Hey everyone and happy Monday! I have a wonderful vegan lasagna recipe to share with you, I hope it is a Monday motivation piece that inspires you to get creative in the kitchen this weekend or any!
This vegan lasagna will have everyone drooling for another piece, once you try it, regular store bought and meat lasagna will never be the same again. This vegan lasagna is worth every second it takes to make.
This dish is saucy, garlicky, gooey, flavoured to perfection, and can trick those who don’t know that it’s vegan!
You deserve to experience this masterpiece for yourself, and it really is easy for anyone to make if you just set your mind to it.
This vegan lasagna recipe consists of 7 delicious parts including; tomato sauce, noodles, lentils, roasted veggies, and 3 different vegan cheeses.
I will walk you through each and every step with every recipe I used. Yes, I outsourced for this to combine it all into a beautiful masterpiece!
This lasagna recipe takes time, but luckily many components can be made in advance to make the workload on the day easier.
This lasagna is incredibly healthy with generous amounts of protein, some healthy fats, a very wide vitamin profile, loads of minerals, and a healthy serving of fibre.
The health profile of this dish greatly depends on the roasted veggies chosen, the protein filling, and the amount of cheese. Regardless, it will still be super healthy!
This recipe came to me over days of dreaming of some good old cheesy, garlicky, saucy lasagna, and when I decided that I wanted to make everything from scratch, I realized it would be so so worth it!
Since I had never made my own noodles before, I searched for vegan noodle recipes. I was lucky enough to be living with my fiancé's mother who is secretly a gourmet chef herself. So her kitchen was stocked with every tool and spice imaginable in a kitchen! This included a fancy pasta maker.
The pasta maker is used to roll out the pasta so that it is thin like angel hair. It was so much fun learning to use these new tools, and empowering to learn how to make pasta myself.
Luckily in this recipe it really isn’t necessary to use a pasta maker, you can roll by hand.
Now, let's get started with the individual sections of the lasagna!
Tomato Sauce
Choosing the right tomatoes to start with is key. Fire roasted or san marzano tomatoes diced or whole are the best options.
Some cans of tomatoes come with bay leaves in the sauce, make sure to remove these before making the lasagna sauce.
Depending on how saucy you like your lasagna you may want 2 or 3 large cans of tomatoes, though, keep in mind, extra sauce can be added to a spaghetti sauce later.
The tomato sauce is the strong acidic flavour that drives the flavour of the whole lasagna, having an amazing sauce is the way to get everyone convinced this lasagna is worth sticking around at the dinner table for.
Not everyone loves garlic as much as I do, when I suggest 5 or 6 large cloves of garlic in the sauce it is really at your discretion. I wouldn’t do any less than 3 cloves though to ensure that there is still a strong enough flavour for the whole lasagna.
When preparing canned tomatoes, even though they claim to have the skin removed, sometimes on the ends there is still some leftover, make sure to remove these pieces before throwing in the pot.
When breaking down the tomatoes into a sauce consistency this is also yours to choose, I like mine well broken down so it is more saucy than chunky, but if chunky is more your speed then go with chunky!
The sauce can be made ahead of time by a day or two. Remember it will slightly thicken when cooled in the fridge.
Now for the sauce recipe…
Ingredients
3 large cans of diced or whole tomatoes
5 or 6 large cloves of garlic
1 onion finely diced
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp thyme and/or marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
Directions
In a large saucepan, add oil and warm on medium heat.
When oil begins to shimmer slightly and is warm, add onions and saute slowly until fragrant, then add garlic and saute another few minutes just to allow the flavours of the garlic to be activated.
Add the prepared tomatoes to the saucepan and mash to desired consistency with fork, potato masher, or blend stick
Add spices, stir, and gently simmer for 30 minutes.
Noodles
I used Bianca Zapatka’s pasta recipe for vegan pasta dough (Find it Here!). She had the best recipe out there and it worked so perfectly.
She gives options to use a noodle machine and instructions on how to make noodles without the noodle machine.
These noodles are made of just water, flour, olive oil, and salt!
I did not have semolina flour so I just used more regular flour, semolina flour is more specifically milled to create a finer flour which is great for pasta texture.
If I wasn’t making these noodles for my already garlic infused lasagna then I would likely add some garlic powder to the noodles to give them a little extra flavour.
To make the pasta follow her recipe to a T just like I did, I give her full credit for these amazing, easy, and delicious vegan noodles.
Lentils
I used french green lentils in this recipe, though red lentils would be an excellent substitute because they blend very well and are usually a pleasant texture mixed into pasta dishes.
Green lentils offer a meatier texture and stronger flavour that I enjoy, also I usually have green lentils on hand more often than red lentils.
If substituting red lentils remember that they cook faster, almost like instant lentils compared to green lentils.
The lentils can be made ahead of time saving about 45 minutes of time on the day of, if desired. Though, they should be slightly undercooked by a few minutes and stored in liquid to prevent drying from occurring.
Ingredients
1 cup of french green lentils
6 cups of water
Bay leaf
Garlic clove
½ onion
Salt and pepper
Directions
In a medium pot (min. 8 cup pot) bring 6 cups of water to a boil with 1 cup of french green lentils, i peeled clove of garlic, ½ onion, and 1 or 2 bay leaves.
When the pot begins to boil gently stir, and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes or until lentils are soft (not mushy!)
Drain lentils, remove and discard garlic, onion, and bay leaves.
Place lentils in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Roasted veggies
It is completely your choice which veggies you would like in your lasagna, as long as there are enough in the end chopped for approximately 2 or 3 layers.
I used zucchini, red pepper, eggplant, and mushrooms. Other great veggies that would work include; cauliflower, squash, sweet potato, peas, broccoli, spinach, carrots… Really anything that you have on hand that would go well.
