Cheesy, gooey Lasagna with Meat Sauce is a total crowd-pleaser. Make it for a holiday potluck or assemble it ahead of time for an easy weeknight meal.
Happy November! This is one of my favorite times of the year. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, so I’ll share holiday recipes throughout the month that help me stay on track without feeling deprived.
So why am I posting a lasagna recipe?? If your family is anything like mine, Thanksgiving isn’t really a day–it’s more of a week. Maybe even two weeks? We usually have about 3-4 family functions to attend, and then we have a Friendsgiving. Turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes would get old real quick if we had them for every one of these meals.
Lasagna with Meat Sauce to the rescue! I know very few people who dislike lasagna, so it’s definitely a crowd-pleaser. Plus, it’s easy to assemble ahead of time so you’re not cooking all day. That means more time spent with your family.
This is also a great meal to prep ahead if people are staying in your house for multiple days. Since the leftovers get even better, and this makes a TON of food, you can serve a crowd multiple times over with this dish.
Here are the main ingredients that I use to lighten up this lasagna recipe:
- Whole wheat lasagna noodles soak up the sauce nicely and, thanks to those whole grains, you’ll feel full quicker. You could definitely try this with no-boil noodles to save a step, but that would add points. And those won’t layer as nicely as the cooked noddles will, but it will still taste great!
- Ground beef and turkey sausage give this a deep, complex flavor and added protein. I use 96/4 ground beef to keep the points low, along with hot Italian turkey sausage. The recipe calls for 8 ounces (half a pound), which I find is about 2 large raw links, casing removed. If you want to keep this vegetarian, you could omit the meat and use 16 ounces of mushrooms instead, chopped finely.
- Tomato paste and dry red wine make the meat sauce taste like it has cooked for hours. It’s a time-saving shortcut that also adds depth of flavor. But if you want to omit the wine, you could use beef stock and a splash of balsamic vinegar.
- Four cheeses! Ricotta, cottage cheese, mozzarella, and parmesan all meld together for creamy, rich layers between the noodles and all of that delicious meat sauce. It might sound weird to add cottage cheese (and I personally am not a fan of it normally), but it combines with the ricotta perfectly to add more cheese flavor with less fat. You really can’t tell it’s cottage cheese at all!
The result is a hefty casserole that tastes way more decadent than it really is. Serve it up with a side salad, and you’re good to go!
This does take quite a few more steps and dirtied-up pots than most recipes that I post here, but I think it’s totally worth it. Not only for special events, but especially as a comforting Sunday meal that gives you lots of leftovers throughout the week.
Can I Freeze Lasagna with meat sauce?
Yes! There are multiple ways to make this ahead or save leftovers.
- Assemble the entire casserole, but don’t cook it yet. Cover tightly with tin foil and freeze. The day before you’re ready to make it, move it to the refrigerator and let thaw for 24 hours.
- Freeze your already-cooked leftovers. When I make this for just me and Jeff, I’ll cook the entire casserole (yes, all 12 servings!). Then, I’ll freeze portions of two in a single container so we can defrost and reheat for a quick dinner in the future.
- Alternatively, if you want to try this but don’t want to make that many servings, you cut the recipe in half and assemble in an 8×8 pan. I’ve never done that, so I can’t vouch for the results.
I’d love to hear from you if you make this recipe! It makes my day when you share your pics on Instagram and tag me (@litecravings). Don’t forget to use #litecravingsrecipes to make sure I see it. If I don’t get a chance to scroll through my tags quickly enough, I won’t see your post. I always make a point to look through the hashtags, though, so I’ll see it there!
*Recipe adapted from Gimme Some Oven.
Lasagna with Meat Sauce
Ingredients
FOR THE MEAT SAUCE
- 16 ounces 96/4 ground beef
- 8 ounces raw Italian turkey sausage (sweet or hot), casing removed (about 2 large links)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning, divided
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp kosher salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup dry red wine, like Cabernet or Merlot (can use beef stock instead)
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes (or puree)
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 bay leaf
FOR THE CHEESE MIXTURE
- 1 16 ounce container 1% low fat cottage cheese
- 1 15 ounce container part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 tsp dried basil
FOR THE REST OF THE CASSEROLE
- 9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 1 1/2 cups reduced fat, shredded mozzarella cheese
- parsley to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package direction, but reduce time by 2 minutes. My package says to boil for 10-12 minutes, so I cook mine for 8 minutes. You want them to be underdone so the noodles don't get mushy as it cooks in the oven.
