This lasagna recipe is for my friend Scott. A few months ago, he wanted to cook dinner for his wife, Sara, and came here to look for a lasagna recipe. I had nothing to offer him! Sorry, Scott.
I’m making up for it with this spinach artichoke lasagna, which was originally intended to be a spinach mushroom lasagna, but the mushrooms weren’t quite right. Artichokes were meant for this lasagna.
I honestly hadn’t attempted lasagna in four years, after one bad veggie lasagna experience that happened soon after I started this blog. I remember thinking that I had put a lot of effort into that lasagna for such lackluster results and swore off cooking lasagna indefinitely.
That was before I had discovered no-boil lasagna noodles. It was also before I learned that photographing a recipe under my artificial overhead kitchen lights is a very bad idea. It was a long time ago and I’m happy to report that I have finally conquered the art of the lasagna.
This is one freshly flavored, not-too-heavy, nearly healthy spinach lasagna. I love it so much that I could hardly resist eating leftover lasagna for breakfast.
I hoped that this lasagna could be a quick weeknight meal, but it’s a little more involved than I had initially planned. You will, however, save a step if you use DeLallo Foods’ no-cook whole wheat lasagna noodles like I did. (I partnered with DeLallo this year because they make the best whole wheat pasta and their lasagna noodles are no exception!)
I tried using jarred sauce in my first lasagna, but I used too much and my lasagna, while delicious, was a little too soupy and too salty. I found the perfect solution with a simple, no-cook, diced tomato, basil and garlic sauce.
If you are in a pinch for time, though, I think you could substitute store-bought sauce for the homemade sauce below now that I got the quantity right. I think you could also get by with frozen spinach instead of fresh, but that fresh spinach flavor really plays nicely with the fresh-tasting tomato sauce. If you aren’t that into artichokes or can’t find any, you can skip them altogether for a classic and delicious spinach lasagna recipe.
The recipe below makes heavy use of a food processor, but if you don’t have one, you could probably get by with a blender. If you don’t have a blender, buy crushed tomatoes instead of diced, skip the blended cottage cheese step and chop the spinach mixture after it’s done cooking.
That’s right, I used cottage cheese in this recipe instead of the classic ricotta. It’s a little trick I learned from America’s Test Kitchen (they are full of tricks!). Cottage cheese has a better flavor and texture than ricotta when it comes to lasagna. I am not a fan of cottage cheese on its own, but it’s perfect in this recipe!
Spinach Artichoke Lasagna
- Author:
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 to 12 servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Italian
This healthy vegetarian spinach lasagna includes lots of fresh spinach, jarred artichokes and the simplest homemade tomato sauce. This lasagna tastes even better the next day! Recipe yields one 9-inch square lasagna, which is enough for 8 or more servings.
Ingredients
Tomato sauce (or substitute 2 cups prepared marinara 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 (simply omit for a classic spinach lasagna), quartered if necessary
- 12 ounces baby spinach, preferably organic
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Remaining lasagna ingredients
- 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
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. To prepare the tomato sauce, first pour the tomatoes into a mesh sieve or fine colander and let them drain off excess juice for a minute. Transfer drained tomatoes to the bowl of a food processor. Add the basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper flakes. Pulse the mixture about 10 times, until the tomatoes have broken down to an easily spreadable consistency. Pour the mixture into a bowl for later (you should have about 2 cups sauce).
- Rinse out the food processor and return it to the machine. Pour half of the cottage cheese (1 cup) into the processor and blend it until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to large mixing bowl. No need to rinse out the bowl of the food processor this time; just put it back onto the machine because you’ll need it later.
- Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender and translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the artichoke to the skillet, then add a few large handfuls of spinach. Cook, stirring and tossing frequently, until the spinach has wilted. Repeat with remaining spinach. Continue cooking for about 12 minutes, stirring frequently, until the spinach has dramatically reduced in volume and very little moisture remains in the bottom of the pan.
- Transfer the spinach artichoke mixture to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until the contents are finely chopped (but not puréed!), about 12 to 15 times. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of whipped cottage cheese. Top with remaining cottage cheese and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Now it’s lasagna assembly time!
