12 Frozen Lasagnas, Ranked Worst To Best

Picking the best lasagna from your grocery store's freezer aisle isn't easy; there are many brands and options to choose from. It's important to know which is the tastiest because eating a steaming hot plate of this pasta is one of life's greatest pleasures. Plus, trying to make lasagna from scratch is not everyone's idea of a good time. It takes a big chunk of time and a long list of ingredients. Then, when you're done with the cooking part, there's the cleanup. Nothing is worse than scrubbing a pan with melted-on cheese, crusty tomato sauce, and glued-on noodles. Plus, lasagna recipes usually use large pans and produce many portions. If you live alone or with just one other person, it'll be hard for you to eat the whole thing before it goes bad. 

Buying frozen lasagna is a great solution. You can purchase single portions, and there's no cooking or cleanup involved; just rinse the microwave tray and toss it in the recycle bin. With prices ranging between $3 and $6 per portion, it's also usually much cheaper than getting the Italian dish as take-out.

This article reviews big-name and generic store-brand frozen lasagnas and ranks them from worst to best based on factors like flavor and texture. Check out the methodology section at the end for more details about how I cooked and taste-tested products to come up with this ranking. 

Skip Great Value meat lover's lasagna. It may be one of the cheapest products in the supermarket freezer, but the experience of eating it is unpleasant. This item comes with one lasagna noodle on the bottom and one on the top. There's a sparse meat sauce filling in the middle and a sprinkling of cheese on the top to finish it off. The issue is that this product doesn't have enough filling and the noodles are too thick and chewy. That makes it feel like you're eating only pasta — not lasagna. Even so, the flavor of the sauce stands out because it's unpleasantly spicy and covers the taste of any and all other ingredients. I found it to be greasy, too. 

There's a only sparse sprinkling of meat throughout the dish — much less than the photo on the packaging suggests — and not nearly enough cheese. This results in a sprawling, thin piece of lasagna without much flavor or texture. A final point against this product is the high sodium content, 1,160 milligrams per tray, which is 50% of the recommended daily intake.

Alternative flavors of Great Value lasagna include Italian-style three meat and Mexican-style. As opposed to many freezer lasagnas, which only come in single servings, this brand peddles its products in a range of sizes, including single-serving 12-ounce, four-serving 35-ounce, and 12-serving 90-ounce boxes. That makes it easier to buy just the amount you need — but you have to make peace with how low quality this dish is. 

It's not worth it to buy On-Cor lasagna with meat sauce, even if it is cheap. This product is near the bottom of this lasagna ranking because of the slimy texture of the noodles. They are thicker and mushier than the ones used by other brands. Unfortunately, there are three layers of those noodles with a thin meat sauce filling between them. The pleasant, slightly-spicy flavor of that sauce might be enough to redeem this dish — if you can get past the issue with the pasta and how little meat there is. A sad dusting of mozzarella cheese tops off the whole thing, and I could decipher that some cottage cheese was mixed into filling too. More of cheese would have made this dish more desirable. Though, at home, you could always add a bit more mozzarella or Parmesan on top to spruce it up.

On-Cor's product only comes in a 28-ounce, family-size tray with four portions. You cannot purchase this lasagna as a single portion, but the large tray costs significantly less than a single portion of the more premium lasagnas that I sampled.

Meijer lasagna is not worth your time, trouble, or money. This is one of the cheapest products out there, but it does not taste good enough to spend even the meagerest amount on it. Much like Great Value's lasagna, this dish consists of thick noodles and barely anything else. It's no surprise that the pasta is the first ingredient listed. Luckily, Meijer's lasagna has a slightly better texture than Walmart's or On-Cor's lasagna; it's neither chewy nor slimy. There is enough sauce to give the pasta an orangish tint, but not much more. The ground meat is sparse, too. A surprisingly satisfactory amount of cheese tops it off, but that's too little too late. Even that can't save this frozen lasagna.

If you do decide to buy Meijer's lasagna, you could try a different flavor, like five cheese or vegetable, which might taste better than this one. Meijer sells these products by the individual slice and in family-size trays.

