Name: Homemade Lasagna Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 1 cup grated sharp cheddar; 1 cup grated mild cheddar ((or mozzarella)); 1 cup grated parmesan cheese; 9 oz. box lasagna noodles; 1 lb. ground turkey ((or beef)); 1 cup chopped red onions; 2 tbsp. oil; 1 tbsp. dried chives; 1 tbsp. dried parsley; 1 tbsp. ground rosemary; 1 tbsp. garlic powder; 1 tbsp. onion powder; 1 tbsp. dried thyme; 1/2 tsp. salt; 4 1/2 cups marinara ((or other tomato based sauce)); 1 cup chopped zucchini; 2 cups packed fresh spinach leaves

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This homemade lasagna recipe is absolute comfort food in a casserole dish.

At some point, we all need some comfort food. Like it or not, food can feel reassuring and relaxing when life goes sideways. If life is throwing you a curveball right now, a good, cheesy, homemade lasagna can be just the thing to help out in that department.

A square of this Homemade Lasagna Recipe sits on a white plate, showing off it's cheesy gooey-ness.

Homemade Lasagna Ingredients

Homemade lasagna is pretty versatile stuff. You can pick so many different veggies and sauces to use! Everything from butternut squash with white sauce (like this butternut squash lasagna) to mixed veggies and red sauce (like this vegetarian lasagna). This recipe leans more towards the traditional meat with veggies and red sauce.

The Meat

You can substitute beef here if you prefer it. I just personally don’t care for it much, so I don’t use it often. But it’s an easy substitution here in a 1:1 ratio.

The Sauce

The sauce you use should be one you really like. Mini Chef has a favorite marinara sauce, so I usually use that. But any tomato-based sauce will work here. So use what tastes best to you.

The Vegetables

The vegetables are interchangeable. I wanted to use mushrooms here, but didn’t have any. No big deal! Have carrots and yellow squash? Switch them out with the zucchini and spinach! No big deal! Almost any veggies you want to add here will be tasty. So use what you have, even if they are canned.

The Recipe Ingredients For Homemade Lasagna

Cheese Blend

Grated sharp cheddar
Grated mild cheddar (or mozzarella)
Grated parmesan cheese

Pasta

Lasagna noodles

Meat Filling

Ground turkey (or beef)
Chopped red onions
Oil
Dried chives
Dried parsley
Ground rosemary
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dried thyme
Salt
Marinara (or other tomato-based sauce)
Chopped zucchini
Packed fresh spinach leaves

A side view of this Homemade Lasagna Recipe shows the melted cheese oozing over the other ingredients in this single slice.

How To Make Homemade Lasagna

The trick to making lasagna easy is to look at your lasagna as having three sections. The pasta, the filling, and the cheese. Make your cheese blend first and set it aside. Then make the filling while the pasta cooks. This order will make things more efficient and keep everything organized. Once your three sections are ready, you’ll be ready to assemble the lasagna.

The Recipe Instructions For Homemade Lasagna

Cheese Blend

Mix the three cheeses together and set aside.

Pasta

Set to cook according to package directions.

Meat Filling

Brown the meat in the oil with the onions.

Once browned, stir in all the spices and salt.

Lastly, stir in the marinara, zucchini, and spinach.

Cook briefly until the spinach is just wilted. Don’t overcook the spinach. It’s okay if the veggies are not fully cooked at this point. They will finish in the oven.

Final Assembly

Preheat oven to 400 F.

An oven temperature display panel set to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Set yourself up so you have all three portions of your lasagna set up assembly style with your casserole dish at the end.

Spray the casserole dish and lay down your first layer of noodles.

First layers of homemade lasagna in a baking pan.

Layer on half of the meat filling and top that with a light coat of the cheese. (slightly less than 1/3)

Adding meat filling over lasagna noodles.

Top with noodles and repeat the last of the meat filling and cheese, again using slightly less than a 1/3 of the cheese blend.

A layer of cheese sprinkled over sauce in a lasgna pan.

Finish with noodles on top and the rest of the cheese on top.

A final sprinkle of cheese blend on top of the finished homemade lasagna.

*See notes above on using foil now or later.

Bake for 40 minutes.

*Again, see notes above on foil for properly finishing off your lasagna.

Remove the lasagna from the oven and allow it to cool a bit before cutting into it.

A serving of homemade lasagna on a white plate.

Serve with a green salad on the side for a complete meal.

Tips For The Final Layer

I always oil my casserole dish and put a layer of noodles down first. This is pretty traditional and keeps your lasagna together from the bottom. But the top layer has some wiggle room.

Always finish things off with a layer of noodles and top that with cheese. That’s a given. But at this point, you have two options…

The Foil

You can cover the casserole dish with foil that you remove in the last ten minutes of baking for a soft top, or you can leave the foil off until the last 20 minutes of cooking and then put the foil on at the end just to keep things from getting too brown. This will give you crunchy noodles on top.

I’ve made it both ways, and kids usually like the crunch factor. Adults, not so much. The choice is yours.

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