Restaurant-Style Lasagna Classico, Inspired by Olive Garden
Inspired by, not official: a big, saucy restaurant-style lasagna with a beef-and-Italian-sausage meat sauce and four cheeses: ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan and Pecorino Romano.
Inspired by Olive Garden's Lasagna Classico; this is not an Olive Garden recipe, and Olive Garden has not published one. The chain opened its first restaurant in Orlando, Florida, on December 13, 1982. Its Canadian menu describes the dish as "Prepared fresh daily with layers of pasta, Italian cheeses and our homemade meat sauce" and says the meat sauce "is made with pan-seared beef and Italian sausage". USDA FoodData Central even carries an entry for "OLIVE GARDEN, lasagna classico" at 184 kcal per 100 g (FDC 169851:).
🇺🇸 This one is American
Inspired by, not official: a big, saucy restaurant-style lasagna with a beef-and-Italian-sausage meat sauce and four cheeses: ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan and Pecorino Romano.
🇮🇹 The original
In Bologna, lasagne are thin green spinach pasta layered with a slow meat ragù, béchamel and Parmigiano. No ricotta and no mozzarella. See the Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Sausage in the sauce
Italian sausage brings fennel, garlic and pork fat that ground beef alone can't, which is why the restaurant names it in its meat sauce.
Covered, then uncovered
The foil lets the noodles finish softening in the sauce, then the open bake browns the cheese.
Step by step
- Step 1
Cook the noodles according to the package, drain and lay them flat.
- Step 2
In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the sausage, beef and onion 8 to 10 minutes, breaking up the meat, until no longer pink (160°F). Add the garlic for 1 minute, then drain off the fat.
- Step 3
Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, 3 tbsp parsley, basil, fennel, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered 30 minutes, stirring now and then.
- Step 4
Heat the oven to 375°F. Mix the egg, ricotta, 1/4 cup parsley and 1/4 tsp salt. Toss the Parmesan and Pecorino together.
- Step 5
Spread 2 cups of sauce in a 9 by 13-inch dish. Layer 3 noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1 cup mozzarella and 2 tbsp of the mixed hard cheeses. Repeat twice, then top with the remaining sauce, mozzarella and hard cheeses.
- Step 6
Cover and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 25 minutes more, until bubbling and the center reads 165°F.
- Step 7
Rest 15 minutes before cutting into 12 pieces.
Restaurant-Style Lasagna Classico, Inspired by Olive Garden
Serves 12 · one 9 by 13-inch lasagna · 2 hr 30 min total
Meat sauce
- 1 1/4 lb bulk sweet Italian sausage
- 3/4 lb ground beef (80% lean)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (28 oz) plus 1 can (15 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp minced fresh parsley
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 3/4 tsp fennel seed
- 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
Cheese layer and assembly
- 9 curly-edged lasagna noodles
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 15 oz whole-milk ricotta
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 lb part-skim mozzarella, shredded (4 cups)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
Method
- Cook the noodles according to the package, drain and lay them flat.
- In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the sausage, beef and onion 8 to 10 minutes, breaking up the meat, until no longer pink (160°F). Add the garlic for 1 minute, then drain off the fat.
- Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, 3 tbsp parsley, basil, fennel, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered 30 minutes, stirring now and then.
- Heat the oven to 375°F. Mix the egg, ricotta, 1/4 cup parsley and 1/4 tsp salt. Toss the Parmesan and Pecorino together.
- Spread 2 cups of sauce in a 9 by 13-inch dish. Layer 3 noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1 cup mozzarella and 2 tbsp of the mixed hard cheeses. Repeat twice, then top with the remaining sauce, mozzarella and hard cheeses.
- Cover and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 25 minutes more, until bubbling and the center reads 165°F.
- Rest 15 minutes before cutting into 12 pieces.
Method adapted from Taste of Home, "Best Lasagna" (recipe by Pam Thompson, serves 12; beef and Italian sausage sauce, 375°F, covered 25 minutes and uncovered 25, 15 minute rest). To match the restaurant description we split the Parmesan with Pecorino Romano and keep the sugar at the low end. The cheese list (Parmesan, mozzarella, Pecorino Romano) comes from a third-party reprint of the US menu that we could not confirm on Olive Garden's own US site. Taste of Home. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Drain the meat well; with this much sausage, the sauce turns greasy otherwise.
- Make the sauce a day ahead; it thickens and tastes deeper overnight.
- Want it to look like the restaurant plate? Cut generous squares and spoon extra hot sauce over each one.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Ricotta in the restaurant version. Disputed: the official Canadian menu says only "Italian cheeses" and a third-party reprint of the US menu lists Parmesan, mozzarella and Pecorino Romano with no ricotta; reviews and most copycats include a ricotta layer. We include it, following Taste of Home.
- Beef and Italian sausage in the meat sauce. Documented by Olive Garden's Canadian menu.
- "Prepared fresh daily". Documented as the chain's own claim (Canadian menu); we have no independent check.
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