Butternut Squash Lasagna
I spotted it yesterday while I was turning the earth in the potato bed – the first tinge of rouge on our towering maples. The color in the leaves reflects the drop in temperatures and signals the bona fide start of fall on the homestead.
There are other signs of the change of seasons, too. The potatoes have been dug and stored, and we’ve already had to burrow into the closets in search of fleece jackets and tall boots for our invigorating walks to school and back.
Since the weather has turned chilly, I am prepping less salads and roasting more vegetables. I like to have cooked squash on hand to tuck into foods like mini quiche, soups, and today’s lasagna.
The arrival of autumn and the brisk weather had me craving this comforting casserole, but I opted for a lighter version, featuring roasted butternut squash instead of a meat sauce. The lasagna also contains plenty of herbs, which are still flourishing in the garden, and a generous helping of cheese for a vegetarian take on a family favorite.
Any roast winter squash would be lovely in this recipe (Nigella Lawson has a recipe for a pumpkin and goat cheese lasagna in her book Nigella Christmas that I am curious to try next), I just happened to use butternut, as that was what I had roasted and sitting in the fridge.
Many of the components of this recipe can be prepared in advance, or even purchased, making it a good option for a weeknight dinner. It can also be assembled in the morning, stored – well wrapped in the refrigerator – for the day, and baked up hot and bubbly for dinner at night.
Perfect for Meatless Monday, I recommend doubling this butternut squash lasagna recipe and freezing the second (after assembly, before baking) for another week.
Butternut Squash Lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 cups marinara sauce homemade or purchased
- 9 lasagna noodles cooked
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh pepper
- 2 cups roasted winter squash I used butternut, but any variety would do
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella divided
- 5-7 roasted tomatoes optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In the bottom of an 8x10 casserole, spread 1/2 cup of marinara sauce and top with three lasagna noodles.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, salt and pepper together until foamy. Add the roasted squash and beat it into the egg until combined. Don't worry if there are a few lumps.
- Sprinkle the thyme and the Parmesan into the squash mixture and mix well. Spread the mixture over the lasagna noodles in the pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Layer another 3 noodles in the casserole and top with 1 cup of marinara sauce. Place the remaining 3 noodles in the dish and spread the last 1/2 cup of sauce over the top of them.
- Finish the lasagna with 1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Top with 5-7 roasted tomatoes, if you wish.
- Place in the middle rack of the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the sides of the lasagna are bubbling.
- Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.
Nutrition
Have you shifted into fall cooking yet?
Oh yum! I just roasted my first squash of the season last night. Delicata.
Love Delicatas. ‘Tis the season for roasting, for sure.
I want to try this one! Seems delicious!
Mmm! Butternut squash lasagna’s are my favorite! This looks like the perfect fall comfort food!
Looks comforting and delicious! Perfect fall meal! 🙂
And I was just wondering what to make for dinner tonight!! This looks wonderful, thanks for the recipe Aimee!! 🙂
Well perfect!
Turns out my local grocer either did not have butternut in stock yet, or my husband doesn’t know what the squash looks like. 😉 Substituted acorn instead and it turned out fantastic. I will admit I was a little worried with the lack of ricotta, but the squash provides the perfect texture, truly amazing! Thanks again for the recipe Aimee, yet another reason SimpleBites is my favorite blog! 🙂
Looks like a good candidate for the Dutch oven and you could also use zucchini instead of pasta noodles. Thank you for the recipe.
Yep, love this idea.
Oh this sounds perfect! I was just given fresh squash from a friends garden…so good!
My kind of comfort food!
what a comforting looking dish! perfect for fall!
What a perfect dinner idea! Loving all of this comfort food!
Dude, I am so excited to feel the hint of autumn in the air! Time to roast all the things and snuggle under blankets while we eat them!
I am totally going to try and sneak some squash into my next lasagna! The husband wont know what hit him 🙂
Me too! My guy won’t eat any veggies, so this just might do the trick, since he loves lasagna!
I’ve made my share of spaghetti squash but never thought to make lasagna! Can’t wait to try this
Gorgeous! The tomatoes look so lovely sitting on the top of the cheese, and while I’m not quite into fall comfort foods yet, I could definitely get on board with this.
I enjoyed a lasagna like this recently at the Sheridan Chop House ~ now one of my favorites!
Aimee! This looks amazing! I was lamenting the end of summer and all the quick salads and fresh meals I’ve been enjoying . . . and then I saw this. Mmm. Warm, hot casseroles and lasagnas and soups now sound mighty good. Can’t wait to try this.
Any lasagna makes me happy, but this recipe is awesome!! I love the ingredients you used here 🙂
Butternut squash is one of my favorite fall foods. I can’t wait to give your lasagna recipe a try. It looks positively divine!
this is totally making me ready for fall!
Butternut squash and lasagna are both fantastic on their own, but putting them together sounds amazingly good! I can’t wait to try this recipe out!
This looks AMAZING!!! I would do just about anything for a bog hot pan of it right now!
This looks amazing! And our butternut squash plant took over our entire garden this year so will need lots of great recipes to use it up! Just a quick question…Is there a reason that the last two layers of noodles only have sauce and not more of the butternut squash filling between them?
Thanks for the great recipe!
Aimée,
This lasagna looks delicious. I’ve roasted and put up some squash, but I’m waffling between summer cooking and fall cooking as the weather waffles between 90 degree days and 70 degree days. Today was a soup day, so perhaps the transition is trending towards fall.
Thanks!
Looks so wonderful and just perfect for a fall dinner!
Just had this for dinner. I actually had some ricotta to use up, so I just pureed it along with the roasted squash (I had to puree the squash anyway so that the kids wouldn’t know it was in there) and it worked out great. Thanks for a great recipe!
Good to know that the squash can be pureed, I was wondering what I’d do if my guy saw some squash in the lasagna and stopped eating it!