Vegetable lasagna
Tall layers of garlicky zucchini, mushrooms and spinach with creamy ricotta and plenty of melted mozzarella, a lasagna worth the afternoon.
- 110 min total
- 50 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 8
- About $3.00 a serving
- 540 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 8 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 zucchini, diced
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 12 lasagna noodles
- 5 oz baby spinach
- 1 jar marinara sauce, 24 oz
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup grated parmesan, divided
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, plus 1 tsp
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 540 calories, 30 g protein, 52 g carbs and 25 g fat, and costs about $3.00 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No zucchini? Yellow squash works.
- No baby bella mushrooms? White mushrooms work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No crushed tomatoes? Diced tomatoes work.
- No ricotta cheese? Cottage cheese works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 375°F. Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon salt, cover and over high heat.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
While it heats, the onion and zucchini, slice the mushrooms and the garlic.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Cook the noodles 2 minutes less than the package says, then and lay them flat on a brushed with 1 tablespoon oil so they don’t stick.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
High heatTimer: 9 min
Heat the rest of the oil in a large over medium-high. Add the onion, zucchini, mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt and cook 10 to 12 minutes, stirring now and then, until browned and the pan is dry.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: Cook the water out now, or it ends up in your lasagna. The pan should look dry before you move on.Stir in the garlic, then the spinach a handful at a time, until it . Take the pan off the heat.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium heat
Stir the marinara, crushed tomatoes and Italian seasoning together in one bowl. In another, stir the ricotta, egg, ½ cup parmesan and the pepper.
Spread 1 cup sauce in a 9x13-inch dish.
Layer 4 noodles, half the ricotta, half the vegetables, 1 cup mozzarella and 1½ cups sauce.
Dolly’s tip: Noodles can overlap a little. Tear one to fill a gap. Once it’s baked, it won’t show.Repeat once.
Top with the last 4 noodles, the rest of the sauce, 1 cup mozzarella and ¼ cup parmesan. Cover with foil and 25 minutes.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Timer: 25 min
Dolly’s tip: To freeze, wrap it well before baking and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge first.Uncover and bake 20 minutes more, until bubbling at the edges and browned on top.
Timer: 20 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Let it 15 minutes before cutting so the layers set.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Cut it too soon and it slides apart. Patience gets you neat squares.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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