Best Easy Baked Lasagna for Family Gatherings

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Easy Baked Lasagna with Meat Sauce

by Erica Gamboa

Easy and simple semi-homemade lasagna made quickly with the help of a few store bought ingredients, like jarred marinara sauce and pre-sherdded mozzarella cheese. Assembled in layers of al dente lasagna noodles, hearty meat sauce, and creamy ricotta cheese filling. And topped with whole milk mozzarella cheese and baked until golden brown with crispy edges.

Servings: 15
Difficulty: Easy
PREP TIME: 20 minutes + COOK TIME: 40 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

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DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

Lasagna always reminds me of living at home with my parents. The first time I made lasagna was for my little brothers when I was left in charge. My dad was on the road a lot, and to be honest, pasta would be the last thing he would want to eat anyway. My mom worked and went to school in the evenings, and my sister was already out of the house, so it was just me and the boys for dinner.

If I’m being honest, I had no idea what I was doing; my mother never cooked pasta for dinner. I had it a few times at restaurants as a young adult, but to say that I even knew what to put in it would be a lie. There was no internet to use as a resource for recipes; if you didn’t have a recipe card or cookbook, you pretty much were left to your own cooking expertise.

A Trip to Ralph’s

So away I went to the Ralph’s market that was up the street. I went straight to the pasta and sauce aisle, stood there and stared at everything (for an eternity it felt like), and I tried to figure it all out in my head. I knew I needed lasagna noodles and sauce, so I grabbed what I thought looked the best and started walking away with those two ingredients, and I must have looked like a lost puppy because this lovely older lady asked me what I was making. I told her lasagna; she wanted to know how I was going to make it. I told her the truth—that I had no idea and that I was hoping to get the recipe off the package of noodles.

Next thing I knew, this angel of a woman walked me through step by step on how to make her recipe for lasagna, and she walked back over to the pasta and sauce and pulled her favorites, handed them to me, and said, “Here, use these.” She gave me her easy, semi-homemade version, and she even suggested I use the new no boil noodles instead; I didn’t even have to boil the noodles! How much easier could it get than that? Bless her heart! I went home and made the best lasagna ever, and I was a rock star in the boys’ eyes; they loved it and devoured every last bite of it for days until it was all gone.

Twenty Years Later

It’s been more than 20 years, and I still think of her every time I make lasagna. Now, I’ve made lasagna so many different ways, added my own twist to things, used different noodles and fillings, etc. I’ve made meat sauces and white sauces, even an all vegetable lasagna, and they’re all great, but this one is the tried and true, easiest, and most delicious.

It may not be traditional and labor some; I have through the years made those versions as well, but this one fits into my life just right, and my family absolutely loves it! Looking at this lasagna, you would think that I spent hours cooking; it’s beautiful! It’s brown and bubbly, with the most delicious crispy edges, which are my favorite part.

Some people love the middle slices, but I am an edge slice kind of gal. I love me some crispy edge lasagna, those cheesy brown edges that are so yummy! It’s a cozy, comforting, one dish meal that makes enough to feed an army! It’s the perfect potluck dish to take to your next gathering, and with the holidays around the corner, it’s a great way to bring a main dish to the party without all the hassle or labor. I hope you give it a try, and if you love it as much as I do, please pass the recipe along to someone. You never know if 20 years down the road, you might be that person they will still be talking about with the great lasagna recipe.

Happy eating, from my kitchen to yours.

Easy Baked Lasagna with Meat Sauce

BY ERICA GAMBOA

Baked Lasagna photo by Crafter Chef — ^{Image: Crafter Chef}

Easy and simple semi-homemade lasagna made quickly with the help of a few store bought ingredients, like jarred marinara sauce and pre-shredded mozzarella cheese. Assembled in layers of al dente lasagna noodles, hearty meat sauce, and creamy ricotta cheese filling. And topped with whole milk mozzarella cheese and baked until golden brown with crispy edges.

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Servings: 15 | Difficulty: Easy

PREP TIME: 20 minutes + COOK TIME: 40 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

Kitchen tools you will need:

13 x 9 baking dish
Large pasta pot
Large skillet
Baking sheet

Ingredients:

32 oz. lasagna noodles, either boil or no boil
1 lb. ground pork. *Any ground meat will work as well, chicken, turkey, or beef
1 lb. ground mild Italian sausage *you can use all 2 lbs. Italian sausage.
2 -16 oz. jar Marinara sauce *Reserve 1/3 cup of sauce for lining the baking dish.
2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
32 oz. whole ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp Italian herbs
3 cups shredded whole mozzarella cheese

*1 tbs half & half is optional to loosen the ricotta mixture if it is too tight.

