Lasagna Bolognese with B茅chamel Sauce is luscious and comforting, and great for any friend or family gathering. The slow-cooked sauce may be a labor-of-love, but it’s well worth the effort.
Ingredient Notes
Meat- I love using a combination of pork, beef and pancetta. It’s also great with half beef, half veal or all ground beef.
Tomatoes- I love the rich, sweet flavor from using all tomato paste as the base of the sauce, as opposed to canned whole or crushed tomatoes.
Wine- I use white wine in this recipe for tradition’s sake, but red wine is a great option too.
Milk- I use a bit of milk in the sauce which adds some creaminess and cuts the acidity of the tomatoes. As an alternative, you can omit the milk and stir in some heavy cream at the end.
Mozzarella- I like a bit of gooey, cheesiness to my Lasagna with bolognese and b茅chamel sauces, but some people leave it out of this type of lasagna. The choice is yours.
Recipe Steps
To make Lasagna Bolognese with B茅chamel sauce, first make the bolognese sauce. You can cook the sauce a few days in advance or even further in advance if you freeze it until you’re ready to cook the lasagna.
To make the sauce, brown the meat and transfer it to a plate. Then cook the carrots, celery and onion. Add the garlic and tomato paste. Add the wine and reduce it. Add the milk and stock or water. Add back the meat along with bay leaves and whole cloves and simmer for about 2-3 hours or until the flavor fully develops. For step by step photos of the bolognese sauce, check out my spaghetti bolognese post.
Next, make the b茅chamel sauce. Cook the flour and butter together to form a roux (1). Then, gradually whisk in warmed milk. Cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7-10 minutes. Season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg (2).
Meanwhile, grate the mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano cheeses, and cook the lasagna noodles (3). Assessable the lasagna in a 9×13 inch baking pan. Spread a thin layer of bolognese on the bottom (4). Top with a layer of noodles followed by bolognese, b茅chamel, mozzarella and parmesan (5-8). Repeat with remaining ingredients. On the top layer of noodles, spread the remaining b茅chamel and parmesan (9).
Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 50-60 minutes or until bubbly and hot all the way through (10). Allow to cool and set before serving.
Recipe Tips and FAQs
- Feel free to prepare the bolognese up to 3 days in advance and store it in the refrigerator. You can also make it weeks in advance and store it in the freezer.
- The b茅chamel sauce can be made 1-2 days in advance, as well.
- You can prepare the bolognese as directed or with all ground beef, or a combo of pork, beef and/or veal.
You can definitely use pork mince or ground pork in lasagna. You can use all pork, or a combination of pork, beef and/or veal.
Lasagna noodles will soften and cook more in the oven. I recommend cooking them approximately half way through (4-5 minutes for dry noodles) so that they are not overcooked by the time the lasagna is ready.
Yes, lasagna freezes well. Wrap individual portions in plastic and store in freezer bags for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or oven.
Related Recipes
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- Bucatini All’Amatriciana
- Italian Broccoli Pasta
- Italian Instant Pot Meatballs in Sauce
- Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta
- Pasta with Peas and Pancetta
- Pasta with Mushrooms and Prosciutto
- Penne Alla Vodka
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Lasagna Bolognese with Bechamel Sauce
- Total Time: 5 hours
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
Description
Lasagna Bolognese is luscious and comforting, and great for any friend or family gathering. The slow-cooked sauce is well worth the effort.
Ingredients
Bolognese:
- 录 cup聽extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
- 1lb ground pork
- 1lb ground beef
- 4oz聽pancetta
- 1 large onion
- 4聽medium carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed in press or finely minced
- 6oz (10 tbsp)聽tomato paste
- 1 cup dry white wine聽
- 1 cup聽whole milk
- 1 cup chicken stock, beef stock, veal stock or water
- 2 bay leaves
- 3–4聽whole cloves
- 戮 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
B茅chamel:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 录 cup flour
- 4 cups whole milk
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- Kosher salt and white pepper
For assembly:
- 1lb dry lasagna noodles
- 1lb mozzarella cheese, grated
Instructions
- Grind pancetta:聽Cube pancetta and place into a food processor. Pulse until finely ground. Do not bother to clean before grinding vegetables in step 3.
- Brown meat: Heat a Dutch oven or large sauce pot over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil followed by pork, beef and pancetta. Spread in an even layer. Cook undisturbed for 7-10 minutes or until well-browned on bottom side. Flip in large chunks using a spatula. Season. Cook undisturbed for at least 6-8 minutes or until browned on opposite side and cooked through. Break up into smaller pieces using a wooden spoon. Transfer meat to a bowl, reserving oil in pan.
- Grind vegetables:聽While meat browns, cut onion, carrots and celery into 1-2 inch chunks. Transfer to food processor, in batches, as needed. Pulse until finely ground, but do not puree.
- Cook soffritto:聽Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to pan. Add ground onion, carrots and celery. Season generously with salt. Cook for at least 25-30 minutes to upwards of 1 hour until vegetables release all of their moisture and become sweet and flavorful. Add an additional tablespoon of oil, as needed, so the vegetables do not get dry or burned. Lower heat to medium-low when needed to prevent browning.
- Add garlic and tomato paste:聽Add minced garlic and cook 30-60 seconds, making sure not to brown. Add tomato paste and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 7-10 minutes or until it becomes a rust color.
