Best Vegetable Lasagna
Seriously the best veggie lasagna! This meatless lasagna recipe is packed with bell pepper, zucchini and carrots, sautéed until golden on the edges.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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:
- You can easily adjust the vegetables to suit the seasons or your pantry (see recipe notes).
- The sauce is made from scratch with basic ingredients. It only takes a few minutes to make.
- Use no-boil noodles and you don’t have to bother cooking them. Just layer them up!
- I recommend cottage cheese instead of ricotta, which has more protein and flavor (trust me).
- You can even make this recipe gluten free and/or vegan. See the recipe notes for details.
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
Best Vegetable Lasagna
Seriously the best veggie lasagna! This lasagna recipe is packed with bell pepper, zucchini and carrots, sautéed until golden and tender on the edges. Recipe yields one 9-inch lasagna, enough for 8 slices.
Ingredients
Veggies and spinach
- 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
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- To prepare the veggies: In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Once shimmering, add the carrots, bell pepper, zucchini, yellow onion, and salt. Cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until the veggies are golden on the edges, about 8 to 12 minutes.
- Add a few large handfuls of spinach. Cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted. Repeat with remaining spinach and cook until all of the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside.
- Meanwhile, to prepare the tomato sauce: Pour the tomatoes into a mesh sieve or fine colander and drain off the excess juice for a minute. Then, transfer the drained tomatoes to the bowl of a food processor. Add the basil, olive oil, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes.
- Pulse the mixture about 10 times, until the tomatoes have broken down to an easily spreadable consistency. Pour the mixture into a bowl for later (you should have a little over 2 cups sauce). Rinse out the food processor and return it to the machine.
- Pour half of the cottage cheese (1 cup) into the processor and blend it until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to large mixing bowl. No need to rinse out the bowl of the food processor this time; just put it back onto the machine because you’ll need it later.
- Transfer the cooked veggies and spinach mixture to the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until they are more finely chopped (but not puréed!), about 5 to 7 times, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of whipped cottage cheese. Top with the remaining cottage cheese, then add ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt (to taste) and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine. Now it’s lasagna assembly time!
- Spread ½ cup tomato sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9” by 9” baking dish. Layer 3 lasagna noodles on top (snap off their ends to fit, and/or overlap their edges as necessary). Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Top with ¾ cup tomato sauce, then sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top.
- Top with 3 more noodles, followed by the remaining cottage cheese mixture (we’re skipping the tomato sauce in this layer.) Sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top.
- Top with 3 more noodles, then spread ¾ cup tomato sauce over the top (you may have a little sauce leftover) to evenly cover the noodles. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup shredded cheese.
- Wrap a sheet of parchment paper or foil around the top of the lasagna (don’t let it come into contact with the cheese). Bake, covered, for 18 minutes, then remove the cover, rotate the pan by 180° and continue cooking for about 10 to 15 more minutes, until the top is turning spotty brown.
- Remove from oven and let the lasagna cool for 15 to 20 minutes, so it has time to set and cool down to a reasonable temperature. Sprinkle additional basil over the top, then slice and serve.
Notes
*Lasagna noodle recommendations: I like to use DeLallo’s Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles (affiliate link) and Whole Foods’ 365 No-Boil Lasagna Noodles. See below for gluten-free suggestions.
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.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Honestly !!! This is probably the best lasagne I have ever had and made ! I didnt have zucchini but I did have broccoli. I dont think I will ever make lasagne again with meat or ricotta ! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe !
Terribly inefficient recipe, the only thing worse is the functionality of this website. Disaster
Made as written using my immersion blender instead of a food processor (broken).
Absolutely delicious and a joy to make. Thanks.
I have made this lasagne numerous times over the last couple of years and it is amazing! It has a wonderful taste and texture. I added sautéed mushrooms this time and can’t wait to try it. I highly recommend it!
Worked very well especially with the garlic addition to the tomatoe sauce
Hi Kate
Thanks for this great recipe. I’ve made it at least three times and even my meat eater friends loved it and requested it again. I cut the vegetables small and didn’t blend the cottage cheese and it still turned out great.
30 minutes- no way. It took me 1 1/2 hrs. Didn’t fit in a 9×9, and my husband and I didn’t like the flavor. At all. For all the effort it took and the taste, this was a bust. I followed the recipe exactly and made the sauce too.
