overlap them slightly.
- Add half of your ricotta filling and spread it over the noodles evenly. Add a few ladles of sauce to just cover the ricotta. Cover with 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat steps 2 and 3 once.
- After you’ve assembled two layers, cover the final top layer with noodles. Pour enough sauce to cover the top. Add the remaining cheese. Loosely cover with aluminum foil. Place the entire baking dish on a baking tray. This is to catch any sauce that might bubble over.
- Bake at 375° F for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until the top is bubbly and cheese is nicely browned.
- Cool for 15-20 minutes before serving. If you cut it right away it will fall apart. Garnish with additional grated parmesan and parsley flakes if you like.
Notes
- Ricotta Whey is the leftover liquid when you make homemade ricotta. I use it to deglaze sauces and as a milk replacement. If you don’t have it you can easily substitute it with stock or wine.