- Spread ½ cup tomato sauce evenly over the bottom of an 8-by-8 or 9-by-9 inch square baker. Layer three lasagna noodles on top, overlapping their edges as necessary. Spread half of the spinach mixture evenly over the noodles. Top with ½ cup tomato sauce, then sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top.
- Top with three more noodles, followed by the remaining spinach mixture. Sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top. (We’re skipping the tomato sauce in this layer.) Top with three more noodles, then spread the remaining tomato sauce over the top so the noodles are evenly covered. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup shredded cheese.
- Wrap the lasagna with a layer of parchment paper over the top (or cover tightly with aluminum foil, but don’t let the foil touch the cheese). Bake, covered, for 18 minutes, then remove the cover, rotate the pan by 180 degrees and continue cooking for about 12 more minutes, until the top is turning spotty brown. Remove from oven and let the lasagna cool for 15 minutes before sprinkling with chopped basil and slicing.
Notes
Recipe roughly adapted from several lasagnas in The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, with reference to Serious Eats and Gimme Some Oven.
▸ Nutrition Information
Disclaimer: This post was created in partnership with DeLallo Foods and I received compensation for my participation. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Nan
Would love to make this but in my small town cannot find WW lasagna noodles anywhere, and I want to use WW pasta. Could I use penne , rotini or spaghetti shape instead and if yes would I bake it the same way.
Thank you
Teresa Bonner
Second time making this lasagna in the past two weeks! Seriously THE BEST! I couldn’t find fresh basil at the market today so I bought some prepared pesto and added that to the tomatoes. In these trying times I’m learning to be flexible with ingredients!
★★★★★
Debra
Made your Lasagna tonight. Only ingredient I forgot to buy, (maybe wouldn’t have found anyway, were the pasta noodles. I improvised by thinly slicing Zucchini and then par boiling.
The rest of the recipe was great, the zucchini was a good replacement, but perhaps was the cause of making the dish too watery.
My husband and I loved the flavors.
I too, had trouble finding basil, but luckily our Trader Joe’s was selling live plants a couple of weeks ago, so the plant went into the herb container.
Mary
I’ve done this with courgette and with aubergine, the trick is to fry them first in a generous amount of garlicky olive oil in flat discs. It removes some of the water and imparts delicious olive oil flavour. It also stops aubergine going rubbery
★★★★★
Katie
Just tried this recipe tonight, AMAZING! Just like the cook book you don’t disappoint. refreshing take on lasagna. Thank you!
★★★★★
Julia
This was my first time making lasagna and it turned out great! Loved this vegetarian version. I used ricotta instead of cottage cheese and normal lasagna noodles. Loved the spinach and artichoke combination. While none of the steps are particularly difficult, it was a lot happening at once and left me exhausted! Would definitely recommend starting early. Will have to try your veggie lasagna recipe next.
★★★★★
Gina
Yum! I was impressed to find a lasagna recipe that I could make and eat the same day. I switched out several items: greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese (lactose intolerant), kale for spinach (lots from our garden), yellow onion for red onion (that’s what I had), and fresh pasta noodles. Given the current situation you have to do what you can. Still fantastic!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank for sharing, Gina! I’m glad you were able to get creative and it turned out so well.
Melody
I love this recipe and have made it twice. It is a few steps but so worth it. The cottage cheese and making your own sauce really add to it but using a jar and normal ricotta cheese save time and don’t take away from flavor.
★★★★★
Marisa S.
This may be a silly question, but if using regular lasagna noodles, should they be fully cooked beforehand? And for freezing, should I bake completely, freeze, then reheat? Thanks in advance!
Kate
Hi Marisa! If you aren’t using no boil, my experience is to cool them so they have just a little firmness left to them. I don’t have great experience with freezing recipes like these as they tend to get watery for me.
Sharel Wilson
This was truly delicious! Will be making this again! ❤️
★★★★★
Sarah
Looking forward to trying this recipe! Is the caloric information for 1/8th of the recipe or 1/12th?
