Lasagna (9x13 pan, 12 portions) Cost Calculator
Meat lasagna with beef and sausage ragu, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, built in a 9x13 hotel pan and cut into 12 portions. Foodservice ingredient prices against a typical restaurant price per portion. Prefilled with US average ingredient costs. Edit any quantity or price to match what you actually pay, and the math updates as you type.
How much does it cost to make Lasagna (9x13 pan, 12 portions)?
About $29.36 for a 9x13 pan at foodservice prices, or $2.45 a portion cut 12 ways. Cheese is the biggest share: ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan together are $13.44, nearly half the pan. The noodles are $1.92.
Where the money goes
| Ricotta | 19.6% · $5.76 | |
|---|---|---|
| Shredded mozzarella | 18.0% · $5.28 | |
| Ground beef (80/20) | 17.4% · $5.12 | |
| Italian sausage | 16.3% · $4.80 | |
| Marinara sauce | 9.8% · $2.88 | |
| Parmesan | 8.2% · $2.40 | |
| Lasagna noodles | 6.5% · $1.92 | |
| Onion + garlic + herbs | 2.7% · $0.80 | |
| Eggs | 1.4% · $0.40 |
What 24 of them return at different prices
| Your price | Food cost % | Over ingredients, each | Over ingredients, 24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $12.00 | 20.4% | $9.55 | $229.20 |
| $16.00 US average | 15.3% | $13.55 | $325.20 |
| $20.00 | 12.3% | $17.55 | $421.20 |
Ingredients only. Labor, packaging, fuel, and stall or platform fees come out of these figures.
Lasagna has one of the best food costs on an Italian menu, 15.3% at a $16 portion, because the cost is set once per pan and the price is set by the knife. A 9x13 pan costs $29.36 to build however it is cut. Twelve portions puts each at $2.45; cut ten generous squares and a portion costs $2.94; cut fifteen and it drops to $1.96. The recipe never changed. The portion size decides whether you are running an 18% or a 12% food cost.
Cheese, not meat, is where the money sits. Ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan come to $13.44, 46% of the pan, against $9.92 for the beef and sausage. So the cheese is where kitchens look first when lasagna cost creeps up: cutting the ricotta layer with bechamel, as many Italian-American kitchens do, or buying mozzarella in loaves and shredding it in house instead of paying for pre-shredded.
The real risk is the pan you do not finish. Lasagna is built ahead, baked, rested, and cut cold for clean portions, which makes it easy to run, but a cut pan only holds for a few days. Throw out two portions from a pan and the ten you sold carried the whole $29.36, $2.94 each instead of $2.45. Matching the number of pans to the pace of the dining room matters more than any ingredient swap.