I set out to create the best vegetable lasagna recipe. Here it is! This vegetarian lasagna is cheesy (of course), and loaded with vegetables, spinach and a simple tomato sauce. If you have any meatless-meal skeptics in your life, this lasagna will change their mind. I’m sure of it.
This lasagna is based on my spinach artichoke lasagna on the blog and the roasted eggplant lasagna in my cookbook. I love those less-conventional vegetarian lasagnas. Yet, I wanted to offer a classic vegetable lasagna suitable for holidays and weeknights, and this is it. The tomato sauce is the same across all three recipes, but the vegetables vary. For this recipe, you’ll chop bell pepper, zucchini and carrot into very small pieces and sauté them until they’re nice and golden on the edges. That caramelization brings out so much more flavor. Then, add spinach to the skillet and cooked it down for a few minutes so it doesn’t get too soggy.
The Best Vegetable Lasagna
Five reasons to love this recipe: The end result is a super flavorful, nutrient-dense, veggie-packed lasagna. This lasagna might not be the quickest weeknight option around, but it is a reasonably simple recipe that will absolutely satisfy your comfort food cravings.
Enjoy, and please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments! Your feedback is so important to me. Craving more vegetable-packed casseroles? Here are more of my favorites:
Baked Ziti with Roasted Vegetables Lentil Baked Ziti Better Broccoli Casserole Roasted Veggie Enchilada Casserole
Watch How to Make Vegetable Lasagna
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 3 large carrots, chopped (about 1 cup) 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 medium zucchini, chopped 1 medium yellow onion, chopped ¼ teaspoon salt 5 to 6 ounces baby spinach
Tomato sauce (or substitute 2 cups prepared marinara sauce)
1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh basil + additional for garnish 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Remaining ingredients
2 cups (16 ounces) low-fat cottage cheese, divided ¼ teaspoon salt, to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 9 no-boil lasagna noodles* 8 ounces (2 cups) freshly grated low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese
Change it up: Feel free to play around with the vegetables here. You’ll want to use about 3 cups chopped veggies total (excluding the onion). Mushrooms or butternut squash might be nice! Make it gluten free: Substitute gluten-free lasagna noodles. Choose no-boil (oven ready) noodles if possible; if not, cook them according to package directions. (Fair warning, I tried using DeBoles brand of no-bake lasagna noodles and they weren’t done cooking in the time specified here. Reheated leftovers were ok, though.) Make it dairy free/vegan: Double the recipe for my vegan sour cream (also available in my cookbook, page 217) and use 2 cups instead of the cottage cheese. Skip the step where you would blend the cottage cheese and just barely blend the spinach/veggies into the sour cream. Omit the mozzarella and use all of the tomato sauce for the final layer. Serve the lasagna with a dollop of additional sour cream on top or, better yet, my basil pesto.
