Spinach Artichoke Lasagna

The only way to make spinach artichoke dip better was to add noodles and turn it into spinach artichoke lasagna. This is meat free comfort food at its finest! This recipe is homey, filling, and easily adapted to be vegetarian. This lasagna has become a Dinner’s Late favorite over the years and will find its way to your table often.

Ingredients

• Spinach- Frozen
• Artichoke Hearts- Canned
• No Cook Lasagna Noodles- 2 boxes
• Onion- White
• Garlic
• Alfredo Sauce- One jar of roasted garlic
• Chicken Broth- One can. Use vegetable if you’re making a vegetarian version
• Mushrooms- Baby Bella/ Cremini (They’re the same thing)
• Olive Oil
• Feta Cheese- Crumbled. Use a diet specific alternative if you’re making this vegan/vegetarian
• Mozzarella Cheese- I use whole Milk Mozzarella, but you can use a lower calorie version if you’d like. Diet specific cheeses are also available if you’re going the vegetarian/vegan route
• Spices: Rosemary, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Nutmeg

How to make Spinach Artichoke Lasagna

The Sauce

First we need to defrost the spinach. Frozen spinach is the only way to to for this recipe. By the time you cooked down fresh spinach you would have to spend a fortune to get the right amount of spinach needed. You will want to drain the spinach once it has defrosted.

Chopping is next. I like to dice the onions and the mushrooms. If you leave the mushrooms too big, it will overpower certain bites. I will very roughly chop the drained artichoke hearts for the opposite reason: I like getting a big surprise bite of artichoke. All the garlic cloves should be minced.

Now it’s time to start making your sauce. Put a large sauce pan over medium high heat and pour the olive oil in. Add your onions and mushrooms and cook until they are tender, about five minuets. Then add in your garlic and cook another minutes. Now mix in your spinach, artichokes, broth, rosemary, nutmeg and pepper. Let the mixture come to a boil, then reduce the heat to let it all simmer for 5 minuets. Next, remove the sauce from the heat and mix in your alfredo sauce.

Constructing the Lasagna

All the prep work is almost done, all you have left to do is to lay your layers in a baking dish. The first step is to grease your 9×13 dish, I like to do this with a stick of butter. Next you will take a full cup on the sauce and pour it into the bottom of the dish. Do your best to spread the sauce around. Next lay a layer of Oven Ready Lasagna noodles, then spread a cup of Mozzarella cheese over that. You will repeat this patter three times. Like this:

• Sauce
• Noodles
• Cheese

After three layer have been laid down, pour any remaining sauce over the top of the lasagna. Now you will sprinkle Feta over the top of the dish and add some final seasonings: garlic powder, oregano, parsley flakes, and basil.

Baking the Spinach Artichoke Lasagna

The only thing left to do is cover it up and bake it! Use a piece of aluminum foil to fashion a tight fitting lid. Tell your spinach artichoke lasagna that you love it, then pop it into an oven preheated to 350 degrees f, and let it for 40 minutes. Next you will remove the aluminum foil and let the dish bake another 15 minuets. Remove your lovely layers from the oven and let it sit for at least ten minuets before serving.

How to serve it

This is a dish best served hot and to friends. This can be made up to 24 hours ahead of time and baked before guests arrive, or even frozen to be saves for a later date. I like to put this dish together, wrap it with foil, writing the baking instruction on it, and drop it on a friends doorstep.

When it comes to what to serve this dish with, you can not go wrong with lemon chicken and roasted root vegetables. The basil pesto on the roasted root vegetables compliments the lasagna well.