Lasagna Bolognese Bechamel Recipe

This lasagna is life changing. It’s saucy and meaty, and has a garlic parmesan infused béchamel sauce that’s incredible. I have never made this for anyone and not had them swoon. It needs a bit of prep work, but it is so worth the effort. Leftovers taste even better!

This recipe is more typical to lasagna we make in the Middle East than the American style lasagna that has ricotta cheese. I prefer this version a 100 times over. The béchamel is so creamy and smooth and keeps the lasagna from drying out. It’s not at all gritty like ricotta based lasagnas can be.

It does require a bit of leg work, especially in whisking that béchamel (rather, I should say arm work), but it’s very easy in it’s steps. What I like to do is double the recipe, prepare two pans of lasagna, bake one for dinner and freeze one for emergencies. It’s the happiest thing in the world to discover a frozen lasagna just waiting to be baked into golden bubbly deliciousness.

The Best Bolognese Lasagna

Prepare the lasagna as detailed in the recipe, right down to the mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top, but stop there. Don’t bake it, just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and aluminium foil and place it in the freezer. It will stay good in the freezer for 3-4 months.

The day before you want to make this, thaw it overnight in the freezer. The day of baking, you’ll bake it just like detailed in the recipe, but you may need to add an extra 10-15 minutes.

The meat sauce: Starts off with an onion that’s been cooked, and you’ll add your ground beef and lots of seasoning to this. I add all spice, cinnamon, salt, pepper, garlic powder as well as fresh minced garlic. Very similar to how I start all my spiced beef dishes. To turn this into a sauce, we add the canned tomato sauce, tomato paste, some brown sugar and hot water. This simmers away for 30 minutes developing a deep rich flavor. While this is cooking, you can start on your béchamel:

Classic Lasagna With Béchamel

The béchamel: Flour and butter is whisked together and heated until it turns golden brown. Whole milk and heavy cream (so indulgent but so worth it) are warmed then added to the flour/butter. The reason for heating them is so the sauce will thicken faster. Even then, you’ll need a good 10 minutes of whisking over low heat. To infuse this white sauce with even more flavor, fresh garlic and nutmeg are added, as well as some salt and pepper. Once the sauce has formed a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese goes in.

To assemble: You’ll need dry lasagna noodles. Always get the no boil type to make your life much easier, you’ll layer the dry ones in directly into your baking pan. The layers of our lasagna go like this:

Don’t worry about getting the layers perfect. Spread everything out as best as you can but in the end it’s all going to get mixed together into saucy and delicious perfection!

Classic Lasagna With Bechamel Sauce

You haven't had lasagna till you've had this. A saucy meaty lasagna with a homemade garlic parmesan bechamel- my favorite homemade dish ever!Whilst it requires a bit of planning and time the perfect meaty lasagna is easy to make and all of the elements can be prepared separately and be put together later.

Lasagna means many things to many people and folk love nothing better than to argue about food, but life is way too short for that as far as I am concerned.

There are many Italian Lasagna variations, some contain boiled egg and some are not even baked. That is before we consider all the other modern global variants.

Classic Lasagna Bolognese Recipe

Absolutely, I rarely make this recipe in a single session! I usually make a much larger version of the ragu in the slow cooker, (see my video below). I have also added the recipe for my slow cooker version below the recipe for the lasagna Bolognese.

In theory yes although I am not keen on doing this. When the bechamel sauce cools it forms a skin, you can reheat and stir this in but it always leads to some lumps in the sauce.

It is important to ensure that there is no air between the cling film is in contact with the sauce. This reduces the amount of skin formed.

No Boil Lasagna Bechamel With Mushroom Bolognese

Yes, it will be fine in the fridge for a day or two before baking in the oven. Cover the bowl with cling film and try and remove it from the fridge for around an hour before baking.

The first is to let it cool a little before you serve it, don’t worry it stays hot for a long time, this is the same advice that I give in my beef cannelloni recipe.

