Loosely inspired by the lasagna verde from Rolo’s, a cozy restaurant in Queens, New York, this version is something of a rule-breaker. For one, the sauce starts with still-frozen spinach, which turns rich in the blender when combined with steaming hot milk and grated cheese. Using a baking sheet instead of a deeper baking dish cuts down the bake time to a reasonable length for a weeknight while yielding more of those prized edge pieces. Store-bought fresh lasagna sheets, easy to find in many supermarkets, shave off even more time and elevate the lasagna to truly restaurant-quality.
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What you’ll need
Blender
$40 At Amazon
Rimmed Baking Sheet
$30 At Amazon
Box Grater
$12 $9 At Amazon
Large Skillet
$74 At Amazon
Medium Saucepan
$50 $39 At Amazon
Recipe information
Total Time
1 hour
Yield
6 servings
Ingredients
1
1
1
6
1
1
3
1
½
8
8
1
1
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 375°. Heat 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Cook 1 lb. hot Italian sausage, casings removed, 1 medium onion, finely chopped, and 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, breaking up sausage into small pieces with a wooden spoon and stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and translucent and sausage is cooked through, 8–10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Break up any remaining large pieces of sausage with a fork or potato masher.
Step 2
Meanwhile, place one 1-lb. bag frozen spinach in a blender. Remove zest from 1 lemon in wide strips with a vegetable peeler; add zest to a medium saucepan. Add 3 cups whole milk, 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, ½ tsp. freshly ground pepper, and remaining 4 whole garlic cloves to saucepan. Heat over medium-high, stirring occasionally, just until milk is steaming, about 5 minutes. Immediately pour over spinach and blend, starting on low speed and gradually increasing to high, until mixture is smooth and bright green.
Step 3
Toss 8 oz. low-moisture mozzarella, coarsely grated (about 2 cups), and 8 oz. Parmesan, finely grated (about 4 cups), in a large bowl to combine; set aside 1½ cups for topping. Add remaining cheese mixture to spinach sauce in blender. Pour in 1 cup heavy cream; blend just until combined.
Step 4
Pour one third of spinach sauce (about 2¼ cups) onto an 18x13" rimmed baking sheet and spread to edges of pan with a large spoon. If 1 lb. fresh lasagna sheets are in large strips, cut in half or thirds (this allows the noodles to become appealingly wavy in the oven). Arrange half of sheets in a single layer to cover sauce, trimming to fit as needed. Spoon sausage mixture evenly over pasta, then top with half of remaining sauce. Arrange remaining lasagna sheets in a single layer across surface. Pour remaining sauce over and spread evenly to cover pasta. Scatter reserved cheese mixture on top.
Step 5
Bake lasagna until top is golden brown in spots, filling is set around edges, and a skewer or toothpick slides easily through center, 25–35 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before cutting into squares.
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Reviews (4)
Back to TopI don’t typically go for lasagna recipes but the brightness of the spinach in this recipe intrigued me. I used lamb mixed with Italian seasoning instead of hot Italian sausage, and it actually paired well with the other flavors. The lemon flavor was a lovely complement and it was a relatively light lasagna overall. I ended up using box lasagna and it still cooked in 35 mins. It wasn’t clear to me if I was only supposed to use the zest of lemon or the whole lemon as well. I ended up leaving the whole lemon in the saucepan when heating the milk mixture but then removing it before blending the other ingredients. Having made the recipe, I wouldn’t include the whole lemon in the blend since I think that would make the mixture too watery, but it’s possible I misunderstood the instructions. Overall, this was an easy recipe that would be great for feeding a group of people. I’d make again.
Naz
Charlotte, NC
11/28/2023
terrific and easy!
