Deconstructed lasagna is an easy recipe to put together, a perfect way to enjoy a comforting weeknight dinner after a long day. It incorporates all the delicious components of lasagna but is tweaked to be much simpler-to-make and much healthier.
Classic lasagna is usually a very decadent cheat meal dish, with a serving easily upwards of 1000+ calories due to the usage of high-calorie ingredients such as bechamel, a variety of different kinds of cheeses, and fattier cuts of meat.
This deconstructed lasagna recipe will use a couple of key ingredient swaps and portioning tips to make this dish under 600 calories and packed with protein, making this a great way to stay on track with your fitness goals while satisfying your cheesy lasagna cravings.
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✅ Why This Deconstructed Lasagna Recipe Works
- Way easier to make than traditional lasagna – no hours of baking and making bechamel and layering needed!
- Contains key elements of lasagna, such as the creamy ricotta and melty mozzarella, and a delicious tomato sauce that is baked with the pasta, which is essential for making this taste like lasagna.
- Much healthier, made with lower calories and less fat, while still retaining that classic delicious lasagna taste!
For more healthy pasta recipes, check out my spicy rigatoni recipe or my shrimp scampi recipe.
🍏 Calories and Nutrition – How to Make It Healthy
Lasagna is typically not the healthiest food, with most restaurant-made lasagnas to be upwards of 1000+ calories.
This is less than ideal for someone who is trying to keep a check on their calories and macros.
Thankfully, with a few tweaks and ingredient swaps, this deconstructed lasagna is only 557 calories with 42 grams of protein, 13 grams of fat, and 60 grams of carbs.
Here’s what I did to make this higher in protein and slightly lower in calories:
- Omitted usage of oil and butter, cutting down a significant amount of calories and fats – 1 tablespoon of olive oil has 120 calories
- Swapped out the sausage for ground chicken, as it cuts down significantly calories from the excess fat. A 3.3 oz serving of sweet Italian sausage runs at 210 calories with 16 grams of fat while a 4 oz serving of ground chicken only clocks in 150 calories
- Portioned cheese mindfully. I used 14 grams of mozzarella cheese and 2 tablespoons of ricotta cheese. Note that I did not opt to use low-fat ricotta cheese. While low-fat ricotta cheese is slightly lower in calories (60 vs 80 calories a serving), it is a lot more watery and would ruin the texture of the lasagna. Given the limited calorie reduction, I don’t think it’s worth the sacrifice in texture.
- Made my own tomato sauce. To learn more about the nutritional information of tomato sauce, check out my post on healthy tomato sauce.
For a detailed breakdown of each ingredient, their portioning, and how they make up the nutrition profile of this deconstructed lasagna recipe, you may refer to the table below:
📋 Ingredient Notes
To make the deconstructed lasagna, you’ll need the following.
Pasta – I used a mini-lasagna-looking pasta shape known as malfadine corte. You can also opt to use regular lasagna noodles or your pasta shape of choice.
Tomato Sauce – Use a good quality tomato sauce, either store-bought or homemade. I made my own tomato sauce recipe, but a high-quality jarred sauce also works. If you do make your own tomato sauce, be sure to buy tomatoes that are soaked in tomato puree!
Ground Chicken – This is a great ingredient swap for Italian sausage with much less fat content, greatly reducing the calorie count of this dish.
Paprika, Fennel, and Salt – To flavor the ground chicken. Using 1.5% grams of salt per gram of meat is a good rule of thumb to make sure the meat is flavorful. This is especially important since we have less fat to work with to flavor the meat.
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese – An important melting cheese that gives the lasagna the gooey melty cheese goodness.
Ricotta Cheese– The soft fluffy cheese that gives the lasagna a delicious creamy texture. Get whole milk ricotta cheese!
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
📖 Substitutions and Variations
Switch up the pasta shape – I used malfadine corte, which is essentially a smaller and shorter lasagna. You can also use lasagna noodles or any pasta of your choice.
Use ground turkey – Ground turkey is another great lean meat option for this recipe.
Use ground beef – You can also use lean ground beef here, but note that this will add additional calories to the dish. The beef mixture may not need as much seasoning given the fattier nature of beef.
Make spicy – I added Calabrian chilis in this recipe, which gives it a mild kick. For a more intense spice, saute some Thai chilis with the aromatics.
Top with parmesan cheese – Add more cheesy goodness for additional creaminess.
Add red wine to the sauce – I didn’t use any wine in this recipe, but adding a little can add additional depth to the sauce. Just be sure to simmer the wine in the sauce for long enough if you don’t want to get drunk from eating your pasta (I might know from personal experience).
Sub ricotta with cottage cheese – You can also substitute cottage cheese for ricotta.
🔪 Step by Step Instructions
Preheat oven – Turn the heat up to 425F degrees so that the oven has time to heat up while you prepare the rest of the dish.