You don’t even need to roast the veggies, you can saute them. Things like spinach and peas would be best sauteed or added in fresh for best results.
The roasting guide for zucchini, red pepper, eggplant, and mushrooms call for different times and temperatures. To save confusion it is best to just aim for the same temperature on the bbq and adjust times.
Red pepper roasts for approximately 25 minutes, rotating throughout. Roast the pepper whole with skin on.
When the pepper is done, place in a paper bag or container until cool enough to handle.
Slice the pepper in half, scoop out seeds, cut out white sections, and peel the skin off.
Slice or dice the roasted red pepper as desired.
Zucchini and eggplant take about 10-12 minutes, flipping halfway. Roast sliced in half or in slices widthwise, coating in olive oil.
Mushrooms roast for 5-10 minutes, leave whole when roasting, coat in olive oil.
Portobello mushrooms are nice here, but any kind of mushrooms will work such as white button or cremini.
When done roasting, let cool then dice smaller for the lasagna. Strips are nice here too.
It is okay to roast the veggies ahead of time by a day or two, they will keep nicely in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to use.
Tofu Ricotta Cheese
I decided to make the ricotta cheese out of tofu to increase the protein content of the lasagna and because tofu makes a great texture of dry ricotta.
A dry ricotta cheese leaves room for the veggies and sauce to add moisture to the lasagna. No one likes a wet lasagna, and drier lasagna keeps better in the fridge.
This lasagna has the perfect moisture content, there is no need for extra liquid.
Tofu ricotta cheese tastes very similar to milk based ricotta cheese since it is supposed to be a somewhat mild flavour.
When combining ingredients, ensure that the tofu isn’t complete mush, it is best to leave it with some texture to mimic ricotta.
Choosing your tofu is key to the texture of the ricotta. Extra firm tofu which is my go to is too dry and will make the ricotta crumble rather than spread. Firm tofu, or medium firm tofu works the best in texture and moisture.
Ingredients
firm tofu drained and pressed
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Directions
Add all ingredients to a bowl and combine. Mashing the tofu, do not blend to a paste.
Cashew Parmesan Cheese
Cashew parmesan cheese tastes similar to a crumbled parmesan, not a hard shredded parmesan. It does not melt, it is more like a delicious savory topping or addition.
This cashew parmesan is great for topping on the lasagna, adding in to the layers of lentils or sauce, or saving for later to top on pasta, potatoes, or roasted root vegetables like brussel sprouts.
Made with cashews, this parmesan cheese packs healthy fats and proteins, and the nutritional yeast has a healthy dose of vitamins that are often tough for vegans to find.
The cashew parmesan cheese is a must for this lasagna because it adds a salty, satisfying taste and texture making it just a little closer to the “real thing”.
Also, not to mention, the garlic powder adding another beautiful layer of garlic flavour to the already garlic infused lasagna.
All this garlic will be boosting your immune system, just in time for flu season.
Ingredients
1 cup raw cashews
4 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp sea salt or himalayan salt
½ tsp garlic powder
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor, and pulse until combined. You don’t want a powder, but you want the cashews broken down into small pieces.
Mozzarella Cheese
Lastly, but not least, to top off the lasagna and give it the gooey, cripsy, and cheesy flavour and texture that good lasagna has loads of is the vegan mozzarella cheese recipe from thehiddenveggies!
I outsourced the vegan cheese recipe because I had never made vegan cheese and wanted a cheese that I could shred on to the top and it would melt.
The Hidden Veggies has a great recipe that I will need to make a couple more times to perfect, but the taste is so perfect!
Mozzarella is naturally a gentle flavour, but the texture makes all the difference, hopefully when I perfect the texture I will be able to completely transition from the store bought vegan cheeses (which I don't indulge in very often).
Using coconut milk, agar agar powder, tapioca flour, garlic powder, water, salt, and nutritional yeast, Monica, the owner of thehiddenveggies, makes a perfect, shreddable, meltable vegan mozzarella cheese and offers some great variations.
Thank you so much Monica, your recipe helps vegans everywhere enjoy cheese again!
Try your hand at her recipe to top off this lasagna masterpiece here.
Layering & Baking
Begin your layers with sauce to make a flavourful wet base to cook the lasagna and make pan cleaning later much easier!
Next, a layer of some fresh made lasagna noodles that cover in a layer the pan.
Add lentils with some sauce and parmesan, and then another layer of noodles.
On this next layer of noodles lay down some roasted veggies whether you are combining all of the veggies or one veggie per layer, I combined them all, except for the roasted red pepper.
Layer more noodles on the veggies, then top this noodle layer with ricotta cheese, spreading it thin or thick depending on personal preference (I chose thick).
Add a layer of noodles, then layer on continuing in that pattern or just adding in whatever you have leftover from the previous layers.
For the final layer, with noodles on top, add a tbsp or 3 of sauce to ensure moisture. Top with lots of shredded mozzarella, then sprinkle cashew parmesan on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes with the top wrapped in tin foil. Then, bake another 30 minutes with no tin foil to allow cheese to melt and bubble on top.
Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving (it will be very hot!)
An optional addition to the lasagna at the end when it is cooling and pulled out of the oven is a generous sprinkle of fresh parsley and/or oregano.
This adds a lovely fresh touch that really sends home the message that this beautiful beast is homemade, good for you, and incredibly delicious!
This concludes the vegan lasagna recipe. I hope that you found it helpful and interesting.
If you made a vegan lasagna, let me know how it went, what struggles did you come by, were you happy with how it turned out or did I miss something?
Please subscribe and comment on this post, and thank you so much for sticking with me through this long but worthwhile lasagna recipe!
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