A light yogurt lasagna with lean ground beef and Greek yogurt, yet nobody will notice that they are not eating the original.
Greek Yogurt Lasagna
This healthy Greek yogurt lasagna is a twist on traditional bolognese. Just as much taste but fewer calories due to the yogurt sauce used instead of the Bechamel sauce. And honestly, nobody ever noticed the difference!
I've been making traditional bolognese lasagna for years. It tastes great; everybody loves it! The only thing about it is that I mostly ate it with a bad conscience. I mean ground meat, noodles, and bechamel sauce all in one pot. And then I made this recipe.
We do love any kind of lasagna, and I have quite a few recipes on the blog to prove it!
Why not try some of our favorite healthier recipes, like the vegetable lasagna with white sauce (yes, this time a real white sauce), Thermomix Lasagne, another vegetarian one with butternut squash and lentils, or try a low-carb zucchini lasagna with no noodles?
Recipe ingredients
To begin with, you will need the typical ingredients needed for a bolognese dish: ground beef, tomatoes, dried herbs, and pasta sheets. Then, untypically, you will need some low-fat Greek yogurt to make the sauce.
Ground beef:
- Lean ground beef, which has a maximum of 17% fat.
- However, if you don't care about that, using regular ground beef is fine.
Noodles:
- I always use no-boil lasagna sheets (Amazon affiliate link).
Yogurt:
- Low-fat yogurt, a creamy kind like Greek yogurt with 1.8 % fat.
Cheese:
- I am usually not into low-fat cheese, I rarely buy it, but for this recipe, I use a low-fat Gouda cheese, about 12% fat.
- Cheddar cheese can be used instead.
- Or any other kind of cheese you like to use for this kind of dish.
- Again, low-fat is not mandatory, only if you are watching the calories; otherwise, use whatever you like.
How to make it?
Meat sauce
- A typical bolognese sauce needs a couple of hours of cooking time. I do that from time to time, but not in the case of this Greek yogurt lasagna. After browning the meat and the vegetables, the meat sauce will only need about 5 minutes of simmering on the stove.
- Heat the oil and saute the chopped onion, then add garlic and grated carrot. (1)
- Add the ground beef and brown it, breaking the clumps with a wooden spoon while the meat cooks. (2, 3)
- Stir in the tomato paste for 1 minute, then add the canned tomatoes, dried oregano, sweet paprika powder, some salt, and pepper. (4)
- Simmer for 5 minutes and adjust the taste again.
Yogurt sauce
- Not only that substituting the white sauce with dairy make the dish lighter and healthier, but the substitution also makes cooking quicker and easier.
- Instead of stirring a white sauce, taking care that it doesn't get clumpy, and then letting it cook for a while, you just have to stir the dairy with some hot stock and ¾ cup of the grated cheese. It doesn't get any easier.
How to assemble?
You will need a rectangular casserole dish of about 30x20 cm/12x8 inches.
- Step 1: 2-3 tablespoons of the meat sauce, just enough sauce to thinly cover the bottom of the dish.
- Step 2: Pasta sheets
- Step 3: ⅓ of the meat sauce
- Step 4: ⅓ of the dairy sauce.
- Repeat steps 2 + 3 + 4 : pasta sheets + ⅓ meat sauce + ⅓ dairy sauce.
- Repeat steps 2 + 3 + 4 again: lasagna sheets + ⅓ meat sauce + ⅓ dairy sauce.
- Step 5: Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Step 6: Bake for about 30 minutes or until the noodles are cooked through, and the cheese is golden brown. Check by inserting a fork in the casserole; the pasta should be soft.
How to serve?
Let the Greek yogurt lasagna set in the dish for about 5 to 10 minutes before slicing it. You can cover it loosely with aluminum foil, if you wish, to make sure it doesn't lose too much heat. But I usually don't bother for a few minutes. Slice into squares and serve it with any of the following side dishes:
- green salad (always my first choice)
- tomato salad with onions
- rocket salad
- sauteed spinach
- broccoli salad
- roasted vegetable salad
- black olives
- mozzarella and garlic bread
- herb garlic bread
More recipes using Greek yogurt
Light Yogurt Lasagna
Ingredients
- Meat sauce:
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.8 lb lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cans chopped tomatoes about 400 g/14 oz each
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika powder
- Yogurt Sauce:
- 1 ¼ cups low fat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup hot stock Note 1
- Yogurt lasagna:
- 1 ¾ cups low fat cheese, grated divided, Note 2
- 12 no-boil lasagna sheets as needed
- fine sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Meat sauce:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Chop the onion and the garlic cloves finely. Grate the carrots.
