Ultimate Meat Lasagna with four cheeses, homemade marinara and a few chef tricks tastes like it’s from your favorite Italian restaurant.
Easy and comforting baked Italian Recipes will fill your home with an amazing aroma, and feed a crowd of hungry bellies too! Once you’ve mastered this Ultimate Meat Lasagna, try other kid-friendly favorites like Baked Million Dollar Spaghetti, Cheese Beef Pasta Bake, or Cheesy Manicotti.
This easy lasagna recipe has been in development since my 7th grade home economics class. Over the years the recipe has been changed probably over a hundred times, but in the last 5 years it has not changed a single time. It’s finally gotten to a place that it is truly the Ultimate Meat Lasagna.
This recipe contains some restaurant tricks to take this lasagna to the next level. Homemade Quick and Easy Marinara may not be a real “secret” but it is going to make the biggest difference in the flavor of your lasagna. You can use most levels of quality of cheese and sort of get away with it, but use a sauce that isn’t full of delicious flavors? You’ll immediately notice the difference.
This recipe also uses all beef, but the sausage flavor in most restaurant lasagnas is easy to duplicate. To do that easily here without using sausage, you’ll add in some fennel seeds when browning the beef and brown it in larger chunks. This gives the distinct sausage flavor and the larger chunks of beef help mimic the sausage texture.
Lastly, adding an egg and seasoning the ricotta cheese will up the richness of it and makes it taste a little less grainy than ricotta normally tastes. Serve this Ultimate Meat Lasagna with some your favorite Olive Garden Salad and some delicious and easy Garlic Bread for a complete Italian feast!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Classic noodles are favored for recipes where you boil the noodles, but this recipe calls for the no boil noodles for ease and for the look. The noodles resemble handmade noodles more and serve in a neater way.
When serving, let the lasagna cool for an hour or more, cut the slice with a very sharp knife. Remove with two spatulas to ensure no breakage. Top with additional marinara, additional cheese and brown in a 425 degree oven until browned and bubbly. This makes each slice feel like their own “order” with its own set of bubbly cheese and overflowing with marinara sauce.
This baking pan will give you the perfect edges and handle more filling. Glass pans won’t cut it for this recipe.
How to Store Ultimate Meat Lasagna
- Serve: Do not leave Meat Lasagna at room temperature longer than 2 hours.
- Store: Once cooled, cover tightly and store in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
- Freeze: Make the lasagna and let it cool completely (put it in the fridge). Then slice the lasagna and freeze in single serving quantities. To reheat, add additional sauce on the top with cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 6 cups marinara sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 box lasagna noodles , (flat no boil noodles)
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 pound Provolone cheese , sliced
- 1/2 pound mozzarella cheese , sliced
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large pot, brown the beef in one large piece until it is browned on the bottom, 2-3 minutes, breaking apart the beef into slightly larger chunks.
- Cook until the beef is browned and add in the basil, oregano, 2 teaspoons Kosher salt, crushed red pepper flakes and fennel seeds.
- Stir until you start to smell the fennel seeds starting to toast then drain the fat and add in the marinara sauce.
- In your ricotta container, if you have space, add the egg and ½ teaspoon Kosher salt and mix well.
- Add your no boil noodles to the meat sauce (you are not looking to cook them, just coat them in the sauce to ensure they don't get dry in the oven).
- Put 1 ½ cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan (use one with straight sides for easy assembly and for added height. If you are using a glass baking pan with curved sides it may not be large enough to fit this quantity of food).
- Add the dried no boil noodles in an even layer, for this pan it was 5 noodles per layer, four across and one broken in half lengthwise to go down the side of the pan.
- Add ⅓ the provolone slices, another 1 ½ cups of the meat sauce, ¼ of the mozzarella, ¼ of the parmesan and ⅓ of the ricotta in spoonfuls dotting across the pan.
- Repeat with the same noodle/cheese/meat sauce process.
- Finally, add a top layer of lasagna noodles and cover with remaining Parmesan and mozzarella. Cover with foil.
