Hearty Healthy Vegetable Lasagna (Easy, Kid-Friendly!)
This super satisfying veggie lasagna is a hearty, healthy version of the classic Italian recipe. Made with whole wheat noodles, fresh herbs, packed with veggies and a mixture of cheeses, this is a one dish meal that will soon become a favorite among your family and friends.
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 304kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 box Whole wheat lasagna noodles uncooked
- 4 Zucchini
- 3 Yellow, Red or Orange Bell Peppers diced
- 6 oz Baby Spinach roughly chopped
- 1 Red Onion diced
- 6 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tbsp Dried Italian Seasoning more to taste
- ⅛ tsp Crushed Red Pepper adjust to taste
- ¾ tsp Salt adjust to taste
- 28 oz Can of Crushed Tomatoes with Italian spices added–like basil, oregano, etc. if you can find that
- 28 oz Jar of Pasta Sauce
- 1½ cups low fat ricotta cheese
- 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella
- 1 cup Shredded Parmesan or Italian Four Cheese Blend
- olive oil cooking spray
Instructions
Noodles:
- Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions (leave them al dente).
- Once they’re done, lay them flat on foil and set aside.
Vegetables:
- Quarter all 4 zucchini and thinly slice.
- Dice all 3 bell peppers and mince 3 cloves of garlic
- Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat, saute the garlic, half the diced onion, all of the zucchini and all of the bell peppers together.
- Add the baby spinach at the end (when the zucchini/red pepper are almost done cooking), saute another 3 minutes until spinach is wilted.
- Sprinkle Italian seasoning, salt, and crushed red pepper to taste on top, stir, and let it cook a couple more minutes. Then remove from heat.
Sauce:
- Mince 3 cloves of garlic.
- Spray a medium sized saucepan with cooking spray and lightly saute the garlic and remaining red onion until the onion is translucent.
- Add the crushed tomatoes.
- Add Italian seasoning to taste, if your crushed tomatoes don't have that already added.
- Once the sauce is heated through, turn the heat down on low.
Cheese:
- Combine 1.5 cups of the ricotta cheese and 1 cup of the mozzarella in a bowl. Keep the Parmesan cheese (or Italian blend, if using) separate.
Assembly:
- Spray the bottom of a large casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Put a layer of sauce at the bottom of the dish (For every layer of sauce, I used 1/2 the self-made sauce and 1/2 the pre-made sauce)
- Put a layer of the lasagna noodles.
- Put another layer of the sauce (1/2 pre-made, 1/2 self made).
- Put a layer of the veggies.
- Take the cheese mixture, and put little crumbles of the cheese mixture all over the veggie layer (don’t try to spread it out, the little crumbles seemed to work well).
- Put another layer of the lasagna noodles.
- Layer of sauce.
- Layer of veggies.
- Cheese mixture crumbles.
- Layer of lasagna noodles.
- Layer of sauce.
- Sprinkle 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese (Or Italian Cheese blend) all over the top.
- Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.
- Uncover and bake for 5 min. longer until the cheese has melted.
Notes
Top Tips for Making Healthy Vegetable Lasagna
- Salt water and cook lasagna noodles al dente (maybe about 4-5 minutes). They will continue to cook when you bake the lasagna in the oven - and that way you won't have mushy noodles!
- Lay the noodles flat on aluminum foil to prevent the noodles from sticking together. You can even spray the foil with olive oil spray to really make sure the noodles remain separated.
- Thinly slice the bell pepper and then cut in half so your pieces are about the same size as your zucchini.
- Cook the zucchini, peppers, onion, and garlic until almost done before adding spinach.
- A mix of fresh and dried herbs gives a bright and slow cooked flavor.
- Make the sauce in a separate pan from the veggies.
- Spray or grease the casserole dish to prevent sticking.
- Don’t try to spread the cheese layer. Crumble the cheese on top of the veggies.
- Let the lasagna rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing it, that way it will hold together once you do slice and serve it.
Nutrition
Serving: 1piece | Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 810mg | Potassium: 870mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g