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This Tomato Lasagna is a summery twist on Homemade Lasagna using fresh seasonal heirloom tomatoes layered between lasagna cheese and cheese. It’s vegetarian, family friendly and perfect for a make-ahead meal.
Ingredients & substitutions
- Eggs: Beaten eggs are mixed with the ricotta to allow it to set, so that it doesn’t ooze out when you cut into the lasagna.
- Cheese: Use ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella to make this tomato lasagna. The ricotta adds a great creamy texture, the parmesan gives a stronger and sharper cheese flavor and the mozzarella creates those perfect cheese pulls.
- Seasoning/Aromatics: Fresh basil, fresh garlic salt and pepper.
- Spinach: This adds vegetables to the tomato lasagna to bulk it up for the meatless option.
- Lemon: The lemon juice and lemon zest add a burst of fresh flavor, and the acid helps to cut through the creamy ricotta.
- Tomatoes: Heirloom tomatoes are perfect for the lasagna as they are so much more flavorful than regular. In a pinch, large beefsteak tomatoes, or vine-ripened will work well. slice them and layer them with the other ingredients.
- Lasagna: Use no-boil lasagna sheets for this recipe. The moisture in the rest of the dish will cook the sheets.
- Tomato sauce: Use plain tomato sauce for that authentic lasagna flavor or make your own marinara from scratch.
How to make tomato lasagna
- Add cooked spinach and garlic, lemon zest and juice, ricotta, salt and pepper to whisked eggs.
- Stir to combine.
- Place heirloom tomato slices in a baking dish.
- Top with lasagna sheets.
- Spread over a layer of the ricotta mix and top with mozzarella.
- Repeat the layers three more times and top with tomato slices and remaining cheeses. Bake until cooked through and bubbly.
Tips for making the recipe
- Place the lasagna over a sheet pan in the oven. This is a great little tip to keep your oven clean when baking lasagna. The sheet pan helps to catch any bubbling sauce.
- Make it faster by not cooking the garlic and spinach. Since the garlic and spinach cook together in the oven with the lasagna, you can skip the initial saute. But if you have time, this allows the garlic to release more of its flavor and the wilted spinach is easier to mix.
- Use no-boil lasagna noodles for ease. They are much easier to work with and can be added straight to the dish. If you use lasagna noodles that need to be boiled first, be careful not to overcook them, or they will become very soggy in the dish. Boil them for 4 to 5 minutes before draining, cooling and adding to the dish.
- Cover the lasagna when you bake it. If your lasagna is baked uncovered, it can turn out quite dry as the steam will escape. Keep it covered and then broil quickly under the broiler for the last few minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Lasagna is a great dish to make, as you can make up a big batch and enjoy it a few times throughout the week for easy to grab lunches and dinners. It will keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days, and can be reheated in the oven at 360F, covered with foil to warm through.
You can make up the lasagna a day ahead of time and keep it covered in the fridge until you are ready to cook.
You can freeze the lasagna for up to 3 months, either cooked or uncooked. You can defrost cooked lasagna in the fridge overnight before reheating or cooking. An uncooked frozen lasagna will take about 10 more minutes to cook through.
This tomato lasagna is great to serve with a fresh side salad like:
Tomato Caprese Salad
Green Goddess Salad
Feta Crouton Salad
Pesto Zoodles
This tomato lasagna recipe is so perfect for a hearty and healthy family meal. A great addition to meatless Mondays, it’s so rich and full of flavor.
For more pasta recipes:
- Lemon Ricotta Pasta
- Homemade Lasagna
- Lasagna Roll Ups with Spinach
- Eggplant Lasagna
- One Pan Pasta
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Pasta Bolognese
If you try this healthy-ish feel good Tomato Lasagna recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. We would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
Tomato Lasagna
Equipment
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 5 ounce bag baby spinach
- 2 eggs
- 1 15 ounce container ricotta cheese
- 1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese divided, plus more for garnish
- ¼ cup fresh basil chopped, plus more for garnish
- ½ lemon zested and juiced
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt plus more to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 4 large heirloom tomatoes sliced into ¼-inch planks
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 12 lasagna sheets no-boil
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and set an oven rack in the middle and upper third of your oven. Spray a 13×9 baking dish with cooking spray.
