Classic Lasagna alla Bolognese (Authentic Italian Lasagna Recipe)

Do you want to make Lasagna alla Bolognese the way Italians do? If so, this is the only recipe you’ll ever need. This authentic Italian lasagna from Bologna, Italy is melty, rich, and luxurious without feeling heavy. A slow-simmered beefy, porky, tomato, and wine ragù, layered in between sheets of spinach egg lasagna, silky smooth homemade béchamel sauce, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. This is the lasagna everyone needs to eat at least once in their life (or once a month!). And it’s actually super easy to make, but requires a little time to make it. For anyone new to making lasagna Bolognese, I’ve included step-by-step recipe photos below.

 

What is Lasagna alla Bolognese (or Bolognese Lasagna)?

Lasagna alla Bolognese is a delicious baked lasagna that comes from Bologna, Italy. It consists of a slow-simmered ragù (ragù alla Bolognese) made of ground beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, milk, beef stock, tomatoes, and wine. The next components consist of a silky homemade béchamel (white sauce), grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and spinach egg pasta lasagna sheets. Everything is layered into a casserole dish and baked until piping hot, bubbling, and melty. Lasagna Bolognese never uses mozzarella or ricotta cheese.

What Makes Bolognese a Ragù and Not Simply a Sauce?

The short answer is time. In Italy “ragù” is a general term or umbrella category used to designate any meat sauce cooked over low heat for many hours. Each ragù varies from region to region and uses various local ingredients. For instance, this recipe “ragù alla Bolognese” means ragù from Bologna (or ragù made in the Bologna style). On the other hand, a sauce or “sugo” can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Why We Love This Lasagna alla Bolognese Recipe

• Ragù alla Bolognese is one of the easiest Italian recipes you can make
• Slow-simmered ragù all but guarantees a delicious homemade lasagna
• Pancetta and beef make this ragù extra tasty
• Wine brings out the flavor of the tomato and overall ragù
• Milk adds richness and gives the ragù a melt-in-your-mouth feel without being heavy
• Homemade creamy béchamel sauce adds richness without feeling heavy
• The actual hands-on time for this lasagna recipe is about 30 minutes
• Ready-to-cook spinach egg pasta is delicious (authentic) and makes this lasagna quick to assemble

 

Lasagna Bolognese is Easy to Make (It Just Takes a Bit of Time)

If you’re used to making regular lasagna, this recipe will be a cinch. But if you’re new to cooking, don’t let that keep you from trying this Bolognese recipe. The easiest way to get great results — break down the components of the dish by making the ragù one or two days in advance and the béchamel sauce on the day you assemble and bake the lasagna. 

Once the sauce is made, the béchamel is the only other component requiring any work (and this too is so easy and takes just 15 minutes or less to make). If you’re new to making béchamel sauce, hop over here to my no-fail béchamel post to get all the tips and techniques for ensuring a silky white sauce (without lumps). Plus, knowing how to make a proper béchamel is worth having in your back pocket for all kinds of other recipes.

 

Authentic Lasagna alla Bolognese Ingredients

Once you have the Bolognese ragù and béchamel sauce made, the rest of the dish is just a matter of assembling the layers. It’s a super easy lasagna recipe to make, it just takes a little bit of time for the sauce to simmer which can be made up to 4 days in advance. Just be sure to double or triple the recipe of the ragù so you can freeze it to make a 15-minute tagliatelle or pappardelle alla Bolognese any night of the week.

For the Ragù alla Bolognese

• beef
• pancetta
• tomatoes
• carrots
• onions
• celery
• dry white or red wine (nothing sparkling or sweet)
• milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• spinach egg pasta lasagna noodles
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (for layering into the lasagna)
• 12 sheets of ready-to-bake spinach egg lasagna pasta 

For the Béchamel Sauce

• unsalted butter
• all-purpose flour
• milk
• salt
• freshly cracked black pepper 
• whole nutmeg freshly grated

For Assembling the Lasagna alla Bolognese

• grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano 
• ready-to-cook spinach egg pasta lasagna sheets (or your favorite egg pasta)

How to Make The Best Homemade Lasagna Bolognese

Bolognese sauce takes 3 hours to cook, so making it ahead of time (up to 4 days in advance) can make this lasagna really easy to pull together on the day you’ll be baking it. It’s a low-maintenance ragù to make so even if you decide to cook it the same day you’re baking the lasagna, just be sure to allow about 4 hours from the time you start the ragù to when you can expect it to come out of the oven. 

