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,
This was the first time I made a veggie lasagna and was not sure what to expect, but everyone loved it! The recipe is easy to follow – especially with the video – but it took me approx. 2h from starting to chop the vegetable until it was ready to eat.
Besides the time issue, it was great!
Thank you!
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Sara.
Hi Kate, I want to make this ahead to serve the next day. I see in the comments that you recommend baking after assembling and reheating when ready to serve. Do you have specific instructions to reheat?
Hi, You can reheat in the oven or microwave. I don’t have specific reheating instructions, sorry!
Hey Sara , in a pinch you can do like I did and I bought the precut veggies at the grocery store they had zucchini, butternut squash , bells and even the onions and it was super fast. :)
Hi Sara,
The first time I made this recipe, it took me about two hours also. My husband said it was good but asked me if it was worth my effort and time. Yesterday, I made it for what was probably my 5th or 6th time. I prepped the veggies earlier in the day, and in the evening, I had the lasagna in the oven in about 20 minutes. You’ll get faster!
Cheers,
Audra
That’s awesome! Thank you for sharing, Audra. I appreciate your review.
I’ve made this recipe several times now, with minor changes in the types of vegetables I use, and it always comes out great! I find myself craving it a week or so after making it, so this recipe is now on a regular rotation
I made this tonight exactly as written. I only had a 9X7 dish, but it worked. This is so good! Even my picky kid liked it. This is a keeper for both a regular meal and for company as well.
SO good and very easy to customize based on what you have around the house. Never thought to use cottage cheese in place of ricotta but I love that it’s a bit healthier and higher in protein. Thanks for another great recipe, Kate!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you loved it, Jessica.
I’ll be making this for the 3rd time tonight. Love the versatility with veggies and I add a little Alfredo sauce in with the red when assembling for creaminess. Hands down, the BEST vegetable lasagna my family and I have ever had!!!
Made this for the first time last night – loved it!! My partner and I are trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet and this recipe will definitely be a part of our regular rotation. Thanks for the great recipe!
I don’t often leave reviews but this is phenomenal. My husband and I have made this a couple times now and love it each time. We are big meat lovers over here and so I was skeptical at first, but it’s a hit!
I love it! Thank you for your review, Meaghan.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really care for this recipe. I made a triple batch and split it between two 9×13 pans. I didn’t use all of the vegetables I bought because it was going to be way too much. After eating it I just don’t think it’s that tasty. It doesn’t taste anything like lasagna, it’s not very flavorful, and the veggies felt too fresh– like they weren’t cooked all the way. I’ve had veggie lasagnas that I liked and tasted pretty much like a lasagna… not this one.
Sorry Kate! I normally love your stuff but this one did not work for me!
Hi Rebecca, I’m sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this recipe. Did you cook your vegetables enough? What kind of vegetables did you use and sauce?
These instructions should be more clear. When I rotated upside down by 180 degrees, the lasagna slipped right out into the oven!
I’m sorry you hear you didn’t think this was clear. I’m not sure how that came across. Just turn your pan around so front is back. I hope that helps!
Haha William – so literal! You gave me a giggle (which I read as your intention ).
This was amazing! I’ve used ricota in the past, but going forward I will only use cottage cheese for the “guts.” The only thing I did differently, besides using a different homemade sauce, was adding parmesan into the mixture. Thank-you for another great recipe! <3
This recipe was delicious and flavourful! The few changes I made were I only put grated mozzarella on top (not as a layer in the lasagna) and added an egg to the cottage cheese before blending. Unfortunately I didn’t have fresh basil, so I used dried. Will definitely make this again.
This was absolutely delicious! I made for family meal for Easter. I doubled (almost) the recipe and made in a 9×13 pan. It was a big hit, and was all gone, and only one person is a vegetarian. I have a 3 year old autistic grandson, who generally does not eat much of anything, and he ate and ate on this, and loved it.. He kept calling it pizza, (which he normally doesn’t eat ). That made me very happy. Thank you!
