A delicious homemade lasagna with creamy béchamel and ricotta cheese inside. Traditional Lasagna is a comfort food classic.
There really is nothing like a pan of homemade lasagna. The cheese stringing from the pan to the plate. The creamy sauce and the dreamy flavor. You just can’t compare.
This is another one of those meals that gets a round of “YES!!” when I announce it for dinner.
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- Stuffed Manicotti
- Chicken Cordon Blue Lasagna
- Chicken Pasta Primavera from Aunt Bee’s Recipes
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Homemade Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb lasagna noodles
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 2 teaspoon basil
- 1/4 c butter
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 c flour
- 2 c whole milk
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 Tb tomato paste
- 1 Tb olive oil
- 1 1/2 c ricotta cheese
- 3 c mozzarella
Instructions
- To begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. If you are using traditional cook-ahead noodles, begin cooking them first. When they are al dente, drain them and gently toss them with some olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
- In a skillet, brown the ground beef. When it is cooked through, drain off any excess drippings and set it aside. Measure out oregano, thyme, and basil. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
- Toss in the onion and garlic. Cook these until tender and translucent.
- Whisk in the flour. Whisk in the whole milk.
- Cook this over medium low heat, stirring continually. When this comes to a gentle boil and is thickened, turn off the heat.
- To the white sauce, add the tomato sauce, the herbs, the salt & ground black pepper, and the tomato paste.
- Whisk these together until combined.
- Brush the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with a little olive oil.
- Ladle in a third of the sauce and spread it around the bottom.
- Place a layer of noodles on the sauce. These noodles are the kind that do not have to be cooked ahead of time. They are convenient and easy to handle. You just break a couple to fit the pan. Honestly, I think I prefer the traditional cook-ahead kind though. They just seem to have a better texture. Could be my imagination….but you can choose for yourself.
- On top of the first layer of noodles, spread the ricotta cheese.
- Add your second layer of noodles.
- Next, add your ground beef topped with half of the shredded mozzarella cheese.
- On top of the cheese, ladle half of your remaining sauce.
- Finally, add your third layer of noodles, the remaining sauce, and remaining mozzarella.
- Bake this uncovered for 35-40 minutes, until the top begins to get beautiful and golden, and browned around the edges.
- Allow it to rest on the counter for about 5 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
If nutritional values are provided for this recipe, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands of ingredients you use. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste or for serving. If nutritional values are very important to you, I suggest using your favorite nutritional calculating tool with the brands you use.
This recipe was shared in Meal Plan Monday
Yum!!
I'm looking forward to making this today…. I am substituting the beef with chicken, but otherwise keeping it the same!! OH and I live in Mexico, and couldn't find Ricotta cheese at our store yesterday. I have a newborn so didn't want to drive around looking for it. I will use Cottage Cheese with parmesan mixed in for extra flavour :)