This Easy Beef Lasagna is the easiest lasagna ever! There’s no need to boil noodles or slave away for hours over the stove for this recipe. It’s the perfect meal for a busy weeknight dinner.
If you’re like me, you’re probably scared to make lasagna because of all the work it takes. You have to: boil the noodles, make the sauce, assemble the lasagna and bake it. That may not sound like too crazy of a list but traditional recipes usually focus on a sauce left to simmer so it takes quite a while. Not today! This recipe is a lot simpler and it makes for a fabulous weeknight dinner.
What’s So Special About Lasagna?
This is a classic Italian dish, one that is known nearly all over the world due to its addicting popularity. It’s warm and comforting with a savory rich sauce, ooey gooey cheese, and al dente layers of noodles.
I don’t want my readers to fear attempting this dish because it’s so good, so I’ve made it nice and easy for all of you today. I love the way these leftovers turn out too so it’s perfect the next day as well! What a bonus!
Ingredient Notes
- Beef – Ground is what we’ll use today. Because I used lean there’s no need to drain the oil after its cooked.
- Onion – A small onion diced up that will cook well like white or yellow.
- Seasoning – We’re just using dried oregano and salt and pepper today.
- Sauce – A jar of marinara sauce will do just fine and it’s the key to cutting down on the cook time of this beef lasagna recipe.
- Cheese – Ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan are needed for richness and a good melty texture.
- Egg – We’re going to use this as a binder for our ricotta sauce so be sure to pick some up.
- Noodles – Clearly we need lasagna noodles! Their sheet structure are needed for those definable layers.
How To Make Beef Lasagna
- Preheat the oven: Set to 375 F degrees.
- Brown the beef: In a sauce pan or skillet, cook the ground meat until no longer pink. Add chopped onion, 1 tbsp of the oregano, salt, pepper and continue cooking until onion is cooked through and translucent.
- Prepare the sauces: Add the marinara sauce to the skillet and the cup of water. Stir and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside. In a small bowl combine the ricotta cheese, 1 tbsp oregano, eggs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Stack the lasagna: In a baking dish that’s about 9×13 inches, start assembling your lasagna. Start with a couple ladles of the sauce at the bottom, this is especially necessary now that the noodles aren’t cooked. Lay 3 lasagna noodles over the meat sauce. Next layer with ricotta mixture and about 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat until you have 4 layers of noodles, and end with ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.
Tips For Making The Best Lasagna
- Believe it or not, it’s not required to boil the noodles first, even though many recipes call for it. There is plenty of sauce in the recipe to cook the noodles while the lasagna is baking. Plus this way you end up with a firmer lasagna and no mushy noodles, but perfectly al dente.
- Don’t be afraid to mix your ground meat for the sauce. This time I used ground beef, but if you’re feeling adventures, combine beef with pork or chicken and turkey.
- Be sure to use lots of sauce to cook those noodles fully!
- Use cottage cheese for even more creaminess.
- Crumbled sausage is a nice addition to the ground beef if you want an even meatier sauce.
Leftovers
Properly cool the beef lasagna before storing it, so that it will freeze and store evenly. It will stay fresh for 3 – 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Frozen lasagna will last for 2 – 3 months, just be sure to allow to thaw fully in the fridge before re heating.
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Easy Beef Lasagna
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 tbsp oregano dried
- ½ tsp salt or to taste
- ½ tsp pepper or to taste
- 24 oz marinara sauce (1 jar/680 g)
- 1 cup water
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 12 lasagna noodles
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
- In a sauce pan or skillet, cook the ground meat until no longer pink. Add chopped onion, 1 tbsp of the oregano, salt, pepper and continue cooking until onion is cooked through and translucent.
- Add the marinara sauce to the skillet and the cup of water. Stir and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine the ricotta cheese, 1 tbsp oregano, eggs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- In a baking dish that’s about 9×13 inches, start assembling your lasagna. I usually start with a couple ladles of the sauce at the bottom, this is especially necessary now that the noodles aren’t cooked. Lay 3 lasagna noodles over the meat sauce. Next layer with ricotta mixture and about 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Add another 3 lasagna noodles, meat mixture, ricotta mixture, mozzarella. Repeat until you have 4 layers of noodles, and end with ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in the oven for about an hour. It will take the entire hour for the noodles to cook. You may try with a fork to ensure noodles are cooked.
