The Best Easy Lasagna Recipe (No ricotta No Cottage Cheese)

Ingredients needed

For the meat sauce

1. ground beef ground pork mix (mince beef/ pork mix)- you can use all ground beef if you prefer
2. olive oil
3. yellow onions
4. mushrooms- you can adapt this recipe to use a pound of ground beef and stretch the rest of the meat sauce with the mushrooms
5. garlic- I've used fresh but you can substitute garlic powder onion powder- is optional, but goes well if you're using garlic powder too.
6. bay leaf- optional but a traditional flavor in Italian recipes
7. dried oregano
8. dried basil
9. tomato paste
10. red wine- optional
11. beef stock- made with a stock cube
12. chopped tomatoes
13. red wine vinegar
14. uncooked lasagna noodles- we're using no-boil lasagna sheets instead of regular lasagna noodles to keep it nice and easy.

For the bechamel sauce

1. butter
2. milk
3. flour

For the cheese layer

1. Gruyere cheese
2. mozzarella cheese

I know this seems like a lot of ingredients for an easy meat lasagna recipe, but most of the ingredients are pantry staples that you probably already have anyway.

See the recipe card for quantities.

The best lasagna recipe ever- step by step

Make the meat mixture

1. heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or a large pot.
2. Brown ground beef over medium-high heat. Cook until the meat is deep golden brown and crispy.
3. pro tip- don't worry about the meat being crispy. We want to add lots of flavor, which the browning process does and the meat gets tossed with the marinara sauce so it's very moist.

Set the meat aside while you make the pasta sauce.

To make the tomato sauce

1. Add a little bit more oil to the pan if you need to. Gently fry the onions and mushrooms until they are golden for about 10 minutes.
2. Add in the garlic, herbs, and tomato paste. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil. Let the wine bubble for about 3-5 minutes.
3. Pour in the stock and chopped tomatoes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook gently, partially covered, for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick.

Making the bechamel sauce

1. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat.
2. Stir in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. *Pro-tip- take your time with this step. If the raw flour taste is not eliminated, it will carry through to the finished sauce.
3. Add in a pinch of nutmeg or mixed spice- this is a very traditional flavor in white sauces for lasagna. The flavor goes very well with the meat sauce. *This is a secret ingredient that makes a big difference.
4. Whisk in the milk and simmer until you have a perfect creamy texture. The sauce needs to be thick enough to hold a ribbon on top. *see photo

Assembling the lasagna

The easiest way to layer-

• start with a single layer of meat sauce in the bottom of the pan,
• followed by a layer of uncooked noodles,
• a layer of bechamel sauce
• then the cheese.

Then repeat layers. Prepared sauce- noodles- bechamel- cheese- repeat 3 times until the remaining sauce is used. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes. Use a small paring knife to check if the lasagna sheets are cooked. When they're done, the knife will go into the lasagna without resistance.