Easy Meat Lasagna Recipe
A deliciously layered classic and easy to make meat lasagna recipe.
Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time40 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Croatian
Keyword: beef, lasagna, pasta
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 315kcal
Author: Jane and Sonja
deep dish baking pan
deep dish frying pan
Large cooking pot
aluminum foil
- 1 package ground beef
- 1 cup cooking onions finely chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 celery stick finely chopped
- 1/2 cup bell pepper red or yellow, finely chopped
- ½ cup zucchini peeled and shredded (optional)
- ½ cup mushrooms chopped (optional)
- Salt and pepper
- 16 oz Tomato Sauce
- 1 can Tomato Paste as needed
- 12 lasagna noodles
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
Preparing the Meat Sauce
Saute ground beef in a frying pan for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Strain the liquid and discard. Leave meat in a strainer while preparing the sauce.
Using the same frying pan, add onions, garlic, celery, pepper (and other optional ingredients like zucchini or mushrooms).
Add a dash of salt and pepper.
Stir all together and continue cooking for 4 minutes. Stir mixture occasionally.
Add the cooked ground beef and mix together.
Add a full jar of tomato sauce and stir together.
Cook altogether for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If you find the mixture is too dry, add a can of tomato paste and mix together.
Cooking the Noodles
In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a dash of salt and 1 tsp vegetable oil to prevent noodles from sticking together.
Add the lasagna noodles. Need 9 noodles per lasagna. Make a couple extra noodles in case there is any that break during cooking.
Cook for 10-12 minutes or until noodles are soft. Avoid over cooking.
Strain the water.
Layering the Lasagna
Shred mozzarella cheese.
Add some sauce (without the meat) to the bottom of a deep baking pan.
Place one layer of noodles.
Sprinkle some cheese (both mozzarella and parmesan) over top of the noodles.
Reserve most of the cheese for the top layer.
Add a layer of meat sauce.
Add another layer of noodles.
Repeat these layers until you reach the final top (third) layer.
Add a layer of meat sauce over the top layer of noodles.
Add a good layer of cheese to the top (most of the cheese should be on the top layer).
Baking the Lasagna
Preheat the oven to 360F.
Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Remove from the oven and serve 30-60 minutes later, giving the sauce some time to thicken before eating.
Calories: 315kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 746mg | Potassium: 612mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1115IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 245mg | Iron: 2mg