Spinach Lasagna is a hearty, crowd-pleasing dinner that is easy to prepare! Layers of creamy ricotta, savory herbs, spinach, and melted cheese make this meatless main a family favorite. It can easily be assembled ahead of time or frozen for later, making it perfect for busy weeknights.
Serve it with a Caesar salad and homemade garlic bread to soak up every bit of sauce.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Spinach Lasagna
- Flavor: Creamy ricotta and spinach pair with savory tomato sauce, herbs, and plenty of melted mozzarella and Parmesan for a rich, comforting meal.
- Skill Level: Easy enough for newer cooks, with simple ingredients and forgiving layers that come together without fuss.
- Why Make It: This budget-friendly meatless meal serves eight and can be assembled ahead, making it perfect for Sunday dinners, potlucks, or freezer meals.
Cook Time: 1 Hr 20 Mins Servings: 8 Cooking Method: Stovetop & Oven
Ingredient Notes
- Lasagna Noodles: Traditional lasagna noodles are my favorite, or replace with fresh lasagna sheets found in the refrigerator area. Oven-ready noodles may work, but they have not been tested with this recipe.
- Pasta Sauce: Use a thicker marinara or pasta sauce you enjoy, or replace it with homemade marinara sauce to control the flavor even more.
- Italian Seasoning: Use store-bought or homemade Italian seasoning.
- Frozen Chopped Spinach: Thaw completely and squeeze out as much liquid as possible to keep the filling thick and prevent the lasagna from becoming watery.
- Ricotta Cheese: Creates a creamy, smooth filling. Cottage cheese can be used instead for a slightly lighter filling with more texture.
- Mozzarella Cheese: Provides the stretchy, melty layers and browned topping. Pre-shredded mozzarella is an easy time-saver.
How to Make Spinach Lasagna
- Cover the lasagna noodles with boiling water until softened, then rinse and dry.
- Prepare the sauce and cheese mixture (full recipe below).
- Layer in the baking dish, alternating sauce, noodles, and spinach. Finish with noodles and sauce.
- Cover and bake. Then uncover, add the remaining cheeses, and finish baking.
Storing Leftovers
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Then reheat in the oven or the microwave.
To make ahead: Assemble the lasagna and freeze it uncooked. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then bake as per recipe directions below. It may need an extra 10 to 15 minutes of covered cooking time.
Meatless Pasta Night
Did you enjoy this Spinach Lasagna Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Spinach Lasagna
Equipment
Ingredients
- 9 lasagna noodles
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups pasta sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach thawed
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese divided
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9×13 pan with foil.
- Place lasagna noodles in a pan and cover with boiling water for 15 minutes. Rinse with cold water and dab dry.
- Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add pasta sauce and Italian seasoning. Simmer 5 minutes more or until slightly thickened.
- While the sauce is simmering, squeeze the spinach to remove moisture. Combine with ricotta cheese, 2 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, egg, fresh parsley, and salt. Mix well.
- Place 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Layer with 3 lasagna noodles. Add ½ of the spinach and cheese mixture and ⅓ of the sauce.
- Add 3 more lasagna noodles, remaining ½ of the spinach and cheese mixture, and ⅓ of the sauce. Top with the last 3 noodles and the remaining sauce.
- Cover with foil and ensure it is well sealed, then bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil, top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until browned.
- Cool 20 minutes before cutting.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Dinner, Entree, Pasta
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Oh My! This is delicious! My husband and I make these in aluminium foil containers so we always have a freezer meal ready to go!
Thank you! Thank you! Spendwithpennies!
I love that! So happy you are loving this recipe as much as we do.
awesome
I have the lasagna in my freezer now. I have made it before and its delicious, but never froze it.
I see the directions on how to cook it from the freezer, but would i thaw it at all before baking or put in the oven frozen.
Thank you for this yummy recipe
Hi Karen, To bake from frozen, we place the foil-wrapped lasagna back into the same pan and bake covered 75 to 90 minutes at 350°F or until hot in the middle. Then open the top of the foil, add cheese, and bake for an additional 15 minutes. There is no need to thaw first.
