Lasagna al Forno alla Bolognese is my idea of a perfect lasagna — relaxed yet elegant. It’s cozy comfort food to accompany us through the cooler months, from the first sign of gorgeous autumn leaves, on to the winter crackling sounds of the fireplace.
This is a traditional lasagna recipe from the Italian city of Bologna, made with the famous Ragù Bolognese, creamy béchamel sauce, and the deliciously savory Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
At home, we find the perfect accompaniment to be a simple fresh salad of wonderful cool weather lettuces, enjoyed with a great glass of red wine, preferably near a fireplace. Just thinking about it already has me decided on home cooked lasagna alla Bolognese for this weekend!
At our house, lasagna is usually made ahead, ready for us to put in the oven straight out of the freezer, relax and enjoy, while having hardly lifted a finger to put a special meal on the table.
Lasagna
Lingo
Lasagna or Lasagne? (nyaw or nyeh)
Both! The plural of lasagna is lasagne.
Al Forno meaning?
Forno literally means oven in Italian, but the meaning of al forno is baked (in the oven!)
What is Lasagna al Forno?
Lasagna is a pasta noodle, as well as a pasta dish made of several layers of lasagna noodles. Lasagne is the plural of lasagna in Italian. Lasagna is generally considered a pasta al forno — a baked pasta dish. So lasagne al forno is a baked pasta dish made with lasagna noodles.
And lasagne al ragù means lasagna noodles with ragu. In this recipe, we’re baking lasagna noodles with a specific ragù alla Bolognese — Bologna-style ragu, for a Bologna-style lasagna — Lasagna or Lasagne al forno alla Bolognese! Or just lasagna!
About Lasagna al Forno alla Bolognese
I don’t remember anyone ever calling this pasta dish lasagna or lasagne, in Italy. Just Pasta al Forno, understood to mean baked lasagna, even though other pasta noodle dishes are cooked in the oven.
This recipe is for pasta al forno, oven pasta, made with lasagna noodles in the style of the people around Bologna, in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna. The official version? Ask around Bologna what exactly that is, and you get many different answers. There are constants, but every cook has their own special touches. One’s mamma, aunt, grandmother, and next door neighbor’s recipe already add up to 4 variations, all different, all authentic. At least one restaurant inside the ancient walls of Bologna includes sweetbreads, truffles… I like to add porcini mushrooms and/or fontina cheese on occasion.
Lasagna Bianca
Aww, lasagna bianca! White lasagna! Bianca refers to the lasagna not being tomato-based (although you can add a tiny bit of tomato paste for a touch of savory depth). Lasagna bianca is absolutely delicious and, in my opinion, the best choice with additions like mushrooms — and definitely with the special-occasion truffle. Our recipe for ragù alla Bolognese is practically a ragù bianco, a white ragù, which makes this lasagna practically a lasagna bianca.
Lasagna is Regional
When I was growing up, I thought lasagna was…lasagna. It turns out that my favorite one and only lasagna, the one my mother made for so many special occasions, was a lasagna, not the lasagne. (Of course, hers is still really the original lasagna to me.) Not at all a problem, however — the more lasagna the better.
On the other hand, the lasagna my Italian mother-in-law knew—who never stepped a foot outside of Italy except maybe next door into France—it turns out, is not even close to the lasagna that I knew. Looking back, I am not surprised, since I have since learned countless times in Italy that pasta names can mean different things from town to town, and certainly from region to region. Her lasagna comes from both a different place, as well as a different time.
I remember well the day I started to pick up on the reality that there is no definitive “Italian Food.” It was some years ago, maybe a little more than that. I had just moved to Italy with my boyfriend (who at the time was automatically assumed by all priests and elderly to be my husband — boy have times changed!). We were visiting my soon-to-be mother-in-law. The conversation was, as it often is in Italy, about food.
Mind you, my Italian was not exactly… Anyway, I remember how extra confusing this conversation was. At first I assumed I’d better hit the Italian language textbooks. I thought I had said that I loved lasagna. But she asked me “what kind?” My future husband stepped in to clarify what I didn’t know I meant, “Sta parlando di pasta al forno, she’s talking about oven pasta”. “Ah, well we have that too, but lasagna is something else…” her voice trailing away as she went to go get some “lasagne” to show me.
What she brought back in her hands was… a long, narrow, ribbon pasta. “That’s not lasagna!,” the twenty-something American college student said to the seventy-something woman who had spent her whole life in Italy, often getting up at 5am to start cooking lunch! “Lasagna is fat and wide!” I declared. “No nooo, these are lasagne!” she assured me, holding up the long thin ribbon noodles.
