World's Best Lasagna Recipe
World’s best lasagna recipe is right here! The quintessential recipe for the ultimate Italian comfort food classic, this homemade lasagna recipe is the traditional dish that includes layers of pasta, hearty meat sauce, creamy ricotta, and gooey mozzarella cheese. You can also take the bolognese and cheese components of this recipe and combine it with the perfect choice of gluten free noodles to make the world’s best gluten free lasagna recipe.
I am not Italian. At all. I don’t have an Italian grandma in the kitchen, cooking up vats of gravy, and brasciole, and manicotti, and whatever else it is that Italian and Italian-American grandmas are stereo-typically making. But I love Italy, and Italian food, though I have to admit that after several trips to Italy, I am a bit spoiled. Italian food here in America just doesn’t quite live up to my expectations anymore.
But for some reason, when I have to make a large amount of something, I often fall back on baked ziti, or stuffed shells, or this amazing lasagna created by John Chandler on Allrecipes (with my changes as I note below).
The best lasagna recipe ever starts out with a homemade bolognese sauce. Bolognese sauce is a meat based sauce that gets its name because it originates in Bologna, Italy. In this recipe I’ve used a combination of lean ground beef and Italian style ground sausage. You’ll want to be sure to use a lean ground beef (93/7) for best results so that the sauce doesn’t end up greasy.
The sauce builds flavor with minced onion and garlic. You’ll want to make sure to mince your onions (a very small dice) because you don’t want the sauce to end up being too chunky. We are going for the ideal texture here and the only chunks in the sauce should be from the meat.
Ingredients
Directions
I am not Italian. At all. I don’t have an Italian grandma in the kitchen, cooking up vats of gravy, and brasciole, and manicotti, and whatever else it is that Italian and Italian-American grandmas are stereo-typically making. But I love Italy, and Italian food, though I have to admit that after several trips to Italy, I am a bit spoiled. Italian food here in America just doesn’t quite live up to my expectations anymore.
But for some reason, when I have to make a large amount of something, I often fall back on baked ziti, or stuffed shells, or this amazing lasagna created by John Chandler on Allrecipes (with my changes as I note below).
The best lasagna recipe ever starts out with a homemade bolognese sauce. Bolognese sauce is a meat based sauce that gets its name because it originates in Bologna, Italy. In this recipe I’ve used a combination of lean ground beef and Italian style ground sausage. You’ll want to be sure to use a lean ground beef (93/7) for best results so that the sauce doesn’t end up greasy.
The sauce builds flavor with minced onion and garlic. You’ll want to make sure to mince your onions (a very small dice) because you don’t want the sauce to end up being too chunky. We are going for the ideal texture here and the only chunks in the sauce should be from the meat.
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 pounds bulk Italian sausage
- 3/4 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cans (one 28 ounces, one 15 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, divided
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 3/4 teaspoon fennel seed
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
- 1 large Eggland's Best egg, lightly beaten
- 1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
- 4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook sausage, beef and onion over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, breaking up meat into crumbles. Add garlic; cook 1 minute. Drain.
- Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, 3 tablespoons parsley, basil, fennel, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a small bowl, mix egg, ricotta cheese, and remaining parsley and salt.
- Preheat oven to 375°. Spread 2 cups meat sauce into an ungreased 13x9-in. baking dish. Layer with three noodles and a third of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining meat sauce and cheeses (dish will be full).
- Bake, covered, 25 minutes. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.