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 Kate! I can’t wait to make the roasted eggplant lasagna from your cookbook tomorrow. The cookbook recipe calls for a 9×9-inch baking dish. I have three dishes: an 11×7, a 13×9, and a 9×6. Which would be the best substitute? I’m a perfectionist, and I want this dish to be as perfect as all your other ones :)
Great question! For volume, I would recommend the 11×7 dish if you don’t have a 9×9. Enjoy.
Yum! I served it to my family and guests, they raved about it. I only modified a couple of things – I used gluten-free lasagna noodles from Rossi Pasta and chopped broccoli to give it a healthy touch. We didn’t miss the meat at all. The vegetables had a nice crisp. This would be one of the best lasagnas I’ve ever made. Also, a great way to get the kids to eat their veggies. Next time I’ll add a little more. Delish and healthy!
Thanks for sharing! Broccoli sounds like a great add. Thank you, James for your review!
I made this recipe last night and it was DELICIOUS. So flavorful and I loved that you really cannot tell that it’s meatless (I recently made the change to a vegetarian/pescatarian diet so I am trying to find new recipes to make). I also love that you don’t feel heavy after eating; I think the use of the cottage cheese instead of ricotta helps. I ate it for lunch today and it was just as good!! I am giving this one four stars instead of five because the prep time took a little longer than I anticipated – other than that, it was fabulous!
Once you get the steps down, it goes quick. But lasagna can be like that. Thank you, Melanie for sharing!
I’d like to make this for 10-12 adults and am thinking I should double it? Do you think doubling it and putting into a 9×13 pan would work?
I think doubling it will work well! However, I don’t know if a 9 x 13 pan will be big enough as you do all the layers. If you have another 9×9 pan or an 11×7 pan, I would recommend using that and make two. If that makes sense?
I’ve made this recipe three times now and everyone absolutely loves it. Even serious meat eaters can’t believe how full of flavour this lasagna is. It is a total winner and you will not be disappointed. I love love love this recipe!
That’s great! Thank you, Caitie for trying it and for your review.
Made this last night and winterized the veggies a bit — used roasted butternut squash, kale and mushrooms and substituted parsley for basil — it was outstanding! I also roasted the garlic with the squash before adding it to the tomatoes – such a nice flavor! I just love your recipes – you make it so easy to improvise!
I love that! Thank you for sharing. I’m happy you feel it is easy to adjust based on preference and season!
Seriously, this is the tastiest lasagna I’ve ever made or had! So easy, so healthy and most of the ingredients are zero points on a certain diet that I won’t mention by name, but Oprah loves!
Thank you! I love the combination and the loaded veggie combination. Thanks for your review, MaryLee.
I just made this for a special family dinner. We ALL voted it by far the best lasagna ever! Everyone went back for seconds. :) Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! I followed your directions exactly and even doubled it for extras this week. I’m so glad I did!
I will definitely be making this often for friends and family.
Lee Anne and the Laskey Crew
Love, love that! Thank you, Lee. I appreciate the kind words(and votes!), as well as the review. Enjoy!
Just made this recipe for dinner and I loved it, Kate! I don’t think I have EVER made one of your recipes and had anything go terribly wrong. Your work is just the best. I couldn’t get over how delicious the filling is, and I’m so excited to eat the leftovers for lunch.
You’re so sweet, Kayla! I appreciate your kind words and love my recipes have worked so well for you. Thank you so much for you star review.
Made this as written and agree that this was amazing! I used the whole wheat lasagna noodles that you recommended. I ordered them on Amazon. I used Rao’s Marinara. This recipe is tasty, not heavy, but very satisfying!
Great to hear, Claire! Thanks for the review.
This was SO GOOD! All your recipes are good… But this might be my new Cookie and Kate favorite.. THANK YOU for all these amazing recipies!!!!!
Hooray!! I’m happy it’s a new favorite. Thanks for the review, Johanna.
“Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.”
What did I miss? What do I do with this baking sheet?
