One of the most loved foods in the world is finally here! This is a beautiful Italian Lasagna with layers of slow cooked Ragù Bolognese and Besciamella cheese sauce. Though patience is required, it is quite straight forward to make as you will see in the recipe video!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Traditional Italian lasagna
Lasagna, lasagna. How I love thee! It is possibly one of the most loved foods in the whole wide world, and understandably so. There is just something so sentimental about lasagna, so comforting. It evokes images of of gatherings with family and friends all around the world. It is the sort of food that is like a big warm hug, and so more-ish you want to keep digging in until you burst.
Lasagna just rocks. Full stop.
And if you’ve never tried a homemade one before, that needs to change! If you can make spaghetti bolognese, you can make lasagne. It just requires a wee bit more patience.
OK, bit more than a wee bit more patience. But it’s totally worth it. A real homemade Lasagna is epic.
Homemade Lasagna – three parts
There are 3 components to making lasagna:
The meat sauce;
The white sauce – creamy and thick, but no cream required!
Assembling and baking.
What goes in lasagna
The Meat Sauce is basically just like Bolognese. You need:
Onion, garlic, carrot and celery – for the flavour base, a soffrito;
Beef
Canned tomato and tomato paste
Red wine – for extra flavour!
Seasonings – beef bouillon cubes (stock cubes), bay leaves, thyme, oregano, Worcestershire sauce
For the white sauce, you need:
butter
flour
milk
cheese
For assembling, you need:
lasagna sheets – preferably fresh (from the fridge section of grocery stores) but dried works just fine too
cheese!
How to make lasagne
See? I told you the meat sauce is just like making Bolognese! Though here, we cook that meat sauce long and slow, to develop incredible rich flavours and make the beef melt-in-your-mouth tender.
Layering up!
And here’s how you layer it up:
Smear a bit of meat sauce on the base first – stops the lasagna sheets from sliding around;
Layer 1 – top with meat sauce, bit of white sauce
Layer 2 – lay out more lasagna sheets, then top with more meat sauce and more white sauce
Layer 3 – repeat again, lasagna sheets, meat sauce then white sauce; and
Topping – cover with lasagna sheets, pour over remaining white sauce then sprinkle with cheese.
Pop it in the oven, and THIS is what comes out….
That moment when you cut into the golden bubbly cheesy top and you serve up a piping hot, oozy, meaty slice of lasagna….
That’s a little bit of food heaven, right there.
Lasagna first timers, the recipe video below will be super helpful. ❤️ Trust me, you got this. – Nagi xx
PS Also happens to be one of the nicest food gifts you can make for someone. Freezes 100% perfect, and is a huge step up from the usual simple casseroles. Right? 😉
Watch How To Make It
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Lasagna
Ingredients
Ragu Bolognese:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion , finely chopped (white, yellow or brown)
- 1 medium carrot , peeled and very finely diced
- 1 celery stick , very finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 kg / 2 lb beef mince (ground beef) (Note 1)
- 800g / 28 oz canned crushed tomato
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 cup pinot noir red wine , or other dry red wine (Note 2)
- 3 beef bouillon cubes , crumbled
- 2 bay leaves , dried or fresh
- 1/2 tsp EACH dried thyme and oregano
- 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 – 2 tsp sugar (if needed – Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper
Cheese Sauce (Besciamella):
- 60g / 4 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups milk , preferably full fat but low fat ok
- 2 cups gruyere or Colby cheese , shred yourself (or cheddar, Monterey Jack, OR 1 cup / 100g shredded parmesan) (Note 4)
- Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
Lasagna:
- 350g/ 12 oz fresh lasagna sheets (or 250g/8oz dried) (Note 5)
- 1 1/2 cups (tightly packed) mozzarella cheese , shred yourself (Note 4)
- Finely chopped basil or parsley , for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Ragu:
- Heat oil in a large heavy based pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, celery and carrots. Cook for 10 minutes until softened and sweet – they should not brown (if they do, turn heat down).
- Add beef, turn heat up and cook the beef, breaking it up as you go.
- Once the beef has all turned brown, add the remaining Ragu ingredients EXCEPT the sugar.
- Stir then adjust the heat so it is bubbling very gently. Place the lid on and cook for 1.5 – 2 hours, stirring every now and then, then remove the lid and simmer for 30 minutes.
- The ragu is ready when the meat is really tender and the sauce has thickened and is rich – see video for consistency (Note 6). Adjust salt and pepper to taste, and add sugar if required (Note 3)
Cheese Sauce:
- Warm milk up in a saucepan (optional – just makes sauce thicken faster).
- In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat. Add flour and mix constantly for 1 minute.
- Pour about 1 cup of the milk in, mixing as you go to incorporate into the flour mixture. Once mostly lump free, add remaining milk. Use a whisk if needed to make it lump free.
- Turn heat up to medium high. Stir occasionally at first then regularly after a few minutes until sauce thickens – about 5 – 8 minutes. It should coat the back of the wooden spoon.
- Remove from heat, add cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix until the cheese is melted. The Sauce should be thick but still easily pourable – the consistency of heavy cream (you need to be able to drizzle it over the Ragu when layering – see video). If it’s too thick, add a splash of water or milk.
Assemble:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Use a 33 x 22 x 7 cm / 13 x 9 x 2.5″ baking dish.
- Smear a bit of Ragu on the base, then cover with lasagna sheets. Tear sheets to fit.
