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.
Hi there! What can I use to replace the Cottage cheese? I can’t eat Ricotta either :( would a mix of mozeralla and cheddar cheese work well?
Hi Stephanie! I would use my suggestion for vegan cheese. It’s delicious! Let me know what you think.
Hi!
Do you think baby kale could work in place of spinach?
Thank you! :)
– Kaitlyn
Hi! Yes, that should work too. They are usually good substitutes.
I used tofu mixed with 1/4 cup nutritional yeast instead of the cottage cheese (and just omitted the mozz on top) Delicious!
This was a big hit with my family. I used a 9×13 pan and added an extra layer of pasta/sauce. I used my own recipe for tomato sauce, which made more than the recipe here, hence the larger pan. Any easy homemade or store-bought sauce will work. I also added a bit of aleppo pepper to the veggies and on top (along with parmesan cheese) of the lasagna. Otherwise followed the recipe as written. It turned out great, no complaints. Everyone, even the meat eaters, really liked it.
This was my first lasagna ever and it was absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s healthy and delicious.
I have made this recipe many times now, i love the colors of the veggies and its so delicious, my toddler loves it. Today I made it and switched the cottage cheese for a mix of eggplant, sour cream and parmesan, and its aweosme! This has become a family favorite for years to come… thank you
Delicious!
For anyone that does not have a food processor or mixer do not fret, it still comes out great if you skip those steps!
Thank you for that tip.
I have many of your recipes and loved almost all! I have to admit that I made a number of tweaks to this recipe, but I really appreciated the idea of processing it. That was genius. Here’s an even easier idea – I was lazy so I just used my emulsion blender in the pot for like 20-30 seconds. It worked perfectly and did not make the veg too mushy. I also wanted to recommend trying regular lasagna noodles (not no-boil, which have inferior texture) – just make it about 6-7 hrs in advance, or the night before, and they will cook perfectly at slightly lower heat for very slightly more time. I doubled the recipe and will freeze one for a couple of weeks – we’ll see how it turns out. I always like to batch, so I would love to see your suggestions about how to make a veg sauce that lasts through freezing. There has to be a way!
Hi… did it work well with freezing?? And can we not boil the pasta immediately before assembling?
I’m disabled so I sped up this recipe. I used jar pasta sauce and added Mexican marinated carrots instead of the plain carrots, to give it some zing! I think the fresh basil makes all the difference. Enjoy
I love this recipe… and so does everyone in my house! I’ve made it several times over the past year or so and it’s always a hit. I think I am overzealous with the vegetables and end up with extra filling every time… sometimes more than others. Any creative suggestions on how to use it up?
Hi Amanda! Thank you for sharing. Are you measuring everything and chopping small? If you have extra, you could do a roll-up! Not sure instructions, but rollup with extra noodles, top with marinara and a sprinkle of cheese. Let me know if you try it!
Best Lasagna Ever!! I don’t miss the meat at all. Try this recipe!
I made the white lasagna using fresh spinach, one zucchini and one cup thinly sliced Carrots. It was fantastic! I ate early lunches just so I could eat it sooner, rather than later.
I hate to be picky, but do you have another suggestion in place of the bell pepper? Would cauliflower work, maybe?
Hi! Sure, that could work. I hope you love it!
Delicious!
Will this recipe freeze well? My daughter is a student and is living in an off-campus apartment for the first time so I’m looking for some meals that I can make and freeze for her to reheat when she’s too busy to cook. This one looks yummy!
Hi Linda! Great question. I didn’t have great luck originally when I froze this recipe as it became watery for me when thawed. Although, others haven’t minded the results.
since it’s just my husband and I, I always have most of it left over. I freeze them in 2 portion containers, reheat from frozen. it’s as good, if not better, than the day i made them!
Getting prepped to cook this lasagna for my mom’s 60th birthday! I just know it’s going to be delicious. I am also making a meat lasagna for the kids, which has a different cooking temperature. I’m wondering if you think your recipe could be cooked at 350 instead of 425 by cooking it longer? If so, how long do you think it would need at 350? Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Emily! This is designed and has the best results with what is listed in the recipe. Let me know if you try it! Happy birthday to your mom.
This was so delicious! The cottage cheese + vegetable mixture really made it for me! Will definitely make again.
Actually not eating until tomorrow but the house smells great!
Also used 9×13 pan and it fits just fine
Recommendation for reheating? Thinking aluminum foil 350 degrees for 30 minutes?
Hi Susan! I prefer parchment paper, but you could use aluminum foil. Just make sure it isn’t touching the cheese like in the recipe. 350 may work just fine, although I haven’t tried it. Check it at the halfway point to make sure.
Thank you! Can’t wait to taste!
Loved this recipe! It was extremely easy and my whole family loved it :) The only thing I would change is that I wouldn’t add any salt at all next time – I think the salt from the cheeses would have been plenty. I will be making this again :)
Your recipes are always winners!