I want to try this tonight…..did my shopping, and just noticed this….thanks
Hi Marilyn – Please disregard that. Thanks for the comment! I will go ahead and update.
Have you tried making this with broccoli? If so, how did it turn out?
I have not, but sounds like a great vegetable to use in it! Let me know what you think, Colleen.
Hey Kate! This recipe looks terrific and i want to make it for a party this weekend. Do you think i could sub kale for the spinach and creme fraiche for the cottage cheese?
Thanks for your terrific blog!
Yes, I think you can try that. I don’t see why those changes shouldn’t work. Let me know what you think!
Made this for a potluck yesterday and made a few tweaks. I needed enough for a 9 by 13 pan so I used 3-14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, 12 no-cook lasagne noodles and added three extra peppers to the veggies. I used kale instead of spinach and 250 grams of creme fraiche instead of cottage cheese, just adding it to the warm veggies after sautéing them. I also did not drain the tomatoes but cooked the sauce down for 15 mins on the stove instead. The sautéing of the veggies ensures the lasagne is not soggy. It also took longer to bake—approx 35 mins. But a huge hit that everybody enjoyed and I will def make again. Thanks for a great recipe!
You’re welcome, Cate! Thanks for sharing how you varied it.
Made this with Green Lentil Lasagna Pasta Sheets and it was amazing! Thank you!
Mmm, that sounds delicious. Thanks for the comment and review, Christina!
Cool recipe! Used cheddar as didn’t have any mozarella to hand, and substituted bell peppers for butternut squash to keep the sweetness. Also topped with some sliced portobello mushrooms! Amazing. Fours stars, just cos it takes quite a bit longer than 30 mins to prep on first making :)
Lasagna can be a little tedious to assemble, for sure. I’m so glad you liked it though, Rob! Thanks for the comment!
Hands down my favorite lasagna recipe ever! It’s flavorful, full of veggies and relative to other lasagna recipes, somehow seems light. Thank you for the excellent recipe!
Thank you for the comment and star review, Julie! I love this lasagna and I’m so glad you do too.
This truly is the best vegetable lasagna! I followed the instructions very precisely and it was absolutely perfect. Going to make this the next time we have guests over!
Made this last night after making your amazing banana bread earlier in the day-both were incredible!
Do you really need to pulse the vegetables if they are already diced small? What does this step add to the recipe?
I do not own a food processor, so I did not pulse my veggies, and my lasagna was perfect!!!
You can skip that step if you’d like. I like pulsing them because they infuse more flavor into the cottage cheese.
This really is the best veggie lasagna ever! I am always looking for new vegetarian recipes, and this is now one of my favorites. I did add garlic to the vegetable mixture, while sautéing, as my family loves garlic. Additionally, I do not own a food processor, so I skipped those steps, and my lasagna was absolutely wonderful. Like others I used half low-fat cottage cheese and half ricotta. As a side note, I used gluten free, brown rice noodles, which increased my cook time.
Thank you for this recipe, it was a definite hit!!!
I know, right!? I’m glad you agree. Thanks for sharing, Ricki, and for your review!
made this last night and was so happy with the result! The yummiest we have had so far.
thank you
You’re welcome! Thanks for giving it a try.
Hi Kate. Is it 8 ounces or 16 ounces of mozzarella? You said both.
Hi Courtney, 2 cups (16 ounces) low-fat cottage cheese and 8 ounces (2 cups) freshly grated low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese. Hope this helps!
This recipe was delicious. I loved that the vegetables were mixed in with the cheese. I’ve made a few Cookie and Kate recipes lately, and I like that there are alternatives offered in places and that it’s always clear what the purpose of each step is. I’m not a vegetarian, but I cook a lot of vegetarian food, and also, these recipes are just better-written and more thoughtful than most of the meat recipes I’ve found online.
I’m happy you find the directions and alternatives very clear! That is very important to me. :) Thanks so much for your feedback and review!
