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.
The absolute best veggie lasagna I have tried!
Thank you for your review, Elizabeth!
I hate cooked spinach. Is it ok to substitute basil instead?
I haven’t made this yet but hope to today.
Thank you!
You can omit and try another vegetable if you like instead.
Hello. This was delicious! Question: for the 3 cups of vegetables total (excluding onion), do you mean 3 cups precooked or 3 cups after cooking? I measured out 3 cups of *cooked* veggies to mix into the cottage cheese, but it seemed like too much, like the cottage cheese got lost. I also food processed the veggies before cooking, so skipped the second go in the food processor. My knife skills are nonexistent. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi, the amount is chopped before cooking. I hope that helps! Looks like you had too many vegetables. I’m glad you were still able to enjoy it.
Thanks for the recipe. What can I replace spinach with?
Kale could work, or omit and add extra veggies. I hope you love it!
WOW this is so delicious and easy to make! I’ve never bothered to make a cashew sauce myself and it was SOO worth it. Can’t wait to share and make again
It’s cooking in the oven right now! I didn’t find precooked lasagna and I have a clingy 9 month old with me so I spent the entire afternoon making these…AND I DIDN’T EVEN DO THE MARINARA SAUCE MYSELF.
Well, I know your recipes are always on point so it’s worth it :)
Thank you, Marie! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
This is so yum the kids love it!
Can I freeze it?
Hi! I know others have froze it and didn’t mind the results. I do find it’s best right away, but can be an option to freeze.
Absolutely amazing. Definitely the best vegetarian lasagna I’ve had. I subbed roasted red pepper in place of the red pepper and as I don’t have a food processor and like my veggies a little chunkier, did it that way. I also used my own tomato sauce. This is so moist and flavourful. The carrots definitely add a sweetness as does frying the veggies together. I’ve shared with two friends (both the lasagna and the recipe) so that they can continue spreading the good word. Will definitely be checking out more of your recipes. Keep up the good work.
I’m glad you agree this one is the best, Kristine! Thank you for your review.
Your ingredients state “grated” cheese. The video and assembly instructions show “shredded”! Which is it?
Hi, they can be one in the same. Follow the images for guidance.
Can you freeze your lasagna ?
Hi Barbara, I don’t have my tips and tricks down just yet. But, others have froze it and didn’t mind the results.
I enjoy cooking.I read recipes like others read novels.Your best ever vegetable lasagne May really the yummiest bestest.I make it over and over again cause I can’t find a better recipe.Thank you
I have just cooked a variation of your recipe (did not have zucchini, so used an eggplant, used frozen spinach as there was no fresh one at home, plus did our preferred mix of spices), and it looks amazing! I cannot wait for the family to get back home so we could taste it :)
If I want to make this ahead of time and freeze it, should I bake it before freezing and then reheat or freeze before I bake? Thanks!
Hi, I think this would be best baked, cooled completely then frozen would work best.
I made this recipe for the first time tonight and it came out great! I followed the instructions to the letter, and it was creamy and rich and delicious. I didn’t quite have the right size of pan (8″ x 8″ instead of 9″ by 9″) so I had to leave it in a little longer than the recipe stated, but it still came out just fine. Recommend!
Thank you for sharing, A.F! I’m delighted you enjoyed it.
After reading the comments & recipe several times, I banged out this lasagna in 45 min. I used jarred tomato puree which had basil in it, adding olive oil, garlic powder & s&p. I had 4 little zucchini but no carrots, so chopped those, removing seeds & tossed them into a hot pan to cook while prepping the rest. Since the veg were going in the processor anyway, no need for perfect chopping. I used a 9×13″ pan and did an extra layer of noodles with about a half cup extra sauce. It was delicious & my family loved it.
I’m happy you tried it and loved it, Bee! I appreciate you taking the time to review.
I’ve made this 3x now. The 2 bf time I made it, my hubby tried it! To my superior, he loved it. So I made it again delicious
That’s great, Jennifer!
Hi Kate, I Luved this recipe! I added 1 teaspoon of dried basil, 1 teaspoon dried oregano & 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley to my veggies when cooking. I used mushrooms instead of Zucchini. Used Cento Pasta Sauce in a jar which I always love. Everything else I followed from the recipe and so grateful. Thanks so much!
You’re welcome, Elaine!
Hi from Whistler, BC! When my family comes to visit and stay for extended weekend time together I make this delicious Vegetarian Lasagna in advance. It is perfect for everyone in the group – and the vegetarians especially appreciate it! I always try to make extra – 1 large dish for the family and a smaller one for a future meal. Thanks for the great recipe – so easy to follow!
Thank you for sharing, Barb! I’m happy this works well for you in advance and is a hit with everyone.
This is my daughters favourite veggie lasagna – she’s requested it to be made as a pasta bake – wish me good luck!!!
Hi Kate, can i just say thanks for an awesome recipe! Im always on the hunt for new dishes. I have a partner who has major food sensitivity issues with food due to an illness, so it’s nearly impossible to find a dish that doesn’t upset his stomach. Makes my heart ❤️ happy when he really enjoys a meal without issues.