This recipe is delicious!!! Huge hit in this house! I’d love to make another and freeze it for a day when we have neither the time nor energy to cook dinner. Could you provide some recommendations as far as freezing the lasagne? Given that the recipe calls for no-boil noodles, my gut sense is that it’s probably better to bake the lasagne, cool it, freeze it, and then reheat it on the day it’ll be eaten. Does that seem right? Any advice on the best way to reheat it (i.e. oven temp and time)? Can it go straight from the freezer or should I thaw it in the fridge overnight? (Apologies if you’ve already covered these types of questions in other comments.)
Hi Liz! I haven’t had much luck freezing this recipe as it tends to get watery for me. I would suggest making it as written first, cool and then freeze. I’m hoping to have more freezer recommendations in the future for recipes, just don’t have them yet!
I loved this recipe. I don’t have great skills in cooking or baking. I followed this recipe closely as it is and it was delicious and my two teenagers enthusiastically approved it. They were also happy that it was nutritious enough that I can make it often enough for them.
My family loves this! Can it be made ahead and frozen?
Hi Terri! I didn’t love this one frozen, but I know others didn’t mind the results.
Hi Kate! I made this last weekend for myself (bachelor:)…and it was awesome! For steps 4 & 5 I didn’t put it all in blender; just used an 3 cans of 14.5 oz tomato and mashed it all a bit w a spatula. I liked the thicker tomato aspect, and dont like using/cleaning blenders and the like (processors). Also used 5-6 garlic cloves, cut up everything fairly fine and used the slice aspect of grater for the carrots. Also, I used new Mexico chili powder instead of pepper flakes, and added a new mexico hatch chili to the veggies. Again, it was amazing…had for dinner that evening, and lunch and dinner the next day. Will do again soon:)
Mark G in Las Vegas
Made it yesterday and loved it! I only got 6 servings which is plenty for the 2 of us with leftovers to freeze. While I loved the quick prep with the oven ready pasta I wasn’t wild about the taste. I never liked them in anything else but thought maybe they improved and I would give them another chance. They were ok in the center of the dish but the outside pieces were doughy. Maybe they need more sauce? I did make sure to spread everything to the edges. Oh and I used my favorite Rao’s instead of bothering with the extra step of making the sauce. I think next time I would just buy and cook the regular lasagna pasta. Will that change the time & temp?
Hi Joan, I’m sorry to hear that! What brand did you use? You can use regular lasagna noodles, just follow my gluten free notes suggestions for cooking the noodles some prior to assembly.
Hi, I used the only brand my srore had which was Kroger store brand. I could have gone to whole foods or AJ’s but Kroger is the most convenient for me and I won’t go out of my way for just 1 thing. I think it’s just that I don’t like the oven ready pasta and will take the extra step of cooking regular pasta next time. Everything else was great!
Can’t wait to try. Can I make ahead at all with good results? Like assemble at night/cook in morning or assemble and cook next day? Making for a friend and not sure how to do it without cooking it right at dinner time? Thank you for all the lovely recipes!
Hi Ashley! I wouldn’t suggest assembling all and storing over night as it may get watery. You could try preparing the vegetable and sauce, etc then assembling and baking. I haven’t tried it, but I believe others have.
Fabulous recipe! Delicious!
I really loved this lasagna recipe! I made it for myself and my 4-year-old son. 2 things to note that I felt were important: I ran out of sauce and did not have enough to spread on the last layer. If I made this again, I would make slightly more than the recipe suggests. I also used the 365 WF no-boil lasagna noodles, and some of them were not cooked through all the way. I plan on extending the bake time next time as well. Otherwise, the flavors are incredible and I would absolutely recommend this! I love your recipes!
Hi Kate,
Thank you so much for such an amazingly easy and delicious recipe. It came out so well, everybody loved it.
I didn’t have cottage cheese at hand, so I used a mix of sour cream, full fat yogurt & little bit of grated mozzarella. It’s absolutely delicious..
Thankssss alottt..
I am now hooked to your page <3
I like this vegan recipes
So good! Did not miss the meat at all and the flavour and texture were spot on. I used cottage cheese and regular lasagne noodles. For sure a keeper!
Wow! This is delicious! My daughter and husband loved it too (and hubby is a meat lover!). This is my daughter’s new favorite!! Very hearty and healthy but not too heavy. Only minor changes I made were that I threw in some mushrooms that I had in fridge, used jarred marinara and boiled my noodles (used 12pcs rather than 9) before assembling. This makes a lot of veggie filling so I made it in a 9×13 pan and it worked out great! Thank you for this one :)
Hi Kate,
I have ricotta cheese and wondering if I can use this vs cottage cheese. If yes what else do you recommend to add.
Yes! They both would work, I just prefer cottage cheese. Let me know what you think, Poonam!
I plan to freeze the lasagna. Do I bake it first or just freeze after it’s assembled? How long can it be frozen?
Hi Shanlee! I don’t have it completely flushed out as to what works the best yet and I find it does get watery once it is frozen. But if you plan to, I would let it thaw 24 hrs and then try to bake it at the same temperature. You will likely need more time. Let me know how it works for you! Be sure to use freezer and oven safe bakeware.
