Easy Spinach Lasagna
This Easy Spinach Lasagna is my go-to vegetarian lasagna. Layers of sauce, no-boil noodles, spinach ricotta & cheese combine for a tasty meatless meal!
Why You Must Make
- It was featured on Cook’s Country TV which shares well-tested recipes.
- It’s perfect for vegetarians.
- You can also jazz it up for carnivores by adding in some sauteed, sliced Italian sausages!
I caught an episode of Cook’s Country TV one Saturday when they featured this Spinach Lasagna. Knowing any sort of spinach pasta would be a huge hit with my daughter, I printed off this easy spinach lasagna recipe while it was still available online.
Recipe Tips
- For the meat lover in your home, add some sliced sauteed Italian sausage to the sauce. I’ve made this recipe with half sausage and half without.
- Look for No-Boil lasagna noodles and that saves you the step and the pan needed to make traditional pasta. There’s enough liquid in the sauce to plump up the pasta as it cooks.
- Though you have to break out your food processor, it’s used twice. Once for finely chopping the spinach and again for mixing part of the spinach with the ricotta, etc.
- PRO-Tip: Grease one side of your foil so that the cheese will not stick as the lasagna cooks. I love non-stick foil as it saves a step, but spraying Pam on regular foil works well, too.
- PRO-Tip: If you don’t have fresh basil, you can substitute 1 teaspoon dried basil for each tablespoon of fresh basil.
- Defrost your frozen spinach overnight in the refrigerator. Squeeze dry before using. You can use a potato ricer, press and squeeze in a strainer, or squeeze over a bowl with clean hands.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are a few things that make this a simple lasagna recipe. First are the no-boil lasagna noodles. They absorb liquid from the sauce to hydrate, eliminating the need to boil and cool them before using them. Then, since this is a vegetarian lasagna, there’s no need to get out another pan to cook hamburger or sausages. And, finally, using frozen chopped spinach entails defrosting and squeezing it dry instead of cooking and chopping, then squeezing out the excess liquid.
Ricotta is a soft Italian cheese that’s often used in lasagna. My mom used cottage cheese and that’s probably the best alternative. Other options include cream cheese, sour cream, tofu, and even goat’s cheese or yogurt.
Using a ricer works well, though it’s difficult to clean. You can also hand squeeze it with well-washed hands. I do that method over a strainer in the kitchen sink.
You May Also Like:
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- Plus, all my Best Pasta Recipes
Spinach Lasagna
A hearty, scrumptious pasta dish laden with spinach adapted from Cook's Country
Ingredients
- 3 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, divided
- 3 cups (24 ounces) ricotta
- 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan
- 2 large eggs
- 12+ no-boil lasagna noodles
- 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded mozzarella
- 3-4 mild Italian sausage links, sliced and browned, optional for a non-vegetarian version
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375º. Microwave spinach in covered large bowl until completely thawed, about 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Squeeze spinach dry, reserving 1/3 cup liquid. Pulse spinach in food processor until ground, 8 to 10 pulses, scraping down bowl every few pulses. Wipe out large bowl with paper towels. Transfer spinach to now-empty bowl; set aside.
- Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, ½ cup processed spinach, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in 3 tablespoons basil; set aside.
- Process ricotta and reserved spinach liquid in food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add Parmesan, remaining 3 tablespoons basil, eggs, 1½ teaspoons salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and process until combined. Stir ricotta mixture into remaining processed spinach.
- Cover bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking dish with 1¼ cups sauce. Top with 3 noodles and spread one-third of ricotta mixture evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with 2/3 cup mozzarella and cover with 1¼ cups sauce and sprinkle with sausage pieces, if using. Repeat twice, beginning with noodles and ending with sauce. Top with remaining 3 noodles, remaining sauce, and remaining 1 cup mozzarella.
- Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil sprayed with vegetable oil spray and bake until bubbling around edges, about 40 minutes. Discard foil and continue to bake until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes. Serve.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 396Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 92mgSodium: 1218mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 7gSugar: 11gProtein: 24g
76 Comments on “Easy Spinach Lasagna”
With ricotta, parmesan and spinach – this has to be deliciously good! Love spinach and love lasagna so this is a perfect combo for me!
My son loves lasagna, but guess what? I’ve never eaten it in my life!! To me, Lasagna is Garfield’s food! I can’t bear to fight with him. Hahaha!
I’m a huge spinach fan – maybe watched too much Popeye growing up. This would be a hit for the winter-that-will-not-go-away. And we would all do this meatless (although meat is good, too).
Lizzy, are you ok? Just noticed you haven’t posted for a while! Hope it’s because you have been having a nice holiday and not something not as nice. Take care. Hope you see you soon.
Lasagna can be hard to photograph but you nailed it, looks delicious Lizzy!!
Lizzy, I’ve never worked with frozen spinach. Would fresh spinach be just as good in this, do you think? We also use another green called Silverbeet instead of spinach quite often – it has a slightly stronger taste than spinach. Hope you are having a good week.
I’m with the carnivore, I like a little sausage in my lasagna, lol. I love lasagna, a little too much if you know what I mean. Usually my will power doesn’t last long and I should be ready for one soon. Hope you are having a wonderful week Miss Lucky Lizzy!
-Gina-
I was vegetarian for 3 years and although I now eat meat, I STILL prefer a vegetarian lasagna. SO good. This one looks perfect 🙂
Maybe it’s just the time of year, but lasagne sounds soooo good right now. I’d take half of the pan of your spinachy goodness Liz.
Happy New Year and good luck to the Pack this weekend!
Lizzy, this is just gorgeous!! You are so very talented. I love spinach lasagna and much prefer it over the meat version!
This would be my perfect lasagna, it does look delicious.
Hope you are off to a great 2013!
Lizzy,
Who can say no this yummy dinner, love this spinach lasagna and wine.
I love all the delicious, lovely layers!
This is SOOOOOOOO hearty and delicious! I love it!
This dish brings back fuzzy warm feelings of my days in Australia when I had loads of yummy spinach lasagna. this recipe sounds so good – Bookmarked to try asap! Thanks for sharing this Lizzy. I just know my family will enjoy this, most of all, ME 😉
Adding spinach to a lasagna dish certainly makes it stand out from the rest, Liz! Won’t u send me some??
hi lizzy , i love your spinach lasagna!
That sounds delicious! Think I’ll make it for our dinner tomorrow night. Thank you for sharing the recipe! Happy New Year!
Oh boy, this would be a big hit with me! Love lasagna:@)
I love lasagna and spinach so this is the perfect combination for me…it looks divine!