Healthy & Delicious: Lighter Spinach Lasagna Recipe

By
Kristen Swensson Sturt
Kristen Swensson Sturt
Kristen Swensson Sturt is a freelance writer focused on health, wellness, and lifestyle.  Her healthy and delicious recipes are featured in Serious Eats.  
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Updated August 30, 2018
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Kristen Swensson Sturt

On Mondays, Kristen Swensson Sturt of Cheap, Healthy, Good swings by these parts to share healthy and delicious recipes with us. Take it away, Kristen!

This Valentine's Day, instead of blowing big bucks on a restaurant meal, why not pour a big ol' glass of red wine and whip up this lightened version of Better Homes and Gardens' Spinach Lasagna? It has all the cheesy goodness of regular spinach lasagna, minus a few extra calories.

While the original lasagna recipe wasn't terribly unhealthy, I knew it could be lightened fairly easily with a few natural substitutions. So, I used olive oil instead of margarine for sautéing and cut the amount in half. For a binder, two whole eggs became three egg whites. Lastly and most significantly, part-skim ricotta and mozzarella were substituted for their full-fat counterparts.

In the end, the final numbers looked like this:

Original Spinach Lasagna: 455 calories, 19 g fat, 3 g fiber, 22 g protein
Lighter Spinach Lasagna: 324 calories, 12.5 g fat, 3.4 g fiber, 18.9 g protein

(Note: The first calculations come from Better Homes. The second numbers are my own, and are approximate.)

Granted, each serving lost a tiny bit of protein, but not enough to be truly significant. As for the flavor, you'd never know anything was cut. To chop the fat and calories even more, you may be tempted to use fat-free cheese. A few words of caution: Don't do that. Fat-free fromage doesn't melt well, and the list of added chemicals and preservatives sounds like something the Pentagon and Kremlin fought over in the 1970s.

Happy Valentine's Day, Serious Eaters. Hope it's full of love and spinach.

Recipe Details

Healthy & Delicious: Lighter Spinach Lasagna Recipe

Active 25 mins
Total 65 mins
Serves 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 9 dried lasagna noodles

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

  • 1 cup chopped onion

  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms

  • 4 cloves garlic, minced

  • One 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped

  • One 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and very well drained

  • One 15-ounce container part-skim ricotta

  • 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese

  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

  • 3 large egg whites, lightly beaten

  • 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • One 24-ounce jar your favorite meatless pasta sauce

  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, boil lasagna noodles in salted water until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water.

  2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute onion and mushrooms until soft. Add garlic and saute an additional 30 to 60 seconds, until fragrant. Add roasted red peppers and heat through. Kill heat and set aside.

  3. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

  4. Squeeze spinach of excess water and pat with paper towels. Add to a mixing bowl, along with ricotta, mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, egg whites, basil, oregano, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Add mushroom mixture. Stir to combine.

  5. Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Layer with 3 lasagna noodles placed side-by-side lengthwise. Spread 1/2 ricotta mixture evenly on noodles. Layer with a little less than 1 cup pasta sauce. Layer again with 3 more noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, a little less than 1 cup pasta sauce, and last 3 noodles. Spread remaining pasta sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

  6. Cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes, to firm up. Serve.

Special equipment

Pot, nonstick pan, 9x13-inch baking dish, cutting board, knife, measuring cups and spoons

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
363Calories
18gFat
29gCarbs
23gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories363
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 18g23%
Saturated Fat 8g39%
Cholesterol 54mg18%
Sodium 982mg43%
Total Carbohydrate 29g11%
Dietary Fiber 5g18%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein 23g
Vitamin C 42mg210%
Calcium 465mg36%
Iron 3mg18%
Potassium 821mg17%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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