SHOP RECIPE INGREDIENTS FOR HOME DELIVERY

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Directions:

PREP

Fill the large pasta pot with water and bring to a boil. 
In the meantime, in a large skillet, sauté the ground meat for 5 minutes, then add onions and garlic and sauté for another 5 minutes.  
Add the jar marinara sauce and simmer for 10 more minutes, remove from heat and set aside. 
Add a good amount of salt to the boiling water 
Add 1 tbsp of vegetable or olive oil to the water and stir 
Add pasta and boil for no more than 8 minutes; the pasta should be underdone. 
Remove the pasta from the water and place the cooked lasagna noodles flat on a baking sheet. 
In a mixing bowl, add ricotta, eggs, Parmesan cheese, Italian herbs, salt, and pepper and mix well until creamy and well incorporated. *Use the half & half to loosen the mixture if it is too tight to spread.

Assembling the Lasagna

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a 13 x 9 baking dish, add 1/3 cup of reserved sauce.
Layer the bottom of the baking dish with one even layer of noodles, you may slightly overlap them just to ensure that there are no gaps.
Add 1/3 of the ricotta mixture to this layer of noodles and spread evenly to cover the noodles.
Add 1/3 of the meat sauce and spread gently, being careful not to disrupt the layer of ricotta. *Each layer should keep its integrity.
Sprinkle 1 cup of shredded mozzarella to cover the layer of meat sauce.
Repeat the layers; these layers should repeat at least three times according to these measurements.
For the last layer, the mozzarella cheese should be sprinkled on top as the last layer.
Place the lasagna dish on the baking sheet in case there are any drippings or spills.
Place the lasagna into the oven and bake for 40 minutes. *Do not cover with foil; the lasagna will cook just perfectly without being covered, and this will also produce the most delicious, brown, crispy edges.
Serve immediately or let it stand for a few minutes; the lasagna will be perfectly set directly out of the oven.

Tips:

Boiled or no-boiled pasta?
The most important part of a lasagna are the noodles, of course; they are what make the dish what it is. It’s the most unique pasta there is, if you ask me; its shape and texture are perfect to hold these fillings together.

As I mentioned, there are no boil noodles out there now, sheets of dry pasta that are so thin they require no boiling. They do save you on that extra step in the prep process, but that means you’ll have to use more sauce and bake the lasagna longer in order for the noodles to cook through.

I have found that this sometimes makes the lasagna a bit too saucy and soggy. It does work well as I said, but after making this recipe the other night and going back to the traditional lasagna pasta, I prefer the toothy al dente bite that this noodle has verses the thin, no-boil pasta. In the end, it all boils down to preference, but this version gives the lasagna that perfect texture and bite. It’s hearty and holds up really well to the fillings, absorbing any excess moisture, making this lasagna the easiest to cut into squares and serve immediately without falling apart or needing time to set and rest.

Preparation Process

Overall, you will be skipping one step in the preparation process, cutting down about 12 to 15 minutes in the beginning, but you’ll be adding about 30 more minutes of baking time, plus time for it to set up so you can cut a clean and neat slice of lasagna. Just a few pros and cons to consider depending on your cooking style and patience.

Notes

Lasagna Leftovers

Lasagna is probably one of my favorite dishes to have as leftovers. For starters, even with a big family like ours, we always have plenty of leftovers. Usually they don’t last long, but if Hailey is in the house, she can eat this every day! But on occasion I have too much left, and I have portioned out individual servings and put each slice in a meal prep-size container and put it in the freezer for another day. It is a great meal to pull out of the freezer to enjoy a wholesome and delicious dinner on a night when you just can get into the kitchen to cook. Thaw it out completely and microwave or place the leftover lasagna on a baking sheet and bake until heated all the way through.

Make Ahead and Freeze

It is a fantastic idea to make this ahead and freeze the entire baking dish of lasagna as well. Just pull it out of the freezer and thaw completely, bake as directed, and serve when you are ready. This makes a great dish to take to that friend or family member that has been recovering from an illness or a new mom that has just had her baby. It’s comforting and delicious, and anyone would absolutely love to have this for dinner when they just can’t get dinner on the table.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving

Calories per serving: 645

Servings: 15