Cook Pasta – Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water according to the package directions. Be sure to reserve some pasta water as the pasta nears its cooking time.
Mix the ground chicken with spices – In a large bowl, mix the ground chicken with salt, fennel, pepper, and paprika. I would recommend using 1.5% grams of the weight of the chicken in salt for ample flavor, which is especially important since we don’t have the fat to rely on to give us flavor here. Mix everything together thoroughly.
Sauté garlic and onions – Mince the garlic and onions into small pieces. Spray a skillet with cooking spray, and turn the stove to medium heat. Sauté the garlic and onions, along with Calabrian chili if using, for about 1-2 minutes or until the aromatics are fragrant.
Cook the chicken – Add the chicken into the pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
Mix with tomato sauce and thyme – Add the tomato sauce and thyme and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Prepare the casserole – Pour the pasta mixture into a casserole dish if using. If you are using a pan that can be put in the oven, you can also bake it in the pan itself.
Top with cheese and bake – Create little pockets in the pasta and add in the ricotta cheese. Then top with mozzarella. Pockets need to be created for the ricotta, but not for the mozzarella since mozzarella will melt into place. Bake the pasta for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese has fully melted.
Serve and garnish – Top with garnishes, such as fresh basil and red pepper flakes, and enjoy the delicious deconstructed lasagna ever!
💭 Recipe FAQs
While lasagna is not usually healthy, by using a few key ingredient swaps to lower the fat content of the dish while keeping the essential ingredients of lasagna, it’s not hard to make in low calorie and high protein and easy to fit into a healthy diet.
Low-fat ricotta is very watery in consistency and will ruin the creamy consistency of the lasagna. It’s also only 10 calories less than whole milk ricotta for the amount used in this recipe, so it’s not really worth sacrificing the texture of ricotta.
You can make the deconstructed lasagna in advance, but I would not recommend adding the cheese until you are about to bake and serve the dish. Make the pasta with the meat sauce and store it in an unbaked casserole dish until you are ready to serve.
You can store the deconstructed lasagna for up to 3-4 days in the fridge.
Pair it with a healthy vegetable side, such as my Japanese style brussels sprouts, or another healthy pasta dish like my healthy Tuscan chicken pasta for a healthy pasta dinner.
💡 Expert Tips
Use the right salt-to-meat ratio – Given that we are using ground chicken, which is more lean compared to Italian sausage, we won't have the fat to help flavor the meat. Using 1.5% grams of salt per gram of meat is a great rule of thumb for a great flavor in your ground chicken, whether in this deconstructed lasagna or any other recipe with ground meat.
Save your pasta water – Reserve some pasta water so that you can help achieve the right sauce texture once you’ve mixed the pasta with the tomato sauce.
Use whole milk ricotta – The return on calorie investment for low-fat ricotta is not worth it!
🍽 Related Recipes
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🍳 Recipe
Deconstructed Lasagna Recipe
Ingredients
Meat Sauce
- 1 cup Tomato sauce
- Thyme (Optional)
- 4 oz Ground Chicken
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Onion
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Paprika
- ¼ teaspoon Fennel
Pasta and Casserole Ingredients
- 52 g Pasta
- 14 g Mozzerella
- 2 tablespoon Whole milk ricotta cheese
- Red pepper flakes (For garnish)
- Fresh herbs (For garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven – Turn the heat up to 425F degrees so that the oven has time to heat up while you prepare the rest of the dish.
- Cook Pasta – Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water according to the package directions. Be sure to reserve some pasta water as the pasta nears its cooking time.
- Mix the ground chicken with spices – In a large bowl, mix the ground chicken with salt, fennel, pepper, and paprika. I would recommend using 1.5% grams of the weight of the chicken in salt for ample flavor, which is especially important since we don’t have the fat to rely on to give us flavor here. Mix everything together thoroughly.
- Sauté garlic and onions – Mince the garlic and onions into small pieces. Spray a skillet with cooking spray, and turn the stove to medium heat. Sauté the garlic and onions, along with Calabrian chili if using, for about 1-2 minutes or until the aromatics are fragrant.
- Cook the chicken – Add the chicken into the pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
- Mix with tomato sauce and thyme – Add the tomato sauce and thyme and cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
- Prepare the casserole – Pour the pasta mixture into a casserole dish if using. If you are using a pan that can be put in the oven, you can also bake it in the pan itself.
- Top with cheese and bake – Create little pockets in the pasta and add in the ricotta cheese. Then top with mozzarella. Pockets need to be created for the ricotta, but not for the mozzarella since mozzarella will melt into place. Bake the pasta for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese has fully melted.
- Serve and garnish – Top with garnishes, such as fresh basil and red pepper flakes, and enjoy the easiest-to-make lasagna ever!
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