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This Meat Lasagna is the easiest lasagna recipe you’ll ever make! A hearty homemade lasagna packed with ground beef, creamy ricotta cheese, golden pasta and tangy tomato sauce. Serve up a big slice with a fresh side salad for a super satisfying weeknight meal.
Meat Lasagna is set to become your new weeknight staple! This super easy and flavor packed pasta recipe serves an army and reheats so well! You’ll be able to have this over multiple weeknights, even with a big family!
If you’re looking for other delicious pasta recipes, why not also try my Creamy White Chicken Lasagna and my Cheesy Ground Beef Pasta!
Why you’ll love this Meat Lasagna
- A cheesy lasagna. This dish is loaded with dreamy creamy ricotta and melt mozzarella.
- Perfect for weeknights. Add this to your weekly meal rota and you won’t regret it, lots of mileage from the delicious dish – it serves 12!
- Hearty and delicious. Layers of herbs, ground beef, cheese, pasta and tomato sauce make every slice super satisfying.
Ingredients you’ll need
- Ground Beef
- Olive Oil
- Onion
- Spaghetti Sauce
- Tomato Paste
- Garlic Clove
- Herbs – basil, oregano.
- Cheese – ricotta, mozzarella.
- Lasagna Pasta
- Salt & Pepper
- Pasta Water
How to make this Meat Lasagna
- Cook the pasta – cook al dente, according to package instructions.
- Make the meat sauce – in a skillet, sauté the onions then add the ground meat. Cook until no longer pink than add in the rest of the sauce ingredients. Allow to cook until the sauce thickens.
- Assemble the lasagna – add some pasta sauce to the bottom of a baking dish then add sheets of lasagna. Layer on your meat sauce, cheese and herbs then top with more lasagna sheets. Repeat the process, you should have 4 layers.
- Cook – Cover with foil and bake for 20 mins then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 mins.
- Allow to rest, garnish, serve and enjoy!
Recipe notes and tips
- Use a preheated oven.
- Add some fennel seeds to give the Meat Lasagna more of a sausage flavor.
- Use jarred spaghetti sauce to keep this recipe simpler.
- For a thicker ricotta line a colander with a clean cloth and pour ricotta into it. This gives you a thicker cheese sauce, no watery lasagna here!
- Be sure you put a little sauce down in the pan first so that first layer of pasta does not stick to the pan.
- The final layer of pasta needs to be totally covered in sauce to prevent the noodles from becoming too brittle.
- After removing from the oven, allow the Meat Lasagna sit for 10 minutes before cutting into it. This stops your layers from sliding apart.
- You can reduce the ground beef and mix in some ground chicken, turkey if you like.
- You can sneak more veggies in if you like, just be wary that this can up the water content, you don’t want to end up with a soupy lasagna.
- Garnish with fresh basil.
- Meat lasagna will stay fresh for 3 – 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
FAQ’s
Is this Meat Lasagna freezer friendly?
This is perfect for the freezer! Make the lasagna and let it completely cool completely (you can it in the fridge). /You can even slice the lasagna and freeze in single serving quantities. To reheat, add additional spaghetti sauce on the top with some more cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
What to serve with Meat Lasagna
This lasagna is super hearty, so you might want a lighter side (or not!), here’s some ideas:
What’s the best pan to use for lasagna?
I used a 9×13 pan for this Meat Lasagna. But a Lasagna pan is a great investment, especially if you’re loving this pasta dish. Lasagna pans are not the same as 9 x 13 casserole pans.
These pans are deeper in order to accommodate for the layers in the dish. Lasagna typically has four layers of noodles, which usually fit pretty nicely in a lasagna pan.
Other easy pasta recipes
- Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Spaghetti
- Creamy Alfredo Chicken Pasta
- Tuna Pasta Salad Recipe
- Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta
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I hope you enjoy all the recipes I share with you, including this delicious Meat Lasagna recipe. I hope you try it, enjoy it, rate it and share it with your friends and family!
Meat Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. ground beef
- 1 large onion, petite diced
- 3 tbsps. olive oil
- 48 oz. spaghetti sauce, I used tomato & basil
- 3 oz. tomato paste
- 1 tbsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 oz. ricotta cheese
- 1 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1 tsp salt, or less to taste
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 12 sheets lasagna pasta, cooked
- 1/2 cup pasta water, save from cooking pasta
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Save 1/2 cup of water.
- To prepare the sauce, bring a large skillet to medium-high heat. Add in the oil and sauté the diced onions for 2-3 minutes. Add in the meat and break it up really well to avoid any clumps. Cook until the meat it no longer pink.
- Add in the spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, salt, spices and pasta water. Cook until the sauce thickens up. About 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat.
- To assemble the lasagna, place about 1 cup of the pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Then cover the sauce by laying 3 sheets of the lasagna pasta. Spread some ricotta cheese, add more meat sauce, mozzarella cheese and some fresh basil. Repeat the steps until you run out of the ingredients. You should have about 4 layers total.
- Cover with foil wrap and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil wrap and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Once the cook time is done, remove from the oven, let it rest for about 5 minutes, then garnish with fresh basil and serve.
Notes
- Use a preheated oven.
- Add some fennel seeds to give the Meat Lasagna more of a sausage flavor.
- Use jarred spaghetti sauce to keep this recipe simpler.
- For a thicker ricotta line a colander with a clean cloth and pour ricotta into it. This gives you a thicker cheese sauce, no watery lasagna here!
- Be sure you put a little sauce down in the pan first so that first layer of pasta does not stick to the pan.
- The final layer of pasta needs to be totally covered in sauce to prevent the noodles from becoming too brittle.
- After removing from the oven, allow the Meat Lasagna sit for 10 minutes before cutting into it. This stops your layers from sliding apart.
- You can reduce the ground beef and mix in some ground chicken, turkey if you like.
- You can sneak more veggies in if you like, just be wary that this can up the water content, you don’t want to end up with a soupy lasagna.
- Garnish with fresh basil.
- Meat lasagna will stay fresh for 3 – 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