- Bake for 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake for an additional ten minutes to brown the cheese.
- Let cool for 20-25 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with parsley.
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Nutrition
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Wow. This recipe is incredible! I’ve made a few different recipes before and they all fall apart when taken out of the pan- not this one!
I did have to make some changes to the recipe because the stores were closed for New Year’s. I halved the recipe because I’m only feeding 2 people, and it fit perfectly in my 8×8 Pyrex. I grated the cheese rather than slicing and replaced the provolone with more mozzarella. I was out of basil so I used thyme, and I didn’t have parsley either so I just omitted it. Lastly I used fresh lasagna sheets instead of dried noodles.
Even with my alterations it turned out perfect! The flavour of the sauce was rich and the pasta was a good texture, not too firm or mushy. My partner and I polished off the whole pan.
One thing to mention is that the recipe made quite a bit of extra meat sauce, but I certainly won’t complain about having tomorrow’s dinner prepared! Thanks Sabrina for the great recipe!
You’re welcome, Alexa.
I made this last night for Christmas Eve and followed the recipe just as written and it was the best! I also your marinara sauce recipe in with the meat. So delicious. Thank you so much.
How far in advance can you make this before cooking?
You can make it up to a day in advance and place it in the refrigerator to bake the next day.
This was my first made from “scratch” lasagna and it was amazing. Totally impressed my dinner guests. Thanks for sharing!
I want to make this but I’m a bit confused. How do you put long dry noodles into a pot of meat sauce?
You just want to coat the dry noodles with the meat sauce. Place the meat sauce in a bowl that’s big enough to dip the noodles into. Hope that helps explain it.
This is the best lasagna I have ever made. Over the years i have made lasagna but it never had that “thing” that elevated it to that next level. The recipe is easy. I agree that anyone would mistake for one made at a restaurant. Quite delicious.
Hi Sabrina! I made this recipe on the weekend and it was simply perfect! We had friends over and they thought I had ordered the lasagna from a restaurant. I only had ground fennel at home, so I switched it for the seeds, but I still think it was a great addition to the meat sauce. Thanks so much for sharing! This one is definitely a keeper.
Absolutely delicious! Easy to do.
It shows tomato sauce in the picture, but there is no such n the ingredients…
I used marinara sauce for this recipe.
The recipe is very salty. I even cut it by 1/2 t because it seemed like a lot. Seems like too much sauce as well. I was really hopeful with the good reviews, but definitely needs a couple adjustments for a 5 star.
Love this recipe! I used 3 lb of meat and three jars of marinara because if I only used two pounds I tend to run out. I usually have leftover sauce at 3 lb and I use that for my spaghetti later.
Ingredients call for parsley…procedure forgets to mention when to add it.
Just made it, hope it comes out good?
I just used it as a garnish. Hope you enjoyed it!
we can’t always go to the grocery store to shop for ourselves… my Instacart shopper bought me the “regular” noodles (the one with the wavy sides) vs. the “oven ready” ones. Will these still work w/out boiling them first?
You can still use this recipe, just boil the noodles first. 🙂 Enjoy!
Would you do anything different with the meat slices if you used sausage?
Why does your recipe say to use 6 cups marinara and only use 4.5 cups of meat and marinara?
Can I use any noodle but not boiled?
I used no boil noodles for this recipe. 🙂
Sabrina, this really hits the mark. Just like our favorite local restaurant and that is saying a lot, You rock!!!
Thank you for the kind words, John. I appreciate the 5 stars.
Love it ..the best easy and straight forward..
Thank you
Hi Sabrina,
I’d like to make this in a 14 x 10 inch dish. Do I need to add more of everything?
You might be ok with it as is. You can always increase it by 25% as a just in case. Good luck!
This lasagna was really excellent! It sounds like a lot of cheese but it’s needed. Also, the fennel seeds are a must. Definitely a winner with my family!
