American Lasagna – A delicious lasagna recipe made with ground beef and sausage, with a little bit of brown sugar to give it something special.
This is my all-time favorite lasagna recipe. (At least until I find the next best one!!) This is one I’ve actually been making for years – one of those Tried and True recipes. It’s another one of those Allrecipes gems that one member of my family discovered years ago, and now all of us make it.
And I actually made it last year. Yes, ladies and gentlemen – last year. You know, you start a little food blog one day, thinking that you’ll just post everything for yourself to remind you of what you made. And then you start visiting lots of other food blogs, and then people start to visit yours. Before you know it, you are trying your hardest to make your pictures look appetizing, and if they don’t, you just keep skipping right over them. Thank goodness I started Bad Photo Sundays – because I’d hate to not share this recipe!!
This is definitely not a traditional lasagna – hence the name American Lasagna – but it is oh, so delicious! I think the secret ingredient is the brown sugar. It doesn’t make the lasagna sweet, but it brings something extra to it that I haven’t had from any other lasagna. The other secret to this lasagna is that you want to make it the night before – up to the baking step – refrigerate it, and then bake it the next day. I’ve tried it both ways (waiting overnight and cooking the night of) and having it sit overnight really does make a huge difference. And I do what normally do in recipes like this – I do part ground beef and part sausage to add some extra flavor instead of just ground beef.
More Lasagna Recipes
Chicken Lasagna with Green Chile and Cheese
Skillet Lasagna
Spaghetti Lasagna
American Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 29 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 2 6 ounce cans tomato paste
- 12 dry lasagna noodles
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound mozzarella cheese shredded
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese plus more for sprinkling on the top
Instructions
- In a skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef, sausage, onion and garlic; drain fat. Mix in basil, oregano, brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 375F. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles, and cook until al dente. Drain the noodles and lay flat on paper towels to dry.
- In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, Parmesan cheese, parsley and 1 teaspoon salt.
- Spread a small amount of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles in the bottom of the dish. Cover noodles with 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese and 1/3 of the sauce. Repeat. Top with remaining noodles and sauce, then the remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle additional Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake in the preheated oven 45-60 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
- If making the day before, refrigerate after assembling the lasagna, before baking it. Add an additional 15 minutes to the cook time.
Gretchen Noelle says
Although I have my always make-tried & true lasagna recipe…10+ years with slight alterations…I am intrigued. Brown sugar? Must wait? Can’t help but wonder…and I just might make it to try it out!
noble pig says
Okay seriously, all these so called bad photos are making me hungry. They are rustic and lovely and pass the sauce yummy.
Looks fab. Again.
Katie B. says
I agree – I think your lasanga looks delicious!
glamah16 says
This is a very unique adaptation. Especially the ‘wait’ time before cooking and the brown sugar. Im going to have to try this out.
chocolate shavings says
I haven’t had lasagna in a while and this really makes me wonder why!
Emiline says
Ha. Your bad photos are better than most people’s good photos. Shhh…don’t tell anyone I said that.
I’m kidding. No offense to anyone.
How I love lasagna! This looks amazing!
Jessy and her dog Winnie says
Nice photo! Lol. I bet the brown sugar adds a very unique flavor.
Kevin says
That looks good! Lasagna is one of my favorite meals. The use of the brown sugar is interesting.
Joy says
There’s nothing bad about that photo – it makes me want to grab a big old spoon and dig in!
Brilynn says
There are no bad lasagna pictures! I can almost taste it from here! And brown sugar sounds intriguing…
Ginny says
I think we are often our own worse critics…the photo looks great! I would come over for dinner in a second!
Sylvie says
Lasagne is a hard one to photograph, I think you did a great job though. I certainly makes me wanna grab a fork and tuck right in!
Veron says
um…it does not look like a bad photo to me because I would love to eat it right out of my screen!
Rosie says
It looks GREAT to me your photo and the Lasagna I could eat asap!!
Rosie x
Katie says
Why bad photo? It looks GREAT!
Mary says
I don’t know why you put this on a “bad photo Sunday”. I think it looks WAY delicious!