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.
Servings: 9
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
Ingredients
- 12 traditional lasagna noodles (not oven-ready type)
- 20 oz fresh spinach
- 8 oz mushrooms, cremini, baby bella, or white button
- 1 c fresh basil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 lb Italian chicken sausage, ground or links with casings removed
- 15 oz part skim ricotta
- 1 large egg
- 1 c shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp cracked black pepper
- 1 24 oz jar marinara sauce, more if desired
Instructions
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.
Assembling the Lasagna
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Coat 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.