Spinach Artichoke Lasagna
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In this Spinach Artichoke Lasagna recipe, you get to enjoy a delicious lasagna with all of the ingredients of spinach artichoke dip baked inside layers of pasta and covered with plenty of melted cheese. It’s basically spinach artichoke dip turned into a classic vegetarian lasagna. And it could just be the best lasagna recipe of all time (with our Italian sausage lasagna roll ups coming in at a close second!)
This recipe is being shared from a fabulous new cookbook by Sonja and Alex Overhiser: A Couple Cooks. It’s an excellent cookbook to pick up for your cookbook collection (and it has lots of 5-star ratings).
March 16th is National Artichoke Hearts Day! You must celebrate by making one of our recipes with artichoke hearts. There are so many delicious things you can make, but we suggest you try this spinach artichoke lasagna recipe to make for dinner. You will be so glad you did. It’s layers of pasta, spinach artichoke filling and a simple tomato sauce. They’re all combined with a ton of cheese. It’s an amazing lasagna recipe!
Share the artichoke heart love on social media today with photos of your artichoke heart recipe creation. Use the hashtags #NationalArtichokeHeartsDay, #ArtichokeHeartsDay and #RecipesForHolidays.
“Even artichokes have hearts.”
-Amélie Poulain
The History of Artichokes:
Artichoke hearts come from the artichoke plant, a thistle-like plant native to the Mediterranean. The edible portion, including the tender heart, has been consumed for thousands of years.
- Ancient OriginsGreek & Roman Era: The artichoke was cultivated by the Greeks and Romans, who valued it for its medicinal and aphrodisiac properties.
- Middle Ages: The artichoke was cultivated primarily in Islamic Spain, Sicily, and North Africa.
- 16th Century: The artichoke gained popularity in Italy and France.
- 18th – 19th Century: Artichokes became a delicacy in Europe, especially in Italy and France, and were introduced to North America by French and Spanish settlers.
- 20th Century: Large-scale cultivation began in California. With advancements in food preservation, artichoke hearts became widely available in jars and cans, making them more accessible globally.
Ingredients Needed:
- Basics: Olive oil, garlic, dried oregano, garlic powder, kosher salt and black pepper
- Canned Tomatoes: For this recipe, you’ll need canned fire roasted tomatoes. This is going to give the sauce a bit more pizzazz than regular canned tomatoes.
- Tomato Sauce: Canned tomato sauce is just fine.
- Lasagna Noodles: Use regular lasagna noodles for this recipe (not the no-boil kind, which tend to have a gummy texture in lasagna).
- Frozen Spinach: Yes, use frozen spinach, not fresh! Fresh spinach will have far too much moisture in it. If you’re gung ho about using fresh spinach, just make sure that you squeeze it to death after cooking it so you don’t bring extra moisture to the lasagna.
- Artichoke Hearts: Non-marinated artichoke hearts packed in water (not oil) sold in a can or jar is what you’ll need.
- Sour Cream: We’re using sour cream to combine with the spinach to make the “spinach dip” part of the recipe. We’re not using any mayonnaise in this lasagna.
- Cheese: You have some cheese options! You’ll need 8 ounces of smoked or regular mozzarella cheese, provolone cheese or Gouda cheese. And then you’ll need one cup of shredded whole milk mozzarella. Why whole milk? The melting and flavor will be 100% better than using skim.
- Parmesan Cheese: Splurge and buy a block and grate it yourself. It will taste best that way.
- Fresh Parsley: This is purely for garnish, so it’s up to you if you want to add it to your grocery list.
How to make Spinach Artichoke Lasagna:
The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.
The first thing you’ll do is make the simple tomato sauce. Garlic is sauteed in oil before adding in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, salt and pepper. The pot of tomato sauce is simmered for about 15 minutes.
Then you’ll drop the lasagna noodles into boiling water, and cook them until al dente. Those noodles should be moved to a olive oil-drizzled baking sheet and turned over to coat the pasta with the oil.
The next step is making the spinach artichoke filling. Squeeze the heck out of the thawed frozen spinach to get rid of the moisture. Then combine it with artichokes, sour cream, cheeses, garlic powder and salt/pepper.
Then it’s time to assemble the lasagna. In a 9×13-inch baking dish, you’ll layer sauce, noodles, spinach artichoke filling, sauce, noodles, filling and more sauce. You’ll top it all off with the rest of the noodles and the rest of the sauce. Cheese goes on top, and then it goes into the oven!
Recipe Tips and Substitutions:
- If you want to skip making the tomato sauce, you can skip step one of the recipe entirely, and just buy some jarred marinara sauce to use.
- Since you have some choices to make with the cheeses, I suggest you use Gouda with the mozzarella. The combination is so good.
- Use marinated artichokes instead of artichokes packed in water if you want to add a zesty flavor to this lasagna!
- This spinach artichoke lasagna is a vegetarian lasagna, but you can add chicken if you’d like.
- You can leave out the artichoke hearts, use ricotta in place of the sour cream and that makes this a classic spinach lasagna.
- Serving suggestions: Serve with a side salad and a hunk of bread. How about Nutella cheesecake for dessert?
Make Ahead Tips and How to Store:
You can prepare this lasagna up to 24 hours ahead of baking. Just prep the whole thing and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it until ready to bake. Take it out of the fridge for about 30 minutes before baking. Swap the plastic wrap for some foil, and then it’s ready for the oven.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
What You Will Love About Spinach Artichoke Lasagna:
- You’ll love that this is a different and delicious way to make a vegetable lasagna.
- Spinach artichoke dip lovers will really love this lasagna!
- Leftovers are just as good as eating this on the day its made. Maybe better!
Fun Facts About Artichokes:
- The city of Castroville, California is known as the “Artichoke Center of the World.”
- Marilyn Monroe was crowned the first-ever “Artichoke Queen” in 1948!
- Artichokes are one of the highest antioxidant-rich vegetables, even beating out blueberries and dark chocolate in some tests.
- Only the heart and the base of the leaves are edible. The fuzzy “choke” in the center must be removed before eating.
- Artichokes are about 85% water, making them a hydrating and nutritious snack.
Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
- One 28-ounce can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
- One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1¾ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- freshly ground black pepper
- 12 whole lasagna noodles
- 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed
- One 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- 8 ounces smoked or regular mozzarella, provolone or Gouda cheese, grated
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, divided
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
- chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375℉.
- To make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, and saute, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Lower the heat and carefully add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, ¾ teaspoon of the kosher salt, and several grinds of black pepper. Simmer on low heat while making the rest of the recipe, for at least 15 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the lasagna noodles, stirring often, until just before al dente, then drain. Drizzle a baking sheet with a bit of olive oil. Lay each noodle flat on the sheet, turning them over to coat with the oil.
- Squeeze all of the moisture out of the thawed spinach with your hands. In a medium bowl, mix the artichokes and spinach with the sour cream, the mozzarella (or other cheese, if using), ½ cup of the Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, remaining 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and several grinds of black pepper. Stir until fully combined.
- In a 9×13-inch baking dish, spread ½ cup of the hot tomato sauce over the bottom. Top with a layer of noodles, half of the artichoke filling, and 1 cup of tomato sauce, then repeat for another layer of noodles, remaining half of the spinach artichoke filling, and 1 cup more of the tomato sauce. Top with the remaining noodles and remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle the top with the whole milk mozzarella and the remaining ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese.
- Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and bake until bubbly and golden brown on top, another 20 to 25 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving (this sets the texture). Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired. Cut into pieces, and serve.