Recipe Notes
- Be sure this dish is properly cooled before being stored so that it will freeze and store evenly. It will stay fresh for 3 – 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Frozen lasagna will last for 2 – 3 months, just be sure to allow to thaw fully in the fridge before re heating.
- Believe it or not, it’s not required to boil the noodles first, even though many recipes call for it. There is plenty of sauce in the recipe to cook the noodles while the lasagna is baking. Plus this way you end up with a firmer lasagna and no mushy noodles, but perfectly al dente.
- Don’t be afraid to mix your ground meat for the sauce. This time I used ground beef, but if you’re feeling adventures, combine beef with pork or chicken and turkey.
- Be sure to use lots of sauce to cook those noodles fully!
- Use cottage cheese for even more creaminess.
- Crumbled sausage is a nice addition to the ground beef if you want an even meatier sauce.
Uncovered? I baked mine at 375 uncovered and the cheese was brown/burned after 30 minutes 🙁
Yep, if you notice it starts to brown early you can cover it with foil and finish cooking it.
The best receipt, excellent!!!!!
This was my first time making lasagna and it happened to be for a large group of people. It was so simple to make and it turned out amazing! Even my lactose intolerant friend went for seconds!
This really is the best recipe! I do not cook — ever — but was able to follow this and it turned out fantastic! We used 1/2 cup of water and a little more marinara. We also added a little more beef. Did three layers of pasta instead of four since our dish was a little larger. Delicious! And tons of leftovers!
I did this for my family it was Excellent
This was my whole Families favorite lasagna, the only thing is, nobody in my family likes al dente pasta, so I did boil my noodles for five minutes before assembling, and that caused it to be really runny since the noodle didn’t absorb as much liquid. Do you think next time I do it I should completely omit the water or maybe just use less?
Oh yeah if you cook your noodles first, it will be runny, so yeah I think I’d omit the water from the sauce.
That’s was my first time EVER making lasagna, and trust me, I am no cook ! This recipe was not daunting at all! Super simple to make and didn’t take too much time to prepare.. I will exclusively be using Jo’s recipes when i want to brave the kitchen!! thanks so much for making the reads on this site so fun and friendly. You are so great! Loved the lasagna!!!
Yay! So glad you liked it!
Is there a reason why you add one cup of water to the sauce rather than doubling the amount of jarred marinara?
I find it doesn’t make it too “thick” or overpowering, but if you’d like to add more marinara, you are more than welcome!!
I just made this yesterday! It was a lot less stressful to put together, and it turned out great too! However I went a little overboard with the cheese, but I still enjoyed it. Thanks for the recipe – next time I’ll try to follow it to the T.
I’m making it tomorrow, can I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese. That is what I have on hand. Thankyou
Yes cottage cheese works!
I loved this recipe, will be making it again and so is my daughter. Excellent. Thank you
My family LOVED this recipe! My fiancé loved it so much, he’s taking it into work tomorrow to share with his buddies. My compliments to you, Jo! It was so easy to make, and I followed the recipe to a tee. Thank you so much for sharing this. This will be going into my recipe binder.
That’s so great to hear! We’re glad everyone loved it.
I don’t have the “no boil” noodles. Can I still put them in uncooked?
Yes! I’ve made this recipe with regular noodles before.
I love this recipe, it’s just like my Mom’s. Delicious and the best ever lasagna. Thank You
Is this baked uncovered for an hour? Or covered? Thanks!
Uncovered! We’ll always specify if you have to cover it.
Is this something that could be put together in the morning, refrigerated, and then baked later that day?
Absolutely! Just wrap it up with foil and refrigerated it until later in the day until you’re ready to bake it.
“Easy” in relation to a lasagna recipe had me scoffing at first but honestly: it’s bang on. I love making recipes – I scour the internet to try new things. This recipe right here – this is going into “the book”. We have a recipe book that we consult when we want to make something we “know” is good – when we want to impress family and friends. This is going in there. It’s simple, easy and has little room for error. The ricotta WAS worth going out during my lunch break to grab.
The only thing I would note is: I only got 3 layers. Not a criticism as it worked out perfectly with the dish I used, and all of the supplies I bought/made were perfectly used up. So, perhaps I went for a thicker layer than others but it worked out so: very happy with this staple lasagna recipe.
So glad you liked this!! You’re right, my dish that I used here was pretty deep vs the other lasagna dish I have.