Red and White Sauce Lasagna

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 02/15/23
Lasagna with red meat sauce and white sauce on a dinner plate

The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 50 mins
Total: 80 mins
Servings: 6 servings

Filling and easy to make, lasagnas are great one-dish meals that check all the boxes, as they can be filled with all sorts of veggies, sauces, and proteins, and can be adjusted to many special dietary needs. Our red and white sauce lasagna is a flavorful combination of a basic white sauce, rather than ricotta cheese, and a tomato-based sauce with beef and pork that's flavored with spices and mushrooms. Covered in cheese and baked until golden, this is a great weeknight meal served with a simple salad and crusty bread.

We use oven-ready (also called no-boil) lasagna noodles to speed up the cooking time. Simply assemble the lasagna with the uncooked noodles, seal it tight with foil, and bake. As the sauce simmers, the noodles cook all on their own thanks in part to the moisture in the sauces. The key is to keep the lasagna covered in the oven until the noodles are soft. Removing the foil allows the upper layer of the lasagna to achieve an appetizing golden color. The oven-ready noodles are also available in a gluten-free version if someone in your household has special dietary needs.

Although a few steps are required to complete this dish, the recipe is fairly simple and can be a great first lasagna for novice cooks.

Ingredients

For the White Sauce:

  • 4 tablespoons butter

  • 2 1/2 cups whole milk

  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

For the Red Sauce:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1/2 pound ground beef

  • 1/2 pound ground pork

  • 1 medium onion, chopped

  • 6 to 8 white mushrooms, sliced

  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped

  • 2 (28-ounce) cans tomato sauce

  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano

  • 2 teaspoons dried basil

  • Kosher salt, to taste

  • Black pepper, to taste

For Assembling:

  • 1 package oven-ready lasagna noodles

  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Steps to Make It

Make the White Sauce

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for white sauce recipe gathered

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  2. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

    Melted butter in a large pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  3. Warm up the milk in a small saucepan, but don't let it boil.

    Milk with a wooden spoon in a small pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  4. Add the flour to the melted butter and stir to form a roux. Cook for about two minutes.

    Light brown roux being stirred with a wire whisk in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  5. Slowly whisk in the warm milk, stirring well to get rid of any flour lumps. Season with kosher salt.

    Smooth thick white sauce being stirred with a wire whisk in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  6. Turn off the heat and reserve, covered.

    Pot with white sauce covered with plastic wrap

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

Make the Red Sauce

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for red sauce recipe gathered

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  2. In a large skillet or heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat up the olive oil and add the ground beef and pork.

    Ground beef and pork in the large pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  3. Cook until all the meat is well browned, approximately 8 minutes.

    Browned ground meat being stirred with a wooden spoon in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  4. Drain excess fat from the meat, reserving 2 tablespoons in the skillet, and remove the meat mixture from the pan. Cover and set aside.

    Thin coating of cooking fat in the bottom of the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  5. Add the onion to the skillet with the reserved fat and sauté until translucent, for about 6 to 7 minutes.

    Translucent onions in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  6. Add the mushrooms and garlic to the skillet and cook until the mushrooms are soft, or 5 minutes.

    Onions, mushrooms, and garlic being stirred with a wooden spoon in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  7. Return the meat to the pan and stir well.

    Meat and mushroom mixture being stirred with a wooden spoon in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  8. Add the tomato sauce and dried herbs to the meat, garlic, and onions. Stir well.

    Tomatoes being stirred into meat mixture in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  9. Bring the meat sauce to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the red sauce from heat and season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper.

    Red meat sauce seasoned with salt and pepper in the pot

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

Assemble the Lasagna

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for lasagna assembly gathered

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  2. Preheat the oven to 400 F. In a 3-quart ovenproof baking dish, ladle enough of the red meat sauce to cover the bottom of the baking dish.

    Red meat sauce covering the bottom of a rectangular baking dish

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  3. Arrange a layer of pasta atop the red meat sauce and then another layer of red sauce.

    Red sauce layer in the baking dish

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  4. Drizzle roughly 1/3 of the white sauce evenly atop the red sauce. 

    White sauce distributed over red sauce in the baking dish

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  5. Repeat the previous step twice by layering layers of pasta, red sauce, and white sauce.

    White sauce topping red sauce in almost full baking dish

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  6. Spread the shredded mozzarella on top of the final white sauce layer.

    Thick layer of shredded mozzarella distributed on top of lasagna

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  7. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan on top of the mozzarella.

    Grated Parmesan sprinkled on top of mozzarella

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  8. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

    Rectangular baking dish tightly wrapped in aluminum foil

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  9. After 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for about 10 more minutes, or until the cheese on top has browned slightly. Remove lasagna from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

    Baked lasagna with melted cheese on top

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  10. Serve and enjoy!

    Lasagna with browned cheese topping, cut into squares in the baking dish

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
633 Calories
39g Fat
36g Carbs
38g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 633
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 39g 50%
Saturated Fat 18g 88%
Cholesterol 125mg 42%
Sodium 2079mg 90%
Total Carbohydrate 36g 13%
Dietary Fiber 6g 20%
Total Sugars 17g
Protein 38g
Vitamin C 22mg 111%
Calcium 479mg 37%
Iron 6mg 32%
Potassium 1447mg 31%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)