Mmm… Lasagna. Who doesn’t like a meaty, cheesy lasagna made with homemade meat sauce? This Spinach & Beef No Boil Lasagna is all of those things and more because you don’t have to boil the pasta or cook the spinach in this recipe. I’ll tell you how to create a delicious homemade lasagna the easy way. Let’s get cooking!
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Spinach & Beef No Boil Lasagna
Spinach & Beef No Boil Lasagna
I know, I know. You are asking yourself how does the pasta cook without using the oven ready pasta? Well, if your pasta is completely covered with cheese and sauce in the baking dish, from edge-to-edge and if you bake the lasagna for about 1 hour and 15 min on 350F, your pasta will cook from the moisture in the pan but, it must be covered.
This is the same reason why the spinach leaves cook. I like eliminating two steps! This cuts down the prep time. Adding whole spinach leaves to this Spinach Lasagna recipe gives a better spinach flavor to it. The spinach isn’t stringy. It remains flat and in whole leaves. It’s so much easier than cooking it first and draining out the water.
If you don’t feel comfortable not cooking the pasta, then go ahead and cook it first. But, I haven’t boiled my lasagna pasta before putting it in the oven in years! I was skeptical at first too. Well, I haven’t cooked lasagna pasta since making Cheesy Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups but, only because I had to!
Spinach & Beef No Boil Lasagna
You can freeze these meat lasagna leftovers for up to 6 months. You can also make this lasagna for meal prep using meal prep containers.
I’m a HUGE fan of homemade sauce! I NEVER use jarred sauce…never! I make a big batch of it and freeze it in smaller portions. However, this doesn’t mean that I will hold it against you if you use a jarred sauce from the grocery store. But, please try making a homemade sauce if you’ve never done it before. It will blow your mind!
So, if you are adding ground beef to jarred sauce to make meat sauce for lasagna, you can follow this recipe and see that it really isn’t any harder to just make your own. Just try it!
How to Make Italian Meat Sauce
* the full recipe is at the bottom of this post.
In a large sauce pan, add some extra virgin olive oil, chopped onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes. Then, add ground beef and cook until the beef is browned. Add canned tomato sauce or puree. Add fresh parsley. Stir it and let it cook for about an hour. Stir it every 10 minutes so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add a little garlic powder, salt and pepper at the end. That’s it! It’s so easy-to-make!
Spinach and Beef No Boil Lasagna is a delicious, filling recipe to make for Sunday dinner. You’ll like that you can cut out two steps and simplify prepping. You’re whole family will love this hearty spinach and beef lasagna.
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I took this recipe to Meal Plan Monday #108 and Weekend Potluck #319
Spinach & Beef No Boil Lasagna
Ingredients
- 12 uncooked lasagna pieces You don't need to use the oven ready pasta
- 4 cups fresh spinach leaves
Ricotta Cheese Filling
- 32 oz Galbani Ricotta cheese
- 12 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3 eggs
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Meat Sauce
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 56 oz canned tomato sauce or tomato puree
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Ricotta Cheese Mixture
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix by hand until well combined. Set aside.
Meat Sauce
- In a large sauce pan on med/high heat, add oil, onions and garlic. Stir and let cook for about 3 min. Add ground beef. Mash (with a potato masher or fork) the beef and break it into small pieces. Continue to cook until browned. About 10 min.
- Add tomato sauce cans, parsley and stir until well combined. Cook covered for one hour stirring every 10 min so the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste when done cooking.
Lasagna Assembly In a 13"x9"x3" in baking pan or larger, Layer as follows:
- 1. Put about a 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom.
- 2. Put 4 lasagna pieces where the rippled edges overlap slightly.
- 2. Spread with 1/3 of the Ricotta cheese mixture. This should be a thin layer and it must cover the edges of the pasta in order for the pasta to cook and not have hard edges.
- 4. Add 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves covering the Ricotta cheese mixture.
- 5. Put about 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce over top of the spinach.
- Repeat steps 2 through 5 two more times. You should end with the meat sauce on top.
- Bake lasagna, covered with tin foil (required) on 350F for 1 hour and 15 min. Pierce with a fork to ensure the pasta is cooked.
Glad you liked it. Keep cooking. Thanks for the 5 star rating.
Never cooked lasagna before or even cooked before this….turned out awesome!
Thanks Jovina!
Looks delicious.