A comforting dinner, this creamed spinach lasagna is easy to make and loved by everyone. Layers of pasta, homemade béchamel sauce and a smooth spinach sauce make this so satisfying to eat. Topped with plenty of cheese, this is a winner every time.
This creamy spinach lasagna is one of the top 5 meals in our home. You don’t have to be a spinach lover to enjoy this spinach lasagna as it’s so good you’ll want seconds regardless.
Layers of pasta are topped with the smoothest creamed spinach sauce, followed by homemade béchamel and a cheesy mozzarella crust on top.
This spinach bechamel lasagna does take some time to make, but it’s not a complicated recipe by any means. If you follow the steps and work methodically, you’ll succeed in making this without a problem.
You first make the creamed spinach sauce. It’s based on frozen chopped spinach, which makes cooking it a breeze. You follow this by making bechamel.
I know lasagna is often made with ricotta, but I much prefer the classic white sauce. I use it in this chickpea lasagna too. It’s the best glue for pasta layers and it gives the lasagna this homey, buttery flavor without taking attention away from other ingredients.
As you make the sauces, there’s a pot of water you also need to bring to a boil. This is where you soak those pasta layers. I use the kind you don’t have to precook, but I do it anyway.
However, I don’t cook pasta sheets all the way through, not even all dente. Instead I just soak them until they are easier to handle. They bake really nicely this way too.
Once the oven is preheated and all of these ingredients are ready to go, you should lay them out on your counter in the order you need them. Then you just out everything together, layer by layer, like you’re building Legos. It’s a pretty simple process.
More dinner recipes to explore
- Cheesy mushroom baked ravioli (Very hearty and quicker to make than lasagna.)
- Vegetarian bolognese lasagna with chickpea sauce (Another dinner winner, you can’t miss with this hearty lasagna.)
- Lasagna-style zucchini pasta bake (Another easy pasta dish with zucchini.)
Recipe
Easy creamed spinach lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 pound frozen spinach thawed
- 1 large egg whisked
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder more to taste
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt more to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups warm milk
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- few grinds of black pepper
- 20 uncooked lasagna sheets 400 g or 14 oz
- 10.5 oz aged (low moisture) mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 395°F (200°C) and lightly grease a 9-inch (23-cm) square baking dish with oil. Set aside.
- In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Once warmed, add the flour and whisk fast (to prevent flour from burning). Add thawed spinach (liquid and all) and whisk until incorporated. Then add the egg and continue whisking for about 3-5 minutes until the spinach is hot and egg cooked.
- Add the garlic powder, sour cream and milk, whisk until incorporated and cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. If the sauce is too thick, add more milk and let it simmer. Add a teaspoon of salt, then taste to see if you need more. Set aside.
- Place a large pot of salted water on the stove and bring it to a boil, then set aside.
- Meanwhile make the béchamel
- In a small saucepan, set over medium heat, melt the butter. Immediately add the flour and whisk until you get a smooth paste. Slowly add the warm milk, stirring constantly.
- Let the béchamel cook for about 3-5 minutes, keep on stirring until you get a smooth but thick sauce (like a thick creamy soup). Season with salt, nutmeg and few grinds of black pepper and set aside.
- Place 4 pasta sheets in your pot of water for 1 minute or longer. This will soften them and make them easier to handle.
- Spread a few teaspoons of both the spinach and béchamel on the bottom of the pan. Place in the pasta sheets in a single layer, breaking some in half if needed, until the bottom of the pan is covered. (Add 5 more pasta sheets to the pot.)
- Top with about a ladle of spinach sauce, gently spread it all over pasta, then add around 4 tablespoons of béchamel and spread it over the spinach as best as you can. Top with 4 more sheets of pasta and continue in this manner to create 2-3 more layers, until you run out of the sauces.
- The last layer has the least amount of sauce, just enough to barely cover the pasta. Sprinkle this layer with cheese.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil from the dish and bake the lasagna for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted, even golden brown in some places, and bubbly.
- Remove lasagna from the oven and sprinkle with parsley (optional). Allow to rest for 15 minutes (and up to 60 minutes covered in a turned off oven) before slicing and serving.
Hello Alice! I Love Lasagna, I Love Creamed Spinach, I’ll Be Making This Soon! “Looks Easy Peasy & Cheesy”
I wish my roommate would love spinach as much as I do. Unfortunately she hates it. But maybe I can convince her to try it again. And if she still refuses to eat it I’ve got more for myself. That shouldn’t be a problem at all, because this lasagna look delicious!
love
hope
Hi Hope! Maybe she’d like it in this recipe? But like you said, if she doesn’t there’s more for you and the lasagna reheats so easily! As a spinach lover, I can never have too much of it. 🙂
I have family that is allergic to eggs. Is there a substitution? Or can I just leave it out of the recipe?
Hi Mili! Yes, you can easily leave out the egg, no substitution needed (you can add an extra tablespoon of sour cream if you wish). It won’t affect the taste all that much or the texture, because you still have bechamel to top the spinach with. Also make sure the pasta you use is egg free as well.
OMG I have this in the oven now. I tasted some of the scraps of spinach and bechsmel swiped onto leftover pasta and it was amazing. I can hardly wait for it to be finished, because it can only get better…if that’s even possible! Thank you so much for sharing!
So happy to hear that Julie, thanks for telling me! 🙂 Hope you enjoyed your dinner.
UPDATE: It got a 10/10 from my husband and very picky 14 yo daughter–they both asked for leftovers as their lunch today!
Wow, that’s awesome. 🙂 I’m glad they loved it and thanks for making my day, Julie!
I made this last night for the bf and I. I cook a decent amount. I make some good stuff. THIS though…he went on and on about it. I just had some for breakfast and it was even better. Once I got mise en place, it was really simple to make. I also appreciate that it didn’t call for ricotta as that shaved off about $5 and we all know lasagna can be a pricey dish to serve. It’s going to be my new go to meatless dish. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Thanks for sharing this with me, Alyssa! 🙂 Totally made my day and I’m so happy you guys love it.
I agree about the fact that it can be pricey, cheese really isn’t cheap, especially once you start putting different types of cheese together. And yes! Leftover lasagna is the best thing ever. 🙂
xo
I made this last night for a family dinner and everyone raved. My 10 year old is extremely picky and she scored it a 9. Her friend who “hates spinach” tried it and gave it a 7, lol. I heated it up today and it was equally delicious. Will make again.
Haha, she gave it a 7 even though she hates spinach? That’s nice. 🙂
It makes me happy to see you guys enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing, Deanna!
Can I use single or double cream instead of the sour cream? will it make a difference to the overall taste at all?
Hey Meera, you can use either of those. They do have a sweeter taste than sour cream, so it’ll affect the taste a bit. But I think they’re still a good choice. Adjust the seasoning if needed.
Hope this helps!
seconding all the rave reviews, this was delicious. when every sauce is ready to go, this is easy to put together!!
Thank you so much!