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This extra cheesy Brown Butter Pesto Spinach Souffle Lasagna is a Christmas Eve favorite. It’s simply a white lasagna with layers of creamy brown butter cheese Béchamel sauce with golden mushrooms, garlic, basil pesto, spinach, and cheese. This creamy, cheesy lasagna is always a favorite on Christmas Eve. It’s a great meal for entertaining; simply make it ahead of time and bake it off before guests arrive. Perfect for December!
Whenever I’m asked what’s on my Christmas menu, my first choice is usually lasagna. Lasagna is great because you can assemble the dish ahead of time. Then, bake it slowly in the oven while you enjoy your evening with friends and family.
I love to make multiple lasagnas, one with meat and one without. Sometimes, if my crowd of people is especially large, I’ll even make 3! This way, everyone has a yummy holiday dinner they can enjoy whether they consume meat or prefer a vegetable-filled dish. This makes life so super easy. Just add a side salad and bread for all to share, and your meal is complete! No stress, no fuss.
I like to keep my cooking pretty traditional when it comes to Christmas. Dinner on Christmas Eve is usually a beef tenderloin roast. But over the years, we’ve switched up our Christmas Day dinner. My mom used to roast a turkey. But when we moved to Colorado, I began to make lasagna. And the last couple of years, we’ve actually done Mexican.
This year, I’m returning to my roots and making everyone lasagna. This will be the easiest on me, and of course, delicious too! I’m going to make my classic homemade meat lasagna that I know all the boys will love. It’s a favorite recipe of theirs, especially when I make it spicy.
But I’m also going to make this white lasagna. Inspired by my late Aunt Katie’s white chicken lasagna that she used to make at Christmastime. But I’ve made a few tweaks that I know she would approve of! Aunt Katie was my cousin’s (that you always hear me talk about) mom.
Here are the details
Step 1: the mushroom Béchamel sauce
I make my cheese Béchamel sauce with golden brown butter for even more flavor.
Start out by cooking the mushrooms in butter. Then, add yummy flavors like garlic, sage, and thyme. The key is to let the butter brown slowly around the mushrooms until they smell nutty and delicious.
Next, mix in flour, milk, and white wine – or use broth. The flour will thicken the Béchamel sauce and make it creamy.
Now mix in the provolone cheese.
Step 2: the spinach and pesto
I use frozen chopped spinach. Thaw the spinach, then squeeze out all the excess water. Once most of the water is removed, mix the spinach with store-bought basil pesto.
Step 3: assemble
Now it’s time to assemble. Layer cooked lasagna noodles with the Béchamel sauce, spinach/pesto mixture, and mozzarella cheese.
Continue to layer until all of the ingredients are gone!
Step 4: chill and save – or bake
At this point, you can cover the dish and keep it in the fridge for a few days before baking. Or, you can freeze it, then thaw it later and bake.
To bake, I like to bring the dish to room temperature first. Then cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Next, remove the foil and keep baking until the edges of the dish begin to crisp. So delicious!
It’s going to smell so wonderful!
A great dinner to entertain with over the holidays, from today through New Year’s!
Looking for other easy holiday dinners?? Here are my favorites:
Stuffed Spaghetti Squash 4 Cheese Pesto Lasagna
Crispy Prosciutto Cheesy White Lasagna
One Pot Creamy French Onion Pasta Bake
Creamy White Wine Mushroom Stuffed Shells
Lastly, if you make this Brown Butter Pesto Spinach Souffle Lasagna, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Brown Butter Pesto Lasagna
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 693 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 box dry lasagna noodles
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) salted butter
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- salt and black pepper
- 8 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried sage
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- chili flakes
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups dry white wine or broth
- 2 cups shredded provolone
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 packages (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 1 cup basil pesto
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly butter a 9×13 inch lasagna pan. Cook the noodles according to package directions. 2. Melt 2 tablespoon butter in a large skillet set over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook undisturbed for 5 minutes or until golden. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter. Allow the butter to brown lightly around the mushrooms for 5 minutes. 3. Add the garlic, sage, thyme, and chili flakes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the milk and broth. Bring to a boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the provolone and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is fully melted and the sauce is smooth. Set the cheese sauce aside.4. In a bowl, combine the spinach and pesto.5. Spread 1/4 of the cheese sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with 3-4 lasagna sheets. Spread with 1/2 the spinach/pesto, then another 1/4 of the cheese sauce. Place another 3-4 lasagna noodles on top and then top with the remaining spinach/pesto, 1 cup mozzarella, and another 1/4 of the cheese sauce. Add the remaining lasagna noodles and pour the remaining cheese sauce over top. Top with 1 cup of mozzarella and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. 6. Bake, covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes more. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.