Flavor of this recipe was great. My meat-eating son loved the flavor even though it was only veggies. Note: important to drain the veggie mixture well before putting it in the food processor. Ours was a little watery…although still tasty.
I’m glad your son liked it, too! Thank you, Lynne for sharing. I haven’t experienced that with the watery vegetables. Did you add extra oil when cooking? Or it is possible one of your veggies was just extra juicy.
I didn’t add extra oil so maybe it was “juicy” veggies. Will see next time. In any case, it was still great and firms up more when eating for leftovers.
This is delicious, Kate! We had friends over for dinner yesterday and everyone – adults and kiddos – loved it. Your method of blending some of the cottage cheese and mixing the veggies with the cottage cheese was ingenious. It made layering and spreading so easy. Thank you!!
I forgot to rate…5 stars!
Crowd pleaser! I love that. You’re welcome, Mary.
Made this tonight, and my wife, picky daughters and I all loved it!
Great, Scott!
Am going to make this recipe but wanted to know if you can make it a day ahead and chill until the next day to bake it?
Yes! You can do that. Just bring to room temperature, or close before baking if you can. Otherwise, you might need to bake a little longer, so just keep an eye on it.
Hi, I haven’t made the above Vegetable Lasagna, but I have made the Roasted Eggplant Lasagna from your cookbook. I am from Sydney, Australia and I love your cookbook. I really love the photos of Cookie, she is absolutely gorgeous.
I first made the Roasted Eggplant Lasagne as gifts for family and friends and finally made one for myself and my husband. Oh my, what an amazing tasting lasagna! Thank you, this will be a standard in my house and my friends for a long time to come. It’s such a simple dish to make too. Thank you Kate!
Thank you, Tiffany for the support! I love to hear that. You’re welcome :)
I applaud you for this lasagna recipe. So delicious! Thank you.
Well, thank you Colleen!
Loved this recipe and made tonight. Did add mushrooms and olives to the veggie mix as well as an egg to the whipped cottage cheese (like my traditional lasagne to help improve stability). Made in a 9X13” pan and it worked out great. Will definitely make again!
Love that you added your own additions, Judy! Thank you for your comment.
Thanks for the recipe, it was delicious. I did wind up using ricotta instead of cottage cheese, just a personal preference. Love your website.
That’s a great variation, Ali! Thank you for your review.
Yet another winner! Delicious lasagne that we all loved.
Thank you, Kathy! :)
Lovey recipe. Made it twice now.
Great to hear, Stuart! Thank you, for your review.
I just made this veggie lasagna and it was AMAZING! Thanks for a great recipe. I just made my wife’s whole year with this! Haha. She loved it! You’re the best!
Thanks so much for making my day! Hope this comment made yours! Steve from Northern Illinois
You’re welcome! I love to hear that. Way to go you!
It REALLY IS the BEST vegetarian lasagna!! So, so good! I ended up making a couple of adjustments with the assembly due to a small error of mine. Veggies used: onion, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots. Those were processed and mixed with the cottage cheese. Separately, I sauteed mushroomed and a couple handfuls of spinach.
I don’t have a 9×9 dish so I used an 8×8 thinking it wouldn’t matter. It kind of did. I ended up skipping the shredded cheese in the lasagna (put it on top only) and the third layer of actual pasta (used only two layers). I think these adjustments actually made it healthier! Less cheese and less pasta. But it was still fantastic! In case anyone is curious, I ended up with (bottom to top) sauce, pasta, cottage cheese mixture, sauce, pasta, cottage cheese mixture, mushroom spinach, sauce, shredded cheese. I didn’t add the shredded cheese until halfway through when I rotated the pan. Letting the dish sit after taking it out of the oven is important since the pasta continues to cook.
Since I don’t think I’ll end up buying a 9×9 dish, next time I’ll make more filling and use my 9×13. I’m sure it will make great leftovers!
Thank you for you comment and details! I appreciate your review.
