Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Holidays
  • Cooking 101
  • Healthy Living
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More Next
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More Next
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More Next
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See all Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See all Holidays
    • New Year, New You
    • Super Bowl
    • Valentines
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See all Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See all Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow us

CookingLight diet CookingLight diet
  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Eating Smart Chevron Right
  3. Recipe Makeover: Lighter Vegetable Lasagna

Recipe Makeover: Lighter Vegetable Lasagna

By Sidney Fry, MS, RD
February 09, 2016
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
A family-friendly comfort dinner with a sauce so good you'll want to eat it by the spoonful. Our only regret? Not having enough room in the pan for another layer. 
Start Slideshow

1 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Classic Yet Healthy

Credit: Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Vegetable Lasagna with Butternut Béchamel

No amount of eggplant, squash, or tomato can lighten the hefty 1½ pounds of béchamel sauce, a butter-and-milk-based sauce, that blanket the buttery noodles of a vegetable lasagna, which packs over 700 calories and 22g sat fat into just one slice. The challenge: Re-create this dish to highlight the vegetables but still keep plenty of creamy, cheesy, layered goodness.

For a lighter take on this classic, we substitute hearty butternut squash for butter, which becomes velvety and creamy when blended with garlic and milk. Whole-wheat noodles serve as a sturdy bed for sautéed greens and mushrooms. Our saucy lasagna packs more than 2 cups of vegetables into each slice, is overflowing with melty cheese, and has half the calories of the original.

Classic
730 calories
22.3 grams sat fat 
1057 milligrams​ sodium

Makeover
363 calories
6.3 grams sat fat
584 milligrams sodium

1 of 5

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Tip#1: The Vegetables

Credit: Photo: Jennifer Causey

In addition to the 3 cups of squash "hiding" in our sauce, we pack a cup of buttery Swiss chard and meaty mushrooms into each slice.

2 of 5

3 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Tip #2: The Béchamel

Credit: Photo: Ditte Isager

Creamy, silky butternut squash replaces the classic butter-, flour-, and milk-based béchamel to save 90 calories and 6g sat fat per serving.

3 of 5

Advertisement

4 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Tip #3: The Pasta

Credit: Photo: Jennifer Causey

Lasagna needs a strong noodle to separate layers. Whole-grain not only does it best but also adds an extra 2.5g fiber to each slice. We love Bionaturae for its neutral profile and its sturdy frame for saucy layers.

4 of 5

5 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Tip #4: The Cheeses

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor

Gruyère and melty mozzarella balance the sweet butternut sauce, ricotta lightens between layers, and Parm adds a salty pop on top, saving 149 calories and 6.4g sat fat per slice—a four-cheese punch that trims a whole pound off the original.

5 of 5

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Sidney Fry, MS, RD

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 5 Classic Yet Healthy
2 of 5 Tip#1: The Vegetables
3 of 5 Tip #2: The Béchamel
4 of 5 Tip #3: The Pasta
5 of 5 Tip #4: The Cheeses

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Cooking Light

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Cooking Light Diet this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Cooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

View image

Recipe Makeover: Lighter Vegetable Lasagna
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.