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4.80 from 20 votes
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By: Sarah Bond 13 Comments
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This vegetarian lasagna is made using classic ingredients like veggies, marinara, and bechamel sauce! Loaded with vegetables, this easy vegetable lasagna recipe is the perfect casserole for feeding a crowd!
Growing up, I hated lasagna. It was just not my thing! I’d always sit in horror as my parents prepared the dish, wondering why on earth everyone else loved it so much.
As I got older and my distaste for the dish passionately increased, I learned that it wasn’t lasagna itself that I disdained, it was the ricotta! I realized that all along, it had been ricotta’s texture that didn’t sit quite right with me. After all, baked ricotta has a sort of grainy texture.
Much to my delight, I learned that Italians don’t actually use ricotta cheese in their lasagna. They use bechamel – a white sauce made from milk, butter, parmesan, and flour! It tastes delicious and is the perfect substitute for ricotta.
Needless to say, we’ll be using bechamel in today’s recipe! Trust me, it’s much easier than it sounds. Since I began using it, I have a complete and total appreciation for a good, hearty, mouth watering veggie lasagna!
My only regret? I wish I’d learned of this sooner!
Reader rating
★★★★★
“This has become our go-to recipe for lasagna. It is flavorful, delicious, and so easy prep work wise. We even made it for my partner’s dad for father’s day and he went back for seconds! That’s quite the compliment coming from a man who makes a lot of his own dishes by hand.” —Tiffany
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Ingredients for vegetarian lasagna
My vegetable lasagna consists of just a handful of main ingredients. It’s your typical lasagna recipe – noodles, marinara, cheese, and veggies – but with an authentic twist. It’s quite easy to make, and the 15 minutes of required prep time will be more than worth it.
- Mixed veggies: It’s not a complete lasagna without some crunchy veggies! I’ll be making this homemade recipe with zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, and baby spinach!
- Bechamel: Instead of a ricotta mixture, this recipe calls for bechamel. It’s quite easy to make! You can find the recipe in the card below.
- Marinara: Marinara sauce can make or break any great lasagna. For this recipe, I’ll be using my own simple recipe! Here’s how I make my fresh tomato marinara (you’ll need to 1.5x the marinara recipe!).
- Lasagna noodles: For the noodles, I recommend using no boil noodles, which cut your prep time down dramatically.
- Cheese: As far as cheese is concerned, shredded mozzarella is the way to go! It tastes the best in lasagna and provides great texture.
What Vegetables Go Well In Lasagna?
While we’re using a few easy-to-find veggies for this lasagna, you could also throw in:
- Mushrooms
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Butternut Squash
- Carrots
- Celery
How to make vegetable lasagna
As with most of my recipes, I’ve pared down this recipe as much as possible to make it easy and approachable! The process goes something like this (full directions in the recipe card at the end of this post):
- Prep veggies in a saute pan
- Make bechamel on the stove
- Time to layer! We’ll do a few layers of noodles > bechamel veggies > cheese > marinara > noodles (and repeat!)
- Bake covered until about done, then uncovered to brown the cheese
- Rest the lasagna to help those layers all bind together and enjoy!
Make Ahead Tip
Lasagna is a great meal for making ahead of time! Assemble everything into your baking dish, then tightly wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to bake (up to 30 days).
Can You Freeze Lasagna?
This lasagna can be frozen either before or after cooking! See a reader note below on what worked well for her!
Reader rating
★★★★★
“As a tip to anyone who makes this, make two and freeze the second one. We prepped everything in the pan, then covered with plastic wrap and foil before popping the whole thing in a 2 gallon freezer bag. It froze and reheated super well, just be sure to add additional time since, you know, it’s frozen. Definitely beats any of those frozen meals you can buy at the store!” —Tiffany
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Great salads to pair with this lasagna
I love pairing this simple lasagna recipe with tons of nutritious greens. Here are some delicious salad ideas that you may enjoy!
- Quinoa Kale Salad
- Vegetarian Ceasar Salad
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- Everyday Kale Salad with Avocado and Apple
- Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing
P.S. Looking for a noodle-free lasagna? Try this Eggplant Lasagna or this Zucchini Lasagna (they’re both gluten-free!) Need a more low key pasta casserole? Try Baked Ziti.
Easy Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe (No Ricotta!)
4.80 from 20 votes
Prep: 15 minutes minutes
Cook: 55 minutes minutes
Total: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes
Author: Sarah Bond
Calories: 441kcal
Servings: 6 servings
Print Rate
This vegetarian lasagna is made using classic ingredients like veggies, marinara, and bechamel sauce! Loaded with vegetables, this easy vegetable lasagna recipe is the perfect casserole for feeding a crowd!