Marie Callender's Italiano lasagna has allure, but its negative qualities put it on the lower half of the list. The best thing about this product is that you can distinguish the individual ingredients in it. The ricotta filling is thick, creamy, and abundant. Bits of Italian sausage look and taste as they should, even if their texture is spongy. You can even pick out and taste the bits of chopped parsley sprinkled over the top. The downside is that the too-thick lasagna noodles are swimming in too much tomato sauce, which is neither spicy nor sweet. The final product doesn't taste like my preconceived notion of lasagna, and the bits of parsley irked me. That being said, I still ate two portions and my notoriously picky son happily ate his piece after I added a layer of Parmesan over the top of it.

Marie Callender's four-portion tray is almost twice as expensive, per ounce, as similarly-sized On-Cor — and it's significantly more expensive than Great Value's or Meijer's lasagnas. The quality of the ingredients is noticeably better, though, so spending a little more is worth it.

Lean Cuisine lasagna is mediocre. Eat this dish and you fill your tummy, sure, but it's far from a memorable culinary experience. This lasagna comes in a small box, despite the fact that it weighs about the same as many of the other single-serving products I reviewed. This is because the tray is narrower, shorter, and deeper. As a result, the lasagna is taller and has a higher ratio of filling and sauce to pasta. 

The noodles inside of the lasagna are still too thick. Meanwhile, the abundant sauce is overly sweet and tastes heavily of black pepper. The meat filling is chewy and the cheese comes in separate curds that look like white blobs. This whole dish tastes strongly of garlic and needs more, meltier cheese.

Lean Cuisine only sells its lasagna in individual portions, which cost about the same as other brands like Great Value or Meijer. If you want to buy one of the cheaper frozen lasagnas, this is a solid choice; just be sure to sprinkle on some extra cheese.

Michael Angelo's lasagna uses a fantastic tomato sauce, but the product's overall watery texture and lack of flavor earned it a spot in the middle of this list. When you first pull this product out of the microwave, a little puddle of clear liquid forms next to it. This excess liquid gives the whole dish a damp texture. Fortunately, the flavor of the sauce is its redemption. You'll quickly detect the essence of ripe, summer tomatoes. While that part it delicious, the rest of the ingredients don't match that high standard. Everything else seems to lack flavor and leans heavily toward the bland side of the spectrum. 

Besides its flavor coming in in the middle, it's price is also mid-range. It is more expensive than some of the lower-ranked brands, but it's not as pricey as the top-ranking ones.

Despite the endorsement by celebrity chef Guy Fieri, this lasagna, made by Golden West Food Group, falls roughly in the middle of this ranking due to its quality. The price doesn't reflect that, though; it's one of the more expensive items reviewed here. It's a stretch of the imagination to believe that Guy Fieri taste tested this product, much less designed it himself. While the flavor and ingredients are fine, the composition is an issue. Instead of laying flat, lasagna noodles form rolls around the seductively-creamy ricotta filling. Each portion comprises two rolls, which are covered in tomato sauce and mixed with unpleasantly chewy chicken bits. The tasty and bountiful ricotta filling makes this product stand out, but the texture of the chicken had me rethink that first impression.

Guy Fieri's lasagna is sold in single-serve portions, but it has more complex preparation instructions than the most of the other single-serve dishes. I had to read the steps about three times to fully comprehend them. You put this product in the microwave for a few minutes, stop it, spoon sauce over the top of the rolls, and then microwave some more. I may be old fashioned, but I prefer to just vent my microwaveable food, pop it in the appliance, and walk away. 

If you like saucy lasagna and are looking for the best price-quality relationship, Stouffer's might be your jam. Like Lean Cuisine, this product comes in a smaller, but deep, tray. It holds everything together better. Plus, there's more meat filling in this product than in some of the other varieties. The noodles are still too thick, though, much like Walmart's and Meijer's lasagnas. On the other hand, the taste of the filling is superior — and there's more of it. The sauce is sweet, rather than spicy, and it tastes like tangy tomatoes. You can easily identify meat and cheese in the filling, but, at the same time, all the ingredients mesh together pleasantly. Adding some extra cheese over the top would do wonders for the dish.

Stouffer's lasagna costs only slightly more than the cheapest options that I sampled. This brand also sells several flavors and sizes in addition to this one. For example, you may find veggie lover's, Italiano, five-cheese, meat lover's, chicken, and garlic cheese with meat sauce in your grocery store's freezer aisle. You can purchase these as a 10-ounce single portion, 18-ounce large portion, four-serving family-size box, and 90-ounce party-size container. So, Stouffer's has all of its lasagna bases covered.