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add spinach and cook until wilted, 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Then stir in the ricotta, ½ cup grated Parmesan, basil, cooked spinach mixture, lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper.
- Arrange ½ of the heirloom tomato slices in a single layer on the bottom of the prepared baking dish, reserving the “prettier” slices for the top of the baking dish.
- In the baking dish with the arranged heirloom tomatoes, add a layer of the lasagna noodles (4 per layer), then ¼ of the tomato sauce, then ¼ of the ricotta mixture, and ¼ of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat this sequence 3 more times, reserving the final ¼ of mozzarella cheese. Top final layer of ricotta with remaining ½ of pretty heirloom slices and remaining ¼ of mozzarella and remaining ½ cup grated Parmesan.
- Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray and lay it, oiled side down, over the lasagna, covering the entire baking dish. Place the lasagna over a sheet pan (to catch any bubbling sauce) and bake in the center rack of the oven until noodles are fully cooked, 35-40 minutes.
- Remove the foil and transfer to the top of the oven. Broil until the cheese is golden and crispy, 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh basil and more Parmesan, if desired. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
hey. im in europe and having trouble converting your numbers. is that a 15 oz bag of spinach of 1 oz 5 grams??? also for ricotta and tomato sauce! HELP!
It is one bag of spinach, which should have 5 ounces of spinach in it. It is one container of ricotta, which should weigh 15 ounces. It is one can of tomato sauce, which should have 15 ounces of tomato sauce in it. Hope that helps!
Another brilliant recipe. Followed it exactly as is and the whole family liked it. Thanks, wil def do it again!
Wow, thank you so much! Yay!!
I picked this recipe because I needed to use up some heirloom tomatoes a friend gave me. I had to add Italian sausage because my hubby wasn’t thrilled at the idea of a veggie lasagna but everything else was the same. It turned out really good, and he went back for seconds. Thanks for the great recipe!
That sounds like a great way to make it work for the both of you! Yay!! You’re so welcome.
What happens with the onions?
And what’s up with all the commenters’ mushroom omissions? I saw no mushrooms mentioned in the write up.
No onions in this recipe – thank you for spotting that! Not so sure about that one haha.
Hi Yumna can I omit the eggs ??? My son is allergic. Thank you
Hi! I haven’t tried this with an egg substitute yet because the eggs mixed with the ricotta allow it to set. I usually substitute eggs with flax eggs in a recipe, but I have yet to give that a go here.
I’m very pleased with the way it turned out. I used half yogurt and half ricotta mixture, I didn’t have any mushrooms and I added some shredded mozzarella to yogurt mixture. It’s a great way to use those beautiful garden tomatoes. I made it for a company and everyone loved how pretty it looked and how fresh tasting it was. Thank you so much for this recipe!!!
Yay! I’m still glad it worked out that way and that everyone enjoyed it too. You’re so welcome!
I had been looking for a lighter lasagna recipe for summer. This was fantastic! I made mine using the ricotta. I made mostly as directed, but I also added 2 ounces of parm to the ricotta-spinach mixture, I didn’t spray the top with cooking oil, and I left out the mushrooms. Next time I would bake bread to sop up all of the delicious tomato juice that bakes out of the heirloom tomatoes. Sadly I didn’t think of that this time, so I ended up dumping the extra tomato juice out of the pan before storing the leftovers (I didn’t want them to get soggy).
We will def make this again! Thank you for such a great recipe!
That sounds lovely! Definitely go with the bread idea next time too. You’re so welcome!
Why didn’t you post your tried and true lasagna recipe on this website? Now, unfortunately, I have to look elsewhere.
Hi Kevin – I actually had this post drafted for a very long time and never posted it. I’m so happy you mentioned it because it really needs to be on my site. And thanks to your reminder, it’s actually published now here:
https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/homemade-lasagna/
Thank you! I look forward to to trying it. I like your website and have turned some of my buddies on to it. As an ex-athlete, I am moving to a more plant based diet and I appreciate the ways you mention how to modify recipes to accommodate different diets in the recipes. Your flavors are spot on and the nutritional benefits are significantly better. Keep it up!! Take care
I’m so glad to hear that Kevin! Thanks so much for sharing and I love hearing feedback like that to continue providing more plant-forward recipes with great flavor. Thank you and wishing you happy holidays!
I love the idea of using tomato slices on the top layer…nice presentation!