Anonymous
11/29/2023
Thought this looked like a good alternative to the usual lasagna and it looked easy, so I put this together Sunday evening. The flavors were great and everyone enjoyed it, agreeing to make it again. The little bit of spice from the hot Italian sausage was just enough and the lemon zest definitely shone through. Garlic wasn't as obvious until the leftovers the next day. It definitely had some quirks, so I'll provide some tips, based on my experience. First tip: blender vs food processor. Due to an unfortunate kitchen accident, my blender is caput, so I used a high end food processor instead. It usually does just fine in place of the blender. Well, here, within about 20 seconds of turning it on with the frozen spinach and heated milk mixture, the milk was so frothy, it threatened to burst out of the chute at the top! Thankfully, it has a fantastic seal so none spilled out around the lid. I carefully removed the lid and poured half the mixture into another bowl and did my best to get the two batches smoothed out, then stirred in the cream. Never quite got there. That 3 cups of liquid went to 9+ cups of foam with bits of spinach and large chunks of lemon zest. The next tip is about the fresh lasagna noodles. We purchased one 1-lb package at our local grocer, but when I opened the container to put this together, it consisted of four, 5x6" sheets. Not going to cover two layers on a 18x13" cookie sheet! Rather than try to roll it out to get the coverage I needed, I opted for a more traditional 9x13" baking dish and they fit perfectly (I assume that's the exact reason they make them this size). So be aware that you may either need more than one pound, or roll the sheets out to the needed size, or may need a different baking vessel. Finally, I'm perplexed at how this recipe seems to think this much liquid will ever get creamy. It says "rich" in the description, but there is just nothing to thicken it. So, 1) be sure to put another tray underneath your baking dish to catch drips that WILL happen (and smoke up your kitchen) - this is difficult when using the cookie sheet, unless you have an even bigger sheet to put on the rack below! And 2) be prepared to cut into it and see a LOT of liquid still left in the pan. By day two for leftovers, some had soaked back in, but it was disheartening to see so much liquid. Again, the taste was there, but the execution, either on my part or the recipe's part, was lacking. I will make this again, but either cut way back on the milk or just make a béchamel sauce of it first (using flour to thicken), rather than just heat the milk. Oh! And a previous reviewer was confused on the lemon zest... No, the recipe doesn't explicitly say it, but you do NOT use the whole lemon! Just the zest to flavor the heating milk. Keep the lemon for another use.
LBinTX
Texas
12/5/2023
So good! Thank you to the reviewer who commented that there was way too much liquid. Thank goodness I took that note! I did 1.5 cups milk and maybe 1/4 cup cream. Even that seemed like too much but it was perfect. Such a tasty dish! We will definitely make it again, I loved the bright green of the spinach.
amyk
Houston, TX
12/12/2023
I made this lasagna recipe as written but used the Barilla no-boil lasagna sheets. I really think this helped soak up the extra liquid everyone else has mentioned. It was a little saucy the night of, but day two of leftovers was perfect. I will definitely make this again.
Jennifer O
Berkley, MI
12/13/2023
I made this recipe last night. I used mild Italian sausage rather than hot (spouse does not like the heat). I omitted the lemon zest. All else was prepared as directed. I bought two 8-oz packages of Rana 8.5-in x 6-in fresh lasagne sheets. There are 6 sheets per package but It only took 4 sheets to cover each layer (total of 8). I baked the lasagna for about 25-28 minutes, at which point it was golden brown around the perimeter and patchy golden brown in the center and appeared to be set. I allowed it to stand for about 10 minutes before. cutting. There was no extra liquid in the pan. The noodles had absorbed it and the lasagna cut into neat squares. This recipe is unique and tasty; however, my opinion is that it is too rich to be served as a main course. If I make it again, I would serve it cut into small portions as a first course atop a puddle of marina or pomodoro sauce.
carolef2
Florida
12/24/2023
Confused with description of "if you like pesto pasta..." Am I missing something? I don't see basil in the ingredients list. Could I swap out some or all of the spinach in the sauce with pesto?
Bonnie - Ohio
1/8/2024