Sweet & Spicy Italian Sausage Lasagna

A family favorite  –  Sweet & Spicy Italian Sausage Lasagna. Layered with lots of fresh basil, three gooey cheeses, and sweet & spicy Italian sausage. Comforting, irresistible flavors and tastes like the world’s best lasagna!

Italian food is incredibly close to my heart. It’s a huge part of my childhood, and my journey of learning how to cook from my mom when I was little. My mom and I were able to develop this recipe together – so rest assured it is fantastic and a must-try! I also used sweet & spicy Italian sausage and fresh mozzarella from my family’s favorite butcher – Brooklyn Pork Store.

What Kind of Sausage Do you Use For Lasagna?

Sausages come in a lot of different flavors and levels of spice. For this recipe I recommend using 2 links of sweet Italian sausage and 2 links spicy Italian sausage. Ground beef can also be an option – but you will not get the level of flavor when using Italian sausage.

Use My Family’s Famous San Marzano Tomato Sauce

What makes this recipe so special, is making it with my family’s famous San Marzano Tomato Sauce. This sauce is rich in flavor, less acidic than most tomato sauces, and is the most delicious tomato sauce I’ve ever had. Use it to elevate your Italian sausage lasagna or any other Italian recipe! 

Tips for Making the Italian Sausage Lasagna

1. Lightly layer ricotta filling. Most lasagnas have thick layers of ricotta cheese – which can sometimes take away key flavors in lasagna – in this lasagna you really want to taste garlic, herbs, and the sweet & spicy Italian sausage flavors. So in order to keep your lasagna light, fresh, and full of flavor keep your ricotta on the light side when layering. In the end it will add up to be just the right amount of cheesy consistency and the perfect balance of flavor!
2. Use lots of fresh basil. Fresh basil is key to any pasta dish and it really brings this whole lasagna together with it’s herby flavor. Layer chopped basil on every layer of the lasagna as well as the top for a fresh and savory basil flavor!
3. Use no boil noodles. This will save a ton of time and hassle – these noodles require no boiling and are oven ready right from the box to layer in your Italian sausage lasagna. I’ve done lasagna both ways – fresh boiled noodles or oven ready noodles. Both have given me great results.

Why did my lasagna turn out dry?
Not having enough sauce can cause your lasagna to dry out after baking. Avoid dry lasagna by always having a little extra sauce on hand. Sometimes with lasagnas it’s hard to gage how much sauce you need, I always make more than what I think I need – but for this recipe you will need around 8-9 cups. This question also has to do with how you bake your lasagna – which I explain below.

Why did my lasagna turn out watery?
Bake covered for half the time and bake uncovered for the remaining time. For this lasagna I bake for 20 minutes covered to contain the right amount of moisture, and then 20 minutes uncovered so that the cooking process is even. I split the time so that I’m avoiding both the lasagna drying out or becoming too watery.

This amazing Italian sausage lasagna has it ALL. It’s EASY, takes 1 hour to make, and it’s the perfect crowd pleasing dinner. 

If you try this recipe or any other recipe, I would love to hear how you enjoyed it! Review and comment below and let me know your thoughts. Also share your pictures on instagram #asimplepalate - I love seeing your recipe creations! You can also follow me on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, and FACEBOOK.

Sweet & Spicy Italian Sausage Lasagna

5 from 3 votes

Servings 10 slices

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Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 A family favorite  -  Sweet & Spicy Italian Sausage Lasagna. Layered with lots of fresh basil, three gooey cheeses, and sweet & spicy Italian sausage. Comforting, irresistible flavors and an absolute crowd-pleasing recipe! 

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: italian lasagna, sausage lasagna

Author: A Simple Palate

Ingredients

• 1 box oven ready lasagna noodles
• 8-10 cups tomato sauce (see notes)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 4 cups mozzarella cheese
• 2 links spicy Italian sausage
• 2 links sweet Italian sausage
• 1 cup fresh basil, chopped

Cheese Filling

• 2/3 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh/dried thyme
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp (each) salt & black pepper
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium size pot on medium heat, remove sausage from skin and break up in pan. Saute until fully cooked through about 5-7 minutes. Stir sauce in with sausage. 

2. Mix all of the cheese filling ingredients together in a bowl.

3. In a large 13x9 baking dish, layer: 1 1/2 cups sauce, lasagna noodles, spread ricotta filling (1 1/2 inch size scoops in center of each noodle)*, mozzarella cheese, fresh chopped basil. Repeat process until done. Layer top with rest of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. 

4. Bake for 20 minutes covered with foil and 20 minutes uncovered. Serve with fresh basil on top and parmesan cheese. 

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