Don’t let the 1 hour of cooking time scare you. This easy lasagna recipe can be prepared in about 20 minutes. It can even be prepped ahead the morning or night before and stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake it.

This lasagna recipe is flavorful and packs in healthy spinach for a delicious family meal. It’s so easy to prepare, making it possible for me to make lasagna for my family more often.

Lasagna is especially a great meal to fix on cold winter days when you want a little extra help heating up your house. Leave the oven door open after you pull out the lasagna and let that heat filter out into your kitchen.

All of the ingredients can be found at Aldi, making this an inexpensive recipe. (Bonus points if you notice what ingredient I forgot to pull out for the picture above.)

Note: The lasagna noodles do not have to be “oven ready” noodles even though that is what is shown in the picture. I have bought whole wheat lasagna noodles and had success with those too. Unfortunately my Aldi store does carry whole wheat varieties of most noodles.

The reason the noodles don’t have to be pre-cooked is because there is extra water included in this recipe. The foil allows the moisture to remain in the dish to cook the lasagna noodles.

I choose to use ground turkey in this recipe because it is significantly cheaper than ground beef. You could use also use ground beef or sausage in this recipe.

Spinach & Turkey Lasagna Recipe

Name: Spinach & Turkey Lasagna Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 75 min
Ingredients: 1 lb ground turkey ((you could also use ground beef or sausage)); 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach; 15 oz container ricotta cheese; 1 egg; 1/4 cup parmesan cheese; 1/4 cup dried parsley; 1 TBSP garlic powder; 8 oz block mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided; 24 oz jar pasta sauce; 1 cup water; 1 TBSP dried oregano; 12 lasagna noodles

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey (you could also use ground beef or sausage)
10 oz package frozen chopped spinach
15 oz container ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dried parsley
1 Tbsp garlic powder
8 oz block mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided
24 oz jar pasta sauce
1 cup water
1 Tbsp dried oregano
12 lasagna noodles

Instructions

Brown and drain fat from ground turkey.
Meanwhile, thaw frozen spinach in microwave or in a pan of hot water on stove. Drain excess water.
Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl combine ricotta cheese, egg, parmesan cheese, dried parsley, garlic powder, and 4 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Add drained and thawed spinach to pan with drained and browned turkey. Add in pasta sauce, water, and dried oregano. Stir and heat through. (Note: Add water to pasta sauce jar first and shake to get remaining pasta sauce out.)
Spread 1 cup of spinach meat sauce onto bottom of 9 x 13 pan.
Top with 3 lasagna noodles.
Use back of spoon to spread 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture over the dry noodles.
Spread 1 cup of spinach meat sauce over the ricotta cheese mixture.
Repeat steps 6-8 two more times.
Top with remaining 3 lasagna noodles.
Cover noodles with remaining spinach meat sauce.
Top with remaining 4 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Lightly grease a sheet of aluminum foil and put oil-side down over lasagna and seal tightly.
Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before cutting.

This recipe was modified from a recipe I tore out of a Kraft Foods magazine.

One pan of lasagna makes more than two meals for my family of four. Sometimes I freeze the leftovers for a later meal. Other times we eat the leftovers for lunches over the next few days.

Printable recipe