Filipino Style Lasagna is sweet, cheesy and creamy. It is a rich pasta dish made with saucy ground beef meat sauce, layered with a creamy bechamel sauce and finally topped with lots of mozzarella cheese.
Filipino style lasagna was one of the first few dishes I often made when I first started to find my way into the kitchen. I still can remember the time when I braved our little kitchen with a piece of paper in my hand. I was so nervous that I waited for everybody to be out of the house and I didn’t start to cook until I was alone.
At the end, I was so exhausted. I mean, who wouldn’t be? I was a novice one and I tackled a recipe with three separate elements in it: Pasta, meat sauce and white sauce. Too complex for someone who is just starting, right? I was ready to crash in bed as soon as I wash the last piece of dirty dishes.
I made the dish again several times after that. And of course, just like with anything, things got easier and easier as you get used to it. I tweaked the recipe over the years, making it more simple and less laborious than the original one that I started with.
When my husband first came to Canada, and having mastered this recipe by heart, I made this dish for him for his welcome party. He liked it except for one thing, he says that the white sauce is not actually white but brown. So from then on, I omitted the condensed mushroom soup from the recipe and resorted to adding only evaporated milk in the white sauce.
You see, this recipe has been tweaked, re-invented and has been tested.
Today, this Filipino Style Lasagna is well loved by my family, and gladly, by my two kids. Whenever I am out of ideas to cook, I always turn to this one. Between this and my other favorite, Chicken BBQ Pizza, lunch is covered for times we want to have a break from eating rice.
As much as I would like to take the credit, this Filipino style lasagna mostly got its wonderful, sweet flavor from the Filipino style spaghetti sauce. I used to put only tomato sauce before and always ended up sweetening the sauce with sugar to get that Filipino style taste, but now, the addition of Filipino spaghetti sauce makes the pasta sauce perfect in sweetness, saltiness, and tang.
The cheesy top is shredded mozzarella. You can use cheddar, Parmesan, or combination of cheeses, if you prefer. I love the mild sharpness of mozzarella and its creamy pale color adds to the character of the dish. I always go for the pre-shredded variety because I am lazy!
This lasagna is a rich, filling lunch and I do not go hungry for hours when I eat this. Well maybe, except for desserts like a no-churn chocolate ice cream or Ovaltine cake.
Make this Filipino style lasagna and you will be amazed by how easy it is. Instruction is lengthy, yes, but the over-all process is really simple. You will love this!
Want more Filipino dishes? Try:
- Tortang Dulong
- Burger Steak with Mushroom Gravy
- Sweet and Spicy Squid
- Pancit Canton with Sardines
- Pork Binagoongan
- Baked Chicken Empanada
- Peach Mango Pie
Filipino Style Lasagna
Filipino Style Lasagna is a sweet, creamy and cheesy pasta dish with layers of juicy meat sauce and rich bechamel sauce in between.
Ingredients
- 12 sheets Lasagna
For the Filipino Style Lasagna Meat Sauce
- 1 and 1/2 lbs ground beef
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 and 1/2 cup Filipino style spaghetti sauce ( such as UFC or Del Monte) can be found in the Asian, Oriental Aisle
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 2-3 tbsp cooking oil
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Bechamel Sauce
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 and 1/2cup cup shredded Mozarella cheese
Instructions
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Boil the pasta by following the package instructions. Drain, lay them out flat in a plate and set aside.
Make the Lasagna Sauce
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In a large wok or skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion until soft and add the ground beef. Cook meat until brown and add the chopped tomatoes. Stir around and let cook for for 5 more minutes.
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Add the spaghetti sauce and let mixture boil for a few minutes or until the meat is tender and cooked through. Season sauce with salt and pepper then add the basil and parsley. Turn off heat.
Make the Bechamel Sauce
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Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Once it starts to bubble, add the flour and constantly stir the mixture with a wire whisk. Let this cook for a few minutes, until the mixture is very lightly browned. Slowly add the regular milk and evaporated milk while stirring mixture constantly. The mixture will start to thicken in about 4-5 minutes as you constantly stir. The consistency you are aiming for is thick but still pourable. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Turn off heat.
Assemble and Bake
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Preheat oven to 375 F. In a 9 x 13 baking dish, spread a thin layer of the white sauce then lay out 3 sheets of lasagna over top. Spoon enough meat sauce to cover the lasagna sheets. Again spread a thin layer of white sauce, then top with lasagna noodles and cover with meat sauce.
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Repeat the process until you end up with the last three lasagna sheets on top. Spread all remaining white sauce on top of the lasagna sheets and sprinkle mozzarella cheese as a final topping.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Let cools lightly before cutting.
Recipe Notes
Hi. If mozzarella cheese is not around. What cheese po pwede for the bechamel sauce?
Hello Germaine,
Cheddar cheese is a great substitute. The quick melt ones, like the Velveeta and Eden are great! But you can also use the cheddar brick cheeses too 🙂 Enjoy!
hi sanna,
can i use a turbo broiler for this? thanks
Hi Shiela! Since, the lasagna is all cooked prior to baking, I believe you can use a turbo broiler. The goal is to melt the cheese on top. Since the turbo broiler may vary in the heat it emits, just be sure to watch closely as to not burn the top. I am seeing you are going to use a different baking dish too for the broiler, so watch out for the time 🙂
Hi. What kind of milk will be use?
Hi Diane! You can use regular cow’s milk in addition to the 1 cup of evaporated milk. 🙂 I hope you enjoy this recipe.
Hi, you used dried basil and parsley instead of the fresh ones. Actually I prefer the fresh ones, but my daughter has taste preference for something sweet and salty, she doesn’t like food that might taste weird for her and that includes herbs and spices. I appreciate if you have suggestions. Thanks and looking forward for your other recipes.
Hello, Helen! Thank you for checking the recipe out. My daughter is the same. She does not like the taste that the herbs impart on food so I usually omit the herbs because of her.
You can also omit the herbs altogether, I guess it is more kid-friendly that way 🙂
Can i use fresh milk?
Hi sabrina! Yes, you can!
Hi, can I do this using the microwave oven? How many minutes will be enough to have it cooked? Thanks.
Hi Abegail! I have not tried cooking this via microwave. If you don’t have any other option but the microwave, I would suggest boiling lasagna noodles thoroughly until it is really tender. Essentially, all the elements of the Lasagna are cooked prior to putting in in the oven. It would not hurt doing the final stage in the microwave but the result can differ than if you were to cook it in the oven. I suggest minimal time only as the pasta can toughen up in the microwave.
Try baking it for 45 minutes, that will turn your white sauce into brown it will look like burned but doesnt taste burned(you can try)
I am using electric oven to bake it.
Thanks for that tip, Polido!
Hello po!!Masarap po ba tlaga eto???tsaka po magkano po lahat laht ng nagastos nyo kasi magluluto rin po kami ng lasagna eh…. project lng po sa school
Hello Donna! Yes, masarap ito. You should try. It should cost you around 40 cad or about 1500 php. Good luck and happy cooking!
hi for milk, is it ok to use buttermilk? thank you
Hi Net! I strongly recommend using regular milk because the buttermilk can potentially alter the taste of the bechamel sauce. 🙂