Kate
Hi Sarah! It’s per serving so each serving and there are a total of 8 servings. If that makes sense?
Alyson
My family enjoyed this meal. Thank you for sharing! we will be making it several times I’m sure.
★★★★★
JN
Absolutely delicious! Made this for a dinner party and everyone loved it, even my partner who doesn’t like eating vegetables (he said he couldn’t even taste the vegies).
Will definitely be making this again!
To increase the vegie intake, I added finely diced carrots, mushrooms and capsicum to the tomato sauce.
★★★★★
Eric
I’ve made this one several times, and it is always great. Sometimes I make my own ricotta and sub for the cottage cheese. That is great, but totally unnecessary, the recipe is wonderful as written.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you love it, Eric! Thank you for sharing.
Kathy Traylor
FABULOUS!!! I prefer it over traditional lasagna. I added mushrooms. Pureeing the cottage cheese is brilliant:) So good! I love your recipes. This is my first recipe review!
★★★★★
Janna
So delicious that even my frozen food and dessert loving’ husband raved about the flavors! I had to use Barillo white oven ready lasagna noodles, and I (oops!) pureed the spinach/artichoke mixture, but the texture, moisture and flavors are spot on, and we decided this is definitely a weekly dinner entree! Can’t wait to make it again!!
★★★★★
Cassandra Jean Blair
Omg this was freaking amazing!!!!!!! Can’t wait for leftovers! I used a nutribullet so it always on the verge of a purée but it was still so awesome! Perfect laying also-
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy to hear it! Thank you for your review.
Lana
Holy cow! I just made this for Thanksgiving (today). The only thing I did different was to cook the lasagna based on the box of noodles. I used Jovial brown rice lasagna noodles.
I, of course, had to sample the lasagna. Delicious! Seeing how cottage cheese could be whipped was astounding.
5 stars all the way! Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.
★★★★★
Kate
Happy Thanksgiving Lana! I love that you made this lasagna, so good. Thank you for your review.
Beth
Can you use marinated jarred artichoke hearts?
★★★★★
Kate
Hi Beth, Yes that can work too. Follow the steps as listed.
Carla
My mom has made lasagna for Christmas Eve for years, one meat and one veggie. I took up the vegetable one with your recipe three years ago seeing as how she was basically making it for me. This year I’ll have to make it in shells so I can bake and take to everyone. Just wanted to say thanks for your recipe and for being part of our holiday traditions.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome! I’m so delighted for my recipes to be apart of your traditions, Carla.
Andrea
This was soooooo good! I’m making it again for Xmas as a vege option and the kids will love it too! I found cooking it then reheating it later was totally fine and the flavours the next day were even better! YUM YUM!
★★★★★
Christine
This lasagna sounds delicious. I’m sensitive to some dairy, what can I use instead of cottage cheese?
Kate
Hi Christine! You could try my vegan sour cream. I used it in my vegan lasagna and it was delicious!
Beth Vawter
SO Excellent! My husband loved it and so did I! I actually forgot to cook the noodles and popped the regular lasagna noodles in and.. not bad! I will absolutely make this again! And again! Already shared it with another!
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful to hear, Beth! Thank you for sharing.
Jess
There is no note on the amount of artichokes other than “a Jar”. Can you please specify an amount?
Kate
Hi! It specifies one cup. I hope this helps!
Dee
Artichokes packed in oil or water? And when you say say whipped cottage cheese what does that mean as opposed to regular cottage cheese your adding to bowl?
Kate
Hi Dee, either for the artichoke, you will just be draining them anyway. Frozen and thawed work too. Step 2 you whip the cottage cheese in the food processor, if that helps.
Stacey
I don’t ever comment but this recipe is so delish that I just had to! Thank you for this, we’ve been trying to eat more vegetarian meals and so many recipes leave you missing “something”. I made this almost exactly to recipe (except I used Smart Pasta instead of whole wheat). Totally delish. Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you did! Thank you for sharing, Stacey.