I love that! Thank you for sharing, Mary.
Similar to other comments, I rarely leave reviews but I feel I should for this one. Really great recipe, and really easy to make. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Mary! I’m delighted to hear that.
I made this lasagne for my family and they loved it! I am going to make it again for a neighbor as part of a meal train. I plan to make it a day ahead of delivery. Should I cook the veggies and assemble the lasagne and then refrigerate till delivery unbaked? Or should I bake it the day ahead and then give directions to reheat the next day? Thanks!
Hi! I suggest reheat instructions as it can release water as it sits unbaked. I hope they love it!
Ok this was seriously the best lasagna recipe I have ever had. I LOVE how everything is made from scratch including the sauce! I used gluten free ocean ready Barilla lasagna noodles and it came out perfect. My whole family loved it even my daughter who loathes vegetables. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing, Rosie! I’m delighted you loved it.
This was my first vegetarian recipe ever made. I felt I needed more tomato base to cook the lasagne a little better. However, my husband loved it and commented that it wasn’t too cheesy or oily and the flavours were divine. I would definitely recommend this recipe.
This is a great first one to make! I’m happy you enjoyed it, Tia. Thank you for your review!
Hi Kate: I found your recipe and tried it using the vegetables I had on hand which included mini colored peppers, onions, carrots, chard, spinach, zucchini. I filled a shallow baking pan with the vegetables and drizzled with olive oil, roasted at 400 degrees til slightly carmelized and soft.
These I mixed with the cottage cheese pulsing a few times but leaving them chunky. Made 1 1/2 your recipe to fill a 13×9 pan, sprinkled parmesan over the layers as they were made and baked as directed. It was a huge hit with our family and delicious. Thank you for sharing. Tita
I’m glad you were able to enjoy this lasagna with what you had on hand, Tita. I appreciate your review.
So delicious! I followed the recipe exactly except I prepared a few hours before I baked. It was the best veggie lasagna I have made!
I love that! Thank you for sharing, Amy. I appreciate your review.
Hi Kate,
Can i assemble this lasagna, refrigerate and bake it the next day? I made it earlier and i loved it. Planning on making this for my friends coming over for brunch.
Hi! I find it tends to release water. But, you can try it. Let me know what you think!
I love to recipe and make it all the time is it possible to freeze it? If so should I freeze it baked or unbaked?
Hi Mallory! I haven’t got it just right yet to say the best method. But, I know others haven’t minded it frozen once baked.
Picking up on Sara’s comment about the time, it took me 3 hrs from start to out of the oven; however, with times and not much else going on I enjoyed the afternoon activity! I put on my talk show radio (The Debaters on CBC) and chopped and cooked.
I doubled the recipe, and think that I may have mixed up some of the layering (got distracted by the radio show), but am optimistic that it will still be delicious when it comes out of the oven.
Made this dish over the weekend for dinner and it was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly, using jar marinara and Whole Foods Yellow Lentil and Brown Rice – Gluten Free Lasagne – No Boil. Oh my goodness! I ate this for lunch and dinner until it was completely gone in two days. =)
I’m delighted you loved it and it worked so well for you, Donna. I appreciate your review.
I signed up to take a meal to a new mom in our church. I had planned to bake a spaghetti casserole. . . until I found out she was a vegetarian. I have no vegetarian main dishes in my repertoire, so to the internet I went. This recipe was one of the first ones that came up. What a hit! I made 1 1/2 recipes and put them in 2 8×8 pans, one for the new mom and one for us. My husband and I both loved it. The only thing I did differently was to add a little basil and garlic to the veggie/cottage cheese mixture since I used bottled marina sauce and I thought it needed a little more flavor. I also baked them every bit of 40 minutes. This recipe is a keeper. It will be especially good this summer as I am always looking for ways to use the vegetables from my husband’s garden. Thanks! (I also may come back to your website find some more recipes. You piqued my interest. :)
You’re welcome! I’m delighted you came across this one and really enjoyed giving it to her and now have a new one for your menu! I appreciate the review, Lori.
