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).
A super thank you, Nagi! It is the most yummy lasagne I had. Your recipe of ragu and white sauce complementing the fresh lasagne sheet perfectly. Thank you for delivering brilliant recipes.
Nagi, today I made the most delicious lasagne! A super thank you!!!
It would be very helpful if you gave the weight of cheese to grate to get 2 cups of Colby or 1.5 cups of mozzarella instead of just the cup amount please
Cooking for another family. This is another good thing
Nice
I’m 75 years old and not too bad a cook but I’ve always struggled to make lasagna. I saw this recipe and decided to have another try.
This came out absolutely perfect. I followed the recipe exactly and the result was amazing. My previous efforts were either too runny or too dry. This dish was perfect and I would give it 100 stars if I could.
This is my all time favourite recipe to ever exist!!! I ALWAYS make this, I also use the pasta sauce to make my spag bol too, amazing, my family love it and always say, is this recipe tin eats?
This is my childrens’ and husband’s request for their birthday meals. It really is a labour of love. Thank you for another amazing recipe.
Great recipe! It’s the only lasagne recipe I’ve used so far but it came out amazing.
My very first attempt at making a Lasagna a couple of weeks ago. I’m now hooked. Soooo damm yummy. I’m making 3 dishes today. One for myself and one each for my adult sons. Obviously it was a big hit. The recipe for the bedciamella sauce was so easy to follow. I have always stuffed up a cheese sauce. Thanks Nagi. Love your recipes and have made several of them and they all turn out fantastic 🌺
Corby chees and Worcestershire sauce for Lasagnas? Mama Mia..I have try couple of recipes from this side but this I can’t!
Really tasty. Worth the effort. If you want a super smooth bechamel sauce like in restaurants, add 2 slices of fake burger cheese. Yes, I know. You don’t taste the fake cheese because of the amount of real cheese in this recipe, but you just need the chemicals from the fake cheese to make it super silky smooth.
The best!!
Thankyou for the recipe
Hi. Just wondering how you would amend the recipe if you were cooking the Ragu in this slow cooker?
I made the lasagne today it’s been twenty years since I last made it! I thought I had Worcestershire sauce and it was not in my cupboard so I hope it tastes ok? It’s been a while since I made a cheese sauce lol here goes!!!
The best lasagne that I have ever tasted! Easy to follow and so so delicious! My favourite recipe!
“Nagi made me do it!” This will be my excuse in case my husband wonders why I just spent $22 on saffron.
Our dogs are so special. My first dog Blacky will always hold a special place in my heart. I was so young then, only 20, and my world crumbled when I lost him unexpectedly. I think our heart grows bigger with every beloved pet we lose, because somehow, over the last 40 years, more dogs have imprinted themselves in my heart, and each one of them is special in their own way.
Dogs enrich our lives.
We dog lovers are a special breed.
(I will cook the recipe as soon as the expensive saffron arrives.)
As usual a great recipe. But when I make a bechamel sauce i always heat the milk long and slow with slices of onion, cloves, nutmeg, and peppercorns. Then strain and use that, adding to the roux a1/4 cup at a time until at least half the milk has been used. Traditionally a bechamel does not have cheese in it. I sprinkle cheese on the top of a lasagne. And I always make more than I think I’ll need – it’s so yum
Oh dear, not very authentic! I know you address this in your notes which is fair enough. Surely you must mean Tuscan villages, not Tucson which is in Arizona!
Personally, I don’t think lasagne, if you’re trying for any attempt at authenticity should be made with cheese sauce. The traditional sauce is simple bechamel or besciamellia, made with warmed milk flavoured with half an onion studded with cloves, bay leaf and nutmeg. And I never put more cheese on top, just a simple dusting of parmesan.
I like and admire many of your recipes but I’ll be sticking with my own personal recipe for this one, yours looks far too heavy and lasagne in my mind should be light and delicately flavoured.
I’ve tried many variations of the ragu including those with combinations of minced beef, minced pork, minced veal and finely chopped chicken livers.
I’ll give you a tip for your ragu, try it. Add half a star anise to the ragu whilst it’s cooking, it really enhances the flavour.
Keep up the good work Nagi, I really admire your recipes and what you’re doing here.
Sorry, Nagi, but I have to correct you there. As an American Italian, living Down Under, whose grandparents were from Southern Italy and Dad still speaks Italian and makes gnocchi from scratch — Lasagna with ricotta is not the American way only. It originates from Southern Italy, especially Napoli! Grew up there as a child for several years…..this white sauce version is from Northern Italy and the only Lasagna that Australia seems to know. It’s good. But my heart will always be with my Calabrian grandmother’s Ricotta – Mozzarella – Parmesan Lasagna! Just wanted to clarify. Take care!