Guess what? That was lasagna — in some parts of Italy. And so the process of deconstructing what I thought I knew about Italian food began. It was my first deep lesson in just how regional Italian cooking is.
Northern and Southern Lasagna
It was around that time that I also learned my Mom’s lasagna recipe was from the southern part of Italy. The cheeses — ricotta (or cottage cheese) and mozzarella — were the easy giveaway. But I didn’t know it as a kid in Texas. I learned that around Bologna, and the whole northern part of Italy, the lasagna didn’t have ricotta, and had less tomato, or sometimes none at all. I still remember the day that someone brought me an exquisite white lasagna from their Emilia-Romagnan mother, Lasagna Bianca.
And my mother’s version uses what is called lasagne ricce (curly), the dense dried durum wheat lasagna noodles with ruffled edges, common in southern Italy. In northern Italy, which has a climate more suitable for growing a softer wheat, the lasagna is made with fresh pasta.
So the recipe my mother received, and what many Americans came to know as lasagna, was not a national Italian dish, but distinctly of the southern regions of Italy. And even there, there are infinite varieties. My mother’s version was of one family in Italy who sailed to America, traveled across the country, and eventually made its way into my mother’s hands, no doubt with adaptions for local ingredients.
At our house, one of us (that would be me) grew up in the United States eating a lasagna influenced by the old southern kingdom of the Two Sicilies. And one of us grew up in Italy eating a pasta al forno, an oven pasta, with lasagna noodles that was somewhere in between north and south, made with a pasta that we think of as tagliatelle!
A Lasagna without Ricotta or Cottage Cheese
Although I absolutely love the southern Italian style lasagna, I have never lived south of Tuscany, so my version is more influenced from northern Italy. This recipe is an Emilia-Romagnan version of lasagna from the Bologna area, with béchamel sauce and Parmesan cheese in place of ricotta (or cottage cheese).
Ingredient Notes
Recipes for lasagna are really in the aide-mémoire category. Amounts are approximate, they don’t have to be exact. Add less or more to your taste.
Ragù alla Bolognese
At the heart of lasagna alla Bolognese is ragù alla Bolognese. For a happier day of assembling the lasagna, make the ragù the day before. While you are at it, you can set aside some of the same batch of ragù to enjoy the pasta dish tagliatelle alla Bolognese.
Lasagna Noodles
The traditional pasta for lasagna Bolognese is fresh, handmade, fairly thin, flat (no ruffles) lasagna sheets. While fresh artisanal pasta has been easy to buy in Italy for quite a while, having fresh pasta in a lot of parts of America has pretty much meant making it ourselves. Dried lasagna noodles, which are regularly used for lasagnas in southern Italy, are made out of a harder durum wheat and are denser and thicker. I prefer them to no-boil pastas.
Whether you absolutely need to boil lasagna noodles depends on what kind of pasta you have.
Using Fresh Lasagna Noodles
Fresh lasagna noodles made with egg are ideal. Lasagne verdi or sfoglia verde, green dough sheets made with spinach added, are the traditional choice around Bologna. However, I tend to eat (and greatly enjoy) lasagne verdi when it is made by someone else! At home, we use regular fresh lasagna sheets, what they call sfoglia gialla, or yellow lasagna noodles. I try to use medium thin lasagna sheets, because the texture and layers can more easily disappear into one big layer with very thin sheets.
Fresh lasagna noodles of a normal thickness, are boiled for around 25 to 30 seconds. Super thin noodles can be difficult to pre-boil because of their thinness. Instead, you can spray them with water.
Using Dried Lasagna Noodles
If you can find flat dried lasagna noodles without ruffles, they would be closer to the fresh lasagna noodles used in traditional Lasagna Bolognese. However, wavy noodles will not make the dish any less delicious. In the US, we have used the boxed wavy lasagne #1 noodles (without egg) by De Cecco on several occasions.
Classic dried lasagna noodles need to be boiled.
For the De Cecco lasagna sheets I mentioned above, I usually boil them for around 7 minutes. Other brands may only take from 2 to 6 minutes. Note, some labels may say that you can forgo boiling the noodles if you cook the lasagna longer in the oven. This may be so, but the noodles may not turn out as soft as you like, even crunchy, particularly on the edges. More liquid in the lasagna pan helps. However, boiling the dry noodles before assembling the lasagna turns out best.
Tip | Boiling Lasagna Noodles
It’s easiest to boil the noodles as you assemble the lasagna. Boil around 5 or 6 at a time, enough for one layer. Set the noodles flat, without overlapping each other, on a baking mat like a silpat or roul’pat, or on a cloth kitchen towel.