Hands down the very best vegetarian lasagna I’ve ever tried! Made it for five meat-eating friends and they all went back for seconds. Substituted half the cottage cheese for ricotta and it was perfectly creamy (but not too rich). Oh, and it’s even better when reheated the next day!
Hooray! Love to hear that. Thank you, Nathalie for sharing.
The best vegetarian lasagna I’ve ever made! Incredibly flavorful. Be sure to use low fat cottage cheese and good no boil noodles to avoid it turning out mushy. Reheated leftovers are just as tasty.
Fantastic! Thank you, Carol for commenting. I really appreciate it.
I made this recipe for the family, because I have a 17-yr old vegetarian. I contemplated making two pans and adding some meat to one as I often make two versions of dishes to please everyone, but didn’t. Good thing, because it was delicious made exactly to the recipe specs. And my whole family loved it. Thanks! (also, I prepped the night before and refrigerated 24 hrs before cooking).
Win!! That’s great. Thanks so much for sharing.
So delicious! Not difficult, but takes a little time, but the use of food processor definitely helps. Flavour was fantastic. I will definitely be making this again.
Great! If you would like to leave a star review since you liked it so much, Rebecca, I would appreciate it!
Hi Kate – I tried to update it via mobile, but it didn’t seem to work. Hopefully my attempt this time will stick. It’s definitely a 5-Star recipe. In fact I made it again last night!
Another home run, Kate! This was absolutely delicious. I used my favorite brand of Arrabbiata sauce instead of making my own, so it had a little kick to it. I prepped it in the morning and put it in the fridge until it was time to bake later that night. Used a mix of mozzarella and parmigiana cheeses. Awesome!!
Well, thanks Jackie! I’m happy it worked so well to prepare the night before and then bake it. Thanks for sharing.
I love this lasagna and make it fairly frequently. I went to add the nutrition info to my Fitbit but nothing is coming up when I click Nutrition Information on the page. Am I missing something?
Try refreshing your browser. Sometimes cookies need to be enabled for the plug-in to work. Hope this helps!
Thank you! That worked.
Yum! I made this, substituting low-fat ricotta for the cottage cheese, noodles that need boiling, and store-bought tomato sauce. I also found it watery – there is a good bit of juice in the bottom of the pan. I think next time I would strain/squeeze the veggies. I did make it in an 8*8 pan and it fit (just barely). I forgot the black pepper and probably needed full fat ricotta or more mozeralla, as it was a little low on flavour. Still good and satisfying!
Thanks for sharing! It could be that pre boiling the noodles and possibly the sauce led to it being more watery. But I’m happy you still liked it, Hanna.
Can I assemble this and freeze it?
I haven’t tried it myself, but have heard from other readers it has worked. Let me know!
Hi there, made this lasagna on the weekend for friends and family. You got that name correct! THE BEST!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much, also I am so pleased that I can sneak sooooo many veggies into a dish that my kids love!!!!!
I made a huge tray (4 adults and 4 children) so I kind of doubled everything in the recipe and it was just PERFECT! Very happy :)
Thank you <3
Sandra
Thanks, Sandra! I appreciate the review.
Hi Kate, thanks for this amazingly delicious yet easy to follow recipe. I’ve made it twice this week already! Thanks for your amazing posts. Cheers!
Twice already! That’s great. I’m glad you are enjoying it, Neha.
I’ve made this quite a few times and we all love it. I have ended with one subtle change… adding feta to the sauce and crumbled in with the topping cheese, it really adds Mediterranean taste, a little saltier.
Sounds delicious, Paul! Thank you for sharing how you put your own twist on it. I appreciate your star review!
This is the best vegetable lasagna. I made it for a friend and her family of youngsters who don’t always like to eat their vegetables and they were asking for seconds. My husband and I also loved it. Super flavorful and oh, so good!
Win, win! Thank you, Shanda for the review. I appreciate it.
Love this lasagna recipe
Great! If you would want to leave a star review, I would appreciate it.