- Saute: Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and the carrots, saute for a couple of minutes more.
- Cook: Add the ground beef and let it get a bit brown. Break the meat lumps with a wooden spoon while the meat is cooking. Add the tomato paste, stir well and saute for 1 more minute. Add the tomatoes, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper to taste and bring everything to a boil. Simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Yogurt sauce:
- In the meantime, mix the yogurt and the hot stock. Add ¾ cup of the grated cheese to the yogurt mixture and stir well.
Assemble the yogurt lasagna:
- First layer: Place 2-3 tablespoons of the meat sauce in a rectangular casserole dish of about 30x20 cm/12x8 inches, just enough sauce to thinly cover the bottom of the dish. Place lasagna sheets on top, add ⅓ of the meat sauce and ⅓ of the yogurt sauce.Repeat: lasagna sheets, ⅓ of the meat sauce, ⅓ of the yogurt sauce.Repeat: lasagna, rest meat sauce, rest yogurt sauce.Cheese: Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup grated cheese.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until the lasagna sheets are cooked through, and the cheese is golden brown. Check by inserting a fork in the casserole; the noodles should be soft.
- Rest: Let the lasagna sit for 5 to 10 minutes, cut into squares and serve with one or two of the sides suggested above.
Notes
- Made from a ½ vegetable stock cube dissolved in 200 ml/ scant 1 cup hot water.
- I used Gouda, but Cheddar is just as fine. Or any other kind of cheese you usually take for lasagna.
Evi @ greenevi says
Using greek yogurt is such a great idea! I'm going to make my pumpkin-spinach lasagne next time with greek yogurt, I'm sick of making bechamel 😀
Adina says
I am not keen on bechamel either. And no one noticed that there was something different with the food. I just thought it tasted a bit fresher, which is a good thing. 🙂
Kerryn says
I made this as part of a birthday gift for my daughter-in-law to give her the night off cooking on her day. I'm happy to tell you it was a huge hit. My son said it was better than my regular lasagna and he's always loved it, but this recipe is now the favourite. They have asked me for the recipe. Good one, so thank you very much Adina ?
Adina says
Hi Kerryn. I am so happy to hear this! Thank you. 🙂
anya geraldyne says
This lasagna recipe is different from the others. perfect blend.
Adina says
Thank you, Anya.
Lynn says
This was delicious! Thank you for the recipe. It tasted great. (I used vegetarian mince instead of meat, but it still tasted great and the meat eaters loved it as well) So fresh tasting, and no more making cheese sauce!
Adina says
I am glad to hear it, Lynn. Thank you for the feedback.
Lizzie says
I'm wondering if I can substitute yoghurt for the white sauce in fish pie?
Adina says
I can't see why not, I would definitely try it! Let me know if it works, please!
Laurie says
Thanks for posting this! I stole your yogurt sauce recipe to make “lightened” spaghetti squash lasagna boats. So delicious and much easier than these cheese sauce I have made previously. Great idea!
Adina says
So happy to hear it, Laurie! Thank you for the feedback.
Anne says
What’s hot broth? (I don’t cook often ??)
Adina says
Hi Anne. Broth that you heated up. ?
GARY Dunne says
Great recipe will cook t-night i only have full cream Greek yogurt the real stuff not Greek Style Yohgurt will that cook the same as Light Yoghurt that you used in your recipe Kind regards
Adina says
Full fat yogurt is perfectly ok, Gary. Happy holidays!
Ravina says
Definetly a hit in the house. Especially using natural greek yoghurt! Saved to make again.
Adina says
I am so glad you liked it, Ravina. This is a hit in our house as well.
Lori says
Is the yogurt sauce supposed to be liquid in consistency?
Adina says
Hi Lori. Yes, it's thin.
rodpurl@gmail.com says
CUP measures what is uk equivilent
Adina says
The recipe has a metric version, which is always more accurate. Click on EU in the recipe card.
Rhonda says
I made this recipe for my boyfriend last night. He couldn't stop raving about how good it was. Thanks so much for this recipe. It was definitely a hit.
Adina says
Hi Rhonda, so happy to hear it. Thank you for the feedback.
Monique says
Hi there. Can you freeze left-overs? Just checking with regards to the yoghurt sauce?
Adina says
Hi Monique. It should work, everything is already cooked.