This spinach tomato basil lasagna is loaded with the best Italian flavors. With seasonings such as garlic, oregano, and basil, your kitchen will have the aroma of Italy in no time.
I am very excited to share this recipe with you today. This Spinach Tomato Basil Lasagna is extremely special to my family because it was created by my Nona. When I was really young, she would cook this lasagna and bring it over to our house. I still remember the smell of the Italian herbs and spices as she opened the pan. Making this dish always brings back a lot of good memories, but also reminds me how much I miss her. As you make this recipe, remember that you never know how much more time you have with your family. Every day is precious. I truly hope you enjoy this recipe. After you taste it, I believe it will become your new favorite Lasagna recipe. The fresh basil, spinach, Italian sausage, and tomato sauce combine to give you an authentic Italian flavor.
In my opinion, most lasagnas don’t have that true authentic flavor that I am always looking for in my Italian cuisine dishes. This recipe, however, is different. Although it is made with surprisingly simple ingredients, the result is a deliciously complex flavor.
The Ingredients:
Just use regular Lasagna noodles for this recipe. I used the noodles from Whole Foods that are made in Italy.
Meat Sauce:
For the meat, I used a combination of ground beef and Italian sausage. (I like my food with a kick of heat, so I asked my amazing butcher, Sam, to add some spice to it.) This combination brings the perfect balance of juiciness and flavor to the dish. My Nona said that if you use just Italian sausage it will dry out. I tend to agree with her.
I use canned diced tomatoes and tomato paste for the sauce. Be sure to use good quality (preferably, Italian-grown) diced tomatoes in order to get the best, freshest flavor.
I use garlic, oregano, and basil to season the sauce with. Although these are simple seasonings, they provide a full-bodied flavor to the sauce when you simmer these ingredients with the tomatoes.
Cheese Filling:
I use whole-milk ricotta and parmesan for the cheese filling. If you want a stronger cheese flavor, use freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Also
For the seasonings, I use nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Nutmeg may sound like a really strange ingredient to put in lasagna, but trust me on this, it is delicious. The nutmeg was my Nona’s “secret ingredient” in this recipe.
Other Ingredients:
I use spinach and fresh basil to layer in between the other filling ingredients. Adding spinach to lasagna is a great way to get picky kids to eat their veggies. In addition to adding a great flavor to the lasagna, eating spinach has multiple health benefits, including asthma and cancer prevention. Check out the other health benefits of Spinach here.
Finally, I layer sliced mozzarella on the lasagna, in addition to the cheese filling. Using mozzarella ensures you get the stringy, cheesy goodness when you cut your lasagna.
Preparation:
Brown both the Italian sausage and ground beef in a skillet. After it is done browning, put it in a large pot and add the tomatoes, garlic, dried basil, salt, and oregano. I like to add the fat from the meat into the tomato mixture as it gives the sauce a much better flavor. Simmer the whole mixture on low heat for thirty minutes.
While the sauce is simmering, boil the water and cook the lasagna noodles. Be sure to follow the cooking directions on the package. If you overcook the noodles, they will fall apart. After they are done cooking, strain them and put butter or oil on them. Putting oil on the noodles will help ensure that they don’t stick together. Trust me, once the noodles stick together, it can be quite a job to get them apart again!
Beat the eggs, and add the ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Be sure to mix it up well, until it is fluffy.
Time to Stack it up!
First, put a layer of noodles on the bottom of a pan. (I use either a lasagna pan or large Pyrex.) Although the order isn’t critical, I order the rest of the layers in the following way (Just be sure to end with the Mozzarella on top):
-Cheese filling
-Spinach
-Meat Sauce
-Basil
-Sliced Mozzarella
After stacking one layer, repeat, ending with mozzarella on top.
Baking Time:
Bake at 375 degrees for about thirty minutes. You can also prepare it the day before and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake it. If you do refrigerate it, however, you will need to bake it for 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes because of the temperature change.
Your Delicious Spinach Tomato Basil Lasagna is Finished!
Spinach Tomato Basil Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb lasagna noodles
- 1 lb sliced mozzarella
- 4-6 cups spinach
- 1 cup fresh basil
Meat Sauce
- ½ lb ground beef
- 1 lb italian sausage
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tbsp basil
- 1 lb canned diced tomatoes
- 2 6oz cans tomato paste
Cheese Filling
- 3 cups ricotta
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup parmesan
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Brown ground beef and Italian sausage in a skillet.
- Add browned meat to pot with the rest of the meat sauce ingredients.
- Simmer on low for 30 minutes.
- Cook noodles according to package, add oil to drained noodles.
- Beat eggs.
- Add the rest of the ingredients for the cheese filling to beaten eggs and mix well.
- Layer ingredients in pan in this order: -noodles -cheese filling -spinach -meat sauce -basil -sliced mozzarella
- Repeat layers, ending with sliced mozzarella.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Enjoy your lasagna!
