This is a favourite easy lasagne recipe, the original of which was passed on to me from my mum. I’ve modified it a bit over the years, arriving at the crowd-pleaser version I’m sharing with you here. I make this for dinner all the time.
This easy lasagne is the perfect meal to take around to a sick friend, drop off to a new mum or share with a bunch of friends for Friday night dinner. Everyone loves this lasagne. It’s a simple dish to make too.
Instead of a traditional béchamel sauce (which you can certainly use if you prefer), I simply add Mum’s easy cheese sauce. You can find the recipe here.
Easy lasagne recipe
Serves about 8
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 hour and 40 mins
- 500g of mince beef
- 1 onion chopped finely
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 bacon rashers
- 1 carrot grated
- 1 stick of celery – chopped finely
- 300g of mushrooms – chopped finely
- 440g tin of tomato soup
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1/4 cup of tomato relish
- 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
- 1 box of instant lasagne sheets
1. Place the chopped onion, crushed garlic and sliced bacon into a large saucepan. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the onion begins to turn translucent.
2. Add the mince beef and use a spoon to break up any lumps and mix in with the bacon and onion. Cook for a further 3 minutes or until the meat begins to brown.
3. Stir in the grated carrot, sliced celery and mushrooms and mix well to combine. Cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the carrot and celery begin to soften.
4. Add the tomato soup, tomato paste and tomato sauce along with the dried mixed herbs. Mix all of the ingredients together and reduce to a medium/low heat before covering your saucepan and cook for 35 minutes. Check every 10 minutes and give it a good stir.
5. In the meantime, make your cheese sauce by placing all of the ingredients into a small saucepan. Turn the heat onto medium and cook for approximate 7 minutes or until all the ingredients have combined and the cheese sauce begins to thicken.
6. Preheat your oven to 180ºC and take out a large lasagne dish.
7. Place a layer of pasta on the bottom of the dish and add ⅓ of the meat sauce. Place another layer of pasta on top before adding another ⅓ of the meat sauce on top. Repeat until you have used all of your meat sauce and have a layer of pasta on top.
8. Pour the cheese sauce over the layer of pasta on top and place the baking dish into the oven to cook for 35-40 minutes.
Freezes well for up to 3 months.
Do you have a family lasagne recipe? Try this one anyway!