Beefy Cottage Cheese and Spinach Lasagna (oven ready noodles)

If you’re looking for the perfect meal to showcase your cooking skills, this homemade lasagna recipe will really wow ’em. With flavorful beef, a creamy filling and perfectly layered noodles, this crowd-pleaser is easy to make and ridiculously delicious. 

​The crazy part? Check out the nutrition facts! Lasagna is not usually considered a “light” dish, but this one won’t leave you feeling sluggish after. It’s high in protein, lower in calories and fat than a classic lasagna recipe but tastes just like the real deal.

For more easy lasagna recipes, check out my Lazy Lasagna and Turkey Lasagna Soup.

Cottage Cheese, we love you!

Cottage cheese is having its moment. With good reason! It’s low in carbs, fat and sugar, high protein and full of calcium. It adds creaminess to dishes without adding a ton of calories.

Add it to desserts, taco mac and cheese, dips, buffalo chicken lasagna filling or eat by the spoonful. Shine on cottage cheese, we love you.

Traditional lasagna uses ricotta cheese, which is delicious, but much more caloric than cottage cheese. Using cottage cheese gives our lasagna filling the same creamy texture, only lighter. More room for more lasagna!

You can blend the cottage cheese prior to adding to the filling, but I promise you won’t notice the small curds, so this step isn’t necessary.

How to make cottage cheese lasagna (a visual step-by-step guide):

Step 1: preheat oven and prepare the meat sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions to the pan and cook until nice and browned, approximately 3-5 minutes.

Add the ground beef to the pan and break into bite-size pieces. Cook until fully cooked through, mixing often, approximately 5 minutes (image 1). Add the oregano, Italian seasoning, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper to the beef mixture (image 2). Stir to evenly coat the meat in the seasoning mixture (image 3). Add marinara sauce, combine, and simmer while you prepare the cottage cheese filling (image 4).

Step 2: make cottage cheese filling

In a large bowl, combine the cottage cheese, eggs, parmesan cheese, oregano, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper (image 5). Mix well to combine (image 6). Add the defrosted and strained spinach to the cottage cheese mixture (image 7). Gently fold in the spinach to evenly combine with the cottage cheese mixture (image 8).

Step 3: layer your lasagna

Spray the baking dish with nonstick spray. Add a dollop of the meat mixture to the bottom of the dish to lightly coat the bottom (image 9). Top with 4 noodles, the noodles are the width of the baking dish (short side) not the length (image 10). Top the noodles with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.

Top the cheese with half of the meat sauce and spread to evenly coat the dish with a spoon (image 11). Top the meat mixture with half of the cottage cheese filling and spread to evenly coat (image 12).

Repeat the process once more. Add 4 lasagna noodles on top of the cottage cheese filling (image 13). Top with 1/2 cup cheese. Top the cheese with the remaining meat sauce and spread to evenly coat the dish with a spoon (image 14). Top the meat sauce with the remaining cottage cheese filling and spread to evenly coat (image 15). Top the cottage cheese mixture with one cup of shredded mozzarella (image 17).

Step 4: bake

Place the baking dish on a baking sheet to catch any overflow. Cover the dish with aluminum foil, try to avoid touching the cheese on top so that it doesn’t stick to the tin foil. Bake for 50 minutes. 

Remove the foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned and the sauce is nice and bubbly at the edges (image 17). Add fresh chopped parsley to the top of the lasagna and cut into 12 equal servings and enjoy. 

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