Make the Ragù alla Bolognese (Make the ragù in advance or on the same day you intend to bake the lasagna)

1. Render the fat from the pancetta. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat and add the pancetta and cook for approximately 15 minutes to allow some of the fat to render.
2. Sauté the vegetables. Add the onions, celery, carrots, and smashed garlic and sauté for 8-10 minutes, or until soft and onions are translucent. Season with salt to taste
3. Cook the beef. Add the beef breaking it up into small pieces with the back of a spoon, until browned, about 15 minutes, and be sure to season with salt.
4. Deglaze the pan with wine. Add wine while scraping the browned bits (the fond) from the bottom of the pan. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute to allow some of the alcohol to evaporate. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, and salt to taste and stir to blend. Reduce heat to very low and gently simmer, stirring occasionally for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the milk. Add milk to the sauce and cover with a lid left slightly ajar and continue simmering over low heat, stirring occasionally, until milk is absorbed, about 45 minutes, adding more stock by 1/4 cupfuls to thin it out only if needed. Turn off the heat,  adjust the seasonings, and set aside until ready to assemble the lasagna.

Make the Béchamel sauce. Make the béchamel during the 20 minutes of Bolognese ragù cooking time.

1. Prepare the roux. In a medium-sized pot add the butter and melt over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the flour a little at a time whisking constantly to remove any flour lumps.  Continue whisking and stirring until the flour is cooked and the mixture (roux) is light golden brown (about 5-7 minutes).
2. Prepare the béchamel. When the roux is golden brown and fragrant, turn the heat down to low add one ladle full of hot milk, and whisk vigorously to incorporate it into the roux. Continue adding ladles full of milk one at a time, whisking to combine until fullin. incorporated and the bechamel is nice and smooth. At this point, the bechamel will be smooth and somewhat runny. Continue cooking and whisking a few minutes longer until the bechamel starts to thicken and creates ribbons when dropped from a spoon into the pot (or about 6 minutes).  It’s ready when it coats the back of a spoon and is thick enough to spread easily.
3. Adjust the seasonings. Add more salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg to taste. If you’re not using it right away, cover the top of the sauce with sustainable cling film to keep a skin from forming.

Assemble the Lasagna

1. Assemble the lasagna. Using a deep lasagna dish (or another deep baking dish with high sides), ladle in about 3/4 cup of the ragù and spread it evenly across the bottom of the dish. Add lasagna noodles slightly overlapping each one so there are no gaps. Add one more layer of ragù and spread it out evenly across the top of the noodles.

• • Add the béchamel sauce and spread it out evenly across the top of the ragù.
  • Add an even sprinkling of grated cheese across the top of the béchamel.
  • Add another layer of pasta noodles and ragù and repeat layering the ingredients in this order until there is no more ragù left. Finish with a little béchamel sauce or ragù on top, and sprinkle generously with more grated cheese.

    2. Bake the lasagna. Cover the lasagna tightly with aluminum foil and bake covered in a preheated oven at 350°F/176°C for 35 to 40 minutes or until bubbling and hot. Remove the aluminum foil, turn on the broiler and cook the lasagna under the broiler for about 10 more minutes, or until nicely browned and bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 20 minutes before cutting into it, Enjoy!

Lasagna Bolognese step-by-step recipe photos and instructions

(above left: American Lasagna vs. Italian Bolognese)

What’s the Difference between Lasagna Bolognese and American Lasagna?

Generally speaking, the main difference between authentic Italian Lasagna Bolognese and standard American Lasagna is everything. The only thing these two ‘lasagne” have in common is that they’re both delicious. Besides that, they’re not remotely similar. Also, in Italy, lasagna, pasta al forno, and pasticcio (all names for baked lasagna-like pasta dishes) aren’t as heavy and don’t use as much cheese as we Americans do. Here are the most important differences to note. 

• Lasagna Bolognese never contains cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, or mozzarella cheese.
• Lasagna Bolognese gets its creaminess from béchamel sauce and grated Parmigiano or Grana Padano cheese.
• Most Americans grew up eating some version of Lasagna that includes tomato sauce (with or without ground beef), and a mixture of ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese), mozzarella, and parmesan. Béchamel sauce is not found in this typical American or what we consider to be an American-Italian style Lasagna. I

 

MealPrep Lasagna Bolognese Bake it, Portion it, Freeze it, Reheat 

This lasagna recipe makes a perfect MealPrep dish to make ahead of time. Make extra, portion it, and freeze it for easy quick weeknight meals.  Plus, if you’re going to cook a pasta sauce (technically a ragù) as long as this Bolognese ragù requires, you should double or triple the sauce recipe to maximize the time and energy you’re using. You won’t be sorry you did. You can also pressure cook this ragù or use the Instapot to shave off some of the cooking time. See above  for how to MealPrep Lasagna Bolognese. 

