Best Spinach Lasagna Recipe (Creamy with Bechamel) - Today's Delight (2024)

This moist and creamy Spinach Lasagna recipe has 3 layers of lasagna noodles filled between layers with juicy meat sauce, fresh spinach, creamy parmesan bechamel sauce and gooey mozzarella cheese.

Baked to perfection with crispy edges, bubbly and gooey mozzarella cheese, rich creamy bechamel parmesan sauce and al dente lasagna noodles infused with ground beef, Italian sausage cooked in pureed and chunky fire roasted tomatoes flavored with Italian seasonings and herbs.

Lasagna is a versatile recipe. You can add your favorite herbs and spices or vegetables like spinach, zucchini or carrots.

Adding some of your favorite vegetables doesn’t make it healthy but it counters the richness of this dish and fresh spinach is great addition to lasagna.

Lasagna is a well loved family meal and great for gatherings. Even kids love this delicious creamy meaty Spinach Lasagna recipe.

This lasagna doesn’t have ricotta cheese instead it is layered with creamy white sauce or parmesan bechamel sauce.

It takes time to make lasagna but if you plan ahead, it is worth it without sacrificing the flavor.

Cook the meat sauce and parmesan bechamel sauce a day early and store it in the fridge. The following day prepare the noodles and assemble the lasagna. Bake until golden and bubbly.

There you go, you have one delicious dish that everyone will love.

How to Make Spinach Lasagna Recipe Step by Step

Typical Lasagna has 3 components: The meat sauce, bechamel sauce and mozzarella and the lasagna noodles. Not this lasagna, it has a 4^th component – fresh spinach in between layers.

(1) Meat Sauce Ingredients

Ground Beef and Italian Sausage (not in casing) - This lasagna has the combination of beef and Italian sausage. The herbs and spices in Italian sausage adds so much flavor to this meat sauce.

Note: Brown the beef first and remove the excess fat leaving 1 to 2 tablespoons in pan.

Pureed Italian Tomato Sauce – I prefer to use tomato sauce seasoned with herbs and spices. I used Prego Traditional Italian Sauce.

Chunky or Diced Tomatoes – It gives added texture and juiciness to this delicious sauce. I used Fire roasted tomatoes instead of regular tomato sauce.

Tomato Paste – It is used to thicken the mixture and to enhance the flavor.

Fresh Oregano, Parsley and Basil – These fresh herbs blend perfectly with meat and tomato sauce. It brings all these ingredients together into one flavorful meat sauce.

These organic herbs are from my garden and boy they are so fresh.

Note: I prefer to use fresh herbs but dry herbs will work as well.

Salt and Pepper to Taste - Don't add too much salt since cheese can be salty.

Brown Sugar – The purpose of brown sugar is not to sweeten the dish but to counter the bitter taste of some variety of tomatoes.

Note: Some tomato sauce products are sweet, so it is best to taste the meat sauce before adding the brown sugar.

The sauce can be prepared in advance and refrigerated.

(2) Fresh Spinach – Instead of adding fresh spinach in the meat sauce, I make it into a separate layer. It is spread evenly throughout the lasagna unlike when added to meat sauce.

Adding spinach in meat sauce ends up in clumps and not distributed well in the lasagna.

Spreading fresh spinach on it’s own layer ensures that every piece of lasagna has a generous amount of spinach, after all this is a Spinach Lasagna recipe.

Note: If using frozen spinach, drain excess water. Adding fresh spinach releases enough liquid to add moisture to the noodles as long as it is cooked al dente.

Also, if you wash the spinach like I did, strain it in a salad spinner and pat dry with paper towel. Make sure you do this, you don’t want excess water in your dish.

(3) Bechamel Sauce and Mozzarella Cheese – Lasagna is not complete without the cheese. This lasagna does not have the typical ricotta cheese instead it is layered with creamy parmesan bechamel sauce.

