Hearty, flavorful Spinach Lasagna recipe with a meaty marinara sauce. Easy and delicious, your family is going to love this pasta dinner!
Love pasta? Our baked ziti recipe is exceptional. Packed with flavor, it’s a crowd favorite. Or try this easy Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole. One bite and you’ll understand the craze.
Why this Recipe Works
There are two types of dinners I could eat every night for the rest of my life. Pasta and Mexican.
Today’s Spinach Lasagna recipe appeals to the meat eaters in my house, as well as this veggie loving mom!
- This is a great meal to bring to a family with a new baby in the house, or to make for the holidays! It makes a large 13×9 pan or lasagna pan.
- You can also customize this recipe to YOUR family’s taste…add more vegetables, less meat…or more meat and less vegetables!
Don’t forget a dessert lasagna too! Our strawberry lasagna or apple delight would be a perfect finish to the dinner.
First though, let’s talk about what you’ll need to make today’s Spinach Lasagna.
Lasagna Layers
To make this cheesy spinach and meat lasagna recipe, here are the different layers I include. Feel free to change up to your family’s taste.
- Noodles. I opt for no-boil lasagna noodles in my lasagna recipe. I love how easy it is to layer without the extra effort of boiling up noodles. However, should you choose to boil and cook lasagna noodles first, you’ll need to decrease the amount of sauce in this recipe to 4-5 cups.
- Sauce. If you’re looking to make homemade spaghetti sauce you’ll need about 7 cups of marinara sauce. To make things easy, I use my favorite jarred marinara sauce and it always turns out fantastic!
- Meat. You will need about 2 pounds of ground meat for this hearty lasagna recipe. I choose to use a combination of ground beef and ground italian sausage. The flavor of sausage with beef can’t be beat!
- Spinach. Cooking up fresh spinach is a cinch in this recipe. You’ll be amazed how a bag cooks down to hardly anything. But trust me, it’s plenty for today. This is a great time to add in other vegetables your family may enjoy…mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, etc.
- Cheese. You’ll need ricotta, parmesan, cottage cheese, and mozzarella for this Spinach Lasagna.
FAVORITE VEGETARIAN DINNERS: Zucchini Lasagna Roll ups | Chili
My husband isn’t a huge fan of ricotta, but combining it with equal parts of cottage cheese makes it creamy and delicious!
Can you Freeze Lasagna
Walk through any grocery store freezer section and you’ll see plenty of options for frozen lasagna.
Why?
Because everyone loves to pull a dish out of the freezer and enjoy a hearty flavorful meal.
Today’s lasagna recipe is no exception. You CAN freeze this recipe before or after cooking.
First, assemble lasagna as written in the recipe card below.
Freezing UNCOOKED lasagna
- Be sure to assemble in a freezer safe dish. I love the disposable lasagna pans for this reason.
- Cover with plastic wrap then foil in double layers. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- To enjoy, thaw frozen UNCOOKED lasagna in refrigerator overnight. Cook thawed lasagna according to recipe below.
Freezing COOKED lasagna.
- Make sure it has cooled completely before freezing.
- Cover with plastic wrap, then wrap in double layers of foil. Freeze cooked lasagna for up to 3 months.
- To reheat, cook individual slices in microwave for 2-3 minutes, until bubbly and hot.
What to serve with Meat Lasagna
If you’ve ever been to Olive Garden and enjoyed a big slice of hearty lasagna, then you know it’s awesome to pair it with soup, salad, and Olive garden breadsticks.
- Serve this up with a bowl of Zuppa Toscana Soup or Buttercup Squash Soup for a complete meal.
- Add a big Olive Garden Salad and some fresh dinner rolls and you’ve got one heck of a meal.
- These Puff Pastry Bread Sticks are so delicious that no one will believe how easy they are to make.
- Don’t forget dessert! Our Tiramisu cupcakes or homemade cannoli are great Italian treats. But our oatmeal chocolate chip cookies hit the spot too!
More Delicious Dinner Ideas
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItSpinach lasagna
Ingredients
- 10 ounce bag fresh spinach
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound bulk italian sausage
- 1 pound No Boil Lasagna noodles
- 7 cups marinara sauce
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese divided
- 2 large eggs
- salt and pepper
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Saute fresh spinach in olive oil with pressed garlic, set aside.
- Brown beef and sausage until fully cooked. Drain off extra liquid. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, and parsley. Set aside.
- In a deep 13×9 baking dish, pour 2 cups of sauce in bottom of pan. Lay no boil noodles in single layer. Cover with 2 cups of sauce, 1/2 of meat mixture, and half of cheese mixture. The top with 1/2 of spinach mixture.
- Repeat layer of noodles, 2 cups sauce, meat, cheese and spinach. Top with layer of noodles and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
- Cover with foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Hearty, flavorful Spinach and Meat Lasagna Recipe. Easy and delicious, your family is going to love this pasta dinner!
Amazing recipe! Thank you so much! I did tweek it a little and I thought I could share with everyone:
– i added thinly sliced carrots and zucchinis on the first layer of cheese for a little crunchy veggie
– i added fresh oregano and basil in the cheese mixture
Thank you for the tips!
Really good lasagna recipe! I replaced the parsley with basil from the garden. Excellent!
Yay, so glad you love it!!
Thanks for sharing your recipes. I keep notebooks with recipes I’ve written down to try when we’re camping. I also write who shared the recipe so I know where to look for recipes. Thanks again for sharing. : )
Amazing recipe! Thank you so much! I did tweek it a little and I thought I could share with everyone:
– i added thinly sliced carrots and zucchinis on the first layer of cheese for a little crunchy veggie
– i added fresh oregano and basil in the cheese mixture
Not too many men on here. Well, I ain’t scared. Just made this. It was Fantastic! This will be my go to Lasagna recipe from here on. Thanks
Hi
Have you tried this recipe with no boil noodles.
Aimee, your lasagna not only sounds amazing, but your photos came out beautifully too! Casserole-type dishes can be tricky to photograph, but you captured every bit of saucy, cheesy goodness! Thank you for always bringing such style, flavor and panache to Rook No. 17!
Jenn
Now I am craving lasagna! I think sneaking spinach into any dish is always a great idea. Thanks for linking up with us at Weekend Potluck. I’m pinning this.
Mmmmm, looks amazing! I love spinach in my lasagna, and yours looks like it has the perfect texture. Super comfort food! 🙂
This looks so good, especially with the spinach!
Totally me too. Every night I think of what to make and it ends up being pasta or tacos in some variation. This lasagna looks amazing! It’s making me hungry.
yum! i love to make lasagna — it’s so easy and it feeds so many and it keeps awesome as leftovers 🙂 this looks so delicious! i love the pictures, mine always turn out like mush lol
Looks wonderful! Jar sauce be damned. My husband’s favorite meal! Come visit. We have some wonderful Irish treats to share this week.
Looks delicious! I love a good spinach lasagna! My meat loving boyfriend would love this!
This lasagna looks very tasty! I always love spinach in my pasta together. They have such a nice flavor combination.
What a great looking dish! Perfect for dinner tonight!! I’m bookmarking this recipe!
Girl any guess what 2 types of food I could for every meal??? Yup, the same exact two. Twins!!!
And I cheat with my pasta sauce all the time:-) This looks yummy and totally like comfort food!!!!