This is my mother’s unique homemade lasagna recipe, which features a filling that is wonderfully cheesy and a meaty, homemade tomato sauce. Ricotta would be used in a more conventional homemade lasagna filling, but my mom’s recipe asks for a combination of small-curd cottage cheese and Parmesan. No better have I come across anyplace. Serve with garlic bread and a fresh green salad.
| Prep Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch lasagna |
Ingredients
- ½ pound ground pork
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- ½ cup minced onion
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon white sugar
- 1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles
- 1 pound small-curd cottage cheese
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (16 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Combine pork and ground beef in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat; cook and stir until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, garlic, basil, salt, oregano, and sugar. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
- While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- While the noodles are cooking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Mix cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, remaining 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until combined.
- Assemble lasagna: Spread a spoon or two of sauce over the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish just to to coat it. Place two layers of noodles over the sauce to cover. Layer with 1/2 of the cheese mixture, 1/2 of the remaining sauce, and 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers once more using the remaining noodles, cheese mixture, sauce, and mozzarella. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until cheese is golden brown, 5 to 10 more minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
- Feel free to substitute ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese for a more traditional cheese filling. You can also add layers of veggies (such as spinach and mushrooms) when layering your lasagna.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 638 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 54 g |
| Cholesterol | 161 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 46 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 2053 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
The recipe was easy in it self. I added chorizo to the recipe for a little bit of spice and flavor
Added mushrooms and more onions
Delicious!
I really like this recipe! I added a little (1/2c) red wine to the meat and added some asiago cheese to the egg and cottage cheese mixture for a little kick, you know? Turned out fabulous. No leftovers!!
Everybody loved it! The alterations I made, because I didn’t have quite enough cottage cheese was adding mozzarella pearls to the cottage cheese mixture. Made it so melty! I also only added about a half a teaspoon of salt. I can my own Italian tomato mix and then to thicken the sauce up a little bit I used a can of tomato paste. We all like the noodles to be a little firmer, so I don’t pre-cook them.
We loved the mild flavor and texture. I did not use the eggs and I used grass fed ground beef. I also used ricotta cheese and added sauteed mushrooms and spinach into the layers. I used extra garlic and extra of all the herbs and no salt whatsoever. I also do not eat processed sugar, so I shredded a carrot into the sauce. Yum!
Good lasagna but much too salty. I doesn’t even add the salt to the cheese mixture and it was still too salty. Be cautious. I used dried parsley instead of fresh as well.
I substituted ground turkey for the pork, lower in fat for pancreatitis …. Added spinach …. Made my own lasagna noodles ….. (I love fresh made pasta) …. This recipe was perfect. This photo was taken right before removing the foil cover & browning the cheese on top.
Great choice with using cottage cheese. I have always used it in everyone of my pans.
This my go to recipe.. it is always a hit and simply delicious.
Lasagna is a 2-day recipe for me: sauce is made on day 1, and recipe is finished, assembled, and baked the 2nd day. Sauce turned out very well, but I did adapt to our tastes a bit. Substituted a can of El Pato Hot Tomato Sauce (was a great addition and another layer of flavor), added a few fennel seeds, a glug of red wine, and bumped up the basil and oregano (all personal taste). I know, I know, I changed it, but lasagna is a lot of work, this was fairly expensive, and I didn’t want any flavor issues; I know our taste preferences. When boiling your noodles, count out 12, don’t add the 16-oz box because I did so, and ended up throwing away 7 noodles which weren’t needed. Could be the cottage cheese has a bit more moisture than ricotta, but I used it, and although it tasted really good, it took longer to bake than the timing in the recipe. I’m happy with the way this turned out, but I must say that I still prefer Italian sausage over ground pork.
Way, way too much salt and I didn’t use as much as the recipe called for, it ruined the whole dish.
Great tasty lasagna. My family loved it.
It was most helpful and I learned a lot from it.
Loved the lasagna but I didn’t use the eggs. I also soaked the noodles in hot water for 20 minutes and they were cooked through perfectly. I added additional seasoning to the sauce and extra fresh basil.
This turned out great! I substituted medium hot salsa for tomato sauce, and Italiano four cheese for parmesan. I was very happy with the result.
One of the absolute best lasagna recipes I have came across by far. The only thing I do differently really is instead of sausage I use 2lbs hamburger meat. My family loves this recipe.
Came out great
bland no flavor.
this turned out so good and easy to make
I used the recipe as a guide and had to change a lot of things because I didn’t have all the ingredients. It was great in spite of it all!