Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

This sausage and spinach lasagna boasts layers of tender noodles topped with a creamy spinach, mushroom, and three cheese filling, crumbled Italian chicken sausage, and hearty marinara sauce sprinkled with mozzarella cheese and oven baked to cozy perfection.

Ingredients

• Lasagna noodles – Form the base of this dish. Regular or whole wheat work great.
• Chicken or turkey sausage – we love using Sprout’s Italian chicken sausage or Honeysuckle White turkey sausage for this recipe. Cook, crumble, and fold into the layers of noodles with the spinach filling.
• Fresh spinach – we pack in fresh spinach to double down on veggies. Use pre-washed bagged spinach to speed up the process.
• Mushrooms – cremini, baby bella, or white button all work in this recipe.
• Fresh basil – for extra herbiness.
• Garlic cloves – for a little sharpness.
• Part skim ricotta – makes for a creamier filling while keeping the fat content down (compared to whole milk ricotta).
• Egg – for binding the filling together.
• Part skim mozzarella cheese – for gooey, melty, lightly cheesy lasagna perfection.
• Parmesan cheese – perfect complement to the ricotta and mozzarella that adds a little saltiness to the filling.
• Marinara sauce – store bought or homemade sauce work equally well in this dish. We use store bought sauce when we’re in a hurry and make a fresh batch of pomodoro or healthy marinara when we have a little more time and want more restaurant quality lasagna. .
• Salt and pepper – to round out the seasoning.

How to Make Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

Spinach Lasagna Filling

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions (about 7 minutes). Drain and set aside on wax paper to cool partially. If you are using oven-ready lasagna noodles, you can skip this step as they do not need to be boiled.

Add the spinach to a food processor in batches and pulse to chop. Transfer the chopped spinach to a large bowl. Repeat until all of the spinach is chopped. Add the mushrooms, basil, and garlic to the food processor and pulse. Transfer to the same bowl as the spinach.

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat and cook the spinach mixture for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the liquid escapes and spinach is slightly wilted. Drain the filling using a fine mesh sieve and press any remaining excess liquid out. Allow the filling to cool in the sieve so that remaining liquid can drain.

While the filling cools, heat the same frying pan to medium-high heat and add the chicken sausage. Cook until no longer pink, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Finish making the filling by adding the ricotta cheese, egg, ½ cup of mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper.

Quick Tip: to take this recipe to the next level, consider using homemade sauce. Our healthy marinara or pomodoro sauce work wonderfully in this recipe.

Assembling the Lasagna

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Lightly mist a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with cooking spray. Spread about ⅔ cup of marinara sauce in the bottom of the dish. Put a layer of noodles over the sauce (I can usually fit 3 noodles lengthwise and 3/4 of a noodle on one end of the width of the dish) . Spread ½ of the spinach filling onto the noodles. Top with ½ of the crumbled sausage. Spoon ⅓ of the remaining marinara sauce over the top of the filling.

Repeat for a second layer of noodles, using the remaining ½ of filling and sausage. Top with another ⅓ of the sauce.

Place a final layer of noodles on top. Spoon the remaining ⅓ of sauce on the top of the layer of noodles. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of mozzarella cheese over the sauce.

Cover the lasagna with tin foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit a few minutes before cutting and serving.

How to Store Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

• Refrigerate – store leftover lasagna in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
• Freeze – you can freeze lasagna either unbaked or baked.
  • Unbaked – assemble the lasagna according to the recipe. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and tin foil. Label and date the foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. To bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the frozen lasagna, covered with foil, for 1.5 hours. Remove the foil and bake another 20-25 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and lasagna is warmed throughout.
  • Baked – assemble and bake the lasagna according to the recipe. Allow it to completely cool before covering tightly with plastic wrap and foil. Label and date the foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. To bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the frozen lasagna, covered with foil, for 1-1.5 hours, or until warmed throughout.
• Thaw and Bake/Reheat- to speed up the baking time of frozen lasagnas, you can thaw them overnight in the refrigerator. Set the lasagna out at room temperature as you preheat the oven to 350F. Bake unbaked lasagna according to the recipe instructions. Reheat pre-cooked lasagna for 30-45 minutes, or until warmed throughout.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Check out our other pasta recipes:

• Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls
• Sundried Tomato Pasta
• Creamy Avocado Pasta
• Creamy Cajun Pasta
• One Pot Cheesy Hamburger Pasta