Obviously, karen
What size pan did you use? How many layers? Making this tonight for dads birthday, so will be making two lasagnas. Will doubling the marinara recipe be enough? How many noodles should i buy? Can’t wait to try!
I used a 13×9 baking pan with straight sides. I would buy 2 boxes of noodles, just to be safe because each lasagna has 4-5 layers depending on how many you can fit in your dish. Enjoy!
I am making this tonight, I am not clear. Do I use all the spices in the marinara and add them again?
If you’re referring to making your own sauce then yes, you’ll be adding spices to the sauce and into the beef as well. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi, I made your brisket and it was delicious so I am trying your lasagna. I just have some suggestions for those of us that need precise instructions, lol. I did not know that I needed to double the marinara recipe for this. I guess i could have figured it out but i was in the middle of the store without my reading glasses! Thank goodness i have a jar of Michaels of Brooklyn to add to it because it is Christmas day and I have no options. I also had to read the comments to find out what size box of noodles to buy. I ended up getting 9 and 16 because i wasn’t sure. When you say sliced cheese, do you want us to get presliced cheese in a package or slice it ourselves (like a chunk from the deli)? I overanalyze everything. Chefs don’t know how we struggle, ha. I am sure it will be amazing if it is anything like your brisket was.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes. For the sliced cheese, I prefer to slice my own from a block but you can definitely just get pre-sliced from your deli or cheese section. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Wow this website is wonderful and useful
I’m planning on making this for Christmas and looking forward to it! I bought a 9 oz box of flat no boil lasagna noodles. Is that right? Will it be enough for the entire dish? They look a little small and flimsy.
That’s what I used and it was perfect. Happy holidays!
If I cool the lasagna for an hour or more will it not get too cool to serve?
You can always keep it covered in foil or in a warming drawer. Enjoy!
Excellent! Great recipe. Will definitely become a staple.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Lynette. Thanks for the 5 stars.
We just made this recipe and it’s outstanding. We added a little fresh-chopped onion, garlic, a touch of shallots to the meat before cooking, deglazed with re wine, then added the powders as directed. We used the precooked noodles as you recommended and the bottom 2 layers were flawless. The top layer of noodles had isolated areas near the edges that had either cooked hard or never really softened. Nothing was burned or scorched. Is this normal for the top layer? Is there a way to avoid these hardened edges at the top using the pre-cooked noodles? Would using fresh cooked noodles for the top layer help? Again, this recipe yields an awesome result-flawless layers of flavor.
I have never had good luck with no boil noodles personally but I received a pan of lasagna from a friend after a hospital stay and she used the no boil noodles and her lasagna was perfect. I don’t know if it’s because the lasagna sat for a 1/2 hour to an hour before I actually cooked it or because I cooked it a little bit longer then recommended. I just prefer to cook the traditional noodles versus no boil so that I don’t ruin a huge pan of delicious lasagna.
I’ve made this recipe numerous times now and the no bake pasta is much thinner than the traditional ones. Worth it to stick to them!
Would fennel powder work the same as seeds?
I would substitute with Anise Seeds instead.
If i am making this one day ahead.. can I assemble and refrigerate then bake next day?
Yes 🙂
I think I got it now..it’s the meat mixture you meant by meat sauce..sorry for the confusion
Sounds delicious!!! Can I make this with boiled noodles?
Certainly! I just skip them because it’s easier but feel free to use the boiled version! 🙂
I am just confused, should I use two sauce?marinara and meat sauce or just marinara?cause I didn’t see meat sauce on the ingredients listed. Thank you!
hmmm, so you publish a recipe for lasanga with homemade marinara sauce, yet no instructions for the “homemade” marinara sauce. Published recipe sounds like you are using shop brought jar sauce. A bit pointless really.
I linked my Homemade Marinara in the post, right under the heading “Restaurant tricks to make this lasagna the next level” and also in the recipe card in the ingredients for marinara. If you click on the words in green, they are actually a link to the recipe.
