This spinach lasagna is gloriously cheesy, perfectly saucy, and fully loaded with fresh sautéed spinach. It’s worthy of special occasions and holidays, and such a treat on a chilly weekend.
If you’re craving a meatless main dish with familiar flavors, this spinach lasagna is the answer. The sauce is made from scratch and sets this lasagna apart from your average recipe. It’s comfort food at its finest.
This spinach lasagna recipe requires some effort, as all lasagnas do. That said, it comes together beautifully and is 100 percent worth your while. No-boil noodles save time and effort—have you ever tried working with floppy, sticky, freshly-boiled lasagna noodles? No need to struggle for this recipe.
If you’re new to making lasagnas, this is a great recipe to start with. It’s a bit easier than my veggie lasagna, which is my other go-to recipe! This one is essentially my spinach artichoke lasagna without the artichoke. It’s so delicious that it deserves the spotlight.
Spinach Lasagna Ingredient Notes
Scroll down to find the full recipe. Before you get started, here are a few helpful notes and substitution options.
- This lasagna is designed for no-boil lasagna noodles, which are so easy to use. I like DeLallo’s whole wheat no-boil noodles or 365 brand’s regular no-boil noodles. For gluten-free lasagna, try Jovial’s gluten-free no-boil noodles.
- I used cottage cheese in this recipe instead of classic ricotta. We’ll blend half of the cottage cheese to make it super creamy and stir in the rest for some texture. This is a little trick I learned from America’s Test Kitchen. If you’re accustomed to ricotta, you can use it instead, but I love the flavor and texture of cottage cheese more (and I don’t usually love it).
- If you are in a hurry, substitute store-bought marinara for the homemade sauce below. My favorite brand is Rao’s. If you can spare five minutes of effort, the sauce comes together quickly and offers the perfect amount of moisture.
- You could sauté thawed frozen spinach instead of fresh, but the fresh spinach flavor is lovely with the fresh-tasting tomato sauce.
How to Make Spinach Lasagna
The recipe below relies heavily on a food processor. You’ll use it to make the red sauce, then rinse it out to make the creamy ricotta, and lastly, to blitz the cooked spinach into bite-sized pieces.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can judiciously use the pulse function on your blender.
If you don’t have a food processor or blender, buy crushed tomatoes instead of diced, skip the blended cottage cheese step and chop the spinach mixture after it’s done cooking.
Watch How to Make Spinach Lasagna
Spinach Lasagna Serving Suggestions
For an Italian restaurant-style dinner, make my Homemade Caesar Salad or Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad. Try Honey Mustard Brussels Sprout Slaw if you’re craving something different, or a Super Simple Arugula Salad for ease.
For a vegetable side, crank up the oven and roast green beans or asparagus while the lasagna cools. They cook so quickly that they’ll be warm and ready when it’s time to eat.
If you’re considering dessert, try a small treat like rich, chocolatey Pots de Crème or bright, jammy Thumbprint Cookies.
More Italian Casseroles to Enjoy
If you love this recipe, bookmark these cheesy, saucy, baked dishes for later. They’re all so good!
Please let me know how your spinach lasagna turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Spinach Lasagna
Make this spinach lasagna for a special occasion or just because! This lasagna tastes even better the next day. Recipe yields one 9-inch square lasagna, which is enough for 8 to 9 servings.
Tomato sauce (or substitute 2 cups jarred marinara sauce)
Spinach mixture
Remaining lasagna ingredients
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. To prepare the tomato sauce, pour the tomatoes into a mesh sieve or fine colander and let them drain off excess juice for a minute. Transfer drained tomatoes to the bowl of a food processor. Add the basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper flakes (if using). Pulse the mixture about 10 times, until the tomatoes have broken down to an easily spreadable consistency. Pour the mixture into a bowl for later (you should have about 2 cups of sauce).
- Rinse out the food processor and return it to the machine. Pour half of the cottage cheese (1 cup) into the processor and blend it until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. No need to rinse out the bowl of the food processor this time; just put it back onto the machine because you’ll need it later.
- Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender and translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add a few large handfuls of spinach. Cook, stirring and tossing frequently, until the spinach has wilted. Repeat with remaining spinach. Continue cooking for about 10 to 12 minutes, stirring frequently, until the spinach has dramatically reduced in volume and very little moisture remains in the bottom of the pan.
- Transfer the spinach mixture to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until the contents are finely chopped (but not puréed!), about 12 to 15 times. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of whipped cottage cheese. Top with remaining cottage cheese and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Now it’s lasagna assembly time!
- Spread ½ cup tomato sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9-inch square baker. Layer three lasagna noodles on top, overlapping their edges as necessary. Spread half of the spinach mixture evenly over the noodles. Top with ½ cup tomato sauce, then sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top.
- Top with three more noodles, followed by the remaining spinach mixture. Sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top. (We’re skipping the tomato sauce in this layer.) Top with three more noodles, then spread the remaining tomato sauce over the top so the noodles are evenly covered. Sprinkle evenly with all of the remaining cheese.
- Wrap the lasagna with a layer of parchment paper over the top (or cover tightly with aluminum foil, but don’t let the foil touch the cheese). Bake, covered, for 18 minutes, then remove the cover, rotate the pan by 180 degrees and continue cooking for about 12 to 17 more minutes, until the top is turning spotty brown.
- Remove from oven and let the lasagna cool for 15 minutes before sprinkling with chopped basil and slicing. Leftovers will keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for about 4 days. Gently reheat individual servings in the microwave or oven as needed. Or, freeze it for later—it’s generally easier and quicker to reheat single servings than to defrost a big block of lasagna.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my Spinach Artichoke Lasagna.
Make it gluten free: Substitute gluten-free no-bake lasagna noodles, such as Jovial brand.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Follow my Best Vegan Lasagna recipe instead, replacing the carrots and mushrooms with 6 ounces of additional spinach.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
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