Healthy Beef Lasagna with Spinach and Basil

I adore this Healthy Beef Lasagna with Spinach and Basil! It is only 259 calories per serving (which is about 77 calories less than most meat lasagna recipes.) It is layered with healthy satisfying vegetables, lean ground beef and fresh basil. There’s a gluten-free variation that is arguably better than the whole-wheat version.

Ingredient Notes

• Whole-wheat lasagna noodles: For this recipe I tested it with whole-wheat lasagna, and I also tested it with gluten-free brown rice lasagna noodles. Either choice worked great, and the cooking and layering technique will not change.What you will notice is that the texture of the rice lasagna is actually on the softer side, and both my husband and I actually preferred it to the wheat version.
• Lean ground beef: You only need a half pound for this recipe! I used ground grass-fed which is leaner, high in Omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin E and CLA. Feel free to use the type that you prefer or sub in ground turkey like I did in my Slow Cooker Bolognese or use a meatless crumble instead!
• Finely chopped mushrooms: I used 4 ounces of finely chopped mushrooms to bulk up the beef. This is a trick I also use in my Healthy Sloppy Joes. This healthy hack gives volume with very few calories. Plus mushrooms are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants.
• Seasoning: Fresh basil, dry Italian Seasoning blend, minced garlic, salt and pepper
• Crushed tomatoes: I like to use fire-roasted crushed tomatoes instead of jarred marinara sauce.
• Fresh baby spinach: For additional veggie servings.
• Egg: to help the ricotta set-up
• Part-skim Dairy: I use both part-skim mozzarella and part-skim ricotta cheese which helps save fat calories. I found that shredding the part-skim mozzarella by hand yielded a better texture on the top of the casserole than using pre-shredded bagged mozzarella. If using bagged pre-shredded mozzarella, don’t overbake for the best texture.
• Grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese: For great concentrated cheesy flavor

How to Make Healthy Beef Lasagna

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna, stirring occasionally until soft and pliable but not yet al dente.

To get the best texture, boil the pasta for only 5 minutes before layering it into the lasagna. This will soften it, but it will not be completely mushy by the time it is finished baking. Drain and rinse with cold water to keep it from clumping together.

Cook Beef and Mushrooms with Seasoning

Meanwhile, coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Add beef, mushrooms and Italian Seasoning and set over medium-high heat. Cook, breaking up beef with a wooden spoon until no-longer pink and the liquid is evaporated, 7 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring 30 seconds.

Make Sauce

Instead of buying jarred sauce or taking the time to make sauce from scratch, I skipped that step entirely by using a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes.

Add tomatoes and salt and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, while adding baby spinach by handfuls, stirring to wilt until the whole amount is completely wilted into the beef mixture, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in basil.

Making the beef, mushroom, tomato and spinach all one part of the mise en place really helped to make the process of assembling the lasagna a lot easier.

Make Ricotta Filling

Beat egg in a medium bowl. Add ricotta and pepper and stir until completely combined.

Layer Noodles with Sauce

Spread ½ cup tomato mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. (Tip: Remove any large chunks of beef and add them back to the skillet of sauce.) Layer three lasagna noodles vertically into the baking dish; cut one more noodle as necessary and place horizontally to fill in the space at the end of the other three. Top with 1 ½ cups tomato mixture.

Add Ricotta and Mozzarella Cheese

Dot with half of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with ¾ cup mozzarella. Top with 3 ½ more noodles, 1 ½ cups tomato mixture. Dot with the remaining half of the ricotta mixture and top with ¾ cup mozzarella. Top with the remaining noodles. Spread the remaining tomato mixture (about 1 cup) evenly over the top. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake The Lasagna

Bake until the lasagna is steaming hot all the way through, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake until the mozzarella on top is just melted but not browned, about 10 minutes.

Let lasagna cool 10 to 15 minutes before sprinkling with additional basil and slicing it into 12 servings.

FAQs and Expert Tips

What To Serve with Lasagna

1. Or my Overnight Kale Caesar would be a delicious accompaniment. 
2. Or a simple garden salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette would be good too. 
3. We love our green beans around here. Our Simple Skillet Green Beans are a tried and true favorite.
4. We love it with garlic bread, crusty bread or soft homemade whole-wheat bread.

More Recipes You’ll Love:

• If you love this Healthy Beef Lasagna, you may want to check out my Stuffed Shells with Spinach recipe, which is also a great make-ahead casserole. 
• Or my Oven Baked Meatballs with Parmesan are also decidedly cheesy and saucy and will hit that comfort food spot! 
• This Spinach Stuffed Chicken is another great meal starring this favorite green!
• If you love spinach, try my Spinach Salad with Bacon and Eggs.
• Our Healthy Baked Chicken Parmesan is another Italian classic made more healthy in just 30 mins!

At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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