An easy lasagna recipe using oven ready noodles and a tried and true method of layering delicious ingredients like marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese!
For today’s post we’re sharing our homemade easy lasagna recipe. It’s a pasta dish that seems complicated, but trust me, it’s not.
Like most things in the kitchen, all it takes is a few tools and a little know-how. Fortunately, our recipe is a step-by-guide for making the best lasagna.
So, let’s get started!
How to make lasagna?
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. and dicing and mincing the onions and garlic.
Also, go ahead and shred your cheeses and divide them into one (1) cup portion sizes. You’re them separated for the filling.
After that, place a large saucepan over medium heat.
Next, once the pan is warm, toss in the ground beef, diced onions, and garlic.
Let the mixture cook until the beef has browned. Now, add the marinara and let it cook for another six (6) minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat while you prepare the filling.
For this step, grab a mixing bowl and add the cottage cheese, two (2) cups of the mozzarella cheese, cracked eggs, dried basil, Italian seasonings, salt, and pepper.
Mix everything together and set them aside for now.
At this point, you can start building the lasagna by evenly spreading three-fourths (3/4) of a cup of the marinara into your baking dish.
On top of that, layer the oven ready lasagna noodles. Use the photos as a guide.
When the noodles are in place, layer on the cottage cheese mixture. Start with a third (1/3) of a cup and add more as needed. Try to spread it out as evenly as possible.
Then add more sauce on top of the of the cheese.
Instructions Continued:
Continue layering the sauce, noodles, and cheese mixture until the dish is almost full or until you run out of ingredients.
Then, the last layer should be the pasta noodles. Sprinkle one (1) cup of mozzarella cheese and all the Parmesan cheese over the noodles.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place it into your oven to bake for about forty (40) minutes.
Last, remove the foil and place it back into the oven (uncovered) to cook for another five (5) to ten (10) minutes or until the cheese is slightly browned.
Remove it from the oven and let it cool for ten (10) minutes before serving. Otherwise, it may slide apart when you try to serve it.
That’s it, your easy lasagna recipe is done! Kim and I hope you enjoy the dish and we wish you all the best 🙂
Quick Reference: How to layer lasagna?
- 1 Cup Meat Sauce (approximately)
- Noodles (broken if needed)
- ½ Cottage Cheese Mixture (approximately)
- ½ Remaining Meat Sauce (approximately)
- Noodles (broken if needed)
- Remaining Cottage Cheese Mixture
- Remaining Meat Sauce
- Noodles (broken if needed)
- 1 Cup Mozzarella
- 1 Cup Parmesan
Recipe Tips:
- You can use regular or gluten-free pasta noodles; however, they may need to be cooked on your stove-top to al dente before using in the recipe.
- Ricotta cheese can be substituted for the cottage cheese if you would prefer that.
- The lasagna can be frozen. It will hold in your freezer for up to one (1) month, provided it is properly covered and stored.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef, We used 93/7.
- ½ cup white onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 24 ounces marinara sauce, 1 jar; choose your favorite brand
- 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided into 1 cup portions
- 24 ounces cottage cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasonings, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon fresh basil, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- 1 pound oven ready lasagna noodles, or your favorite lasagna noodles (cooked)
- 1 Cup Parmesan cheese, shredded off the block
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the ground beef, onion, and garlic. Break of the beef into small pieces, and cook until it’s no longer pink.1 pound ground beef½ cup white onion1 garlic clove
- Add the marinara sauce, and continue to cook for an additional 5-7 minutes then remove from heat. While the meat sauce cooks, make the cheese filling.24 ounces marinara sauce
- In a large bowl, combine the cottage cheese, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, eggs, Italian seasoning, basil, salt, and pepper. Set aside.24 ounces cottage cheese2 large eggs2 teaspoons Italian seasonings1 teaspoon fresh basil½ teaspoon salt¼ teaspoon black pepper
- To make the lasagna, spoon ½ – 1 cup of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 – inch baking dish. Place a layer of lasagna noodles on top of the meat sauce. It’s OK to break the noodles if necessary. Next, add half the cheese mixture.1 pound oven ready lasagna noodles
- Repeat the layers beginning with the half the remaining meat sauce, more lasagna noodles, the rest of the cheese mixture, and the remaining meat sauce. Lastly add one more layer of noodles, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese.1 Cup Parmesan cheese
- Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is brown. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.