Easy Homemade Lasagna Recipe
Homemade Lasagna
Follow our easy, complete step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions to learn how to make our homemade lasagna. Includes, cottage cheese, mozzarella, and grated Parmesan cheese with a homemade meat sauce. Printable recipe included.
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It looks a little messy because I couldn’t wait for it to set up better. It was getting late in the evening and I had to try it. Would you prefer tasty or pretty? Smile.
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While most of the recipes here on Taste of Southern are things that I grew up enjoying, this might not be one of them. To my knowledge, Mama never made Lasagna for us at home. I’m not even sure when or where I first tried it.
Mama made a simple Spaghetti that I always loved, along with a couple of other similar type dishes. But again, Lasagna wasn’t one of her dishes.
This is a simple and basic recipe that I hope you might try and enjoy. You can even make it a day or two ahead of time, and bake it when you need it. It also freezes very well, so you could make it weeks ahead of time if desired.
Being the only one here at home, I enjoyed a couple of meals off of this, then divided it up and placed the rest in my freezer so I can reheat it for later. It’s pretty versatile that way.
Lasagna makes a great family meal, but it would be great to carry to a potluck or family get together.
It was getting near 11:00pm when I pulled this one from the oven the night that I cooked it. I wanted to get the final photo and to give it a try, so it didn’t have much time to firm up before I sliced into it. I did enjoy it though. Smile.
I’d love to hear your Comments and memories about our recipe. If you try it, please be sure to share your results with us in the section at the end of the recipe. I always enjoy reading those.
Ready to give our recipe a try? Alright then, let’s head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
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Homemade Lasagna – You’ll need these ingredients.
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Lets begin by grating our 8 ounce block of Mozzarella Cheese.
I always suggest that you grate your own cheese instead of buying the stuff already grated or shredded. Companies use some kind of cellulose substance to keep it from sticking together. You’ve seen it, that little white powdery stuff. It only takes a couple of minutes to grate cheese by hand and you will be much happier I think with the final results. Keep the cheese cold until you’re ready to grate it and it will be easier to grate. Take your time and your fingers should be safe. Smile.
You can even add more than 8 ounces if you like a lot of cheese. Just saying.
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Dice the onion.
You can consider the onion as optional. Personally, I like to add it to mine. I had half of a Vidalia onion in the refrigerator so I tossed it in.
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Measure out your spices. Here’s what you will need.
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning Spice
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
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Crumble 1 pound of ground beef in a large pot and let it brown, stirring often. I cooked this over Medium heat on the stove top.
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Add the diced onions to the ground beef. Continue to stir and let this cook until the onions are translucent. Takes a couple of minutes.
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Add the 28 ounce can of tomatoes.
The printable recipe calls for CRUSHED Tomatoes. I could only get whole tomatoes so that’s what you see here. I chopped them up as they cooked, so all was well.
ADD THE 8 OUNCE CAN OF TOMATO SAUCE
My apologies, but I totally missed getting that photo. Please forgive me.
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Add the 12 ounce can of Tomato Paste.
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Add in all of the spices. Stir everything together until fully combined.
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Continue to cook the meat sauce mixture over Medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of your pan. You want a fairly thick sauce as you can see here.
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Prepare the Lasagna Noodles according to the directions on the package. I had cooked mine before I started the sauce and just kept them in cold water until I was ready to use them. It’s hard to see, but the bowl is full of water.
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Lightly grease your baking dish. Spoon a layer of the sauce on the bottom.
I’m using a sheet cake pan to bake my Lasagna in here. It’s 13in x 9in x 2in in size.
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Place a layer of pasta noodles on top of the layer of sauce.
They sure do get slippery when wet. Smile. The strips were as long as my pan. I placed 6 strips in this layer, overlapping them a good bit as you can see.
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I placed another thin layer of sauce on top of the noodles.
Then, spread the entire cup of Cottage Cheese over the top of the sauce.
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Spread about half of the grated Mozzarella Cheese over the top of the Cottage Cheese.
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Sprinkle on a nice layer of the Grated Parmesan Cheese next.
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Add another layer of the pasta. I added another 6 sheets of the noodles to this layer, just like the first one. Again, be sure to overlap them.
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Add the remaining sauce to the top of the noodles. Then, add the remaining grated Mozzarella on top of that.
For good measure, I sprinkled on another layer of the Grated Parmesan Cheese.
As you can see, I could have easily used some more Mozzarella on top. I might like cheese. Smile.