Hi! Is it (2) 10 oz packages or 2 packages to make up 10 oz for the spinach?
Hi Jennifer,
It’s (2) 10 ounce packages, so a total of 20 ounces. Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
Fantastic Recipe!
I saw comments on the cheese sauce being too liquidy so I added in about an 1/8 cup of additional flour and let it cook a bit longer before adding the cheese. I saw some issues with the butter, cheese, and oil in pesto making it a bit too oily so I removed the top layer of oil from my favorite canned pesto before adding it in and it seemed to work (might also need to to a paper towel method of sopping up any extra oil on top.
I also love onion so I added 1/2 diced white onion when sauteeing the mushrooms.
This is a fantastic base recipe and uniquely different from most other lasagnas I’ve made!
Hi Dakota,
Wonderful!! Thank you so much for trying this dish and sharing what worked well for you! So glad it was enjoyed:) xT
This is very good but you should change the flour to 1/2 cup. It is a bit of work so it’s not for everyone. Worth it, tho.
I had a food business for a while and people enjoyed nontraditional lasagnas like this one. So I’ve made quite a few
different ones and this is really very good.
Thanks so much for trying this recipe, Mary Jean! So glad to hear it turned out well for you, thanks for your feedback! xT
I’ve made this 3 times now and my husband won’t stop asking me to make it again! – huge success here. The one thing I’d advise others is to treat the cheese sauce step more like a roux and watch the level of liquid that you add until you get the right consistency – you don’t need to use all of it in my experience. My first time doing the recipe exactly it turned out a little soupy. But oh my gosh. Delicious. I recommend pairing with fresh bread. I recommend doubling the recipe and freezing an extra pan of lasagna for a night when you don’t want to cook. It’s just that good!
Hey Gabby,
Wonderful!! I love to hear that this recipe turned out nicely for you, thanks for making it! xT
I enjoy all HBH recipes but this fell short. I’ve read and reread the ingredients and instructions several times and I followed it perfectly…. Just didn’t deliver. I like all the ingredients so I don’t think it’s a palate thing. I don’t like to leave *negative* comments but want to heed others… The time spent for the payoff was not worth it in this case. I will try a different HBH lasagna recipe next time. 😊
Hi Amanda! Thank you for giving this recipe a try! I’m so sorry it fell short for you! Thank you for letting me know! 🙂 xT
Decent recipe. I’m honestly not a huge pesto or spinach fan, but this just looked too good to pass up! It was alright, very rich. I’d for sure recommend for someone who loves pesto and spinach more than me, but it was worth a try!
Thank you for the feedback Nikki! xT
Do you think I could do this with penne instead of lasagna noodles
Hi Barb! That should be just fine! 🙂 xT
FAIL extremely disappointing. I’m a very capable home cook and I adore Tieghan’s recipes. Usually. This lasagna was a ton of effort and a horrible mess. I followed the recipe EXACTLY. The sauce was very watery but I was hopeful it would thicken. Nope. Maybe it would set during baking. Nope. Maybe during the last 15 mins uncovered. Nope. I was a huge fan but this was a waste of money time effort. Pizza & salad to be delivered soon. 🙁 I promise now to post good vibes for the million other recipes that are fantastic. For now I’m taking a break. Just like the “sauce.”
Hi Nancy! I’m so so sorry this recipe didn’t turn out for you! Thank you for letting me know! xT
This was delicious. My whole family loved it. I didn’t have enough provolone so I used some Gouda. A bit of work, as are most lasagnas, but worth it every now and then. Flavorful and satisfying. 😊
Thanks so much Laura:) I am so glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed! xT
Delicious rich recipe Tieghan! We wondered at home though why it has soufflé in the tittle 🙈. The texture and flavour were delish but not similar to a soufflé at all (there are no eggs even).