Pumpkin Kale Lasagna

This Pumpkin Kale Lasagna is everything you love about cozy fall meals. It starts with layers upon layers of silky cheese sauce, no-cook lasagna noodles, garlicky sautéed kale, and a creamy pumpkin ricotta mixture! It’s rich, decadent, and the best kind of autumn comfort food. To top it all off, the lasagna gets topped with brown butter crispy sage leaves!

We’re making the coziest autumn meal and I couldn’t be more excited! I’m a huge lover of savory pumpkin dishes, and this one is everything I want in a comfy fall pumpkin recipe. It’s super rich, CHEESY (we’re making a cheese sauce AND a ricotta mixture to layer in this bad boy), and we’ve still got our daily dose of plants in there – a little bit of garlicky sautéed kale! It’s pretty magical.

This baby was born when I realized that I don’t have a single lasagna recipe on the blog! It’s one of those things I don’t make too often – maybe around the holidays and that’s about it. I always think lasagna as this daunting thing to make, but it’s really not! This one is pretty simple – just requires some cheese-sauce making and assembly! We’re using no-cook noodles, so that makes things extra easy!

You can even make this ahead of time, stick it in the fridge, and bake it when you’re ready!

For our daily dose of greens, we’re layering some garlicky sautéed kale into these cheesy layers. I like to use tuscan kale here, but any will work! It really melts into the cheese and you’ll barely even know it’s there. It helps to cut the richness of the cheese and adds a little #health to an otherwise riiiich dish!

Arguably the best part of this cozy recipe: the cheese sauce. Yep, that’s right. We’re making a cheese sauce to layer into this white lasagna! It makes everything extra ooey-gooey and melty. It’s pretty fantastic.

In this cheese sauce, we’re using:

• butter
• flour
• whole milk
• a little cinnamon and nutmeg!
• fontina (one of my absolute fave melty cheeses)
• mozzarella (a classic for lasagna)
• salt + pepper

Super simple ingredients, and really easy to make. Kind of like we’re making a cheese sauce for mac and cheese! It’s virtually the only hands-on cooking you need to do for this meal. Other than sautéing the kale!

Next up, is layering up all of the goodness in this pumpkin kale lasagna. Starting with the cheese sauce, then the no-cook noodles, pumpkin-ricotta mixture, and kale! The we repeat a few times until we’re left with this beauty.

And extra layer of shredded mozz and parm on top for good measure. You with me?

At this point, you could totally refrigerate the lasagna until you’re ready to bake it. It’s the kind of thing that would be great to make ahead of time if you’re having guests over, or even to bring to someones house. Serve it with a nice big green salad and some red wine, and that just might be my favorite fall meal ever.

Oh, and how could I forget?! The brown butter crispy fried sage leaves on top. I annoyingly pretty much add them to every savory fall meal I make, and I’m not sorry about it one bit. Reminds me SO much of my childhood. My mom used to make this buttery chicken and sage pasta dish growing up, and I can actually taste it right now.

Aren’t food memories just the best?

So many layers of goodness!

If you’re looking for more of my fave cozy autumn meals:

• Pumpkin Beer Chicken Chili
• Cranberry Beef Stew with Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes
• Pumpkin Burrata Risotto
• Slow Cooker Pumpkin Beef Stew

5 from 2 votes

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Pumpkin Kale Lasagna

This Pumpkin Kale Lasagna is everything you love about cozy fall meals. It starts with layers upon layers of silky cheese sauce, no-cook lasagna noodles, garlicky sautéed kale, and a creamy pumpkin ricotta mixture! It's rich, decadent, and the best kind of autumn comfort food. To top it all off, the lasagna gets topped with brown butter crispy sage leaves!

Course Main, Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword easy pumpkin lasagna, kale lasagna, make ahead lasagna, pumpkin kale lasagna, pumpkin lasagna, pumpkin lasagna recipe, vegetarian lasagna, vegetarian lasagna recipe

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Servings 8 -10

Author Molly | Spices in my DNA

Ingredients

For the pumpkin-ricotta mixture

• 2 cups whole milk ricotta*
• 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

For the kale

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 5-6 cups de-stemmed and chopped tuscan/lacinato kale (from about 1/2 of a large bundle)
• salt and pepper, to taste

For the cheese sauce

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups freshly grated fontina cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the lasagna

• 1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 10-12 fresh sage leaves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375℉. Lightly grease a 11x7 or 9x13 baking dish with softened butter. Set aside. Begin by mixing together the pumpkin-ricotta mixture. In a medium bowl, whisk together the ricotta, pumpkin, parmesan, egg, garlic, dried sage, dried basil, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until smooth. Set aside.

2. Make the kale. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Once hot, add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fragrant (you don't want it to brown). Add the kale and cook for 1-2 minutes until wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Make the cheese sauce. Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the butter. Once melted, whisk in the flour, stirring constantly to combine, and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly, and increase the heat to high. Continue to whisk until the milk comes to a simmer and thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the nutmeg and cinnamon and whisk to combine. Reduce the heat to medium-low and gradually add the mozzarella and fontina cheeses, stirring well after each addition, until the cheeses have melted completely. Add the salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low while you assemble the lasagna.

4. Ladle 1/4 of the cheese sauce into the bottom of your baking dish. Next, place a layer of lasagna noodles on top. Next, spread 1/4 of the pumpkin-ricotta mixture evenly on top of the noodles. Sprinkle 1/3 of the kale on top. Repeat with another two layers of cheese sauce, noodles, ricotta, and kale, or until you run out of ingredients. To finish, evenly sprinkle the top with the mozzarella and parmesan. I like to place my lasagna on a baking sheet in case of any overflow. Bake for 45 minutes, or until top and edges are golden brown.

5. While lasagna is baking, make the crispy sage leaves. In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium to medium-high heat. Once melted and beginning to bubble, add the sage leaves and fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute, lowering the heat if the butter starts to get too brown. Remove the sage leaves from the pan and let drain on paper towels.

6. Once lasagna is finished baking, let cool for 15 minutes before cutting. Serve with crispy fried sage leaves on top!

Recipe Notes

*Make sure you use whole-milk ricotta, not part-skim. The part-skim has too much moisture in it, and will make your lasagna watery.
*To make this ahead of time, assemble lasagna as directed, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Uncover and bake as directed (you may need to add additional time depending on how cold your fridge is).