Lasagna Bolognese

History

The Romans were already eating lagana, stacked sheets of pasta, and the word has crossed two thousand years without losing its meaning. But the lasagna that wins over the whole world comes from Emilia: in Bologna, it’s built with spinach-green pasta, ragù and béchamel, and the official ragù recipe has been registered with the city’s chamber of commerce since 1982. The Bolognese leave nothing to chance.

The dish went global in the 20th century along with Italian emigration, sometimes losing its manners along the way: too much tomato here, ricotta there, cheese stretching everywhere. The lasagna bolognese recipe below follows Bologna’s spirit, where the ragù is a meat dish barely dampened with tomato, and béchamel replaces the mountain of mozzarella.

Ingredients — Serves 6

• 350g lasagna sheets (fresh, ideally)
• Ragù: 500g coarsely ground beef + 250g ground pork belly, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1 onion, 150ml white wine, 400g crushed tomatoes, 150ml milk
• Béchamel: 80g butter, 80g flour, 1L milk, nutmeg
• 120g grated parmesan, olive oil, salt, pepper

The lasagna bolognese recipe, step by step

1. Start with the ragù, and don’t rush it: soften the soffritto (finely chopped carrot, celery, onion), add the meats and let them really brown.
2. Deglaze with the white wine, then add the tomatoes and salt. Simmer at least 2 hours, uncovered, over low heat. The milk goes in near the end to round it out.
3. Make the béchamel: a blond roux, hot milk whisked in, nutmeg. Keep it pourable, since it’s what hydrates the pasta.
4. Assemble: béchamel on the bottom, pasta, ragù, béchamel, parmesan, then repeat, 4 to 5 layers, finishing with béchamel and parmesan.
5. Bake 35 minutes at 180°C, the last 10 uncovered so the top browns.
6. Wait 15 minutes before cutting. It’s hard, but it’s the difference between a slice that holds together and a lava flow.

Cooking method

Technique: a long-simmered ragù, then baked in layers.

Traditional equipment: a heavy pot for the ragù, a rectangular earthenware or glass dish for assembly.

Signs to look for: a ragù that coats without weeping liquid, a mahogany-browned top, a slice that holds its shape once rested.

Nutrition, per serving

Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided across six servings.

At 930 kcal per serving, this is a substantial baked dish, with the ragù and the béchamel each contributing roughly half the fat — 50 g total, 24 g saturated. Protein, at 45 g, comes from the beef and pork in the ragù; carbohydrate, at 70 g, from the pasta sheets and the béchamel’s flour and milk in roughly equal measure.

Economic context

Bologna’s registered ragù recipe calls for a mix of beef and pork simmered for hours with wine and just enough tomato to dampen it — a meat dish rather than a tomato sauce with meat in it, which puts real lasagna bolognese above the everyday pasta staples that make up the bulk of a typical Italian food budget. It’s Sunday cooking, not a weeknight throw-together.

Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in Italy generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.

Who this dish suits

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