Just to say this is so awesome I used your recipe with a variety of vegetables as available and my whole family loves it. (When they discovered it wasn’t ricotta they didn’t “like” it as much but I only switched it back to 1/2 ricotta one time and I’ve made this probably 8 times and I’ve used cottage cheese every time without telling. They love it!
I have a question. Can I build it and then refrigerate it overnight before cooking?
Hi Patrick! I’m glad you love it. I haven’t tried it, but others have and didn’t mind the results. I find it does release some water and have a more watery result when baked. Let me know what you think if you try it!
Good evening, I’ve made this dish several times. Each time it tasted great! But it has a lot of liquid every time. What am I doing wrong? Please help make a great dish with less liquid. Thanks
Hi Iris, I’m sorry to hear that! Are you cooking your vegetables long enough to get the water out of them? If you are using more vegetables than suggested, that can impact your results as well.
This was absolutely delicious. Thank you for taking the time to make this and your clear directions.
The ONLY thing I’d tweak at all is I used twice the amount of the Marina sauce (I used your recommended recipe for the sauce).
Absolutely it was perfect in the timing of cooking it. Bravo bravo!!!
Cooking this tonight, smells delicious, havn’t even assembled it yet, will let you know how it turns out
Going to try this today! Can it be frozen? What would those instructions look like? Cook, cool then freeze or freeze then cook? Thanks
Hi! I don’t have a technique finalized just yet, but I believe others have done it and not minded the results. I would suggest frozen once cooked, completely cooled.
We made this as a veggie option for our Lutheran school’s hot lunch. It was a hit! The school had parents calling for the recipe because their kids loved it so much. It has become a regular item on the menu. It is very easy to make in large batches, super healthy, and tasty. Thanks, Kate, for another great veggie-filled recipe!
This was ridiculously good! I followed the recipe pretty closely and it tasted so fresh I think, large in part, due to the homemade tomato sauce with fresh basil. I do think with some short cuts including ones Kate suggested you could really have this be a pretty quick meal. I didn’t food process the veggies and wondering if it would have been just as good skipping processing the cottage cheese too. Thanks for this. Can’t wait to make again and perfect freezer meal.
I made the vegetarian lasagna today and it was stupendous! Really, really delicious. I used the sheet noodles and they worked great. Thank you for sharing your wonderful food.
You’re welcome, Janet! Thank you for your review.
could you specify reheating instructions – 325 for 30 min from cold? loosely covered or uncovered? making to take out of town
Hi Mary, I don’t have specific reheating instructions, sorry. I would advise to watch the top so it doesn’t get over done if reheating in the oven.
Very tasty and so packed with veggies!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Anna! Thank you for your review.
Made this for our family. It was the best veggie lasagna I’ve ever had! Thank you so much.
This was fantastic. 5 stars. Everyone loved it. I used Paul Newman’s Marinara sauce and added fresh basil. Used lactose free ricotta in place of cottage cheese. Also I always use fresh lasagne noodles now never the box type. I find they taste so much better. A definite make again.
Just an observation, in addition to my earlier five-star rating: that 28-oz can of tomatoes plus the other sauce ingredients makes closer to 4 cups of sauce than 2.
But: sauce is good!!!
Thank you for sharing, Annie!
This was absolutely delicious! The best lasagna I’ve ever made. You know it’s a win when a 2 year old likes it too. I actually made this in a 9×13 without adding anything except more noodles (3 layers of 5 noodles) and the quantity was good if you don’t like your lasagna too saucy. I’m definitely gonna make it again, and will add a small can of tomato sauce to see how that works out. Thank you for a delicious recipe!
I love it! Thank you for sharing your feedback, Alissa.
