The Frozen Lasagna We Ranked Best, Hands Down (It's Not Rao's)

Frozen lasagna might be the most quintessential frozen dinner. It's the true set-it-and-forget-it type of meal. Unwrap, place in the oven at 400 degrees, then cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the brand and size of the lasagna. In a pinch, it can also be microwaved for a few minutes. And just like that ... dinner is served.

But sometimes that type of convenience might come with a catch — like poor food quality, off-putting texture, or bland flavor. Whether it's fair or not, that's typically how frozen meals are viewed. In the case of frozen lasagna, though, you can definitely find some winners. When we ranked nine store-bought frozen lasagnas from worst to best, the biggest winner came from Stouffer's.

This brand has been around for more than 100 years and has basically perfected its lasagna — as well as its Swedish meatballs. Stouffer's says its lasagna comes with 100% beef, herb-seasoned tomato sauce, and real mozzarella cheese. And while you can microwave the lasagna, in our opinion, the recommended traditional oven preparation produces better results.

The star of the show in Stouffer's frozen lasagna is the sauce. For starters, there's plenty of it, and it's thick, rich, and flavorful. Though the mozzarella cheese on top was a bit scarce in our opinion. The noodles were slightly overcooked — as can be typical with frozen pasta — but the sauce more than makes up for it. The meat was tasty, although, like the cheese, it was a bit lacking in volume.

Overall, Stouffer's lasagna had a nice consistency with a memorable sauce, all at an affordable price. You'll find the family size portion (2 pounds and 6) ounces for around $10 at most grocery stores, while the smaller 19-ounce portion sells for a little more than $5. The family size breaks down to about $2 per serving, making it a solid value for families looking to stretch their weekly dinner budget. When you compare Stouffer's to some of our other favorite frozen lasagnas, the value is clear. The Michael Angelo's brand sells a slightly smaller family-size portion for around $11. And while we also enjoyed the By Chef Ramsay brand, it only comes in an 11-ounce portion for about $6.

Frozen dinners might get a bad rap — and deservedly so in some cases — but there are exceptions to the rule. And we think Stouffer's lasagna is definitely one of the better ways to spend your hard-earned cash on a frozen dinner. It's more than enough to feed a family of four, and the combination of sauce, noodles, meat, and mozzarella makes this lasagna the best option out there.