Ingredients
Lasagna Veggies
- 1 Tbsp olive oil 15 mL
- 1 eggplant diced
- 1 zucchini diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 handful spinach roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
Bechamel Sauce
- 2 cups milk low-fat or whole, 470 mL
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter 56 g
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour 30 g
- ½ cups grated parmesan cheese 30 g
- ¼ tsp each salt and pepper
Remaining Ingredients
- 12 oz box no boil lasagna noodles
- 1 24 oz jar marinara sauce click for homemade recipe, 680
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 200 g
Instructions
Veggies: Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add 1 eggplant, 1 zucchini, and 1 red bell pepper, cooking until veggies are soft, about 10 minutes. Add 1 handful spinach and 2 cloves garlic (minced) and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted down, about 1 minute.
Bechamel: Heat 2 cups milk in the microwave for about 2 minutes, just until warm. Melt 4 Tbsp unsalted butter in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Whisk in the ¼ cup all-purpose flour, cooking and stirring until the mixture is slightly golden brown and no longer smells like raw flour, about 2 minutes.
Slowly whisk in all of the milk, stirring well to evenly combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until thicken, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in ½ cups grated parmesan cheese, and ¼ tsp each salt and pepper.
Assemble: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Spread ½ cup of marinara onto the bottom of a 9×13 inch casserole dish. Layer in ⅓ of the lasagna noodles.
Then layer – ⅓ of the bechamel, half of the veggies, ⅓ of the cheese, and 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with ⅓ of the lasagna noodles.
Repeat for the second layer – ⅓ of the bechamel, second half of the veggies, ⅓ of the cheese, and 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with ⅓ of the lasagna noodles.
For top – Spoon on remaining bechamel, remaining tomato sauce, and sprinkle on remaining cheese.
Bake: Covered tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes, or until bubbling at the edges. Remove foil, increase temperature to 400°F (204°C), and continue cooking until the top is golden brown.
See AlsoRecipe: 3-Cheese Frittata CupsRest: Allow lasagna to sit uncovered on the counter for 15 to 45 minutes before serving to help layers firm up and to avoid a soupy mess.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1serving Calories: 441kcal (22%) Carbohydrates: 59.1g (20%) Protein: 15.1g (30%) Fat: 16.8g (26%) Saturated Fat: 7.4g (46%) Cholesterol: 48mg (16%) Sodium: 577mg (25%) Potassium: 460mg (13%) Fiber: 6.6g (28%) Sugar: 12.1g (13%) Calcium: 208mg (21%) Iron: 3mg (17%)
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Reader Interactions
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Tiffany Rudd says
This has become our go-to recipe for lasagna. It is flavorful, delicious, and so easy prep work wise. We even made it for my partner’s dad for father’s day and he went back for seconds! That’s quite the compliment coming from a man who makes a lot of his own dishes by hand.
Before this recipe, I was a girl who loved ricotta in her lasagna. But now? I actually think I prefer the bechamel sauce. It’s just so yummy and every friend we’ve had over who has tried this has agreed with us. It just gives something that ricotta cannot. The one thing we did change was we did thicker layers, which resulted in us only being able to do one really good round of the layers you suggest, but all the flavors were still there and great.
As a tip to anyone who makes this, make two and freeze the second one. We prepped everything in the pan, then covered with plastic wrap and foil before popping the whole thing in a 2 gallon freezer bag. It froze and reheated super well, just be sure to add additional time since, you know, it’s frozen. Definitely beats any of those frozen meals you can buy at the store!
Reply
Sarah says
LOVE the idea to meal prep this! Lasagna is one of those things that are so easy to make in big batches (we always make 3 or 4 and bring to extended family). Thanks for letting us know how the freezing went!
Cheril says
Want to try. How ever, just a heads up, if you’re using parmesan cheese to make the white sauce it is NOT vegetarian. It contains rennet from the lining of a calves stomach….
Reply
Sarah says
Thanks for pointing that out, Cheril! Belgioioso has a good vegetarian parmesan you might like 😀
Michelle field says
Does the marinara sauce recipe you linked make 3 cups of sauce?
Reply
Sarah Bond says
It makes 2 cups! Thanks for pointing that out 😀
Carol Z says
Delicious. I’ll make this for Christmas – it was so good. I left out the peppers and threw in some mushrooms because they were in the fridge and it worked well. Thank you!
Reply
Sarah Bond says
Yay! I’m so happy to hear it, Carol. Enjoy! 😀
Lori says
I made this for a big family dinner. It was QUITE the hit. No leftovers means everyone loved it!!
And it was fun to make.Reply
Sarah Bond says
YAY! So happy to hear it! 😀
Evelyn Sitch says
This is a wonderful vegetarian lasagna recipe however instead of using the lasagna noodles I use egg roll wraps they don’t need to be precooked and they’re much easier to use you should try that
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Sarah Bond says
Such a smart idea! 😀
Roberto says
Actually saying Italians don’t use ricotta in lasagna is incorrect. Lasagna recipes are regional. If you order lasagna in Naples it will be made with ricotta cheese and immigrants from this part of Italy brought that style to the US. In the north of Italy is where the béchamel version is popular. I like both but prefer the Neapolitan version.
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