- In a very large skillet or stockpot greased with cooking spray, crumble in the beef and sausage and cook over medium-high heat. Add in the onion, garlic, 1 tsp of italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp of kosher salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Cook until meats are browned and onion is soft, about 8 minutes.
- Add in the tomato paste and red wine. Cook until wine has evaporated and the paste has soaked into the meat, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in both cans of tomatoes, along with the bay leaf, remaining 2 tsp Italian seasoning, and remaining 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Bring everything to a simmer, reduce meat to medium-low, and cook until sauce is slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your liking. Set aside.
- While the sauce is cooking, make the cheese mixture. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, ricotta, egg, dried basil, and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (save 2 tbsp parmesan for the top of the casserole).
- Now it's time to assemble the lasagna! Spray a 13×9 casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread 1 1/2 cup of meat sauce evenly over the bottom of the dish. Top with 3 lasagna noodles. They should cover the entire bottom of the dish.
- Top lasagna noodles with 1/3 of the cheese mixture and spread evenly. To get an even spread, I dollop tablespoon fulls over the noddles, then smooth out with a spatula.
- Top your cheese mixture with 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, then top evenly with 1/3 of the remaining meat sauce mixture.
- Add 3 more lasagna noddles on top of sauce. Then repeat–1/3 of the cheese mixture, 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/3 of the meat sauce.
- Final layer! Add the last three noodles, the rest of the cheese mixture, and the rest of the meat sauce.
- Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 tbsp parmesan.
- Now you're ready to cook! Or, if you want to make it later, you can let it cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, or freeze and defrost to cook later (see recipe notes).
- Cover tightly with tinfoil. To make sure that the foil doesn't stick to the cheese, spray the side that will face the cheese with cooking spray. Then lightly tent foil over the casserole and pinch it down around the sides of the dish.
- Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove foil and raise heat to broil. Cook until cheese is bubbly and slightly brown, about 2-4 minutes depending on your broiler. If you don't have a broiler, just continue to cook at 375, uncovered, for about 15-20 more minutes.
- I know you've taken a long time to get to this point, and you'll be tempted to eat this right away. Don't do it! Let it cool, uncovered, for at least 15 minutes, though 30 minutes is ideal. If you try to serve it too quickly, it will be a sloppy mess. Resting gives it all time to set.
- Cut into 12 squares (2 even cuts length-wise and 3 even cuts the other way). Enjoy your hard work!
This was so delicious! I used no boil noodles, ground 98% turkey instead of ground beef and Frigo “Light” Ricotta and it came out to 7 points per 1/9th of the pan. My lasagna-hating family LOVED this.
Awesome! Love how you were able to make the recipe work for you. 🙂
Wow, I made this tonight and this was truly unbelievable!!! I added some fresh mushrooms to the meat sauce and some spinach to the cheese mixture to give it a little more veggies, but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. The sauce is so delicious and you are right that it tastes like sauce that was cooked for hours, just because of the quarter cup of red wine. YUMMY! I waited the 15 minutes after it came out of the oven, but not a minute more. I was too excited. Now I have this for days to come. Thank YOU!!!!
I’m so happy you loved it so much, Allie! Haha I have a hard time waiting the full 15 minutes, too.
Absolutely loved this! My husband didnt believe me when I said it was WW friendly. Great flavor and excellent directions!
Yay so happy to hear this!!
I have a lasagna recipe that is legendary in our household. I just made yours and it was just as good and so much better for you! I’ll be making it from now on. Thank you so much for all your amazing recipes! I’ve never made one I didn’t love.
What a wonderful compliment! Thank you, Laura 🙂 My goal is always to lighten up favorite recipes without sacrificing flavor/quality, so I love hearing that it’s comparable to your legendary recipe 😀
Just made this and it’s delicious!!! I just have a question, I seemed to have sooo much of the cheese mixture left over. I only used 1/3 cup per layer. At the end it said “use the rest of the cheese mixture” but it was wayyyyy more than 1/3 cup. What did I do wrong? 🧐 Thanks!
Hi Melissa – I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the lasagna! I think that the mixup may have come from using only 1/3 cup of cheese mix per layer. The cheese mixture is meant to be divided into thirds (1/3 of total cheese mixture per layer). Hope that helps!
Probably the best lasagna I’ve ever made. This will be my new go to recipe. No one would ever know it’s a healthy version.