It’s a keeper for me. Thanks so much for sharing
Easy Spinach Lasagna is as easy and tasty as Holly suggests. It certainly hit the spot for the people here. Thanks “Spend With Pennies”!
So glad you loved it, Steve!
I’d like to make this, but use fresh spinach. How much fresh spinach do you suggest using? Thanks!
You will need 1lb of fresh spinach to replace 10oz frozen spinach. Chop the spinach and cook it for a few minutes in a skillet (with a touch of oil if needed). Once cooked, cool and squeeze dry before using.
Can mushrooms be added to this?
I think that sounds like a great addition!
Delicious lasagna.
So happy you enjoyed this lasagna, Jill! :)
Excellent recipe. Has anyone tried freezing this for future meals? (trying to prep foods for future surgery)
Thanks
Yes, this dish freezes well Mary. You can find the freezing tips and tricks in the notes above the recipe.
This came out perfect and so delicious.
My husband and I loved it! It came out so perfect. The only issue I found is it say 1/2 teaspoon of salt and there isn’t any direction as to where and when the salt gets added to the recipe. Could you please change that error. Thank you for such a delightful recipe
Hi Margie, The salt is added in step 4 into the ricotta mixture. I am so glad you loved this recipe!
This is a wonderfully delicious recipe and so simple to make. I’ve tried many recipes and this one came together perfectly. Thank you for the tip on the noodles and for the clear directions. I wish more recipes were like this. My family enjoyed this and I was able to freeze half to have for another night. I highly recommend this one!
I am so glad you loved this recipe TJ!
Easy and Delicious. Thanks.
This is amazingly delicious. I use NO BOIL noodles which saves even more time by eliminating step 2 and it comes out great .
I grease the pan, don’t mess with foil on the bottom and my Pyrex pan cleans up fine. I have made this several times. and mix up the sauce a bit differently each time.
This last time I made it, I used a jar of Prego Italian seasoned Tomato Sauce. ANother time i needed a bit more sauce for the top so I used the empty sauce jar, put in about a cup of left-over tomato paste, and a cup of regular tomato juice. Swished it around and used it to mix with the cup or so of sauce left from the original batch.
Also, if you like spice you can substitute Spicy V8 juice for some of the liquid, and \ or add some Salsa.
I use the juice from the spinach in soup.
Can I use no boil lasagna noodles in this recipe? I usually use regular lasagna noodles when I make lasagna, but we’re living in our 5th wheel in Florida at the moment, and I’d like to avoid boiling water inside. Makes it HOT, lol!
Hi Barb, we haven’t tried this recipe with no-boil noodles but other readers have had good results with no-boil noodles!
I did end up using the No boil noodles, and used fresh spinach that I sautéed and squeezed dry. It was very, very good! I’m making it again on Saturday, but the farmer I get my fresh spinach from sold out, but had lovely rainbow chard instead, so I’ll be using that in place of the spinach. This recipe is going to be made frequently at my house!
Made my fresh spinach lasagna in my new pan. I used low fat cottage cheese instead though. I sprayed the pan 1st & it came out great.
So happy this recipe worked out so well for you, Carol!
If using fresh spinach, do you have to sautee it first?
Hey Sara, take a look at this guide for substituting fresh spinach in place of the frozen spinach. It has all the details you’ll need to be successful!
Love this recipe! Can I partially cook it so that I can take it on a trip to serve the next day?
This dish can be made up to 3 days ahead of time before baking. I’ve never tried partially baking it, but I’m sure that’d work just fine Kathy.
If using fresh spinach do I need to cook the spinach first?
Please take a look at this post for substituting fresh spinach in place of the frozen spinach. Enjoy Charmaine!
It was the best lasagne our family has had So thankful for sharing it with us.
Well that just made my day Shireen! So glad to hear!
Would I be able to either omit the ricotta cheese or add an equal amount of cottage cheese as the ricotta is tres expensive and hard to find or would that ruin the recipe?
Many thanks for all the great recipes
Cottage cheese will work in place of ricotta cheese in this recipe. Enjoy!
Might I suggest using Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Non-Stick. This stuff is great! Nothing sticks to it!
Also, can I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta?
We love Reynolds Wrap Non-Stick too, thank you for the suggestion! Cottage cheese will work just fine in this recipe.