My Pumpkin Lasagna with Roasted Butternut Squash tastes like eating Autumn. All pumpkin-y and spicy and cheesy. Moist and full of flavor. It’s everything you want in a great comfort casserole. And, it’s vegetarian, and full of healthy good for you ingredients!
Inspiration for my Pumpkin Lasagna
The other day I made the kitchn’s Pumpkin & Ricotta Pasta Casserole. While I made it, I kept thinking about how much it reminded me of lasagna. Pumpkin lasagna. Must’ve been the Ricotta
in the dish.
Well, and it has pasta, just a different form of pasta. So, I decided that if the flavors were good, I’d try to recreate it as a lasagna.
The Pumpkin & Ricotta Pasta Casserole that inspired this Pumpkin Lasagna
The flavors were great! Perhaps it was a little on the dry side for my taste. And, I wanted a little more spice in the pumpkin (Dan and I have always liked our pumpkin pie a little on the spicier side).
Dan also wanted a little more pumpkin flavor. I think the addition of more spice will up the pumpkin flavor. But, just to make sure, I thought that a roasted butternut squash would up the ante. Sweet Potato Puree or canned yams would also do the trick (as well as adding a little moisture).
How to cut a Butternut Squash
The one thing I don’t care for in the kitchen is cutting into a hard butternut squash. Well, the kitchn to the rescue again! They posted a trick to cutting any hard winter squash (acorn, butternut, pumpkin, hubbard, anything) without that annoying worry of chopping into your hand.
Butternut Squash from my garden. It’s really the easiest thing that I grow. In fact, if you have a little plot of land, I’d totally recommend growing a hard winter squash!
Quoted from the kitchn: “Here it is: roast the squash whole. Just for the first twenty minutes or so until the flesh begins to soften. Then you take it out of the oven and slice it into halves, quarters, chunks, whatever you need. Another forty minutes in the oven will complete the roasting.”
It totally works!
I tried it and, YES it works! I roasted the squash whole for 20 minutes; took the squash out, turned off the oven, and let it sit while I ran some errands. I came back and cut it open. The knife slid into the squash with little resistance. So easy! So great!
Once you’ve cut it, finish roasting for 40 more minutes. I’m totally doing this from now on, especially since my garden always giving me hard winter squash.
So, the instructions for the pumpkin lasagna call for this roasting method, because I think it’s that good.
My favorite lasagna recipe
The rest of the changes I made to the original casserole were to make the dish a little more like a spicy pumpkin pie crossed with my Red Pepper and Fresh Mozzarella Lasagna.
And, how was it? Great! It tasted like eating Autumn. All pumpkin-y and spicy and cheesy. It was moist and full of flavor. Dan even said he couldn’t tell which he liked more, the new pumpkin lasagna or the red pepper one. Awesome!
Healthy lasagna
On the health side of things, this vegetarian lasagna is a good source of vitamin A, is filled with Beta-Carotene which can protect your cells from the damaging effects of free radicals and can enhance the functioning of your immune system.
This lasagna is also lower in calories and fat than most.
Other fabulous Pumpkin Recipes you’ll love!
Click on the photo to get to the recipe!
Pumpkin Coconut Soup
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Apple Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Cheese Tortellini in Pumpkin Gorgonzola Sauce with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Pumpkin Lasagna with Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe
Pumpkin Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash
- 1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon dried ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 10 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 1 15-oz container ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella chopped 1/2 to 1-inch pieces
- ½ cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Place the butternut squash directly in the oven, whole. Bake for 20 minutes or until soft enough to cut in half with little effort. Cut in quarters, place in a baking dish or large cast iron skillet, and roast for 40 more minutes or until the skin can be easily peeled away from the flesh. Cut into chunks about ½ to 1-inch in size. Set aside. Reduce the heat on the oven to 350° F.
- In a small bowl, mix together the pumpkin and the next 7 ingredients (salt through maple syrup). Set aside.
- In another small bowl, stir together the ricotta, 2/3 of the chopped mozzarella, and ¼ cup of Parmesan. Set aside.
- Lightly coat a baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon 1/3 cup of the pumpkin sauce in the dish. Top with 2 lasagna noodles. Spoon ¼ of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Top with ¼ of the butternut squash chunks. Top with 1/3 cup of sauce.
- Top with two more noodles, continuing to layer like this until all the cheese and squash is used. Add last 2 lasagna noodles, and remaining sauce. Dot the top with remaining chopped mozzarella and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.
- Cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes. Let stand, covered, on a rack for 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
I would think that they add the stock or milk to thin it. Personally, I don’t think it needs thinning at all. It is a thick sauce, but I would think that thinning it would make it too soupy. If you use fresh mozzarella, it has more water in it. So, if those other recipes use stock and regular mozzarella, it may be doing the same thing as the fresh mozzarella and a thicker sauce. So, are you using fresh or just regular store bought? That will account for some difference.
Also, I might suggest that you make the sauce that way I note, but if you think it looks too thick, add the stock or milk a little at a time, maybe like a couple tablespoons at a time.
Your whole grain lasagna noodles will be a little drier than regular noodles too, so a little thinning might be good.
Here’s another blog that made my pumpkin lasagna – read his description too. That may help you a bit too. http://www.domskitchen.com/pumpkin-lasagna/
Hope that all helps!!! 🙂
Merry Christmas!
This is beautiful! Perfect lasagna for fall! Thank you so much for linking up to Wake Up Wednesdays! Just pinned!!
Such a great looking lasagna!! I’d eat it anytime 🙂
this sounds very interesting and I am sure that I would love it… but I would probably have to eat it myself. Coming over from Dial Mom Mondays.
This looks sooo incredibly delicious, Debi. 🙂
Ooo! This sounds so good and fall-ish! Love the addition of the maple syrup. Yum!
I love the combination of flavors that you have with the creamy ricotta cheese and pasta, perfection!!
This looks awesome, I’ve gotta try it soon!
I love everything about this. Absolutely perfect!
Love this savory pumpkin recipe and it’s pasta which is a double winner! I will be giving this a try 🙂
Ooh! Yum! Pumpkin in lasagna is a very bold choice. It paid off big because that recipe looks so good!
G’day How deliciously healthy does this lasagna look! YUM!
Cheers! Joanne
This looks terrific Debi. I haven’t ever grown butternut squash, but if it’s that easy, then I should start next season. This lasagna looks fantastic.