Healthy Lasagne Recipe

meoklmrk91

I love lasange, perfect with a side salad, but the regular stuff is so unhealthy. So I am in search of a decent healthy recipe, preferably with meat but I will try veggie, anyone know of any decent ones, would love the full nutritional info too if possible. Thanks.

Faith

What's unhealthy about lasagne? Just pack it full of vegetables (grated is best) and go easy on the bechamel and cheese. Use lean mince. Vóila.

I dislike the idea that home-cooked food, made using fresh, non-processed ingredients is unhealthy. I made a lasagne recently that produced 6 servings and it had lean mince, tomatoes, garlic, carrots, onions and celery. I used about 75g of butter in the Béchamel, the bare minimum of oil and only put a sprinkling of cheese on top. All things considered, it was balanced and healthy, especially when it was served with salad.

Dizzyblonde

I have to agree with Faith about good home-cooked food not being unhealthy.
However, if you're looking for a low calorie recipe with nutritional information then the Nutrition & Diet forum would be your best bet.

meoklmrk91

Thanks guys, I guess I'm just calorie counting a bit at the moment so I was looking for something a bit less high on the calories, fat, etc.

unkel

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Thanks guys, I guess I'm just calorie counting a bit at the moment so I was looking for something a bit less high on the calories, fat, etc.

Use minced steak / premium minced lean beef (just 5% fat, hardly more than chicken breast fillet) and go easy on the butter / cheese. Use a bit less meat and a bit more (hidden) veg. I find courgette (cut finely in a food processor) does the trick bulking it up. And don't mind the people who don't like courgette (like kids). They won't notice it's there

maryfred

The hairy bikers do a lasagna in their first hairy dieters book which replaces the pasta with sheets of blanched leeks!not as weird as it sounds I promise.I've tried it and it's lovely but I would cut down on the amount of liquid used and let it reduce a lot more.well worth trying.you should be able to Google the recipe.

Tulipout

Have you tried turkey mince? I do enough lasagna for about 4 and the leftovers does two spaghetti ball. I use 500gs of both lean steak mince and turkey mince. As others mentioned, cram it with veg. I use carrots, mushrooms, cellery, onion and Bell peppers. I could probably cut down on more calories, if I made my own white sauce.

meoklmrk91

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, really helpful tips, will certainly be hoping to piece together a recipe sometime over the next week and try it out.

foodaholic

Instead of a bechmel you can use creme Fraiche mixed with a bit of Parmesan. Gives a much lighter finish.

Mr. CooL ICE

If you are dieting, satiety is important so don't skimp on the fat. Olive oil is your friend for the sauce. I cannot agree on mushrooms and peppers in a lasagne, but it definitely needs the onion/carrot/celery combo.

There is a great lasagne recipe in TCC. It is a bit more elaborate than most and uses many niche ingredients, but if you were to make it with finely sliced/grated zucchini, it would help to keep the calories down and satiety up.

Mrs Fox

I remember watching Gizzy Erskine making a healthy version of lasagna, something like 300+ calorie per serving.

fussyonion

Totally agree that home-made is much better for you than processed.
Why don't you make a lasagne with lots of veg: peppers/mushrooms/celery/carrots/onions/garlic, tomatoes, etc-just have a small portion and serve with a salad?

I'm on a health kick too but I still eat lasagne!
It's all about balance.

Ann Landers

Faith wrote: »

What's unhealthy about lasagne? Just pack it full of vegetables (grated is best) and go easy on the bechamel and cheese. Use lean mince. Vóila.

Nothing even wrong with fatty mince, saturated fat gets an unfairly hard time. I'd consider pasta more unhealthy than fatty mince, and it's what I'd be cutting down to lighten the calories, rather than mince and bechamel. Pasta is processed, it's made with flour. Though of course you need *some* pasta for it to be a lasagna.

MissFlitworth

The Hairy Bikers have a "Skinny" Lasagne that I've heard good things about, it has leeks instead of pasta

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/skinny_beef_lasagne_87277

(Doh! Sorry maryfred, just noticed you'd already mentioned this)

Catmologen

You can make a bechamel with olive oil instead of butter.

whitewave

I followed an Operation Transformation lasagne recipe that uses natural yoghurt instead of the bechamel sauce. Make your tomato sauce yourself, fill it with veggies and it's fairly healthy IMO!

hardCopy

This cooking club recipe is very nice.

It uses blended cottage cheese and pesto instead of bechamel, which makes a really tasty sauce. I would make sure to soak the sheets first though as it's not as moist as bechamel.

loveisdivine

You can use qourn mince instead of meat. Its healthier and it soaks up so much flavour from the sauce. Also instead of a traditional white sauce you could use pureed cauliflower.

Ann Landers

loveisdivine wrote: »

You can use qourn mince instead of meat. Its healthier and it soaks up so much flavour from the sauce. Also instead of a traditional white sauce you could use pureed cauliflower.

I wouldn't consider quorn to be healthier than meat.

loveisdivine

Ann Landers wrote: »

I wouldn't consider quorn to be healthier than meat.

Perhaps I chose my words wrong, OP asked for suggestions that would be lower in fat. Quorn is lower in fat than lean mince, whilst still being a good source of protein. Its higher in salt though so you'd have to remember that when seasoning.

Another healthier option would be using lentils instead of meat. Also, if its not something you already do, make the sauces from scratch, dont use jars.

Edit - oh and I've tried ones with thinly sliced courgette instead of pasta sheets too. very yummy

Ann Landers

I don't like pasta so making it with thinly sliced courgette is intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe the the Hairy Ones' newsletter. :cool:

fiddlechic

Third vote for the Hairy Dieter's one. Really nice, and surprisingly easy.
Their ragu is lovely, and uses very little fat.
I was bit concerned about making sheets of leeks instead of lasagne - but really really grand. Just make sure you make sure the leeks are tender before taking them off the boil.

mistress_gi

I often use aubergine instead of paste sheets.
I peel the aubergine, season it with a bit of salt, olive oil and garlic (leave it 5 mins) then roast it in the grill and voilá ready to use.

PippaChic

For the sauce, I mix 2 tbsp cornflour in milk and heat until thickened - I leave out the butter.

And I fry the (extra lean) minced beef with no oil.

I'm going to try the hairy bikers recipe this weekend!

fiachraX

Think I'll try a merger of some of the suggestions here - the Hairy Buikers' leek sheets instead of pasta (more flavour too!), and cottage cheese instead of bechamel sauce.

MagicMarker

You'd need a mountain load of cottage cheese for a full lasagne though wouldn't you? How much is cottage cheese?

fiachraX

Ah there are just 2 of us so it won't be that bad - will it? Might try Aldi/Lidl.

MissFlitworth

MagicMarker wrote: »

How much is cottage cheese?

Less than a € per 200g tub normally

Stheno

Might sound weird but chicken lasagne is really tasty and using thighs/oysters is very economical.