I found this recipe 2 weeks ago and have now made it 3 times. It’s delicious and gets rave reviews, every time. I wouldn’t know if it freezes well, because there haven’t been leftovers long enough to try! Thank you for this new staple in my rotation.
Love love love this recipe. I’m not much of a cook so being able to have this deliciousness in the rotation is a huge bonus, thank you. Any other whole wheat noodle recommendations? Can’t find Delallo anywhere. It’s not even showing on their site now. :(
Hi Sharon! Noodles have been an interesting buy I have found recently, it’s not very consistent stock. You should be able to use any whole wheat no boil noodles. If you can’t find those, then follow my suggestions for gluten free noodles for regular lasagna noodles. I hope that’s helpful!
Delicious my family loved it! I ordered your cookbook!
My kids devoured this lasagna!! A new staple in our house, thank you!
Best lasagna ever. Followed the recipe exactly. Something I have a hard time doing.Enjoyed so much did not even consider that was not meat. Everyone had seconds.you know it is good when you are told don’t lose that recipe.
Thanks for the delicious and healthy recipe. God bless you.
As a non-veggie I cooked this dish for my daughter and it was incredible. Definitely on my go to list of recipes now.
This lasagna Did not disappoint! I used yellow lentil lasagna noodles, yum!
I love cooking but I’ll be honest, as a regular vegetarian eater, I was not a fan of this. I found it to be rather bland and not as savory as I was hoping for. I followed this recipe to an exact T. For folks like myself who are more into savory/umami packed veggie friendly recipes, you may have to play around with the seasonings/spice to get a desired flavor. While I have enjoyed other recipes from this website, this one won’t be a repeater
Holy moly this was AMAZING! The best lasagna I’ve ever had and my small group loved it! I did sub cremini mushrooms for the zucchini! Thank you for this delicious recipe!
This was delicious! I didn’t pulse them veggies or mix them with the ricotta. I used crushed tomatoes and just sprinkled the other ingredients on. Too. Easy and delicious!
Delicious family dinner, though I wound up using half ricotta. Leftovers today will be even better because noodles will have more time to soften. It worked well for my mom, who is on a soft foods diet, because the veggies are not large and crunchy, and the kids loved it, too!
Hi! So I am looking to make this recipe today, but I don’t have ricotta nor cottage, I wonder if a mixture of cream cheese with half and half would work. Let me know please, I am also planning on adding a lot more veggies before they go bad. Will let you know how it goes!
Hi Angie, sounds like an interesting combination. I’m hesitant to say try it as you may have quite the watery result. Let me know how it turns out!
Oh it went great! I ended up using less than specified because, like you mentioned is more watery. But it went pretty good with the vegetables i used (Pumpkin, Sweet potato, Zucchini, Carrots, Mushrooms, Spinach, a little broccoli. I was looking to use all of the veggies i had left before they went bad). I also had some leftovers and the next day i made another one with a layer of tomatoes and it was even better than the initial one, cause the mix was more creamy. Thank you! This will definitely become a regular at home. Loved it!
This very well may be my all time favorite Cookie + Kate recipe. Hands down the best vegetable lasagna we’ve ever had. Roasting the vegetables dries out the water that usually ruins vegetable lasagna and adds a depth of flavor that is better than any meat lasagna.
I can’t wait to try this recipe for a group of college students this weekend. I need to feed 10-12. Should I make 1-1/2 recipes and assemble in a 9×12 pan? They love your Best Lentil Soup and this sounds just as yummy. Thank you!
Hi Kathy! You can try that, or make a double batch and use two pans. Let me know how it goes!
Is it ok to make the eggplant lasagne ahead of time and freeze it?
Thanks!
Hi Ronni! I haven’t tried to freeze the eggplant lasagna. Sorry!
Made this for my daughter’s birthday. Read the comments before hand but wanted to make as is to get a good idea of flavors. Honestly really liked the tomato sauce very simple as was everything else. Just some of prep on the veggies to be expected. What could be improved. Please don’t take photos and talk about basil without writing it in the recipe. Also, I’m not sure what the issue was but too much water released while sauteed so they never got the carmelization. That indeed would have improved the layers of flavor.
Overall, it was a hit with the grandkids and adults.
Hi! I can’t wait to make this again. Can I prepare it ahead of time, like the day before I want to bake it? Thank you! I love every single recipe and I love your book – and I love to give it as a gift for family and friends!!
I’m delighted you love it, Mollie! I haven’t tried that and hesitant to say it will work as it may become watery. Thank you for your support in buying my book!
This is the best vegetarian lasagna. I’ve made it many, many times. Everyone loves it. I often double the recipe and freeze one after baking/cooling and it’s just as good out of the freezer as the first time. I tell everyone about this recipe!
do you thaw the th elasagna or go right from the freezer to the oven? what temp did you reheat it? Thanks!
I’ve made many recipes now from your website and this was another good one. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly the same except instead of shredded mozzarella I used paper thin slices of provolone which I got sliced at our grocery deli counter. I used my own marinara sauce as I had some on hand and I also added chopped basil to every layer. Will be making again. Thanks!