Description
This Healthy Beef Lasagna with Spinach and Basil is only 259 calories per serving which is about 77 calories less than most lasagnas! It’s layered with healthy satisfying vegetables, lean grass fed beef and fresh basil making it the perfect kid-friendly dinner. And there is a gluten free version!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 12 whole-wheat or gluten-free brown rice lasagna noodles (8-oz)
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef, preferably grass fed
- 4 ounces finely chopped mushrooms
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dry Italian Seasoning blend
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 28–ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 5–ounce package fresh baby spinach
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish if desired
- 1 large egg
- 1 16–ounce container part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese, preferably part skim (2 cups)
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
Instructions
- 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, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- 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. 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.
- Beat egg in a medium bowl. Add ricotta and pepper and stir until completely combined.
- 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. 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 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.
Notes
To Make Ahead: Can be prepared through step 5 up to 1 day in advance. Proceed with step 6 adding an extra 15 minutes of cook time before removing foil.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Entree
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/12 lasagna
- Calories: 259
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 369 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 18 g