White Spinach Lasagna

What I love about this lasagna – besides the fact that the combination of spinach, herbs, cheese, and sauce is amazing – is the size. It’s a smaller lasagna, enough for four generous servings, which means there won’t be a ton of leftovers haunting your fridge or freezer. Because if you’re not feeding a crowd, leftover lasagna can haunt you for days and days. I love it as much as the next person, but not for days on end. Maybe you’re like that, too?

How to Make It

If so, this is a recipe to try. As mentioned, the size is not its only winning feature. The flavors and textures are stellar, too. A white lasagna (white because it’s made with bechamel and ricotta cheese) is a nice change from a red sauce lasagna. It’s also made with three kinds of fresh herbs that cut through the richness of the cheese and sauce. In other words, it’s so good.

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White Spinach Lasagna

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This white lasagna has pops of fresh flavor from three kinds of herbs with layers of white sauce, three kinds of cheese, spinach, and pasta.

• Author: April Anderson
• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Bake
• Cuisine: Italian-American

Ingredients

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For the Spinach Filling

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 pinches black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

For the White Sauce

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

For the Ricotta Filling

• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 pinches kosher salt
• 2 pinches black pepper

Everything Else

• 6 ounces shredded provolone cheese
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 8 oven-ready flat lasagna noodles (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Make the Spinach and Herbs: In a 10-inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook them in the oil for about one minute or until they are fragrant. Add the spinach and cook until it’s wilted, stirring frequently. Add the salt and pepper, stir, and turn off the heat. Add the chopped herbs, stir to combine, and transfer the mixture to a bowl or plate to cool.
3. Make the White Sauce: In the same skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Once it’s melted, add the flour and stir to combine. Cook the flour and butter for 30 seconds to a minute, stirring continuously.
4. Grab a whisk and add the milk, a little at a time, whisking continuously. Adding the milk in batches will ensure your sauce is smooth. Once you’ve added all the milk, cook the sauce for another minute or so until it’s thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn off the heat and transfer the sauce to a bowl.
5. Make the Ricotta Filling: In a small mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, salt, and pepper. At this point, you’re ready to start assembling the lasagna, so place all of the fillings near your baking dish.
6. Assemble the Lasagna: Spoon enough white sauce to lightly coat the bottom of an 8×8″ baking dish. Place two uncooked lasagna noodles on top of the sauce.
7. Top the noodles with 1/3 of the spinach-herb mixture and spread it into an even layer. Top the spinach with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture. Top the ricotta with 1/4 each of provolone and parmesan cheese. Place two more noodles on top of the cheese.
8. Spread about 1/2 of the white sauce on the noodles. Top with another layer of the spinach-herb mixture (leaving enough for one more layer), followed by more ricotta (leaving enough for one more layer). Add another layer of provolone and parm (leaving 1/2 for the rest of the layers). Top the cheese with two more noodles.
9. Top the noodles with the rest of the spinach mixture, followed by the rest of the ricotta. Add more cheese (leaving enough for the last layer). Top the cheese with the last two noodles.
10. Spread the rest of the sauce over the noodles. Top the sauce with the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the top.
11. Bake the Lasagna: Cover the baking dish with foil and bake the lasagna for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted on top. Rest the lasagna for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Notes

For this recipe, the prep time includes the time it takes to prep the ingredients (chopping, shredding, etc) and the cooking steps done before assembling the lasagna. The cook time is the estimated time for the lasagna to bake.

I like to use Barilla oven-ready flat lasagna noodles because they easily fit into an 8×8″ pan. You can use other kinds of no-bake lasagna (the ones with wavy edges), but you will need to break them to fit into the pan.

Make-ahead tips: You can assemble the whole lasagna a day in advance and then bake it later. Cover it with foil and store it in the refrigerator for up to a day ahead. Let it sit out at room temperature while you preheat the oven. You may need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time (5 to 10 minutes or so).

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 slice
• Calories: 725
• Sugar: 6.4
• Sodium: 995.2mg
• Fat: 47.6g
• Saturated Fat: 27g
• Unsaturated Fat: 17.1g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 44.2g
• Fiber: 2.8g
• Protein: 31.4g
• Cholesterol: 176.9mg

The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.

Recipe Tips

• This white spinach lasagna does take some time, so it’s much better suited for the weekend or special occasion. Busy weeknights? Not so much.
• That said, you can prep parts of it ahead. You can prep the spinach filling part and the white sauce a day ahead and keep both in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator.
• Or, you can assemble the whole lasagna a day ahead, keep it tightly wrapped in the fridge, and then bake it later. See the recipe card notes for more details!

Happy lasagna making,

P.S. If you love smaller-scale recipes, you might like my cookbook, Gourmet Cooking for One (or Two), which has 75 dinner recipes scaled to serve one to two people. I hope you check it out!

More Recipes with Spinach

This white spinach lasagna post has been updated from the archives. It was first published in September 2009.