Using No-boil Lasagna Noodles
Oven-ready lasagna noodles?
As much as I’d love for no-boil lasagna noodles to be the same texture as the traditional kind you boil, oven-ready, no-boil lasagna noodles just aren’t the same as far as texture goes. So, I usually use traditional fresh or dried lasagna noodles! I’d rather do a little extra on the day that I’m already going the extra mile, and be rewarded with the texture of traditional lasagna. After all your loving work, why take a shortcut with the lasagna noodles at the expense of the overall texture of your masterpiece? They do make it a little easier though.
Yes. Although you don’t have to, boiling oven ready lasagna noodles or sheets helps prevent the pasta, especially the edges, from drying out while in the oven. A good misting with water is another option.
Cheese
Parmigiano Reggiano, the true Parmesan and king of Italian cheeses, is loved for it’s extra deep savory flavors and crunchy tyrasine crystals. Parmesan is considered a grana cheese, from the word grainy (along with granite, pomegranate…). Another popular grana cheese that goes well with Lasagna — and is less expensive — is Grana Padano, an ancient cheese from the Po Valley. We also like to include a touch of fontina cheese in one of the middle layers.
The traditional cheese for Lasagna Bolognese is freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Parmigiano Reggiano – Where to Buy? You can usually find a good wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP in specialty grocery stores. Otherwise, you can order from online sources, like Eataly’s Parmigiano Reggiano selection. They have about three or four kinds to choose from.
Porcini + Lasagna al Forno alla Bolognese = Savory Heaven
Porcini mushrooms add another layer of savory character with earthy woodsy flavour. We love to throw them in between a few layers.
- Dried porcini are easier to find than fresh. For lasagna, we used to soak them for 30 minutes, strain, chop and sauté them. Nowadays, we simply brush the dried porcini off as best we can, pulverize them in a spice grinder and sprinkle them on.
- Fresh porcini are of course excellent, albeit expensive! If you can find them, in good shape, at a price you are willing to fork over for, you can cut them up and sauté them with a clove of garlic before adding to the lasagna.
The Béchamel: White Sauce
béchamel pronunciation: beh-shah-mehl’
besciamella: beh-shah-mehl’-lah
One of the most beloved European sauces, béchamel, also known as besciamella in Italy, is a sauce made from a white roux: equal portions of butter and flour, cooked with milk and seasoned with nutmeg. The Italian béchamel sauce we make in this recipe is of medium thick consistency — a béchamel recipe for lasagna.
Béchamel Tips
- Whole milk is traditional, and fuller. If using a lower fat milk, add about 3 tablespoons of extra flour to make up the difference.
- Olive oil béchamel? Olive oil works fine as a substitute for butter. However, butter makes a more opulent sauce.
- A metal whisk works better than a wooden spoon when making béchamel sauce, because it does a more thorough job of scraping the bottom, preventing buildup and scorching.
Béchamel sauce freezes well for up to 3 months. Put it in the refrigerator to thaw the night before you need it. Just remember not to freeze it twice. For instance, don’t freeze lasagna with béchamel that has already been frozen once.
What to do with leftover béchamel sauce
There are quite scrumptious things you can do with a little extra béchamel sauce. Off the top of my head: on a croque monsieur sandwich (grilled cheese ham sandwich), as a soup base (just add broth), over southern buttermilk biscuits; for macaroni and cheese (with milk and grated cheese), in gratins…
Lasagna for Two
Mini lasagnas, or loaf pan lasagnas, are our preferred way to make and enjoy lasagna. I can’t even remember the last time we made lasagna for a crowd. At some point over the years, homemade lasagna Bolognese became a special dinner treat for two. And I still get thrilled in the fall and winter when I remember it at the end of a cold and busy week, waiting for us in the freezer in portions just for two. All we have to do is throw it in the oven and relax! After about an hour (a little more if we’ve put it in the oven straight from the freezer) we are enjoying delicious elegant comfort food without hardly lifting a finger, except perhaps to pour the wine.
If you’d like to make mini-lasagnas, of 2 generous portions each, loaf pans work great. For the freezer, aluminum mini lasagna pans work well too (like the ones in the photos below). You can find them in many grocery and some kitchen stores, usually with 4 or 5 in a pack. Look for dimensions of around 8″ x 5.5″ x 1.75″ (20cm x 14cm x 4.5cm). 9 x 6 or 9 x 7″ pans will work fine too.