Yes, it is fine in the fridge for 3-4 days and will freeze reasonably well for 3 months. Defrost before reheating in a moderate oven, although you should be aware that it does dry out a little.

Lasagna Bolognese With Béchamel

I tend to serve my lasagna bolognese with a pretty light leaf salad. Ingredients like frisee, rocket (arugula) and watercress add a lovely peppery background note.

I only name-check brands of equipment if I think they make a material difference to a recipe. If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.

A traditional lasagna bolognese is nothing short of a masterclass in comfort food, pasta, bechamel, Parmesan and a trad bolognese ragu layered and baked to perfection.

Béchamel Sauce For Lasagne Recipe

You will have some left over bolognese sauce from this recipe, it is very difficult to make a small batch. Freeze it iand eat it later with pasta, in a toastie or on a baked potato!

If you made this recipe, I'd love to see what you did and what I can do better, share a picture with me on Instagram and tag me @brian and tell me how it went!

Thia is not what I think of when I think lasagna, and that makes me want itall the more! I wish I could stick a fork right in my computer screen and grab a bite!

Authentic Italian Lasagna Bolognese Recipe

Cheers Jeff, I love how a classic recipe in one part of the world is completely different elsewhere, I would love to see what Lasagne is like in your part of the world... I have got a few versions of the dish and they are all very different and there is always room to add another :DIf you’re looking for the BEST Classic Lasagna Bolognese recipe straight from Italy, this is the recipe for you. It is loaded with perfectly cooked lasagna pasta, homemade bolognese and béchamel sauce, mozzarella, and Parmigiano cheeses for an unbelievable classic Italian lasagna recipe!

Also, try Authentic Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna with Tomato Sauce. See this post for What to Serve with Lasagna (50 Best Side Dishes).

This is a classic Italian lasagna recipe (lasagne al forno) that my Italian family has made for generations. I know you will love it too! I wrote a story about my love for lasagna here: Sunday Story: Lasagna Love.

Lasagna Bolognese With Bechamel Sauce

You may also want to try these recipes: Authentic Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna (Vegetarian), Polpette Con Sugo (Italian meatballs in tomato sauce), and BEST Italian Beef Short Rib Ragu and Baked Eggplant Slices Recipe with Ricotta Cheese.

Lasagna Bolognese includes only fresh egg pasta, Bolognese ragù (slow-cooked meat sauce), creamy béchamel (white sauce), and plenty of grated Parmigiano cheese.

This lasagna recipe is my Nonna Laura's recipe that I grew up eating at large tables filled with family, love, and loud laughter. I hope you love it as much as I do!

How To: Lasagna Bolognese

1 - Make sure the salted water is at a roaring boil before adding the lasagna noodles. This will make sure the pasta cooks evenly and has plenty of room to swim so it doesn't stick.

2 - Cook the pasta until al dente (a little undercooked- see photo). If the pasta is overcooked they are more likely to stick together and get mushy.

3 - Make sure to put the lasagna noodles on a clean tea towel and cover them while you are waiting to layer them in the lasagna pan.

Classic Recipe For Lasagna Recipe

2. Add the first layer of pasta (lasagna noodles). Depending on the exact shape of the pan you may need to cut the ends to fit the pan.

6. Repeat the process until all the layers are complete. Finish the final layer with bechamel sauce and extra parmigiano cheese (and mozzarella, if desired). Bake to perfection!

In short, one uses ricotta, and the other uses bechamel sauce. Instead of thick layers of ricotta and mozzarella cheese, lasagne alla bolognese features delicate layers ofpasta noodles coated in a luxurious mix of hearty ragù bolognese (slow-cooked meat sauce) and creamy béchamel (white sauce).

Easy Lasagna Bolognese Recipe

This authentic Italian Lasagna Bolognese recipe is different from the most common version, commonly found in the United States, made with layers of meat sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese. The Italian version is lighter and more wholesome, in my opinion.

And grated Parmigiano cheese are common in both recipes. Using a homemade ragu meat sauce