Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna’s been on our mind lately. It seems the moment the weather turns chilly, we dive into casseroles, soups and stews. It’s like a switch. We’ve got lots of favorite lasagna recipes stashed away- it’s such a fun and versatile dish. You can throw just about anything between noodles, top with cheese then bake and make us happy.

In fact, we went so wild for lasagna, we created it’s very own Pinterest board called Lasagna Love. (Beware. It will make you hungry!)

This time, though, we craved a hearty, meaty lasagna recipe. It’s filled with Italian sausage, lean ground beef, cheese and noodles. It’s completely over-the-top and we love it. We’ll have to share a lighter recipe for lasagna soon – maybe with something green.

Lasagna Recipe: Do You Use Homemade or Store-bought Sauce?

Here’s the thing. We like store-bought pasta sauces. In fact, we’ve even preferred them at times. That’s why we 100% believe it is perfectly fine to use your favorite jarred sauce to make lasagna. In fact, that’s what we usually do ourselves. It cuts time and tastes great.

With that said, we also really love dedicating a sleepy Sunday afternoon to homemade sauce. You can relax, read, watch a movie or whatever else while the sauce slowly bubbles away on the stove.

Below, we’ve shared two versions of our recipe. We love them both. The first is for a meaty tomato sauce from scratch, the second takes a well deserved shortcut  and uses jarred marinara sauce. Choose either one or make both. It’s completely up to you.

Did you like our Cheesy Sausage and Beef Lasagna Recipe? If so, we bet you’ll love these:

• Baked Ziti Recipe with Spinach from Inspired Taste
• Italian American Lasagna Recipe from Lidia’s Italy
• Sausage Stuffed Shells Recipe with Spinach from Inspired Taste
• Cheesy Garlic Bread Recipe with Basil from Inspired Taste

5.0 from 3 reviews

Cheesy Sausage and Beef Lasagna Recipe

 

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Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

2 hours 30 mins

Total time

3 hours 15 mins

 

This is a hearty, meaty lasagna recipe. You have two choices here. If you’re up for it, you can make your own sauce, which takes about 2 hours. Or, to save time, you can substitute your favorite store-bought sauce. We have done both. It’s all up to you. Below in the recipe, you will see our method for homemade sauce as well as a method for store-bought.

Making the sauce requires some hands-on time. This is because we cook the sausage, beef and vegetables separately. We cook the sausage first then then transfer to a clean bowl. Next, the beef is browned and finally we cook some onion and carrot. Even though we cook each part separately, we do it all in the same pot. So, lots of flavor is left in the bottom of the pot, which helps add flavor to our sauce.

One more note, here. Our homemade sauce will make more than what’s needed for one lasagna. Since it takes so long to make the sauce, we always make sure we have enough for a second lasagna or to use, as is, over pasta for another night. You can save the extra sauce in the refrigerator up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 3 months.

Created By: Joanne and Adam Gallagher

Serves: 8

Ingredients

FOR Homemade Meat Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 cup (150 grams) finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup (75 grams) finely diced carrot
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar (depending on taste)
• 1 to 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

FOR Meat Sauce Using Jarred Marinara Sauce (store-bought)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 cup (150 grams) finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup (75 grams) finely diced carrot
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (24-ounce) jars store-bought marinara sauce

FOR Assembling Lasagna

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 12 unbroken lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 pound mozzarella cheese, grated

Method

FOR the Meat Tomato Sauce

1. If you have purchased Italian sausages with casings, you will need to remove the casings. To do so, take a knife and cut down the length of the sausage. The casing should peel away easily. If you purchased sausage meat without casings, you can continue to the next step.
2. Heat a heavy 4 to 5-quart pot over medium heat. Add olive oil then add the sausage meat and cook, stirring occasionally to break up the meat, until browned. About 8 minutes. Transfer to a clean bowl. Next, add the beef with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned. About 8 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with sausage.
3. Add onion, carrots and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown. About 8 minutes.
4. Now, add garlic, basil and oregano to onions and carrot then cook about 1 minute until garlic becomes fragrant. Next, add crushed tomatoes and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits that are stuck to the pot. Add sausage and beef into sauce and stir.
5. Add tomato paste, water, 1 tablespoon of the sugar and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a simmer, stir then taste for seasoning. Depending on how acidic your tomatoes are, you may need a little more sugar. You also want to taste for salt. It’s best to add the salt now rather than later, so taste and season as needed.
6. Gently simmer sauce, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours. (Keep the sauce at a very low simmer).
7. Skim off any fat floating on top and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Our homemade sauce can be prepared in advance and refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. This recipe yields about 9 cups of sauce. You will need 4 to 5 cups of sauce for the lasagna. So, either save the sauce for a second lasagna or use to top pasta another day.

HOW to Make Meat Sauce with Jarred Marinara

1. Cook sausage, beef, onions and carrots as shared above. Add garlic then cook about 1 minute until garlic becomes fragrant. Next, add jarred marinara sauce and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits that are stuck to the pot. Then, add sausage and beef back to the pan with onions and carrots. Simmer the sauce 20 to 30 minutes until carrots are tender. Skim off any fat floating on top and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

FOR Assembling the Lasagna

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of salted water with 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a boil. Add lasagna noodles to the boiling water. Return to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, according to package directions, this is usually about 10 minutes. Drain.
3. In the meantime, stir ricotta (or cottage cheese) with Parmigiano-Reggiano and the beaten egg.
4. To assemble the lasagna, ladle about 3/4 cup of the meat sauce into the bottom of a 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish. Arrange noodles lengthwise and side by side and cover the bottom. (If the noodles are short on one end, you may need to cut an extra noodle and place into dish to cover where the other noodles have not).
5. Next, spread about half of the ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese ) mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle with a third of the shredded mozzarella cheese then top with about 1 1/4 cups of meat sauce. Add another layer of noodles and repeat. Add a third layer of noodles then top with remaining sauce and a final layer of shredded mozzarella cheese.
6. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes, uncover then bake 20 minutes until cheese is crusty around the edges. Let rest at least 15 minutes.
7. If making ahead, you can cover and refrigerate, unbaked up to 2 days. When you cover, use parchment or wax paper between the lasagna and aluminum foil. Aluminum foil can react with the tomatoes.

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About the Author

Adam

I'm Adam Gallagher and alongside my wife, Joanne, I photograph and share favorite recipes from our kitchen. Sharing our recipes began as a hobby, turned into a dream and now has become our business. I just love that.