Below Previously frozen Piece of Lasagna Bolognese (After Being Reheated)

 

Looking for More Delicious Pasta Dishes to Make?

If you love pasta as much as we do, here are a few more recipes to inspire your next dinner. 

• Anniversary Pasta (Spicy Shrimp Tomato-Alfredo Sauce w/Rigatoni)
• Asparagus & Ham Lasagna (w/Asparagus Bechamel)
• Mediterranean Pigtail Pasta Salad with Shrimp
• Shrimp Fettuccini Alfredo Pasta Recipe (w/Parmigiano Cream Sauce)
• Baked Ziti with Ragù (from Scratch)
• 15-Minute Shrimp Pasta w/Garganelli (the Italian Way)
• Spaghetti alla Carbonara (Cook Pasta Like A Roman)
• Tagliatelle al Ragù (Northern Italian Beef Ragù w/Pasta)
• Cajun Style Royal Red Shrimp Pasta for One (or a crowd)
• Triple Shrimp Trighetto Pasta (Creamy Shrimp Pasta)
• Spicy Abruzzo Ventricina and Salsiccia Pasta (with Gold-Drawn Verrigni Soqquadro Pasta)
• How to Make Venetian Duck Ragù w/Bigoli Pasta (Bigoli al Ragù d’Anatra)
• Abruzzese Almost-Bolognese (Lasagna al Ragù w/Porcini Béchamel)
• Italian Speck & Asparagus Lasagna (w/Asparagus Béchamel & Zucchini Crema)
• Mama A’s Eggplant & Zucchini Parmigiana (Pinterest & Food52 Golden Recipe Grand Prize Winner)
• Creamy Pasta with Sausage & Wine Sauce (Almost Pasta alla Norcina)
• Italian Summer Garden Spaghetti w/Zucchini & Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce
• Simple + Delicious Pasta alle Zucchine (Spaghetti with Zucchini)
• Authentic Pappardelle alla Bolognese Recipe (w/Tagliatelle alla Bolognese option)
• Italian Langoustine Shrimp Scampi w/Rigatoni Pasta (Mezze Maniche agli Scampi)
• Italian Spaghetti with Clams (Spaghetti alle Vongole)

Italian Lasagna Bolognese FAQ’s

• How do I get a nicely browned and crispy cheesy top on my lasagna alla Bolognese? The trick to getting a perfectly golden brown cheesy béchamel top on your baked lasagna is to place it under the broiler (set to high) during the last 10 minutes of baking time. Just be sure to watch it so it doesn’t burn.  Remove it from the oven when it’s reached the desired color.
• Where was Bolognese invented (Where does Bolognese come from)?  The birthplace of the original recipe for Ragu alla Bolognese can be traced back to the end of the 1700s.  The chef of the Cardinal of Imola (just outside of the city of Bologna) cooked the first real tomato-based meat sauce and was served with a plate of macaroni pasta. By the 1800s, recipes for tomato-based ragù start to show up in a few cookbooks from the Emilia-Romagna region, but the official Ragu alla Bolognese (meaning, ragu of Bologna or ragù the Bologna way) was registered by the Italian Academy of Cuisine at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce on October 17th, 1982.
• When was ragu alla Bolognese invented?  It shows up in history as early as the 1700s, but the official recipe as we know and love it today was officially registered on October, 17th, 1982 in the Italian Academy of Cuisine at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce.
• Where was lasagna invented and when was it invented? Different countries claim to be the inventors of lasagna, Greece, Italy, and even the UK! There are lots of types of layered dishes being eaten even in the B.C. era, but wouldn’t be considered a lasagna and didn’t even have cheese or tomatoes. Napoli (Naples) is said to have been the first city to incorporate tomatoes into a layered pasta and meat dish around the 1600s because, by this time, they would have been heartily cultivating tomatoes that weren’t native to Italy. So, it’s possible that around 1692 we start to see something similar to what we know as lasagna.  However, no one knows if lasagna Bolognese came first and was imitated or if it might be the other way around. No matter which came first, the Emilia-Romagna version of lasagna (the lasagna Bolognese) is the version of lasagna that has been imitated all over Italy and the rest of the world.

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