Here is that link for easier reference for you if you try to make my Lasagna Recipe: https://dinnerthendessert.com/easy-marinara-sauce/
Hope this helps!
What is the purpose of the egg in the ricotta cheese?
It helps to bind the cheese so it doesn’t ooze out of the lasagna after it’s been cut.
The eggs also lift it so it’s so light and ruch. To my ricotta and eggs I always add fresh finly chopped basil and fresh Italian flat parsley. Fresh ground pepper. Oh. My. God.
It came out amazing! the perfect sauce to meat ratio and the variety of cheeses made it taste soooooo good!
Thank you so much – I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Sabrina, I want to make this recipe but I don’t have foil to cover the top of it. Would this effect how it cooks, would I be able to put it in the oven without the foil covering it?
You want to cook it covered to keep it from drying out. You can use a baking sheet if you don’t have foil, or if you have a baking dish with an oven safe lid, that will work.
I want to make this lasagna this week and I was wondering can I use fresh sliced mozzarella?
Also, love your site!!!!
I have made your banana bread, egg roll in a bowl and your meatloaf so far and all have been hits with the family.
Thanks for the recipes!!!!
That would be a divine addition! Let me know how it turns out!
The best meat lasagna (with your marinara sauce) I have ever made or eaten (in a restaurant/anyone’s home)! This lasagna is so good that my son-in-law who does not eat leftovers EVER ate it for two days afterward and then mourned there was not more. And your trick of using fennel to mimic the taste of sausage is genius.
This made my day! I love winning over the anti-leftover crowd haha! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know 🙂
Made this wonderful recipe again when we were having a group of people over for dinner. This lasagna got rave reviews including one from a man who lived in Italy for a couple of years. He declared that it was the best lasagna he had since he returned home from Italy over twenty years ago. That is high praise!
That is super high praise! Thanks for letting me know, definitely made my day.
i am making this when i get home from work it looks and sounds so good
Awesome! Let me know how it turns out!
I made this lasagna with the marinara recipe. Family really loved it! Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Hi Sabrina,
I loved making yr lasagna it was very good. My thing is the Ricotta cheese
I don’t like it at all . What other kind of cheese to use that will have flavor
and give me the stiffness that the Ricotta does to hold the lasagna together.
FRIDAY LYNN
You can substitue using a small curd cottage cheese or goat cheese. Enjoy!
I love this recipe so much! Going to make a batch to freeze so i have it ready for when my baby comes. I see your note about “Meal Prep/Freezer friendly” but i am wondering if in order to freeze, i need to have it in single servings? i am hoping to be able to assemble the whole pan of lasagna, and NOT cook it, but put it straight in the freezer to cook at a later date. Would that work?
Yes, that would totally work. 🙂 Enjoy!
Hello! Mine is in the oven right now, but it didn’t turn out the way it was intended. I have 1 comment & 1 question.
1.) My box of noodles did not have enough for the number of layers I needed to do.
2. For the layering… are the 4 cheeses supposed to be separated by the meat, or should they be layered as one big cheese layer? The recipe says noodles, provolone, meat, mozzarella, Parmesan. However, step 10 says “noodle/cheese/meat.”
Otherwise, it smells delicious and I can assure you it won’t go to waste. ?
I separated mine by the meat. I was just using the “noodle/cheese/meat sauce process” to refer to the layering of it all. Sorry I didn’t see this earlier but I hope you enjoyed it!
Hi. I made this once before and it turned out great. I have a dinner party coming up and I want to make this again, but this time I’d like to do it in advance and freeze this. How would you best recommend doing that? Cook completely, then freeze, OR get it assembled, then cook the day of the party?
I’m so glad you love the recipe. It’ll work either way but I would recommend cooking it the same day, if you have time. Have a great party!
My issue is I’ll be out of town until the day of the party, and therefore putting it together the day of the event will be next to impossible. Could I assemble it then freeze it for a few days, then while I’m away have my wife take it out of the freezer a couple days before the party and then just cook the day of?