- Add remaining ingredients and simmer:聽Add wine and reduce by half, about 5 minutes. Add milk, stock, bay leaf and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 2 陆 to 3 陆 hours or until richly flavored. Break up meat more, as needed, while sauce cooks. Add water as needed throughout cooking process to prevent sauce from becoming too thick and burning on bottom. When fully cooked, remove bay leaf and cloves from sauce and discard.
- Make b茅chamel: While sauce simmers, prepare the b茅chamel. Warm milk in a pot. In another pot, melt butter over medium heat. When foaming, stir in flour. Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in a 陆 cup of warmed milk at a time until combined. Simmer for 7-10 minutes or until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper (or black pepper).
- Boil noodles:聽Bring a large, wide pot of salted water to boil. Add lasagna sheets in batches and cook until pliable yet 3-4 undercooked. If the package directions recommend 8 minutes, I cook the noodles for 4-5 minutes. Drain and lay out in layers on a baking sheet between silicon mats or parchment paper.
- Assemble and bake:聽Preheat oven to 350掳F. For assembly, grease a 13×9 inch baking dish with oil. Ladle in a thin layer of bolognese to coat the bottom of the pan. Place a layer of lasagna noodles, followed by bolognese, a layer of bechamel, a sprinkling of mozzarella and about 2 tablespoons of so of parmesan. Repeat with remaining noodles for a total of 4 or 5 layers. Coat the top layer with b茅chamel and the remaining parmesan. Bake uncovered on the center rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Cover pan during last 10-20 minutes of baking if topping reaches desired golden color.
- Serve:聽Allow lasagna to rest about 20-30 minutes before serving. Enjoy.
Notes
- Feel free to prepare the bolognese up to 3 days in advance and store it in the refrigerator. You can also make it weeks in advance and store it in the freezer.
- The b茅chamel sauce can be made 1-2 days in advance, as well.
- You can prepare the bolognese as directed or with all ground beef, or a combo of pork, beef and/or veal.聽
- Lasagna freezes well. Wrap individual portions in plastic and store in freezer bags for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or oven.
- Feel free to use fresh pasta instead of dried. Roughly 3 cups of flour should produce the desired amount of fresh lasagna noodles. Reduce cooking time, as needed.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice (1/16 of lasagna)
- Calories: 420
- Sugar: 7g
- Sodium: 400mg
- Fat: 17g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 33g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 29g
- Cholesterol: 59mg
Forgive me but when do you put the meat in?
Hi Maria. In step 2 of the recipe card (“brown meat”) near the bottom of the page, it explains how to brown the meat. In step 9 (“assemble and bake”), I talk about how to layer everything including the cooked meat sauce aka bolognese. Does that answer your question?
I didn鈥檛 grow up with this version of lasagna, but I most say I love it!
Thank you!
Hello I have tried lots of your recipes and truly LOVE THEM ALL. So easy to make. Thank you. For this one I have a question. Do you boil the lasagna sheets before layering? It says fresh sheets so im confused. Probably a dumb question.
Thank you so much! That’s so sweet. I apologize for not responding sooner! I do boil the lasagna sheets, yes! The recipe calls for 1lb of lasagna noodles, sorry if I didn’t specify dried! Step #6 includes pasta cooking directions. If you use fresh noodles, only boil them for maybe 20-30 seconds. The noodles should be about 2 minutes short of al dente, because they will continue cooking in the oven. Let me know if you get a chance to try the recipe or if you have already!
Me and my friends will have a lasagna party this weekend and we ll be making 2 lasagnas: one vegetarian and one following your recipe! Do you think we could cook them in the oven both at once? I m really excited to try this recipe it looks beautiful!
Thank you so much and sorry for the late reply! I’ve been sick for the past week. Depending on the size of your oven, you can try to fit both on the center rack, or cook one on the upper third and one on the lower third and swap them half way through. If you haven’t made the lasagnas yet (allow I’m assuming you probably did), feel free to check out my updated sauce recipe here: https://www.mythreeseasons.com/spaghetti-bolognese. If you double this sauce recipe and follow the remainder of the instructions in my lasagna post, you should be in good shape. Thanks for reaching out!
You absolutely cannot beat a lasagna with b茅chamel. It just brings everything together perfectly. The pork and pancetta in this ragu are a really nice touch too!
Thanks! I agree 馃檪
I made this lasagna recipe tonight and it was delicious. I followed the directions closely, however, I intended to make two 8×8 pans. I used 6 layers of lasagna noodles, all the mozzarella, much of the bechamel and less than half of the meat in the first pan. So it was a bit lean on meat, but was exceptionally delicious.It puffed up and browned beautifully. I made a quick marinara to serve on top. Huge hit. I will make more bechamel sauce in the morning, assemble another one and freeze it unbaked. We will enjoy it again later this winter. Thank you for the effort you put in to your blog and for this great recipe.
Thank you so much for the beautiful compliments and for trying my recipe! I don’t blame you for adding a higher ratio of cheese and bechamel. Freezing it is a great idea, too! Thanks again and enjoy the New Year!
Delish!! I just made lasagna too!
Awesome, thanks! I love lasagna 馃檪
Love this recipe Sabrina!
Thank you!