- Spread over 2 1/2 cups of Ragu (enough to cover sheets), then drizzle over 1 cup of Cheese Sauce.
- Top with lasagna sheets (Note 7). Spread with another 2 1/2 cups of Ragu, then 1 cup of Cheese Sauce. Top with lasagna sheets then repeat 1 more time.
- Top with a 4th layer of lasagna sheets, then pour over the remaining Cheese Sauce.
- Sprinkle with Mozzarella, then bake for 25 minutes or until golden and bubbling.
- Stand for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting and serving, garnished with basil or parsley if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life Of Dozer
He just sprawls across the floor when he sleeps. No curling up cutely, chin on paw, like all those cute doggy pics you see all over the internet. Nope, this one just collapses and sprawls out right in my line of path (straight line from kitchen to table is over him – of course).
My bf and I made this a few weeks ago and it was delicious. It was our first time making lasagna from scratch and this was the best recipe. We used half beef mince and half pork mince, and used shredded pizza cheese mix for the bechamel sauce (we live in Australia). Highly recommend. We’re going to try and make this in the slow cooker next time.
Has anyone used quorn with this recipe? Any tips?
I’d love to know too Carys!! N x
I know that this is a lasagna recipe, but it is possible to make the bolognese sauce and just put it on top of spaghetti? and maybe add some of the white sauce to it?
I’ve only recently discovered your recipes and I must say I absolutely love them(so do my family) could I make the Ragu for lasagne in my slow cooker if do how long for
Hi Joanne, you sure could – try my beef rage recipe and layer into this lasagne! N x
Unfortunately, this recipe wasn’t a winner in our house. I am obsessed with this Nagi’s recipes, but this one just wasn’t a favorite. My family prefers ricotta, and wasn’t crazy about the cheese sauce. I used colby jack, one of the suggested cheeses. Not sure if it would have been better if I had chosen parmesan. I DID like the ragu. Nagi’s Spaghetti Bolognese is one of my favorite recipes. So that part was good. We just prefer a ricotta filling.
This is the best ever recipe for lasagne. I made it today, and have made it over 8 times since finding it last year. Thank you.. your recipes are really good and never let me down.
Try making the white sauce with marscepone cheese and add a bay leaf. It’s really delicious.
50g butter, 50g flour, 1 pint whole milk, 150g marscepone, 1 bay leaf, nutmeg and salt & pepper.
I made Nagi’s lasagna using this mascarpone white sauce recipe and it was delicious
Really makes a lasagne doesn’t it.
Just wondering with the beef cubes – some make 250ml of stock and some make 500ml of stock. Which cubes do you recommend?
Hi Mandy, I have no response but an additional question to add to yours (because I too was wondering about the stock): the recipe says to use stock cubes but does not say that these need to be used with water (to create a stock). Do we use the stock cubes only? Or make an actual stock with the cubes?
I’ve never added water and have just used whichever stock cubes I’ve had on hand. I’ve also used stock to sub the red wine on top of this and never had an issue. I do my ragu in the slow cooker and don’t add the additional salt too it though.
It’s a labour of love making this, but the results are epic-ly epic!!! So delicious.
My go to lasagna, delicious!
This is not only the best lasagna I’ve ever made but also the best lasagna I’ve ever had. Made it for 8 people and all of them loved it. I used no pre-cook dried lasagna sheets.
Served it with a simple mixed salad and I added a drizzle of chili oil over my piece. Ate the leftovers for lunch the next day and it was delicious.
Thx Nagi
I’ve made this lasagna a few times now, and its a massive hit! Everyone who tastes it absolutely loves it. Thankyou so much for sharing this with us Nagi!
So good!
Awesome lasagne 😊
Wahoo thanks Tina, I’m so glad you loved it! N x
You know, my biggest problem when it comes to lasagne is finding the right sized cooking vessel. It needs to be super deep, because our family love the layers. I used to use metal, but i dont like that i have to replace them so often. Unfortunately i have yet to find the ‘one’ in ceramic. Im always in and out of kitchen shops. One day… one day… thanks for the recipe Nagi! Have an awesome week end.
This is the best ever lasagne recipe. The ragu sauce is so good that it will become my go-to bolognese sauce recipe! The long simmering of the sauce is so worth it.
I rarely leave comments/reviews on recipes that I’ve tried but I feel obliged to today because this lasagna was AMAZING. There were 6 of us and we all agreed it was the best lasagna we’ve ever had!
That’s the best compliment Cassandra!! Thanks so much! N x
This was UNBELIEVEABLY good. I made a large one and a smaller one (love the scaling tool) and they were to die for! The larger one was for a friend with a large family, who was recovering after surgery. The family are all lasagne-lovers and absolutely devoured it and asked for the recipe. Great recipe. Time consuming, yes, but delish.
I’m making this dish for a dinner party this weekend and I have a few questions if you don’t mind,
First, do you use fresh mozzarella cheese to finish the top and second, can I prepare it exactly as you state using the fresh pasta sheets on Saturday, but cook it on Sunday?
Will the fresh lasagna sheets deteriorate?
Thanks
Love this recipe! However the white sauce became quite clumpy when I added the flour to the milk. Any tips on how to get a smooth sauce? Thanks
Oh no Dawn! Usually by adding milk a portion at a time whilst whisking stops it from going lumpy! N x