My immediate family never made crazy feasts for the holidays. Instead, my mom, brother and I would make a big dish of homemade bison lasagna, layering noodles, ricotta, and bison bolognese. Now, we’ve swapped it out for this dish. Butternut squash is hugely versatile and it is a great substitute for the noodles in this dish. If you’re lactose intolerant or avoiding dairy, this dish is delicious by as its. However, if you feel like cheating on the rules of decolonized diets, sprinkle some mozzarella on the top before you bake the lasagna. Absolutely amazing.
Bison Butternut Lasagna
A super simple one-dish meal using a winter squash in disguise.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground bison
- 1 large butternut squash peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
- 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 small onion minced (or wild onion)
- 1 tsp. garlic powder or wild garlic
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- Olive oil or sunflower or avocado oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 F.
- Add bison to pan on med-high heat and cook until browned, about 6 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce, basil, garlic, onion, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat down to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
- To prepare the lasagna: alternate layers of butternut squash slices with layers of the meat sauce in a baking dish. Keep making layers until you’ve used all of the ingredients.
- Optional: top with fresh mozzarella (not indigenous)
- Bake for about 60 minutes (or until the squash is soft)
I just saw you on Today show. Way to go girl!! I am going to try your Bison butternut squash lasagna , thank you!
This looks amazing! I’m going to make it tonight with some venison I just thawed out. Thanks so much for your work with indigenous foodscapes and sharing your wonderful recipes!
I listened to the Ologies episode that you were on this past week, and I just had to try out some of your recipes! This was the first one I attempted, and it turned out amazing! I didn’t have bison, so I used lamb that was raised in the area. And I must say, I don’t think I will ever go back to regular lasagna again. I roasted the seeds with some Greek seasoning and munched on those while the lasagna finished up. No cheese needed. Thank you so much!!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad to hear it. Enjoy! 🙂
Loved it!!! Heard you on Ologies and looked up this recipe. I made a low acid version of the meat sauce, because I have acid reflux issues. Had a quite a bit of extra liquid, but that’s likely from the changes I made to the sauce. Didn’t take away from the deliciousness anyway. Even my boyfriend who likes pretty standard meat and potatoes fare really like it. Will make again. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
im going to try making this with wild bergamot i foraged in the summer instead of oregano >:3c
my om has a lot of food sensitivities that indigenous food would accommodate which i find interesting
Wild bergamot is a great substitution in this recipe!
This is one of the best recipes my spouse and I have ever made, we could not stop talking about it the whole night and even the next morning. And it was so easy to make–I prepped the sauce part in my instant pot before I went to work and all my spouse had to do was cut the squash, layer it up and throw it in the oven. We tried it with the mozz on top but honestly it didn’t need it, it was so fantastic and filling for the stomach and the soul! We made sure we got double the ingredients so we could make it again, and we are hoping to add a bit more liquid to make it as a pasta topper as well in the future. Super fantastic and flavorful, and we are so happy to be indigenizing our meals too! Very excited to try all the other recipes on here 🙂