We weigh each mini-lasagna with a kitchen scale to make sure they are nice, generous portions, and yet not too much! We have found 12 to 14 ounces (350-400g) per person to be a good weight. For a 2-portion pan, that means around 24-28 oz (700-800g) per pan.
Assembling your Lasagna al Forno
Making lasagna al forno is really an assembly job. First you make a sort of kitchen factory assembly line with the lasagna noodles: your ragù alla bolognese, your besciamella white sauce, the grated Parmesan cheese, and optional extras. Then, in a fine-tuned rhythm, you quickly whip it all together… Or something like that!
I’m so much happier making lasagna when all I have to do is assemble ready components that have been prepared ahead of time. To make it much easier on yourself, prepare the ragù the day before. You can also make the béchamel the day before. Just remember to take it out of the refrigerator ahead of time, as it is a lot easier to work with when warm or at room temperature.
Everyone Assembles Differently
For the bottom of the pan – Some start with a layer of ragu, some start with the béchamel. Others do neither and put butter or oil. It’s not important, just preferences. Whatever you do, put something, otherwise it will stick to the pan like glue!
For each of the following layers – Some spread a layer of béchamel on the lasagna sheet first, then sprinkle a thin layer of ragù on the béchamel. Others spread the meat ragù on first, then drizzle a more fluid béchamel over the top with a ladle. Some leave it at that. Others then blend the béchamel in with the meat (We don’t bother, as we like to keep the ingredients a little separated).
Each layer is topped with grated Parmesan cheese. (Some even sprinkle it on the bare pasta).
Our usual order is: béchamel first, then lasagna sheet, béchamel, ragù, grated cheese, lasagna sheet, béchamel, ragù, grated cheese…
As a variation, we also like to sprinkle pulverized porcini mushrooms (see ingredient notes in recipe) over the béchamel on a few layers, and add fontina cheese to at least one of the layers.
Lasagna Assembly Tips
- Plan for around 6 layers if using fresh lasagna noodles. 5 layers can feel a little skimpy, unless using thicker noodles. Ultimately, the top of the pan is our faithful guide.
- Don’t worry about overlapping the lasagna noodles on each layer, whether fresh or dried. With fresh lasagna sheets, you can even wrinkle or ruche them to make them fit.
Tip: Take Notes
I find it really helps to take notes on how much of a certain ingredient I put this time, and how much I want to put next time, because by the time I make it again, I will have completely forgotten how much to adjust. For instance, maybe you want to add less meat or more béchamel on each layer next time, or more of the ragù’s juices. Or perhaps a cube or two of frozen broth around the edges… Do yourself a favor and write it down. Give yourself some nice instructions for next time.
Baking Your Lasagna
Before putting the lasagna in the oven, some like to cut the portions first. And some like to put daubs of butter on top to keep it moist. Others put a whole sheet of pasta on top, to be taken off when the pasta comes out of the oven. We like to put frozen broth cubes around the edges, and maybe one or two on top, to keep the lasagna nice and moist.
Just out of the oven, let the lasagna rest around 10 minutes to settle a little. Cover with foil if you are concerned about keeping it piping hot.
Lasagna Cooking Temperature and Time
The best temp to cook lasagna depends, but is generally between 350 to 400°F (180-200°C). If your oven is ventilated, try the lower of the temperature range. Normal cooking time is around 25-35 minutes if using boiled fresh pasta or dry pasta. If using no-boil pasta, it could take a little longer since the noodles start off hard and dry.
If your lasagna is tall and dense with lots of layers, bake it at a lower temperature of around 325°F (165°C) to ensure that it is hot all the way through, and not too browned on top. The lasagna may take around 40 minutes or more in the oven.
Straight-from-the-freezer takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes or more, depending on how large the pan of lasagna.
Expert Tips
- Make it easier on yourself and make lasagna in 2 shifts. The night before, we order take-out or delivery while I spend under 2 hours making the ragù, and sometimes the béchamel. The next day, I spend under 2 hours putting it all together.
- Before baking, add a few cubes of frozen broth in the corners and sides of the pan to make a little looser, more moist and more elegant lasagna. (Don’t have broth on hand? A strategic knob of butter here and there is another option.)
- Enjoy next to a cozy fireplace, if at all possible.
Recipe
Go to list below the recipe of recommended lasagna-making kitchen tools.
Ingredients
- 10 cups Ragù Bolognese
For the Béchamel Sauce
- 7 oz butter
- 1¼ cup flour
- 8 cups milk
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp fresh black pepper
For Assembling
- 7 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (or Grana Padano), freshly grated
- 35 oz lasagna noodles (Notes: Fresh green spinach noodles are traditional; Lasagna that you boil has superior texture. No-boil/oven-ready lasagna saves time with a loss in quality of texture.)
