This Hairy Bikers spinach and ricotta lasagne from One Pot Wonders is an assembly job that takes under an hour at around 900 calories per serving. Frozen spinach, precooked sheets, and jarred passata do most of the work, so there is almost no cooking before the dish goes in the oven.
The headnote calls it “an assembly job really and a cracking good dish” which is honest because the only heat it sees is 30 minutes of baking. The passata gets mixed with single cream, garlic, and a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon before layering, and that spice rounds out the tomato acidity into something worth noticing.
Two full blocks of mozzarella go into this recipe, which sounds excessive until you realise there is no béchamel holding the layers together. The melted cheese does that job instead, and 600g split across four servings is what keeps each slice standing upright on the plate.
Hairy Bikers Spinach and Ricotta Lasagne Recipe
Description
Frozen spinach mixed with ricotta and nutmeg, layered with torn Parma ham, precooked lasagne sheets, and a passata sauce spiked with cream and cinnamon. Two blocks of mozzarella melt across the top and the whole thing bakes in 30 minutes flat.
Ingredients
For the Spinach Filling:
For the Passata Sauce:
To Assemble:
Instructions
- Make the spinach filling: Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Squeeze out as much liquid from the defrosted spinach as you can, then chop it roughly and mix with the ricotta. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
- Mix the passata sauce: Stir together the passata, cream, basil, garlic, cinnamon, and oregano in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
- Assemble the layers: Spread a quarter of the passata sauce over the base of a rectangular oven dish, then lay 3 lasagne sheets on top. Drop a third of the spinach and ricotta in teaspoonfuls over the pasta, then tear up 4 slices of Parma ham and drape them between the spinach. Sprinkle over some Parmesan and mozzarella, then spoon over another quarter of the passata.
- Repeat and bake: Cover with 3 more lasagne sheets and repeat the spinach, ham, cheese, and passata layers. Finish with the last 3 sheets, the remaining spinach, and the rest of the passata. Top with all the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes until brown and bubbling, then leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
FAQs
Is this lasagne vegetarian?
No, because the Parma ham sits between the spinach and cheese layers in every tier of the dish. To make it vegetarian, leave out the ham and add an extra 100g of mozzarella to fill that salty, savoury gap. A handful of toasted pine nuts scattered between the layers works well too.
The Four-Cheese Lasagne from Ultimate Comfort Food is the fully vegetarian option, and it uses Taleggio, mozzarella, ricotta, and Parmesan with a proper béchamel and a breadcrumb crust baked on top. It takes longer to build but the Taleggio gives it a rich, slightly funky depth that does not miss the ham at all.
How do you make ricotta and spinach filling for lasagne?
The filling only works if the spinach is properly dry, because any trapped water leaks out during baking and makes the bottom layer soggy. Squeeze the defrosted spinach in a clean tea towel or between your hands until barely any liquid comes out, then chop it roughly and fold it through the ricotta with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Fresh spinach needs about 1kg to match 500g frozen, because it loses half its volume when wilted. Cook it in a dry pan until it collapses, cool it, then squeeze it just as hard. The recipe uses frozen because it is cheaper and faster, and the texture difference vanishes once the spinach is mixed with ricotta and baked under 600g of mozzarella.
Why is there cinnamon in the passata?
A quarter teaspoon is not enough to taste like cinnamon, but it rounds the acidity of the tomatoes and adds a warmth that plain passata misses. The same trick appears in the Lasagne alla Norma from Everyday Winners, where a pinch of cinnamon lifts aubergine and tomato sauce in a Sicilian style.
It works because cinnamon pairs naturally with tomato in Mediterranean cooking, even though most British cooks would never think to add it. Try it in a small bowl of passata first and taste the difference before committing to the whole dish if you are sceptical.
Why does this need 600g of mozzarella?
There is no béchamel in this recipe, so the melted mozzarella is the only thing binding the layers and stopping each slice from collapsing when you cut it. Two full blocks sounds heavy, but it spreads across three layers and the top, so each layer gets about 150g.
The beef lasagne uses 400g mozzarella plus 300g ricotta plus 100g Parmesan, which is a similar total cheese weight. The difference here is that all the binding power sits in one cheese rather than three, which gives a stretchier, stringier melt that holds the soft spinach filling in place.
Can you freeze spinach and ricotta lasagne?
Freeze it before baking for the best result, because the mozzarella goes rubbery and the spinach releases water if you freeze a cooked lasagne. Assemble the full dish, wrap it tightly in cling film and then foil, and it keeps in the freezer for up to two months.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and bake as normal with an extra 10 minutes on the time. The precooked sheets actually benefit from the overnight thaw because they soften further and absorb the passata, which gives a more even texture throughout the finished dish. The leek lasagne freezes the same way and comes in at 354 calories if you want a lighter batch in the freezer too.
