Lasagna alla Bolognese
Layered pasta with ragu & bechamel
Ingredients
- 500 g Lasagna sheets
- 400 g Ground beef
- 200 g Ground pork
- 80 g Pancetta
- 1 Onion
- 1 Carrot
- 1 stalk Celery
- 750 ml Milk
- 200 ml White wine
- 1 tin San Marzano tomatoes (DOP)
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 80 g Butter
- 60 g 00 flour
- 30 ml Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 g Nutmeg
- 200 g Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 40 g Salt
- 1 tsp Black pepper
Method
- Finely dice the onion, carrot, and celery into a soffritto.
- Dice the pancetta small.
- Melt half the butter with the oil in the Dutch oven over medium-low heat, then sweat the pancetta until golden.
- Add the soffritto and cook gently until soft and sweet, about 12 minutes.
- Turn the heat to high and brown the beef and pork well, breaking the meat up — about 10 minutes.
- Season with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then pour in half the milk (about 250 ml) and simmer until almost dry — about 10 minutes.
- Pour in the wine and simmer until almost dry, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes, then drop to the barest simmer for 2 hours.
- Towards the end of the ragù's simmer, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour, and cook for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the remaining warm milk (about 500 ml) steadily until smooth, then simmer until thickened — about 8 minutes.
- Season the béchamel with salt and a grating of nutmeg, then cover.
- Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and salt it lightly.
- Blanch the lasagna sheets a few at a time for 2 minutes each, then lay them flat on a damp cloth.
- Spread a thin layer of ragù in the dish, then cover with pasta, more ragù, béchamel, and parmigiano.
- Repeat the layers four more times, finishing with béchamel and a thick blanket of parmigiano.
- Bake until bubbling and deeply golden, about 30 minutes.
- Rest the lasagna for 10 minutes before cutting — the layers need to set.
- Slice and serve.
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About Lasagna alla Bolognese
Lasagna alla Bolognese is the classic baked pasta of Emilia-Romagna, and it bears little resemblance to the tomato-heavy, ricotta-stuffed versions common abroad. Its identity rests on two slow-built components: a proper ragù alla bolognese and a silky béchamel, layered between thin sheets of pasta and baked until the top turns golden and lacy at the edges. The ragù starts from a finely diced soffritto of onion, carrot, and celery sweated with pancetta, then beef and pork browned hard for depth, and it is loosened over its long cook with milk and white wine as much as with tomato — the milk is what gives an authentic bolognese its rounded, almost sweet character.
Eating it, you notice restraint rather than heaviness: the sauce is meaty and savory but the béchamel keeps each layer creamy and light, with Parmigiano-Reggiano and a whisper of nutmeg tying it together. This is Sunday and holiday food in Bologna, a dish that rewards the roughly four hours the method demands and feeds a table of eight without fuss. It is best made a little ahead and rested so the layers set for cleaner slicing, and it needs nothing more than a green salad and the rest of the wine you cooked with. If you have only ever had lasagna as a red-sauce casserole, this version is worth the afternoon.
Lasagna alla Bolognese: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Lasagna alla Bolognese?
A serving has about 765 calories — 37.1g protein, 63.5g carbs, 37.8g fat, 3.9g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 37.1g of protein, roughly 19% of its calories.
Is Lasagna alla Bolognese gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Lasagna sheets, 00 flour. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for those ingredients to make it gluten-free.
Is Lasagna alla Bolognese dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Milk, Butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Swapping those for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How long does Lasagna alla Bolognese take to make?
About 240 minutes start to finish, but only around 68 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Lasagna alla Bolognese make?
This recipe makes 8 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.