Weeknight Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Published March 25, 2024

  • Matt Taylor-Gross for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1¼ hours
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Rating
4(1,946)
Comments
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While it is hard to beat the perfection of a meticulously layered lasagna, this cheater’s version delivers all the comforting vibes with minimal effort. This weeknight dish requires no chopping; just mixing and baking. Choose ease, with oven-ready lasagna sheets, as they don’t require preboiling and will cook quicker than the regular ones. (Fresh lasagna sheets will certainly work, too, with the same cooking time.) Don’t drain the thawed spinach, as the extra moisture will help keep this dish moist and saucy. The easiest way to thaw spinach is to leave it overnight in the fridge; it can also be defrosted quickly in the microwave.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

  • 9 ounces (dry) no-boil, oven-ready lasagna sheets

  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed (undrained)

  • 15 ounces whole-milk ricotta

  • 1 (24-ounce) jar pasta sauce, such as vodka or marinara

  • 2 cups vegetable stock

  • ½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

  • 1 cup grated low-moisture mozzarella

  • Extra-virgin olive oil

  • Handful of torn soft herbs, such as oregano, basil, or parsley, to serve

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 to 6 servings)

40 grams carbs; 49 milligrams cholesterol; 641 calories; 7 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 17 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 222 milligrams sodium; 17 grams protein; 2 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

  2. Step 2

    Break up each lasagna sheet into 5 to 6 pieces and place them in a large bowl. (They can be a mixture of large and small; you can expect irregularity.) Add the spinach and half the ricotta, and fold through to coat the broken pasta sheets. Add the pasta sauce, stock and crushed red pepper; stir to combine.

  3. Step 3

    Transfer the mixture to a large, 8-by-12-inch baking dish, distributing the pasta evenly and pressing it down until submerged in the sauce. Top with the mozzarella and drizzle with olive oil.

  4. Step 4

    Cover with foil, tenting it to prevent it from sticking to the top, place on a baking sheet (to catch any drips) and bake for 20 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Remove the foil, increase heat to 425 degrees and bake until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the cheesy top is golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

  6. Step 6

    Top with remaining ricotta and drizzle with olive oil. Like traditional lasagna, this dish is best rested for 10 minutes before eating (if you can wait!). When ready to serve, top with soft herbs.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,946 user ratings
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Comments

Susan Buchsbaum

Save yourself time and money: You don’t need to boil the noodles, NOR do you need to buy the “oven-ready” variety. Regular, dried lasagna sheets, when layered with the wet ingredients, will soften on their own in the oven as the whole lasagna bakes.

Betty-Anne Stenmark

Some criticism has been leveled at the creator of this recipe, I'd like to remind you this is for a quick weeknight supper. I have for a long time used RAO's marinara sauce as a base for my Sunday sauce and add sauted chopped onions, garlic and anything else that sounds good from the vegetable drawer. It's a great base. A good one to have in the pantry...

Liz

Come on, jarred sauce is fine and perfect for a quick weeknight meal! But if you really can't bring yourself to open a jar, try Marcella Hazan's three ingredient sauce recipe: a big 28 oz can of good quality tomatoes, simmered with 5Tb of butter and a halved onion for half an hour/40 mins while you preheat the oven and get everything else mixed together. Remove the onion, mash or blitz the tomatoes, season with salt, then feel smug about yourself as everything bakes.

EdinSC

Right after I put mine in the oven, I watched an episode of ATK where they made tomato and cheese lasagna. They recommended using cottage cheese in place of ricotta, saying that ricotta can be chalky sometimes. Dead right, it was a little chalky. I did reduce the broth to one cup as several commentators suggested, which may have contributed to it. Adding an egg might have been a good idea, too. If I make it again, I'll use cottage cheese, add an egg, and up the broth to 1/5 cups.

kf

This lasagna was delicious. As suggested by some commenters I layered the noodles instead of breaking them, added an egg to the spinach ricotta mixture and used only one cup of broth. I added parmesan along with the mozzarella on tbs top. It was so good I can't imagine making lasagna any other way.

valk

much easier if you dump all the wet ingredients in a big bowl 1st, then ladle over your no boil lasagna noodles. a grating of lemon zest and parmisan mixed in, a can of sliced mushrooms if you have them, really takes the whole thing up a notch! Fast flexible recipe that everyone here loves.

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