How to Make Healthier Lasagna: Easy Swaps to Max Out Nutrition Without Sacrificing Taste

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by Robin

Do you have a favourite lasagna recipe?  This one’s mine.  I’ve been making it for about 15 years, with a few improvements along the way.  It’s a much healthier lasagna recipe now!

You might know, I’m a former Registered Dietitian, so it was in my job description to pump everything I can with nutrients.

But, I’m also a real person who won’t sacrifice taste for nutrition.  

This healthy lasagna recipe is a nice balance of the two.

I love teaching people how to make easy swaps to familiar recipes.  This recipe is a great example of a few helpful principles.  

Below is my yummy healthy lasagna recipe – it’s been called “The Best Ever!” by friends and strangers alike – and learn exactly how to make lasagna healthier.

1. Healthier Lasagna Recipe Tip: Swap in Whole Wheat Pasta.

If you don’t mention it, your family likely won’t notice if you use whole wheat pasta in place of white.  I’ve done this for years and now this is the norm for us.  

For most kinds of pasta, this is easy-peasy – just a straight swap.

Whole wheat lasagna noodles are a bit more difficult – I’ve yet to find them available in oven-ready form.  Which is a drag, because I’m way too lazy to precook them.

So here’s a tip: soak your non-oven-ready noodles in hot tap water for 20 to 30 minutes.  This will get them soft enough without the bother of cooking!  

I like to use the same pan I will cook the lasagna in – so no extra dirty dishes!  (Stick with me, I’ve got your lazy-back covered.)

2. Healthier Lasagna Recipe Tip: Pump up the Jam Veggies.

With most recipes, you can add more veggies than the recipe calls for.  You’ll gain fiber, phytochemicals, minerals and vitamins.

Start with 50% more and inch up from there if you can.

For this recipe, I’ve included more peppers and added chopped spinach.  Frozen spinach works really nicely here – it’s prechopped and usually more affordable than fresh.

3. Healthier Lasagna Recipe Tip: Use a Smidge Less Cheese.

Cheese is pretty key to lasagna.  If you want your family or guests happy, don’t mess with this one too much.  25% less will usually go unnoticed – that’s what I did here.

Usually, I actively dislike light cheese – often the taste and texture are not worth eating,  but in this recipe – it works pretty great.

4. Healthier Lasagna Recipe Tip: Substitute Cottage Cheese for Ricotta.

This swap is a no-brainer.  For this lasagna, I simply used 1% cottage cheese in place of the ricotta.  This saved fat and added protein (15g per 1/2 cup) and it’s a great source of calcium.

Healthier Lasagna Recipe Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
3 Peppers, chopped
1 lb Lean ground beef
5 cups Pasta sauce
3 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp Basil, dried
Salt and Pepper, to taste
2 cups Mozzarella cheese “Light”, shredded
1 container (500 g) 1% Cottage Cheese
1 pkg. (300g) Spinach, frozen, chopped (thawed)
1 Egg
1 package (375g) Whole wheat lasagna noodles

I’ve got another great healthier lasagna recipe too – this one’s Healthy Mexican Lasagna and it’s also fabulous (and freezes well!)