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Place this, uncovered, in an oven that has been pre-heated to 350F degrees.
Let it bake for 30-40 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and starts to brown. Don’t let it burn.
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Remove the Lasagna from the oven when the cheese has started to brown. Set it on a folded towel or wire rack on your countertop and let it rest for about 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
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Enjoy!
Serve it up with some toasted Garlic bread, maybe a side salad, and you’ve got a complete meal.
As I mentioned earlier, it was about 11:00pm when I pulled this out of the oven. It just didn’t hold together all that well when I cut into it, but I wanted to get the final photo. Besides, I was having this for a late night supper. Smile.
Once it cooled down, I covered the pan with aluminum foil and placed it in the refrigerator. It sliced much better the next day while it was cold.
I cut it into large squares and placed most of it in containers to go into the freezer. It freezes very well.
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Easy Homemade Lasagna Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, Southern,
Description
Homemade Lasagna is easy to make and something the whole family will enjoy. You can make it a day or two ahead of time if needed, or even make it and freeze it until you need it.
Ingredients
1 pkg. Lasagna Pasta Noodles (8oz) prepared according to package directions
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 can Tomato Sauce (12oz)
1 can Crushed Tomatoes (28oz)
1 can Tomato Paste (12oz)
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning Spice
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 pkg Mozzarella Cheese (8oz), grated and divided
1 carton Cottage Cheese (16oz)
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, approximately
Instructions
Prepare noodles according to package directions.
Keep noodles in bowl of water until ready to use.
Place ground beef in saucepot over Medium heat on stove top.
Crumble and brown the beef until done. Drain any excess grease.
Add the diced onions. Cook until onions are translucent.
Add tomato sauce.
Add crushed tomatoes.
Add tomato paste.
Add salt.
Add Italian seasoning spice.
Add sugar.
Add black pepper.
Add garlic powder.
Bring sauce to a boil, stirring well. Reduce heat. Simmer 10-15 minutes.
Lightly grease your baking dish.
Spoon a layer of meat sauce in bottom of dish.
Place a layer of noodles over the sauce, overlapping the sides.
Spoon another layer of sauce over the noodles.
Spoon the carton of cottage cheese on top of the sauce.
Spread a layer of grated Mozzarella cheese on top.
Sprinkle a thin layer of grated Parmesan cheese on top.
Place another layer of pasta on top of the cheese.
Add remaining sauce, then remaining Mozzarella. Sprinkle again with Parmesan.
Bake, uncovered, at 350F degrees for 30 minutes being careful to not let the cheese on top burn.
Remove from oven. Let rest 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Enjoy
Notes
Make it ahead of time and freeze it. You’ll have a meal ready to bake when you need it.
Keywords: homemade lasagna, lasagna with cottage cheese, Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan Cheese, ground beef, easy, freeze, make ahead, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste
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Your Comments:
Have you tried our Homemade Lasagna Recipe? How did you like it?
Share your memories of this dish with us. It will only take a minute or two for you to leave your comments in the section below.
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Be Blessed!!!
Steve
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Category: Main Dishes, Pasta
Thanks for posting your recipe..!! It sounds amazing, and I’ll give it a try..!!
This looks really good and makes me want to try it soon. When I have whole canned tomatoes and need diced or crushed, I just dump them in a bowl and then take my hands and squish them through my finger until they are all crushed up. I sometimes have to take the little hard core out, but all this only take a minute or two. Saw this on an Italian cooking show. Love your newsletter and just to let you know some of my ancestors are from the Greensboro area. Clara
Hi Steve,
Your lasagna recipe is the same as mine except I use ricotta cheese. It comes out great, and was always my Sons favorite birthday dinner.
Strange that it was your recipe of the week. Before reading your newsletter I was trying to find a recipe for lasagna using Bechamel sauce. I lived in London for several years in the 80’s. Frequently that was the way it was made and I really liked it then. I would love to find a good recipe made that way.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Judi
★★★★★
I’m sure this is a five star even though I haven’t made it yet. It’s been about 95 degrees every day and absolutely too darn hot to turn on the oven. I printed this out and hope to make it in the near future (never thought I’d be hoping for some cooler weather 🙂 I’ll let you know how it turns out, I know I’ll be thinking about it until then. Hope your crops make it thru the storm. We’ve had as I said nothing but hot weather here in PA have to water
my garden every day. Well Steve better let you get busy, as you always say…smile…God bless you, you and yours are in my prayers.
★★★★★