This lasagna tastes wonderfully cheesy, but feels like a letdown anyway. Seeing celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's face on this line of frozen dinners raises expectations, but the product falls short. Golden West Food Group, the same brand that makes the Guy Fieri lasagna I reviewed, manufactures and distributes this item. That's not where the similarities between the two products end. This dish has the same ricotta-noodle-roll format as the former, and has the same complicated reheating instructions. The noodles are just as thick and the ricotta is just as creamy. In short, these do not seem like dishes prepared by two different chefs. 

The sauce is where I detected the biggest difference. Chef Ramsey's lasagna is saltier, but with better texture — you won't find any chewy chicken bits here. Overall, this is an easy lasagna to eat and it's kid-friendly. On the other hand, you can find other, much tastier frozen lasagnas for a similar price.

If you prefer creamy, cheesy lasagna, you'll love Sweet Earth's mushroom lasagna. The first thing you'll notice is the delectable garlic smell wafting from the microwave as it heats up. When you pull it out, you'll see this dish has a pasta base with layers of ricotta. It's covered in melty mozzarella, Parmesan, romano (which is made with cow's milk rather than sheep's milk), and Asiago cheese. There are bits of spinach and mushrooms throughout, although they aren't as plump and generous as the photo on the box suggests. While the noodles are short and sprawling, this dish does have an excellent filling-to-pasta ratio. Overall, this product has a cheesy, pleasant flavor that even your kids will enjoy.

It's not cheap; the single-serving box costs just slightly less than Chef Ramsey's and Guy Fieri's lasagna, but it is significantly more than store-brand products. Paying a higher price for this product isn't a burden, though, because the taste is far better than its competition.

Rao's makes the best meat lasagna of the brands I reviewed. Although other brands list pasta as the first ingredient, this one lists tomatoes. The second ingredient here is ricotta. So, that's what this dish tastes like: sweet tomatoes and smooth ricotta. There's meat and sausage in there as well. That abundant, savory filling comes sandwiched between fine lasagna noodles. Rao's makes its pasta from durum flour or semolina, which is a type of flour produced from hard wheat specifically for pasta making. Everything comes together in a product that everyone at the table — kids and adults alike — will love.

Rao's is one of the more expensive brands of frozen lasagna. While opting for a family-sized container will bring the per-unit cost down some, it's much more expensive than other brands I sampled. The difference in taste is worlds apart, though, and you won't regret spending more on any of Rao's products. 

Amy's vegetable lasagna is an outstanding product. You can tell this company uses superior ingredients from the second you bite into it. First, you'll get a whiff of aromatic herbs when you remove it from the microwave. Then, when you dig your fork in, you'll find bits of zucchini and spinach nestled in sweet, creamy ricotta stuffed between three layers of lasagna noodles. These noodles aren't starchy like other brands; they have a unique, attractive taste that's likely tied to the fact that they're made with durum wheat. The best thing about Amy's lasagna, though, is how light and homemade it tastes. This isn't greasy food that will make you feel queasy after eating it. It will leave you feeling good and satisfied.

The price tag on Amy's lasagna, which only comes in single-serving boxes, is one of the highest of the products reviewed here. Yet, the excellent quality of the food inside this package justifies spending more on it. 

My goal was to judge these frozen lasagnas as fairly as possible. I paid close attention to the texture of the pasta, the taste of the sauce, the filling-to-pasta ratio, the amount and texture of the cheese, and any other noticeable ingredients, like veggies or meat. My son, who can be a picky eater, helped me evaluate a few of the products. I gave the kid-friendly label to any product he tried and asked for more of. There were a few products where he only tried one bite and refused to take another. 

Fair taste testing also meant preparing each product according to the same standards. In this case, that meant following the microwave instructions on the boxes. Many products also provided oven instructions, and a few even recommended using this method instead. Due to time constrains — as individual products would take around 40 minutes each in the oven — I chose the microwave. I also assumed that most people who purchase single-serving frozen lasagna would also use a microwave. Typically, I buy frozen meals when I need a quick and easy dinner after a long day of work — which are not the days that I have the patience to wait an hour for my food to cook in the oven.