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Casserole dish filled spinach and butternut squash lasagna with fried sage leaves and freshly grated parmesan cheese on top with a green tea towel and silver spatula on the side on a white background.

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

Author: Stephanie Kay

This vegetarian butternut squash and spinach lasagna is a great dish for a cozy, cold-weather meal. Not only does it serve a crowd, but leftovers keep well in the fridge and freezer.

  • Author: Stephanie Kay
  • Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
  • Yield: 9 slices 1x
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Ingredients

Butternut Squash Filling:

Spinach Ricotta Filling:

Lasagna:

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and grab a 9×13-inch baking dish.
  2. Add the cubed butternut squash, onion wedges, and garlic cloves (skin on) to the baking dish and drizzle with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and, using your hands, toss until well coated, then spread the squash evenly across the dish. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and cook for 35-40 minutes until the butternut squash is tender and can easily be pierced with a fork.
  3. While the squash is roasting, prepare the spinach ricotta mixture. In a large bowl, add the ricotta cheese, thawed and chopped spinach, parmesan cheese, egg, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper, and stir until well combined.
  4. While you wait for the butternut squash to finish roasting, cook the lasagna noodles. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add the lasagna noodles and cook for 8 minutes, or as per package instructions, until cooked to al dente. Once cooked, strain the noodles, run them under cold water, and set them aside. (If they dry out a little while they wait, just run them under a bit of water to un-stick them.)
  5. Once the butternut squash has roasted, transfer it to a food processor or large blender, along with the onion and the garlic cloves (skins removed), ricotta cheese, milk, sage, salt, and black pepper, and blend until well combined and a purée forms. If the mixture is too thick, just add a bit more milk until the desired texture is reached – the mixture should be thick, creamy, and spreadable, but not watery.
  6. Once all of the ingredients are ready, begin to assemble the lasagna. 
  7. In the same baking dish used to roast the squash, add 1/2 cup of the puréed butternut squash mixture to the bottom of the baking dish, spreading it out evenly, then layer the bottom of the dish with lasagna noodles, cutting off their ends to fit and/or overlap their edges as needed.
  8. Top the first layer of lasagna noodles with 1/3 of the remaining puréed butternut squash mixture (spreading it out evenly), then top it with 1/2 of the spinach ricotta mixture (spreading it out evenly), and top that with 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with more lasagna noodles.
  9. Top the second layer of lasagna noodles with another 1/3 of the puréed butternut squash mixture (spreading it out evenly), then top with the remaining spinach ricotta mixture (spreading it out evenly), and top that with another 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with more lasagna noodles.
  10. Top the third layer of lasagna noodles with the remaining puréed butternut squash mixture and remaining shredded mozzarella cheese.
  11. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, transfer to the oven, and bake for 25 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the top is lightly browned.
  12. Optional: While the lasagna cooks, fry some fresh sage leaves. Warm a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat, then add fresh sage leaves, working in batches, and fry for 3-5 seconds per side until golden, then remove from the pan and let rest on a paper towel-lined plate.
  13. Once cooked, remove the lasagna from the oven and allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes, then slice and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese and fried sage.
  14. Any leftovers can be cooled and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

To Use Frozen Butternut Squash: Swap the whole butternut squash for 8 cups of cubed, frozen butternut squash in step #2 and increase the cooking time by 5-10 minutes.

To Use Onion Powder: Swap the onion for 1 teaspoon of onion powder and add it in step #5 instead of step #2.

To Use Garlic Powder: Swap the onion for 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and add it in step #5 instead of step #2.

To Use Fresh Spinach: Swap the frozen spinach for 8 cups of fresh spinach. Warm a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan, add the fresh spinach, and cook, stirring regularly, until wilted, and add it to the ricotta mixture as per step #3.

To Use No-Boil Lasagna Noodles: Skip step #4 and use no-boil lasagna noodles as instructed in step #7, and increase the cooking time in step # by 10 minutes.

Nutrition

Find it online: https://kaynutrition.com/butternut-squash-and-spinach-lasagna/