Photo shows a slice of best vegetarian lasagne on a white plate

Best Vegetarian Lasagne

Our best vegetarian lasagne recipe is the ultimate vegetarian comfort food. It will make your vegetarian guests feel special, and convince any veg-sceptics that a meat-free dish can be delicious!

While this lasagne recipe is easy to make (no advanced skills needed here) it takes a little longer to prepare than the meat-based version. But trust us – it’s worth the effort. Not only does it taste amazing, but it’s packed with nutritious veggies and cheese!

Photo shows best vegetarian lasagne in a dish

5 Things You’ll Love About Our Best Vegetarian Lasagne

  1. Vegetarian lasagne doesn’t weigh you down like a meat-based lasagne does. It’s satisfying and comforting, but you won’t feel like you’ve swallowed a brick!
  2. It reheats beautifully – in fact, it tastes even better the next day. That’s why our best vegetarian lasagne recipe is family size. You’ll want to enjoy it all over again the next day.
  3. It’s budget-friendly. All the ingredients are basic, cheap, and readily available.
  4. It’s family-friendly. Children will love it because it’s cheesy and easy to eat, and it’s a great way to boost their vegetable intake. They will barely notice the vegetables!
  5. It’s adaptable. Most ingredients can be swapped out to suit what you enjoy, or what you have in the fridge.

Serving best vegetarian lasagne

Short Cuts & Tips

Don’t be put off  by the long list of ingredients and instructions. If you’re short on time, here are some tips to speed things up:

  1. Use ready-made tomato sauce instead of making it from scratch. This can be store-bought, or one you’ve batch-cooked and frozen. You’ll need about 2 cups in total.
  2. The crumb topping is optional … but delicious! If you’d like a quicker version, use packet crumbs and give them a spray of olive oil to help them crisp up.
  3. The dish we used was 34cm x 24cm. Use a smaller dish for a deeper lasagne.

Photo shows chopped vegetables on a board ready to make best vegetarian lasagne.

Swap it out!

For the veggie layer, you can swap or add almost any vegetable you like. The onion is the only thing that needs to stay. Other than that, try swapping the other veggies for mushrooms, asparagus, eggplant or pumpkin. Use kale or cavalo nero instead of spinach.

For the ricotta, you can use cottage cheese instead. You could even swap it for béchamel (white sauce).

Try swapping some of the lasagne layers for slices of eggplant

Best Vegetarian Lasagne

Our best vegetarian lasagne recipe is the ultimate vegetarian comfort food. It's family-friendly, budget-friendly, packed with nutritious veggies and easy to make.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: budget friendly, child friendly, easy, egg-free, eggless, vegetarian
Servings: 6 people

Equipment

  • Food processor

Ingredients

Creamy Vegetable Filling

  • 3 TBS olive oil
  • 1 medium brown onion chopped
  • 1 cup carrots (approx 2 large carrots) chopped
  • 1 cup zucchini (approx 1 medium zucchini) chopped
  • 1 cup red capsicum (approx 1 large capsicum) chopped
  • 200 g baby spinach
  • salt & pepper
  • 500 g full-fat ricotta

Tomato sauce

  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • 1 red chilli pierced with a knife tip
  • 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • ½ cup fresh basil leaves picked and set aside; stalks finely chopped
  • 800 g tinned tomatoes
  • salt & pepper

Crunchy Crumb Topping (optional)

  • 1–2 cups fresh breadcrumbs preferably sourdough
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme
  • 1 TBS fresh oregano
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 TBS olive oil

Other Ingredients

  • 10 large ready-to-use lasagne sheets
  • 2 cups tasty cheese grated

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 220° celsius (425° Fahrenheit)
  • In a large, heavy-based frying pan, heat 3 TBS olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, zucchini and capsicum. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
  • Add baby spinach and continue to cook, stirring, until spinach wilts. Remove from heat and set aside. If you are using the same pan to cook the tomato sauce, scoop the veggies into a bowl and rinse and dry the pan.
    Ingredients for best vegetarian lasagne
  • Heat remaining olive oil in the pan over a medium-low heat. Add chilli, finely chopped basil stalks and garlic and cook gently. Don't let the garlic colour or it will become bitter.
    Ingredients for best vegetarian lasagne
  • When the garlic is fragrant but not coloured, add the tomatoes. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for five minutes. Add torn basil leaves and season with salt and pepper.
  • Place all ingredients for the crunchy crumb topping in a food processor and blitz until combined. Transfer to a small bowl, wipe out the food processor.
  • Remove chilli from tomato sauce and discard. Place sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times until tomatoes are broken up but not too smooth. The mixture should be no thicker than tomato ketchup.
  • Pour tomato mixture into a bowl. Set aside and rinse out the food processor bowl.
  • Put about half the ricotta into the food processor bowl and blend until smooth. Scrape ricotta into a large mixing bowl, and put the cooked veggies into the food processor. Pulse a few times. The veggies should be more finely chopped than they were before cooking, but not pureed.
  • Add pulsed veggies to the smooth ricotta in the bowl and mix until well blended.
  • Lightly oil a large rectangular baking dish (see notes) and cover the bottom with a single layer of lasagne sheets. You may need to snap some sheets in half to make them fit.
  • Spread half the veggie-ricotta mix over the lasagne sheets. crumble the remaining ricotta over the top. Add a layer of tomato sauce and sprinkle ½ cup grated tasty cheese on top.
  • Place 3 more lasagne sheets on top, and spread with remaining veggie-ricotta mixture. Top with ½ cup grated cheese.
  • Top with 3 more lasagne sheets. Spread remaining tomato sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle remaining tasty cheese over tomato sauce, and evenly top with crumb mixture.
  • Wrap the dish in aluminium foil and bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 20 to 30 minutes, or until the crumb topping is golden and the lasagne sheets are cooked through when tested with the tip of a knife.
    Serving best vegetarian lasagne
  • Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving with a crisp green salad and a glass of pinot noir or a dry rosé .

Notes

The baking dish we used for this recipe was 34cm x 24cm. You can use a smaller dish, but your lasagne will be deeper. You may even squeeze in an extra layer.
The crumb topping is optional. Leave it out to reduce the calories. If you are short on time but would still like a crunchy topping, use regular breadcrumbs and give them a spray of olive oil.

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