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).
Hi Nagi, I love your lasagne and I currently have the pot of ragu bubbling away on my stove. I really would love to try your authentic version too if you ever find time to post it. Love to Dozer xx
Just the best Lasagne. I have made it many times albeit without the garlic, it is awesomely delicious worth the extra effort. Thankyou for sharing.
Best lasagna I’ve made!!! I ended up using 500g each of pork and beef because that’s what I had and needed to simmer for longer as there was excess liquid but oh my goodness, the white sauce, the flavour of the ragu, all of it!!! Just delicious.
In fact, every single recipe I’ve made (from the website and your cookbook) my 4.5 year old has at least tried or actually enjoyed which is no small thing!!! Thank you thank you!
amazing!
Best lasagna ever!!! Sooo much flavour in the mince, definitely worth simmering for the time stated, it makes such a huge difference! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
I made this tonight and the flavors were wonderful. However, I made the mistake of using fresh gluten-free pasta and that was a huge mistake. It made the lasagna gluggy. I couldn’t get normal pasta and the texture was awful. Eiik! In future, if I can’t get fresh pasta I will use dry pasta.
Omg. Just made this for Christmas eve dinner and it is amazing!!! Everyone loves it! My first attempt at making lasagna! I substituted beef for 1.7 lbs ground turkey (1 pack) and used dried instant lasagna noodles. Already getting requests to make it for next year! Thank you, Nagi! Your recipes are always the best!
Looking for advise ! I have made the lasagne today but don’t need it for 48hours .
Shall I cook it fully and then just cover with alufoil in the fridge ??
Nagi, your comment about Tasty being an Australian cheese is a bit off the mark (I’m an Aussie). Tasty is a common-use description for cheddar cheese. Your reference to a floury taste is correct for some brands – generally the cheaper varieties.
Tasty refers to cheddar that has been aged for 6–12 months, and a vintage / strong & bitey is aged from 1 to 2 years.
I like to use a mix of cheeses when making sauces; mostly cheddar with some mozzarella and parmesan.
Thanks for your recipe; I’m making it today for the Christmas table, with one variation. I’m steeping the boiled milk with onion and herbs for an hour first. It gives the bechamel more flavour.
Hello,
I would so appreciate, as I’m sure would others, if you made metric measurements the main reference in your recipes, with imperial as reference for those without scales.
It’s quite painful to convert everything when scaling the recipes up or down.
Other than that, love your recipes!
Once again… amazing!
I made this for a food train and they wanted to know what restaurant I worked at…I’m a communicated professional. I love food but it’s not my profession. Great recipe!
Hi. I’m about to make your lasagne. But I noticed the quantities of butter and flour were different from the recipe in Dinner. 100g butter and 100g plain flour. Which quantities should I use? 😀
Gail, what quantity of flour and butter did you end up using? I guess I’d go with the cookbook version as it’s the newest version. I’m sure it was delicious either way.
Hi Nagi, love your recipes! But it’s not American-Italian’s who started to to use Ricotta in the lasagna — I’m southern Italian (from Naples) and we use ricotta. Northern Italians use the cheese sauce.
Hi Nagi, I’ve cooked this dish so many times and everyone loves it. However, I’m confused now as I bought your new cookbook and this famous lasagne recipe is in there but it says to use Pinot noir red wine where as I’ve always used a cab sav? Is this an error in your cookbook? As your recipe online says not to use a Pinot. Kind regards
My first attempt at making lasagna. I went all out and made my own lasagna sheets as well. Turned out so so good. Thanks Nagi as always!
Oh my this lasagna is absolutely scrumptious!! Simmering the meat for 1hr added a depth of flavour I’ve never been able to achieve before. Thank you so much for this recipe! Will definitely be making again, and soon!!
This is delicious, rich and creamy. It’s so good that I felt like I was eating at an Italian restaurant when I was eating this lasagna. Thank you for sharing:)
Great flavour but improperly balanced. Needs a third less white sauce as the current quantity makes it very rich!
Thank you, you always make cooking easier especially with your side tips and notes, you leave us all filled with gratitude with full tummies