Kale
yum
★★★★★
Kale
yum it lok goud
★★★★★
Karla
Kate,
Made this lasagna a few nights ago. It was a game changer for my boring dinner lineup. I assembled the lasagna the night before (Sunday) and put in fridge. I had to bake a little longer (a little over an hour) but it was perfect. I did make a little more marinara sauce, anticipating it would need it because of the overnight refrigeration. I added the remaining mushroom powder I had from a previous recipe. To say it was a hit would be a lackluster description. It was rich, full of flavor and while I was sure I would not miss the meat, I was afraid I would miss the smooth richness of butter…I did not. Thanks for the recipe. Of note, I read most of the reviews before trying the recipe and I used Barilla no bake lasagna noodles and they turned out fine. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, perhaps because of the extra marinara, but it was not dry as some have pointed out.
Cheers!
★★★★★
Kate
Game changer, I love that! Thank you for taking the time to review, Karla.
dave
I made this last night and I am SUPER excited to eat the leftovers today. The prep time took me longer than it should because it was my first time making a lasagna so I was nervous. I was SO proud when it was done! The no-boil noodles are such a great idea to save time and they came out perfect. This lasagna is savory and garlicy with a little kick from the chili flakes. Oh…and I highly recommend using Kate’s suggestion of fontina cheese…WOW! A+
Thanks Kate!
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for letting me know you loved it, Dave. I appreciate you sharing!
Shannon
This sounds delicious! For the ingredients… 12 oz spinach… would it also be 12 oz frozen spinach? Also, I’m guessing you can freeze this? Thank you!!
Kate
Hi! See the body of my post for details on frozen spinach. I think fresh is best, but you could get by frozen. I haven’t tried it myself though.
Desi B
I made this for a friend who just had surgery and she and her family raved about it (as did mine). My only tweaks were using jarred marinated artichoke hearts, I added a can of artichoke bottoms-diced- (just b/c I love chokes!), and added some Parmesan on top.). Yum!
★★★★★
Kate
How kind of you, Desi! Thank you for sharing. I’m happy it was a hit for her.
Ann Stockwell
Delicious.
I used roasted tomatoes and an extra garlic clove. I wouldn’t do that again.
Too garlicky :) And I’ll try w regular tomatoes.
I added a layer of length sliced and sautéed zucchini and added mushrooms.
My biggest problem was I ate too much!
Will definitely make again!
★★★★★
Corie Thompson
I made this tonight for dinner and it was excellent!!!!!! I didn’t have no boil noodles so I just used regular ones and just parboiled them and it worked out great! I wanted to eat the whole pan! Loving your recipes!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Corie! I appreciate your review.
Poppy
I want to make this for friday dinner, sounds delicious! Could I perhaps add bechamel too? I love bechamel and this veggie filling hits all the marks but don’t want to ruin it.. help please :)
Elena Stratopoulos
Everyone in my family really enjoyed this. The sauce is super flavourful and surprisingly easy. :)
★★★★★
Karen
I’d like to make this and deliver it to a friend who needs some support right now. Her family may not eat it for a day or two. Is it best to deliver it fully baked, for reheating? Or deliver it unbaked? I’m concerned about the dish getting either too soggy or dry.
Thank you – This is a great recipe!
Kate
Hi! I would suggest baked so they can rewarm portions as needed. I hope that helps!
Rachel
So incredibly good! I added mushrooms to the spinach and artichoke mixture, and it’s perfect. This will be a repeat for sure – thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
Sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing your variation, Rachel.
Erin Killian
I literally make this every other week for my family. It’s so delicious, it’s like desert.
★★★★★
Kate
I love that, Erin! Thank you for your review.
Misha
Wow! Thank you soooo much for this recipe. My family loved it! We have been trying to eat less meat but it’s hard for us (bc we r total carnivores). Unlike so many other vegetarian recipes, I didn’t miss meat AT ALL.
I don’t have a good processor or a blender so I used an immersion blender and it worked GREAT.
Can’t thank u enough. I will be trying your other recipes for sure!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Misha! Thank you for sharing you loved it.