Description
This healthy and delicious Spinach Artichoke Lasagna combines fresh spinach, tender artichokes, and a simple homemade tomato sauce layered with creamy cottage cheese and melted fontina. Perfectly baked with no-boil noodles, it offers a flavorful vegetarian dish that’s satisfying and wholesome. It’s ideal for family dinners and tastes even better the next day.
Ingredients
Scale
Tomato Sauce
- 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Spinach Artichoke Mixture
- 2 cups (16 ounces) low fat cottage cheese
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped red onion (about 1 smallish red onion)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 cup jarred or defrosted frozen artichokes, drained, quartered if necessary
- 12 ounces baby spinach, preferably organic
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Assembly
- 9 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 2 cups (5 ounces) shredded fontina cheese or low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella
- Garnish: sprinkling of additional chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Prepare Tomato Sauce: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Drain the diced tomatoes in a fine colander to remove excess juice for about a minute. Transfer the drained tomatoes into a food processor. Add chopped fresh basil, olive oil, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. Pulse about 10 times until the mixture reaches a spreadable consistency, then pour the sauce into a bowl and set aside.
- Blend Cottage Cheese: Rinse the food processor and return half of the cottage cheese (1 cup) into the machine. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer this smooth cottage cheese into a large mixing bowl for later use.
- Sauté Aromatics and Vegetables: Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add chopped red onion and ¼ teaspoon salt, stirring frequently, cook until the onion becomes tender and translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Cook Spinach and Artichokes: Add artichokes to the skillet, then add baby spinach in batches, cooking and stirring frequently until the spinach has wilted. Continue adding spinach until all is incorporated. Cook the mixture, stirring often, about 12 minutes until the spinach significantly reduces in volume and moisture evaporates.
- Combine Spinach Artichoke Mixture: Transfer the cooked spinach artichoke mixture back to the food processor bowl. Pulse about 12 to 15 times to finely chop the mixture without pureeing. Transfer this mixture to the bowl of whipped cottage cheese. Add the remaining cottage cheese and mix well. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Assemble the Lasagna: Spread ½ cup of the prepared tomato sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish. Layer three no-boil lasagna noodles overlapping slightly. Spread half of the spinach cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles, followed by ½ cup tomato sauce and ½ cup shredded cheese. Repeat with three more noodles, remaining spinach mixture, and ½ cup shredded cheese. Top with the last three noodles, spread the remaining tomato sauce evenly over noodles, and sprinkle with 1 cup shredded cheese.
- Bake the Lasagna: Cover the lasagna with parchment paper or foil (avoid foil touching the cheese). Bake in the preheated oven for 18 minutes. Remove the cover, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and continue baking uncovered for another 12 minutes until the top turns spotty brown.
- Rest and Serve: Remove the lasagna from the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes. Garnish with additional chopped fresh basil before slicing and serving.
Notes
- This vegetarian lasagna recipe is packed with fresh ingredients like spinach and artichokes and uses a simple homemade tomato sauce for maximum flavor.
- The dish is best made ahead as it tastes even better the next day once flavors meld.
- Recipe yields one 9-inch square lasagna sufficient for 8 to 9 servings.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice (1/8 of lasagna)
- Calories: 384
- Sugar: 6.8 g
- Sodium: 758 mg
- Fat: 18.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 7.1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 11.2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 39 g
- Fiber: 7.5 g
- Protein: 20.8 g
- Cholesterol: 38 mg