- 1 cup broth or frozen broth cubes (optional)
Instructions
Make the Béchamel
- Measure out ingredients to have everything ready at hand.
- Melt the butter in at least a 5 quart pot over medium-low heat.
- Sprinkle the butter with flour and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, constantly stirring with a whisk.
- Whisk in the milk, about 1/2 cup at a time at first, stirring each time until smooth. Once the paste has transformed into a liquid, you can add the rest of the milk all at once.
- Turn heat up slightly and slowly bring to a bubble, stirring rarely at first. Once at a slow bubble, stir often until thickened to a consistency similar to gravy – still pourable – about 5 minutes. Remember, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Take off heat and immediately stir in nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Prep
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) (If your lasagna is very tall or extra dense, lower to 325°F/165°C)
- Prepare Workspace: Lay out the baking pan/s, béchamel, ragù, grated Parmigiano (and any ingredients for variations) for easy reach.
Boil the Pasta (Can skip if using ready-made/no-boil lasagne noodles.)
- Put a large stockpot of salted water on to boil. Meanwhile, spread out a silicone baking mat (or use a cooling rack or cutting board) as a landing place for the batches of boiled lasagna noodles.
- Boil about 5 to 6 pieces of lasagna at a time, until barely tender. The time will vary depending on the brand of pasta, about 2 to 7 minutes.
- Use a large skimmer to transfer the 5 or 6 pieces of boiled lasagna to the silicon mat. Repeat as you build the lasagna.
Assemble
- Spread a layer of béchamel on the bottom of the baking pan/s. Cover with a layer of pasta sheets. Don't worry about overlapping a little, and or wrinkled noodles.Cover with thin layer of béchamel (about 1 Tbsp. over each pasta sheet).Cover with a thin layer of ragù (about 2 flat Tbsp. per pasta sheet). Sprinkle grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on top.
- Repeat until fully assembled.
- Top the last layer with a thicker layer of béchamel (paying extra attention to cover the corners so that they don't dry out while cooking), optionally a light layer of meat, if you like, and finally a generous dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
- Optional:Add extra spoonfuls of ragú around the edges if there is room, to later be spooned on the individual plates of lasagna (a highly appreciated extra treat).Pour a few tablespoons of broth (or add a few frozen broth cubes) around the sides of the assembled dish for an elegantly relaxed lasagna. This also helps ensure it stays nice and moist while cooking.
Cook & Enjoy
- Bake covered with foil for about 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until hot, about another 15 minutes. (If your lasagna is very tall or extra dense, allow extra time.) Test with a knife to make sure hot in the center. Cover to keep warm, and let rest and settle about 5 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy in flat pasta bowls or on large plates.
- Fontina or Taleggio – 10oz (280g), sliced or cubed – Distribute over 1 or 2 of the layers.
- Dried Porcini – 1 to 2oz (30-60g) – A touch of good quality porcini adds an interesting savory dimension to lasagna. Brush clean, pulverize in a spice mill or food processor and generously sprinkle over the béchamel on 1 or 2 layers.
Nutrition Info: Click to Expand
More Comfort Food Recipes
- Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
- Ragù alla Bolognese: A Classic
- Baked Italian Sausage with Wine Harvest Grapes
- Pasta with Peas and Pancetta (Pasta Piselli e Pancetta)
- Italian Broccoli Pasta
- Roasted Fennel Pumpkin Soup
Recommended Kitchen Tools
Below are kitchen tools I find essential or just very helpful when making lasagna. You’ll likely have some, if not all, around the house.
- Rectangular lasagne or roasting pan
- For small portions – loaf pans or aluminum freezer mini-pans with board lids (lids to be replaced by aluminum foil when baking), 20cmx14cmx4.5cm (roughly 8×5.5×1.75 inches) are great for 2-serving portions
- fine to medium cheese grater
- small offset spatula or palette knife – very helpful for spreading thicker béchamel down in the pan
- various small and medium bowls for grated cheese, porcini or other optionals
• For Making Béchamel:
- saucepan
- tall whisk – the taller the better, so you don’t feel the heat when stirring the béchamel
- a two-cup or larger measuring cup – helpful to quickly measure and add the milk, and not lose count! (Yes, I do that!)
• For Boiling Lasagne Sheets:
- large pasta pan – to boil lots of water
- silicon baking mat, or cloth kitchen towel, to lay the pasta on after boiling
- kitchen tongs – to pull pasta out of boiling hot water