Bechamel is made of butter and flour known as white roux, then it is blended with milk and whisk until slightly thick.

Note: It is best to make the bechamel sauce on the day you are making this dish but you can also make it a day ahead. Put it in a glass container, place the saran wrap touching the top of bechamel sauce so it doesn’t form a skin and refrigerate.

Nutmeg is added to enhance the flavor and beaten egg is added to give it a yellowish color.

Parmesan Parmigiano is added to the bechamel sauce to give this lasagna rich creamy cheesy flavor.

I prefer lasagna with more cheese so I add a generous amount of freshly grated or shredded mozzarella cheese. It adds more taste, texture and helps hold your layers together.

Note: I like fresh mozzarella but with lasagna I prefer to use pre-shredded mozzarella. It has lower fat content and it melts uniformly instead of clumping. Plus, it is less work for you, no need to grate.

(4) Lasagna Noodles – I prefer to use the no-boil noodles as it absorbs the sauce much better and doesn’t get soggy.

But with the situation we are in right now, it is hard to find it. In fact, I am lucky to find this dry noodles.

Dry noodles are thicker which I don’t mind if cooked al dente, it works perfectly as well.

Tip: Boil noodles in batches with generous amount of salt. Drain water and place noodles in a tray that was lightly sprayed or greased with olive oil.

Lay out cooked lasagna noodles, then spray top with olive oil before adding another layer. This will prevent noodles from sticking to each other.

Assemble Spinach Lasagna Layers

Once you have all the components prepared, it is a breeze to assemble this delicious, creamy lasagna.

Tip: For this Spinach Lasagna recipe, use a 9in x 13in casserole baking pan with a depth of 3 inches. It will overflow if you don’t use a deep casserole pan.

Lightly grease the sides and bottom of casserole with butter or olive oil.

Note:

You will have 3 layers of lasagna noodles.

Divide the following into portions:

Meat Sauce into 4 portions.
Fresh Spinach into 3 portions.
Parmesan Bechamel Sauce into 3 portions.
Mozzarella Cheese into 3 portions.

Steps to Assemble Spinach Lasagna Layers

(1) Add meat sauce at the bottom of pan then lay out fresh spinach. This will prevent noodles from sticking on pan.

(2) First Layer

(a) Lay 3 or 4 overlapping lasagna noodles depending on your preference. I like more noodles to counter the richness of the sauce.

(b) Spread out fresh spinach.

(c) Pour and spread bechamel sauce.

(d) Sprinkle mozzarella cheese throughout lasagna.

(3)Repeat the same procedure for the second Layer.

(4) On the Third layer, add noodles, meat sauce, bechamel sauce and mozzarella cheese. No spinach on this last layer.

Suggestion: Cover the casserole pan with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight so flavors can meld together. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 40 minutes. Make sure to watch after 25 minutes, if top is browning quickly and bubbly, turn off oven.

Otherwise, if you want it now, bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

My spinach lasagna was perfectly baked with browning and crisp sides. Rest for 20 minutes before slicing.

When you take a bite, this spinach lasagna is moist with flavors coming together. The noodles were perfectly flavored with meat sauce in chunky fire roasted tomatoes, with generous amount of spinach in creamy, milky, parmesan bechamel sauce and gooey mozzarella cheese. Top with parsley. Enjoy!

How to Freeze Lasagna

Place leftover lasagna in a well sealed container and store in the fridge up to 4 - 5 days or freeze for a month. If frozen, thaw in fridge and heat in the microwave.

Unbaked Lasagna – To save time, make extra servings of lasagna that you can freeze. Use a disposable aluminum foil pan and cover it with a heavy duty foil. Make sure to seal the edges well.

When ready to serve, thaw in fridge overnight or for 24 hours and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 40 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Note: I prefer not to bake and freeze a whole pan of lasagna for future consumption. If stored in a well sealed food saver, I might.

If storing for a few weeks in the freezer, unbaked lasagna is my choice.

Recipe