Seriously “the world’s greatest lasagna” may be an understatement.
The secret to my favorite dish? It’s all in the homemade sauce. None of that store bought junk (not to be hating, Prego used to be my go-to) but the homemade sauce is what would make any Italian mama say,
“Mama mia! This sauce is good!”
Now I will warn you that you will need to start making about 3 hours ahead of time since it takes awhile to cook but I promise it’s worth it. If it makes you feel any better, my husband is the one who found the recipe and cooked it all by himself (aww so sweet). So if he could do it, you can do it!
- 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage
- 3/4 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
- 2 (6.5 oz) cans canned tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbsp white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsps dried basil leaves
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 9 lasagna noodles
- 16 oz. ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 lb. mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
- In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water.
- In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with 1/3 of mozzarella cheese slices and 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers 2 more times (for 3 layers total). (Note: you will have leftover sauce, I like to freeze and use for spaghetti later)
- Cover with foil: to prevent sticking spray foil with cooking spray.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Just look at that perfect bubbly molten cheese top! You can make the sauce in a larger batch and freeze, then just dethaw when you’re ready to use. It’s fantastic on spaghetti!
Tip: you can preassemble the night before and refrigerate. Then the day of, allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour before baking.
Give my world’s greatest lasagna recipe a try and come back to tell me what you think!
XO,
Yes, indeed. The best I’ve ever made. I like the fennel in it. The sauce can do it’s own thing and top spaghetti or rotini, or an old piece of shoe leather. I like to be sure and crumble up the meats so there are no big chunks. I had sauce and lasagna noodles left so next time I will increase the ricotta mixture and make another half a lasagna for the neighbors. Or someone I reeealy like.
So glad you love it too Debbie! This is my absolute favorite recipe and we always double the sauce batch so we can freeze and pull out when we want to top some ravioli or spaghetti.. yum!
It is excellent. Not hard to make either. Does take a lot of ingredients but we’ll worth it. I shared with my neighbors and mom. Thanks
Yay I’m so glad to hear that Diane! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Our Family Loves this Lasagna Recipe. My Daughter made it first. After tasting how Yummy this Lasagna is…I will agree. Worlds Best Lasagna is the perfect Name! Now it is th3 only Recipe we use. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Loretta! I’m so happy to hear your family loves the lasagna recipe too – it’s become a staple in our house! We also love to make extra sauce and freeze it and use it for spaghetti (yummy!)
Hope you have a great day!
Natalie
Wow! Fabulous recipe. This one is definitely a keeper. I made it for our Xhristmas Eve dinner. It was sooo good! Everyone wanted the recipe. Thank you!!
Oh I’m so happy to hear that Betsy!! It’s become a favorite in our house too – we even have family members request it for their birthday dinner 🙂
This is now our family’s “go-to” recipe for lasagna. The sauce is fabulous! We’ve used it on spaghetti, chicken parmesan, etc. YUM! I can’t for the life of me, figure out how on earth you can get 6 lasagna noodles lengthwise in your casserole dish. What size pan are you using? Do you have a special lasagna pan?
Yay I’m so glad to hear that Betsy! So you may have noticed I’ve modified the recipe a bit recently. I used to overlap my noodles but now I just use 9 noodles total but now make 3 layers instead of 2. Hope that helps!
Can this pre-cooked and re-heated or partially cooked and then finish cooking later? If so, what is your suggestion and cooking times?
Yes! I have assembled the night before and put in the fridge. Then the next day I let it sit at room temperature for an hour before baking. Hope that helps. Let me know if you give it a try!
Hi! Can’t wait to to try this.
Can I use no boil lasagne noodles you think?
I’ve never tried them but I would think they should work as long as you follow the directions on the box (which I believe require you to soak in water for around 15 mins)! Let me know if you do try them and they work 🙂
This looks like John Chandler’s recipe who I have been cooking for awhile now. It is soooo delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it! I’m starting to think our “secret family recipe” isn’t so secret after all haha!