Butternut squash Lasagna with Spinach and Ricotta
Butternut Squash Lasagna with Spinach and Ricotta is amazing, not just fall casserole. This delicious vegetarian lasagna recipe showcases seasonal vegetables, and butternut squash brings a sweet richness.
Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
- Gluten-free lasagna nuddles or pasta of your choice I like to use mullers GF
Butternut squash filling
- 2 cups of butternut squash (about half of the squash)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
Spinach filling
- 1 cup of whole milk ricotta
- 1 cup of cooked spinach or about 12 oz of frozen spinach
- 1 cup of shredded mozzarella
- 2-3 cloves of minced garlic
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Ricotta filling
- 2 cups of whole milk Ricotta
- 1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F
Butternut squash - baking and filling
- Instant Pot cooking Put trivet on the bottom of Instant Pot and add about 1 cup of water. Wash Butternut squash and cut in half to make sure it fits in the pot. Close the lid and set it on manual for 15 minutes. When done cooking, let it sit for another 10 minutes before opening the lid. Once the butternut squash is cooled, peel it. The skin will literally separate and makes it very easy to peel, unlike peeling raw butternut squash.Oven roastingFirst, roast the butternut squash in the oven to soften it. You don’t need to peel it. Peel the butternut squash after it’s cooked and soft—Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Cut the whole squash in 2 halves, scrape out the seeds and the fiber out of each half. Brush the baking sheet with vegetable oil. Place the squash on the baking sheet cut side down.Roast the squash for about 30 minutes in the preheated oven at 400 F. Remove it from the oven and let it cool. Flip the butternut squash so that the cut side faces up. That will speed up the cooling. Once the butternut squash is cooled, peel it. The skin will come off really easily.
- Use a food processor or blender to mash the butternut squash, or use a potato masher finely. You can even just cut with knife into cubes.Add spices and mix.
How to prepare Spinach filling
- Cooking spinach and garlic – While squash is cooking, sauté the spinach and garlic in olive oil until spinach is wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. This should only take a few minutes. Remove spinach to a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredience.Using frozen spinach. It is much faster and easier.Using Frozen spinach – Mix frozen bag of spinach, Ricotta cheese, Mozzarella cheese, minced garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Set aside.
How to prepare the ricotta filling
- Ricotta Cheese – I always use full-fat ricotta for an extra creamy taste, but you could also use a lighter version. Ricotta cheese makes this recipe so unbelievable creamy and delicious!Combine creamy Ricotta in a bowl with parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.
Combine all layer ingredients together
- Using a square 13x13 or 13×9 dish, spread a small amount of the butternut squash sauce over the bottom of the dish with pieces of mozzarella cheese. Then lay three lasagna noodles or sprinkle pasta on top of butternut squash and spinach layers. Add more pasta or lasagna nuddles and cover with Creamy Ricotta cheese.Repeat the lasagna noodles, squash layer, and Spinach layer. Then top with the remaining Creamy Ricotta and parmesan cheeses over the last pasta layer.Optional: reserve some spinach and lay that on top for presentation purposes!
- Bake the lasagna at 350 degrees, covered with aluminum foil, for approximately 60 minutes or until cooked through and piping hot. I also check if my pasta is fully cooked before I take the dish out of the oven.When the pasta is all cooked and ready, take it out of the oven and let it chill for 10 – 20 minutes. The cheesy parts will cool down, and it will be easier to serve as it won’t fall apart too much.If you like browned top, broil the cheese for 5 minutes.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil for the first 45 min of cooking and then uncover make cheese golden.
- Cook in the oven at the same temperature for 45-60min or until the cheese is golden on top and the pasta is cooked.
Notes
Pasta – Using any pasta shape or lasagna makes this dish very easy. Many recipes call for already cooked pasta or lasagna nuddles. I see this as unnecessary. I have always been using uncooked pasta. The key is to cover the whole dish with aluminum foil while baking to create steam for cooking pasta well. I am using Gluten-Free pasta, but sometimes I do get Gluten-Free lasagna nuddles.
Toothpick tent - I do not like cheese sticking to foil, so I make a toothpick tent by putting a little bit of foil at the end of a toothpick, that way, foil won’t puncture through, and steam still stays inside cooking all those delicious layers and pasta together.
Can you Freeze Butternut squash lasagna?
This is the kind of meal you will want to make all winter long, one you’ll want to be stashed in your freezer, ready to take to a friend in need, the crowd-pleasing recipe you’ll turn to for your next holiday party, one proven to please both carnivores and vegetarians alike. The recipe itself isn’t hard to make, but it’s quite lengthy, so I highly recommend doubling the recipe so that you’ll have leftovers to freeze for later. If you decide to freeze, prep the dish, but do not bake. Just cover with foil very well and store in the freezer till you are ready to bake it. Pull it out of the freezer and let thaw overnight in the fridge. Bake and whole dinner are on the table in no time!Cooking tips
- No time to bake but time to meal plan? Prep all layers and keep them in the fridge, prep the whole dish cover, store them, and bake later.
- Feel free to use fresh spinach, but count on buying huge bags or multiple bags. When you cook spinach, it cooks into nothing.
- I prefer to use whole milk ricotta, as the dish is more creamer.
- Always use fresh nutmeg; the flavor and aroma are so much stronger!