I’ve made this many times and it’s always a hit. And people always ask me for the recipe. Today I practiced making a meat lasagna because I’m about to have guests who are meat eaters. I will serve both lasagnas. The meat recipe called for regular pasta, not the no boil kind. It suggested soaking in hot water for a few minutes. I was skeptical. But it worked. And I find that the regular pasta reheats better than the no boil. And is a bit more substantial. So Im going to try your recipe with the regular pasta and see what I think. Stay tuned!
And in the meat recipe I’m going to use cottage cheese the next time instead of ricotta bc it works so well in your recipe.
I’ve been making vegetable lasagna for years. This recipe is absolutely the best! Incredibly delicious. It came out perfect. I made a few minor changes, but stuck with the basic recipe. Thanks!
** I prefer ricotta (sorry). Also added egg (1 egg to the 2x) to the mixture. Added artichoke hearts and peas. Limited the bell pepper and onion, and added a little shallot and garlic. Next time I’ll probably add broccoli and some crimini mushrooms.
This is definitely my go-to recipe from now on.
This is absolutely our favorite vegetable lasagna!! It is easy to make, has great flavor and healthy. Hard to beat that combination.
I absolutely love this recipe, Kate! Lazy me, I used jarred arrabiatta sauce and mascarpone rather than cottage cheese. I also add random Italian spices if I’m feeling up to it. The sweet to spicy ratio of sauce to filling is just perfect.
I plan to make this for a friend who lost a loved one. Due to work schedules, I’ll need to make ahead of time and allow them to bake. Any suggestions on how to premake and freeze to have the same excellent result?
Hi Priya, freeze and then give them the baking instructions, including to defrost in the refrigerator before cooking. This is an excellent make ahead option.
I love lasagna, but honestly the taste and texture of this was just so off-putting for me. I don’t think the cottage cheese works — it’s too tangy — and mixing in the pulsed vegetables with the cottage cheese just gives everything an odd texture. The vegetables are still chunky enough that you know they are there but not big enough to really enjoy? It’s hard to describe. I think the recipe could also use more sauce. I’m only giving this two stars because my boyfriend really liked it.
Is it possible to make this in advance and refrigerate before baking? Thank you!
Hi Ray, yes you can assemble and keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake.
I have made this recipe numerous times, as written, and it is fabulous. I have added in mushrooms occasionally and do like it either way. Mushrooms make it a bit more hearty. If we have leftovers, I go ahead and pre-slice them, wrap each serving in aluminum foil and stick them in a ziploc bag to freeze them until ready to pull out. I thaw servings in fridge overnight and then unwrap and microwave to enjoy for lunch!
I have made this recipe at least 10 times now. Everyone has loved it. My stepmom went out and bought a lasagna pan the next day. My dad who wouldn’t like a veggie lasagna, the most satisfying look I’ve ever seen him have
I have a big pan so I doubled everything. I add two eggs to the cottage cheese and veggie mixture, and also some mozzarella, so I skip the “add mozzarella” in one of the steps. I do not blend anything. I did twice, but did not find it to be that much different. I just dice all the veggies. I keep the cottage cheese as is. Then mix it all up.
I have made this with any kind of veggie out there. My favorites are mushrooms, carrots, onions, spinach, and zucchini. It’s very versatile. I also cook it a lot longer since it’s a large amount.
I do typically skip the homemade sauce. I really do not find a big difference between that and getting a good brand of marinara.
This is now one of my signature recipes. People request this all the time.
Just made this lasagna for dinner, and it was a hit! The combination of sautéed bell pepper, zucchini, and carrots added such a rich depth of flavor. I used cottage cheese as suggested, and it gave the dish a delightful creaminess. The homemade tomato sauce was the perfect finishing touch. Even my meat-loving family members went back for seconds. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
https://tandoormorni.com/tandoori-recipes/
I’ve made this before and it is to die for! Do you think it would work with passata at all or would it be too runny?
Hi Sophie, I think it will work.
This lasagna recipe is sooo good!! It is very easy to follow, and always turns out amazing. Thank you for sharing this recipe :)
I have made this recipe so many times I can’t even remember. It’s absolutely wonderful and it has so much flavor. I always have people ask me for the recipe.
I made this with out onion and garlic still it’s test very good.
many peaple asking me for this recipes.
my daughters love to eat this lasagna.