While I was doing my meal planning for this week, two things were on my mind; one, I needed to do a pasta dish since I am hosting Presto Pasta Nights this week and two, I was craving spanakopita . Naturally, at some point I decided to combine the two and do a pasta version of a spanakopita. At first I was just going to go with a quick pasta dish with spinach, feta and herbs but this combination of two great meals deserved something more and I decided to go all out and make a spanakoptia lasagna. The recipe was pretty easy to come up with, being just the spanakopita filling all layered with lasagne noodles and melted mozzarella cheese. Although the lasagna was straight forward to put together it took a bit of effort but it was so worth it! The amazing spinach, herb and feta flavour combination worked just as well in lasagna form as it did in phyllo pie form. I now really don’t know which I prefer, the lasagne noodles and melted mozzarella or the light and flaky phyllo version. I will have to make both versions many more times and find out. 🙂 I was thinking that you could easily replace some or all of the spinach with chard or kale to change things up a bit.
Spinach and Feta Lasagna (aka Spanakopita Lasagna)
ingredients
- 4 bunches spinach (blanched and squeezed dry; or 4 boxes frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry)
- 1 cup herbs (such as parsley, dill and mint; chopped)
- 1 bunch green onions (sliced)
- 1 cup feta (crumbled)
- 1 cup ricotta
- 3 eggs
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 cups mozzarella (grated)
- 1/2 pound lasagne noodles (cooked) (gluten free for gluten free)
directions
- Mix the spinach, herbs, green onions, feta, ricotta and eggs.
- Place a layer of the lasagne noodles in the bottom of your 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Top with half of the spinach mixture and 1/3 of the mozzarella.
- Top with another layer of noodles.
- Top with the remaining spinach mixture and 1/3 of the mozzarella.
- Top with another layer of noodles followed by the remaining mozzarella.
- Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until bubbling on the sides and golden brown on top, about 30-45 minutes.
Lasagna
Spanakopita
Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna) with Greens
Spinach with Feta Dressing
Spanakorizo (Greek Spinach Rice)
Spinach and Feta Quesadillas
Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken
Spinach and Feta Omelette
Spinach Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Spinach Pesto, Feta and Shrimp Tortellini
Spinach and Feta are SUCH an amazing combination and definitely go beyond just spankopita. I love spinach and feta omelettes and scrambled eggs. Yum your lasagna looks delicious.
Love the fusion of Greek and Italian!
Mmmm, this looks awesome (and easier to make than dealing with filo dough!!). Will have to give it a try. Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
You just made me incredibly happy! I love spanakopita, but I haven't been able to have it since I discovered my gluten intolerance (there's no good gluten-free phyllo substitute). I'm really excited to try this with gluten-free lasagna noodles, though, and I will finally get what I've been longing for 🙂
I love spanakopita and this idea is just great.
Awesome idea! I wish I was having it for dinner tonight, because I love all Greek dishes!
this looks good..creamy and tasty!
Good thinking Batman 🙂 Looks very tasty.
Just found your blog–absolutely love it! You have fabulous recipes and a nice layout–keep up the great work!
This looks so wonderfully delicious and hearty :DD
NIIIIICE!!!! I love spanakopita and I LOVE pasta. A fusion made in heaven!!! Bookmarked.
Simply fantastic! Spanakopita without the fuss of brushing butter on phyllo. Genius!
The size of that serving is perfect. Why have a little spanakopita when you can have a huge slice of lasagna?
There are a lot of spinach recipes I've always been dying to try, just that when you guys say spinach, which ones do you use?
My supermarket sells about 3 different types: sharp, round and baby. I'm never sure which ones to pick, or if they affect the taste too much?
This sounds great! I need to bring a dish to a potluck next week and I think this would be idea. Delicious!
As a low-carber who craves spanakopita, I plan to make this with Dreamfields pasta. Perhaps I'll even go out and buy some spinach today! Oh, and another possible substitute for spinach is turnip greens, also widely available frozen.
Banzailibrarian
I love this idea, Kevin. Can't wait to try it 🙂
That looks soooooo good. I can just envision my fork pressing down through it and freeing a nice chunk for my mouth. Very nice spin on the spanakopita triangles.
Looks fab Kevin! Spanakopita means "Spinach Pie", so the lasagna is inspired by the ingredients.
I's sure this will even taste better the next day!
This dish looks delicious! And what great photography.
Nicely done! Huge fan of this dish and now you have me thinking I need to add it to my todo this week.
oh wow! i've gotta give this one a try! i absolutely LOVE anything spinach and feta!
this looks just wonderful! i love the spinach!
This is amazing Kevin and would cure us of any cravings we had to eat Greek.
YUM! So good & very delicious! Cheers.
I am always impressed with your food photography. And the food, too, of course!
That lasagna looks super delish. Love your idea. Definitely will give it a try.
http://jerseygirlinthekitchen.blogspot.com/
That's a really tall, good-looking lasagna!
Oh those look wonderful! I love anything with Feta…I swear I could eat that stuff plain!! It is really one of the world's best combination. I like they way you bundled them; just a little different (and cuter)than spanakopita! Thank you sooooo much….
Regards,
Delicious! Perfect combination of two wonderful dishes.
What a neat creation! I love spanakopita!!
Rabbittrick: I have only seen the baby spinach and the regular spinach. I would go for the sharp.
Oooh I'm loving this! I'm not the biggest fan of lasagna because I'm not the biggest fan of ricotta. This one with feta looks amazing!
Sues
Omg!!! I made this and LOVE it! Thank you so much!!! I am not kidding when I say, I ate this for breakfast, lunch and dinner for almost five days straight. I was obsessed! LOL Like Katie, I also eat gluten-free, and so I used gf lasagna noodles. I really miss spanakopita, I mean, REALLY miss it and this totally satisfied! I can hardly wait to make it again.
I made lasagne like this once and it was sooo good. I add a lot of garlic whenever there's spinach – I think these two go perfectly together. Your looks nicer than the one I made but maybe next time it's gonna be better.
I ended up not liking this one too much on my first attempt. It ended up a bit dry and tough, in part it's because I cooked too long, but there is not really any liquid in the recipe aside from the eggs so it seems destined to be somewhat dry which I think works better with phyllo than pasta. Next time I'd sprinkle on some extra water in the filling layers, or leave the spinach wetter at least.
I also might use some bechamel or mornay sauce (white sauce or cheese sauce) next time, which I think will make the texture closer to that of a lasagna than spanakopita which I think will be more to my liking.
Unknown: With all of the moisture in the spinach, this should not have been dry. Did you used no-cook noodles? Adding creamy bechamel or mornay sauce would certainly be a great alternative! Kind of like a creamed spinach lasagna.