AMAZING recipe! Everyone loved it – definitely a keeper!! Thanks for posting!
I added some Parmesan to the cottage cheese and an egg white. Other than that, followed to a tee!
This definitely took at least 2 hours to make… The baking/cooling time alone is an hour. If I had looked at the recipe a little closer when choosing, I probably would’ve chose a different one because of the time issue.
I subbed the zucchini for some mushroom, omitted the carrot, and added riccota cheese to the mix and it turned out really tasty!
Hi Emily, I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed by the timing. I try to be as accurate as I can, but I know it can vary based on everyone’s timing to cut, cook, assemble, etc. I’m glad you enjoyed the end result!
LOVED the flavor of this lasagna! However, I would love a little more noodle. I used the no boil kind but they seemed thin. Can I used two of them in a layer instead of just one?
This is great lasagna that vegetarians and non-vegetarians could love . Well-done!
Hi Vicki, I would suggest trying a different brand if you found them to be thin. That hasn’t been my experience. I’m not sure doubling the noodle layer will result in it to bake correctly.
My family doesn’t like onion, will it ruin the consistency if I leave them out?
Hi! You can omit if you like and add some more carrots. The onion helps with the overall flavor, but if your family isn’t a fan you won’t miss it. I hope ti’s a hit, Jenifer.
I have never left a review before, but felt I had to with this one. My husbands spag bol has always been our family favourite, but looking to get more veggies into our kids I googled and found this recipe and thought I’d give it a go. Silly move, now the kids ask for this over the spag bol every time! I often make 2 on the weekends now and they’ll even take it cold for school lunches, thank you so much for sharing, looking into your other recipes now, take care
For more of a noodle, could you put two noodles instead of one of the no bake type? This recipe is great by the way!
Hi Vicki! I don’t think it’s going to get enough liquid to the noodles to cook them. Let me know if you try it.
Love the recipe, can this lasagna be frozen?
Hi! I’m glad you love it. I know others have done it and not minded the results. Let me know what you think!
I made this recipe as is and refrigerated it for 24 hours uncooked.
Baked the next day in preheated 425°oven for 20 minutes then turned it 180° and baked uncovered for another 13 minutes. Cooled for 15 minutes and it was perfect!
That’s great! I’m happy to hear it worked for you that way. I appreciate your sharing and providing a review, Margaret!
Made a double recipe of this for dinner tonight- added lots of mushrooms for texture and ‘meatiness’, made a bechamel with almond milk to sub for the ricotta. FABULOUS! The family loved it! The pan was nearly licked clean! Thanks for the recipe, it’s definitely a keeper!
Mushrooms are a great option here! Thank you for sharing, Janeen.
Delicious!!!
This is our absolute favorite lasagna recipe. Our go-to when we have friends over for dinner and just want to pop something in the oven.
I love that! Thank you for sharing, Elaine.
Hi Kate. I tried this and it was delicious. I used mushrooms instead of zucchini and I used ricotta. Next time I’ll try it with cottage cheese. It was even better reheated. Thanks.
Has anyone tried this recipe with ricotta? Curious if it comes out well with that instead of the cottage cheese.
Hi, it will be delicious too. I just prefer cottage cheese here.
I’m a big fan and your recipes are my “go to first”. I often use the 2X function and never ran into the problems I did today with your Best vegetable Lasagna. It would be so helpful if you would note that when the recipe calls for a cup of cottage cheese or 1/2 cup of sauce it should be noted that measurement also needs to be doubled. It should also be noted that doubling the recipe requires a 9×12 at least. Doubling all the vegetables and cheese actually makes too much of the mixture. Despite all this the taste was awesome but there’s a lot of mixture left over. Going to save it to spoon over cooked broad noodles..
Hi, I’m sorry that it didn’t work perfectly. Doubling lasagna isn’t an exact 1:1 unless splitting it into the size of dish originally noted. I appreciate your feedback, Sonny.