Meatball Lasagne

  • 10MINS
  • 45MINS
  • Serves 4
  • 308KCAL

We’ve used two ultimate comfort foods to create this hearty Meatball Lasagne. Instead of mince, we’ve layered up herby, homemade meatballs in-between sheets of pasta. Our rich tomato sauce is bursting with chunky vegetables for extra texture, but you can blitz yours into a smoother sauce if you'd prefer.

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NutritionPer Serving

  • Calories308
  • Carbs28g
  • Protein27g
  • Fat8.2g
  • Saturates3.3g
  • Sugars15g

For the full list of ingredients and comprehensive instructions, please see the recipe card below. Before you scroll, there’s important stuff in the blurb!

There’s no need to settle for one Italian-inspired comfort food classic when you can enjoy two! To give our Meatball Lasagne a fresh twist, we’ve rolled our reduced-fat minced beef into oh-so-juicy homemade meatballs.

An indulgent winter warmer, there’s no shortage of cheesy, tomatoey deliciousness in this Italian-style oven bake. To keep the calories lower without compromising on flavour, we’ve blended together lots of freshly-chopped vegetables to make our rich, nutritious tomato base sauce.

It wouldn’t be lasagne without cheese-topped layers! A nifty combination of cream cheese, fat-free natural yoghurt and reduced-fat Cheddar gives our topping its irresistible golden brown finish.

You can find more recipes like this one in our Pinch of Nom: Enjoy cookbook; it’s chock-full of great-tasting crowd-pleasers you’ll love making and sharing. Grab your copy here.

What diets is this Meatball Lasagne suitable for?

Meatball Lasagne can be enjoyed on gluten-free diets, as long as you substitute beef stock cubes, dried lasagne sheets and Henderson’s relish for suitable alternatives. 

If you’re cooking for people with allergies, be extra careful when checking ingredients and preparing food!

How Weight Watchers friendly is this Meatball Lasagne?

Weight Watchers’ new PersonalPoints plan calculates each individual’s Points allowance based on their unique food preferences and goals. This means we’re no longer able to offer exact WW points for our recipes.

The good news is that all of our recipes are still Weight Watchers friendly! If you have any questions about your Points budgets or you’re unsure how a certain recipe will fit into your plan, please reach out to Weight Watchers directly.

Do you need any special ingredients to make Meatball Lasagne?

We’ve used mostly store cupboard ingredients, herbs and spices to put this recipe together. You shouldn’t need anything fancy from the supermarket.

There are some bits of equipment that would make preparations easier. We’d recommend using a handheld stick blender to blitz your vegetables into a tomato sauce. 

Hints & Tips

Below we added some of our communities most common hints and tips. We hope you find them useful.

If you don't like courgette use mushrooms as I did it still tastes as nice.
Really nice would swap the chopped tomatoes for a passata th
If you don't like chunky tomato the passata would be ideal. U do blend the sauce down in the recipe but this could be another idea as well.

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A handheld stick blender transforms veggies into a sauce in no time.

We baked our lasagne in a 30x20cm (12x8in) dish.

How many calories are in this Meatball Lasagne?

There are 308 calories per portion in this Meatball Lasagne, which means it falls into our Everyday Light category. 

To cut down the amount of calories even more, you can simply halve the portion size and serve with a healthy accompaniment!

This Meatball Lasagne is perfect if you’re following a calorie-controlled diet, and fits well with any one of the major diet plans such as Weight Watchers. 

As a guide, an average man needs around 2,500kcal (10,500kJ) a day to maintain a healthy body weight. For an average woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day. Obviously, if your goal is to lose weight then you might want to adjust these slightly! You can read more about these recommendations on the NHS website.

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 190°C. In a bowl add the beef mince, egg, garlic granules, onion powder, mixed herbs and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix together with your hands until well combined, then roll into 12 equally-sized balls.

Step 2

Spray a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and set on a medium to low heat. Add the meatballs and cook until golden brown, turning as you cook to get an even colour. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Step 3

Spray the same frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place back over a low to medium heat. Add the onions and peppers, and cook for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.

Step 4

Add the carrot, courgette and garlic and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.

Step 5

Crumble in the stock cube then add the chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, Henderson’s relish, tomato puree, oregano and mix well. Simmer for 5 minutes. At this stage, we blitzed half the vegetables in the pan with a stick blender to create more of a tomato sauce texture; you can leave it as a chunky vegetable mixture, if you prefer. Once you have blitzed half the vegetables, stir through the rest of the pan.

Step 6

Add half of the sauce to the bottom of a roasting dish and spread it out. Lay 3 of the lasagne sheets on top.

Step 7

Add the meatballs on top and then pour over the rest of the sauce. Place the other 3 lasagne sheets on top of the meatball and sauce layer.

Step 8

Add the cream cheese, yoghurt, mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper to a bowl and stir until smooth. Spread the mixture on top of the lasagne sheets. Sprinkle over the grated cheese and loosely cover the top of the dish with foil.

