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5 from 2 votes

Easy Meat Lasagna Recipe

A deliciously layered classic and easy to make meat lasagna recipe.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Croatian
Keyword: beef, lasagna, pasta
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 315kcal
Author: Jane and Sonja

Equipment

  • deep dish baking pan
  • deep dish frying pan
  • Large cooking pot
  • aluminum foil

Ingredients

  • 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

Instructions

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.

Nutrition

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