The Best Easy Healthy Lasagne Recipe

5 from 7 votes

The Best Easy Healthy Lasagne Recipe

This healthy lasagne recipe is one of our family favourites. It’s made with butterless bechamel sauce and a rich beef lasagne ragu without quark etc.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 10

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: lasagne, pasta

Servings: people

Calories: 811kcal

Author: Vikkie Lee

Equipment

Ingredients

Frylight
500 g beef mince meat 5% fat (extra lean) *Or Quorn for a Veggie Lasagne
1 onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 carrot peeled and diced
500 g passata
2 tablespoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 red wine stockpot
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
2 teaspoon oregano
9 dried lasagne sheets *Or sliced courgettes or aubergines for a low carb lasagne
40 g cheese *to be counted or use as your allowance
Pinch Sea salt
Black pepper

Butterless Lasagne White Sauce

500 ml milk *to be counted or use as your allowance
2 teaspoon mustard powder
30 g oats blended *to be counted or use as your allowance
Dash Sea salt
Dash Ground black pepper
40 g reduced fat cheese grated *to be counted or use as your allowance
1 bay leaf
40 g low fat cheese grated *to be counted or use as your allowance
Salt
Pepper

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 c fan or 200c/Gas mark 4/350F
Saute the onion and garlic in Frylight and plenty of sea salt and pepper until softened.
Add the beef to brown, then add the carrots and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Pop in the red wien stock pot, passata, herbs, puree and balsamic vinegar and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix all the white sauce ingredients together in a tall 1 litre microwavable jug, excluding the cheese and microwave in 1 minute short bursts, stirring in between until thickened.
Remove the bay leaf and stir in the cheese.
Now spoon a 3rd of the meat mixture into a lasagne dish approx 28cm x 20cm, then add three sheets of lasagne or more if needed.
Spread on top ⅓ of the butterless bechamel, then repeat until you finish with the remaining white sauce.
Top with 40g of grated cheese and bake for 40 minutes or until everything is golden and bubbling before serving.

Video

Notes

This recipe was originally published in 2015 with the following quark ingredients and has now been updated in 2020.

Alternative Quicker Quark Cheese Sauce

250g quark
50ml skimmed milk
1 teaspoon mustard powder
100g natural yogurt (fat free)
Pinch of nutmeg

Mix all the ingredients together in a jug and spread a 3rd on each lasagne layer of pasta sheets. Then once you get to the top, sprinkle with 40g of cheese and bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or gas mark 4.

How to Layer Lasagnes Like a Pro

Here's a few of my tips on how to layer a lasagne.

Don't use a dish that's too big as you'll have fewer lasagne layers.
I prefer to use my 28cm x 22cm Pyrex baking dish which makes a great lasagne dish.
3 or more lasagne layers gives a more appealing lasagne.
For layering lasagne, refer to my picture below:
I spread ⅓ of my beef ragu on the bottom, add 3 lasagne sheets, spread over ⅓ of the butterless bechamel on top and repeat.
The top should be the lasagne's white sauce, then a good sprinkling of grated mature cheddar cheese.

Can I Thicken the Bechamel Lasagna Sauce in a Pan?

Yes, you can thicken this white lasagne sauce in a pan! However, I prefer to use the microwave as it's quicker and easy to control. Just place all of your cold milk and blended oats in a saucepan, then slowly bring it to a simmering point.

You'll need to gently simmer while stirring, keeping a close eye that it doesn't boil and spill out of the pan. Note, this is also why I only use a tall 1 l litre microwave jug. Then continue making the rest of the lasagne.

Does the Bechamel in This Healthy Lasagne Taste Like Porridge?

You'll be very surprised that there is only a very subtle porridge taste. And that it actually lends to a super creamy and cheesy white lasagne sauce.

And it's even better with extra flavours, such as mustard, a bay leaf, cheese and freshly ground salt and pepper. I also often use oats to thicken my favourite healthy beef stew recipe and they totally disintegrate in the pot.

You can't even tell it's in there and with it being fibre, it's perfect on many Slimming plans.

Can You Freeze Uncooked Lasagne?

Freezing lasagne is a great solution if you want to make it ahead before cooking. Simply follow the steps to preparing your beef lasagne ragu and bechamel sauce.

Then leave it to room temperature and layer the lasagne in a freezer-safe container or lasagne dish and cover. It should be ok to freeze for up to 3 months. For cooked lasagne, leave to cool and store like above.

Other Substitubes for a Bechamel Sauce

If you're looking for alternatives for a white sauce, you could instead create a spinach and ricotta lasagne. However, this is typically in place of meat and is usually beautifully created as a veggie lasagne.

Nutrition