Step 9

Place the lasagne into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes. The lasagne will be ready when you can push a knife into it and feel that the pasta is soft and not crunchy. If you would like a little more colour on top, you can pop it under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese is bubbly and brown. Top with torn basil leaves if you like, and serve with a mixed salad.

What could I serve with this Meatball Lasagne?

This pasta-based dish is perfect with a fresh, crispy side salad. To ramp up the indulgence and make it even heartier, serve it with any of the following side dishes: 

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How do you know when Meatball Lasagne is cooked?

Meatball Lasagne should be cooked until the pasta sheets have softened and the meatballs are cooked throughout. This will take around 20-30 minutes. Push a knife into the lasagne to check that your pasta sheets are soft, not crunchy.

You can always pop it under the grill for a few more minutes if you would like your cheesy topping to be bubbly and browned.

Standard advice here in the UK is to cook food until it has reached 70°C and stayed at that temperature for 2 minutes. This is to keep your family safe. 

How long can you keep Meatball Lasagne in the fridge?

Make sure that you eat Meatball Lasagne within 4 hours of serving it.

You can store any leftovers in the fridge for around 3 days. Make sure that you allow them to cool before putting them in a container with a lid and chilling in the refrigerator. 

Can I freeze Meatball Lasagne?

Yes, you can! Meatball Lasagne can be frozen, but please remember to do the following;

  • Freeze it as soon as it is cold enough.
  • Use a container or bag that is suitable for freezing.

Don’t forget to add a label with what it is, and on what date you put it in the freezer! 

How do I reheat Meatball Lasagne?

To reheat Meatball Lasagne from chilled, place individual portions in a microwave-proof container with a loose-fitting lid. Heat up for 4-7 minutes until piping hot.

When you are reheating a portion from frozen, allow it to defrost thoroughly first. Heat it up, covered, in the microwave for 3-5 minutes. Give it a stir. Keep cooking for a further 5-7 minutes until piping hot.

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Meatball Lasagne

The best of two Italian-inspired comfort foods, plate up our Meatball Lasagne with salad or chips for an instant family favourite!
  • Prep Time
    10 MINS
  • Cook Time
    45 MINS
  • KCals 308
  • Carbs 28G

Ingredients

  • 250 g 5%-fat minced beef
  • 1 medium egg
  • ½ tsp garlic granules
  • ½ tsp onion granules
  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • low-calorie cooking spray

For the lasagne

  • low-calorie cooking spray
  • 1 onion peeled and diced
  • 1 pepper deseeded and diced
  • 1 carrot peeled and finely diced
  • 1 courgette diced
  • 1 garlic clove peeled and crushed
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Henderson's relish or Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 6 dried lasagne sheets

For the topping

  • 180 g low-fat cream cheese
  • 40 g fat-free natural yoghurt
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 g reduced-fat Cheddar cheese finely grated
  • 5 g torn basil leaves (optional)

To accompany (optional)

  • 75 g mixed salad (+15 kcal per serving)

Large frying pan, stick blender, rectangle lasagne dish

large frying pan

stick blender

lasagne dish

We use a fan assisted oven for all of our recipes. Check out our oven temperature conversion guide.

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Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C. In a bowl add the beef mince, egg, garlic granules, onion powder, mixed herbs and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix together with your hands until well combined, then roll into 12 equally-sized balls.
  2. Spray a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and set on a medium to low heat. Add the meatballs and cook until golden brown, turning as you cook to get an even colour. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  3. Spray the same frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place back over a low to medium heat. Add the onions and peppers, and cook for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.
  4. Add the carrot, courgette and garlic and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.
  5. Crumble in the stock cube then add the chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, Henderson's relish, tomato puree, oregano and mix well. Simmer for 5 minutes. At this stage, we blitzed half the vegetables in the pan with a stick blender to create more of a tomato sauce texture; you can leave it as a chunky vegetable mixture, if you prefer. Once you have blitzed half the vegetables, stir through the rest of the pan.
  6. Add half of the sauce to the bottom of a roasting dish and spread it out. Lay 3 of the lasagne sheets on top.
  7. Add the meatballs on top and then pour over the rest of the sauce. Place the other 3 lasagne sheets on top of the meatball and sauce layer.
  8. Add the cream cheese, yoghurt, mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper to a bowl and stir until smooth. Spread the mixture on top of the lasagne sheets. Sprinkle over the grated cheese and loosely cover the top of the dish with foil.
  9. Place the lasagne into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes. The lasagne will be ready when you can push a knife into it and feel that the pasta is soft and not crunchy. If you would like a little more colour on top, you can pop it under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese is bubbly and brown. Top with torn basil leaves if you like, and serve with a mixed salad.

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2 comments

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JenniWednesday 25th January 2023

Absolutely delicious dish! Very filling

Reply

    HollyTuesday 31st January 2023

    Hey Jenni, thanks so much for your message we are so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe!

    Reply

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