Sharing a very festive burrata & pesto lasagna for your Christmas menus today! Layered with a flavorful tomato sauce, a spinach-basil pesto, creamy ricotta cheese, mozzarella, and parmesan. Topped with burrata and baked until bubbling + golden. Lots of layers and lots of flavor make up this absolutely stunning lasagna!
In my family, we always have lasagna on Christmas day. My grandma’s famous, very special lasagna to be exact. She makes that, my dad makes his lemon chicken, and I make a big roasted vegetable and citrus salad…and it’s always the perfect meal.
In honor of her lasagna, I made my own (slightly over-the-top) recipe to share on the blog this year. It’s a burrata & pesto lasagna, and very fitting for Christmas with all of it’s vibrant red, green, and white colors.
And it tastes pretty incredible, too…
There’s a couple components to this dish to make first – the basil-spinach pesto and the tomato sauce. Both very easy processes that won’t take you longer than 30 minutes. From there, all of the ingredients are simply layered together.
And there are a LOT of layers. I love a lasagna with a really dense texture, meaning many, many layers! I alternate between layering all of the ingredients with a simple layer of pasta and sauce. The lasagna initially gets covered and baked without the burrata, then 20 minutes in, you’ll uncover the dish and add big pieces of torn burrata cheese. It adds an extra layer of creaminess right on top of the lasagna.
And well… I always go a little extra with the burrata around the holidays (see this pizza). It’s one of those cheeses that makes food feel special, which is exactly what we need right now. Enjoy!
PrintChristmas Burrata & Pesto Lasagna
a festive Christmas lasagna – layered with ricotta cheese, tomato sauce, basil-spinach pesto, mozzarella, parmesan, and baked with burrata on top
servings: 12
Ingredients
Basil-Spinach Pesto
- 1 oz fresh basil
- 2 oz spinach
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- ½ lemon, zested and juiced
- ¾ cup olive oil
Lasagna
- olive oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 (28-oz) cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 oregano sprigs
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ lbs dry lasagna pasta sheets
- 1 lb whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 ¼ lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ¾ cup grated parmesan
- 1 ball burrata cheese
- kosher salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- oregano leaves, to garnish
Instructions
Basil-Spinach Pesto
- Combine the basil, spinach, parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
- With the processor running, slowly stream in the olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt to taste. Set aside.
Lasagna
- Heat a large, heavy-bottom pot over medium heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the onions and shallots. Season with a good pinch of salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Sauté until tender and caramelized.
- Stir in the tomatoes, oregano sprigs, and red pepper flakes. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce for 25 minutes. Season to taste and turn off the heat.
- Meanwhile, drop the sheets of lasagna into a large pot of boiling, salted water. Stir well and boil for 4 minutes. Drain the pasta and run under cold water until the sheets have cooled off.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease a 9x13x3” baking dish with olive oil. Assemble the lasagna in the following order with the different portions of each ingredient (see photos for reference).
- 9 sheets pasta (one even layer, slightly over-lapping)
- 1/3 ricotta
- 1/6 tomato sauce
- ¼ pesto
- ¼ mozzarella
- 1/3 parmesan
- 9 sheets pasta
- 1/6 tomato sauce
- 9 sheets pasta
- 1/3 ricotta
- 1/6 tomato sauce
- ¼ pesto
- ¼ mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 parmesan
- 9 sheets pasta
- 1/6 tomato sauce
- 9 sheets pasta
- 1/3 ricotta
- 1/6 tomato sauce
- ¼ pesto
- ¼ mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 parmesan
- 9 sheets pasta
- 1/6 tomato sauce
- ¼ pesto
- ¼ mozzarella cheese
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 350°F and remove the foil from the baking dish. Tear the burrata into pieces and distribute across the lasagna. Continue to bake for another 20 minutes, or until cooked through.
- Turn the oven to high broil and broil for about 2-3 minutes longer until golden. To serve, cut the lasagna into square pieces. Garnish with more freshly cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of oregano leaves.
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to make it and try it!