This three-cheese, Italian sausage, and ground beef lasagna is the BEST lasagna recipe I’ve ever made. An easy, crowd-pleasing, meal-preppable, satisfying meal perfect for weeknights, potlucks, and feeding a crowd!

Simple, meaty pasta dishes are some of my favorite go-to’s when craving a cozy, comforting, and satisfying meal. After much testing and tweaking, I think I’ve finally found the only easy lasagna recipe you’ll ever need.

It might take a bit of time to pull together, but the results are more than worth it with its crowd-pleasing, creamy, cheesy, meaty deliciousness. Plus, it preps and freezes well!

How to make lasagna

Make the Lasagna Meat Sauce: First, peel and finely dice the onion and carrot and mince the garlic. Then, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and sauté for several minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and carrot and sauté for a further minute.

Then, stir in the ground beef, Italian sausage, parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Sauté until the meat has browned, using a spoon to break it down while it cooks. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato passata, and water (or broth), and mix well. Then cover and simmer over low for about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Prepare the Cheese Filling: When the meat sauce is almost ready, freshly shred the mozzarella and parmesan. Then combine them with the ricotta and egg in a bowl and mix well. Reserve some mozzarella to sprinkle on top of the lasagna.

Boil Lasagna Noodles: To cook the lasagna sheets until al dente, cook them according to their package instructions minus 1 minute. Mine called for 8-10 minutes in a large pot of salted water. Then, drain and rinse the noodles with cold water to halt the cooking process and arrange them individually in a large tray to prevent sticking.

You can skip this step if using no-boil lasagna as it doesn’t require pre-cooking.

Layer the Lasagna: Preheat the oven to 375 Fº/190ºC and grease a baking dish (9×13-inch) with oil or melted butter. To layer the lasagna, start with a layer of the meat sauce, lasagna sheets, and cheese mixture. Then repeat until all the mixture is used – about 4 layers. Finally, sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese over the top.

The exact amount of layers will depend on the size of the baking dish used. Feel free to cut the lasagna sheets to make them fit your dish.

Bake It: Bake the lasagna covered in foil for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes or until the top is golden, bubbly, and browned. For a more golden top, use the broiler for a minute or two at the end.

Rest the Serve: Finally, leave the lasagna to rest for about 20 minutes before serving. This not only allows more time for the flavors to meld, but it will set slightly, making it easier to slice. Optionally sprinkle it with some more parsley, then enjoy!

Make ahead method

This sausage and beef lasagna recipe is a super handy freezer meal and can be prepped in a couple of ways.

1. You can cook the lasagna meat sauce 2-3 days in advance and store it in the fridge (or freeze it), ready to assemble and bake the lasagna.
2. Assemble but don’t bake the lasagna and refrigerate it covered with plastic wrap for up to 2 days (or 2-3 months in the freezer – in a foil baking dish works well).

When you’re ready to bake, thaw it in the fridge overnight (if frozen), then leave it to come to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking as written.

If you try this easy classic lasagna recipe, let me know how it goes in the comments below. I’d appreciate a recipe card rating and would love to see your recipe recreations – tag me on Instagram @Alphafoodie!