Yes, that’ll work. 🙂
Am I repeating the sauce/cheese/noodle mixture until all of the cheeses run out? Or just one additional time after the first?
Until it all runs out, depending on how thick each layer you want. Enjoy!
Sabrina I bow to you!! Lasagna is my favorite food and anytime I go out for Italian that is what I order. I am very judgemental towards lasagna and I always find something that just doesn’t hold up to my expectations. It is either to runny/watery, bland, not enough spices, hard noodles, mushy noodles. I am always searching for the perfect lasagna and yours is so perfect I died and went to lasagna heaven!!! I made it exactly as the recipe said and it is total delicious perfection! You are amazing! Thank you!
You are so sweet, Julie! You just made my day!
I have a question… for the lasagna recipe in the oven, you layer it by noodle, cheese, then meat sauce, and end with a layer of noodle topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. For your slow cooker recipe, you layer it noodle, meat sauce, then cheese, and there is no last layer of noodle with cheese on top for this recipe. Any particular reason for the 2 differences?
Yes, there’s a reason. In a slow cooker, you don’t want to have cheese (moisture blocking) next to the noodles. It will cause the noodles to become hard and inedible. You don’t have that same issue when it’s cooked in the oven. Hope this helps!
Hello! This looks like an amazing recipe! Thank you for sharing! I plan to make it for my father-in-law’s birthday. I was just wondering if the homemade marinara sauce recipe will make enough for this. I’m scarred I won’t get 6 cups from it. Also, do you think the recipe will easily feed 6 adults? I’m terrible with portion sizes. Thanks a lot ?
The homemade sauce recipe makes about 4 cups so you’ll need to make a batch and a half or just double it and save the other portion for dipping breadsticks or for another recipe. It’ll definitely be enough for 6 adults. Enjoy!
Thank you Sabrina! It was a HUGE success!
So happy to hear!
This is the best Lasagna I have ever had. No kidding! I’ve tried so many recipes over the years and all were just okay. But this one is the best! I made it during Christmas and my family was fighting over it. Now, I NEVER follow a recipe exactly. I substituted half the meat with Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage and I used more provolone cheese than mozzarella cheese. I also mixed 1/2 cottage cheese and 1/2 ricotta cheese. I followed the marinara recipe on this site and it was great! Wish I could rate this one 10 stars! Thanks!
So sweet of you to say! Thanks!
I’m allergic to, pork, shrimp, and so on, so I can eat beef and it’s really good, I love lasagna. Thanks for the recipe
You’re welcome!
This recipe was so good and very easy thanks to your careful instructions.
I had already purchase the Barilla Oven- Ready Lasagne, so I was thrilled you mentioned this option. And I already had 2 lbs of ground beef which I was certain was going to be too much, but once again your recipe fit the ingredients I bought before I had an actual recipe.
I made one mistake by not reading through to the end. I couldn’t figure out why the parsley was listed in the middle of the ingredient list and so I just assumed it should be mixed in with the ricotta.
No harm there.
Thanks for a wonderful cooking experience with a dish I had to make myself.
Since I moved to the Sandhills of N.C. I can’t find any place within a 20 mile radius that makes lasagna!
Sabrina
I am cooking this for Chirstmas for family. I am a little nervous on the no cook Noodles, but I am going to try it. It was much easier to prepare. I am planning to have this tomorrow, so after cooking today and cool, should i just refrigerate rather then Freeze? Then just follow the re heating instructions?
Anyway I am very excited to see how this comes out .
thanks
Yes, just keep it in the refrigerator. Merry Christmas!
This is my first time. I followed instructions, but had a lot of sauce left over. Also, the no boil pasta…? My 9×13 only fi 4 across, no idea about the sides and I used provolone and Mozzarella slices, that did not work out well. I had a hard time know what a 1/3 of the slices was. I is still cooking. Looks good. Waiting to see. I did figure out that in future if I make this, I will use sheets of the pasta to better get the right size in the 9 x 3. I will also not use slices.