This was even loved by my son! So a major winner here.
All i changed was i added mushroom and only had a leek on hand so substituted that for the white onion.
Thank you again
Your’e welcome! I’m glad this works well for your partner.
I love this recipe. This is now my go to for lasagna recipe. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome, Tabitha!
this was fairly simple and tasted really nice ! good recipe and will use again :)
I tried your recipe to make lasagna for the first time and I am glad it came out delicious, everyone loved it! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I used brown rice no boil lasagna sheets which took longer about 50 min to cook.
That’s great! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much for this recipe! It is delicious, nutritious and well balanced. I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant and found that the protein in the cottage cheese helped to control my blood sugar levels rather than a carb heavy lasagna!
This is now a regular in our house!
I’m glad you found something that helped and were able to enjoy this! Thank you for sharing, Anne.
Hi Kate,
I have made this 2 times now and it is great. I just changed out the red pepper for broccoli ( the wife don’t like peppers), and use a canned sauce instead of making the sauce. We won’t be buying ready made frozen Veg lasagna for a while.
Thanks and have a great day
Jim
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jim! I appreciate your review.
I’ve made this multiple times and love it! Can you make ahead and freeze it? Bake it first and then freeze?
Hi! I don’t have my go-to freeze method just yet. But, I do know others have enjoyed this frozen once baked and cooled.
This was a perfect meal to take a friend who eats vegetarian and just had a baby! I doubled the ingredients so I could make one for them and another for my family. We have to eat gluten free and since I was almost out of gf lasagna noodles I opted to mix everything with par-cooked gf penne. It was DELICIOUS!!! Thank you for the amazing recipe. It’s a keeper!
The only way to improve this recipe is to use thinly sliced sweet potato instead of lasagna noodles. It is, also, very easy to throw in whatever veggies are in the fridge. I didn’t have spinach but used swiss chard. More bitter and needed a little more salt but still lovely.
Thanks you Kate. I made this dish for dinner yesterday using your recipe. Excellent recipe, tasted delicious. Easily the best lasagna I have ever tasted, this recipe goes into my family treasures.
I will start this review off by saying that I am not a vegetarian, but I decided to do a “vegetarian week” this week, meaning I wouldn’t eat any meals with meat, as I am trying to live a healthier lifestyle. I knew that in order for this to work successfully, I would need to have my meals planned and have some filling options. On Sunday, I planned every day out and purchased my ingredients. On Monday, I made Cookie + Kate’s “Better Broccoli Casserole.” I found it to be slightly time-consuming to make, but it was delicious and well-worth the effort. On Wednesday, I opted to make the Best Vegetable Lasagna. It was absolutely phenomenal! My mom loved it as well! We, both, agreed that we would probably add mushrooms next time. The only downside was the time that it took to prepare. However, I was prepared for this as I had thoroughly read the comments before opting to make it. Next time, I will probably make this on a weekend as I found that it’s not practical for me to make this after work because I have other commitments. I didn’t process the cottage cheese or the vegetable mixture and it was SO good layered without doing this step. I had purchased the ingredients with the intent to make a homemade marinara sauce, however, after chopping all of the vegetables, I realized I was tired and wanted to speed things along, lol. So I found some tomato and basil sauce in the pantry, heated it and added garlic and several seasonings to it so it wouldn’t taste so pre-made. I like how every layer of this was seasoned. Excited to find more Cookie + Kate recipes to enjoy in the near future!
Thank you for your detail! I’m delighted you tried so many of my recipes that week.
This is the first time I’ve made a vegetable lasagna that stayed solid when I served it from the pan. Cooking the veggies first and then combining them with the cottage cheese made the difference! Will definitely make this again.
Wonderful to hear, Jean! Thank you for sharing.
What a delicious recipe, this is a keeper. First making seemed to take along time, but second and third making was easy. Thankyou, will pass it on
This recipe looks great! I’d like to make enough for a 9″x13″ pan as I don’t think the 9×9 will be enough and I don’t have two 9x9s. Any chance you have the amounts for a 9×13? Or should I just multiply the ingredients by 1.5? Thank you!
Hello! This recipe is fun, easy, and just delicious! I followed it to the letter, and it came out perfectly. It’s also very pleasant to make at every stage in that it is pretty, with all the vegetable colors, and surprising — whipping cottage cheese! And it’s easy to assemble. The proportions are right on. Everything works. The result: a child who normally doesn’t like lasagna LOVED it. My husband, too, commented for hours afterwards that this was an amazing dish. Served with a simple salad, it was really perfect. Someone had commented that it took them a long time, so I kept that in mind and focused on chopping my veggies quickly. The chopping took me 20 minutes.From start to finish, I would say the timing estimates given by Cookie and Kate were pretty spot on, although I used a jarred sauce. But really, kudos on a very useful and practical recipe that will become a staple.
I’m happy you liked it, Stephanie! Thank you or your detailed comment and review.
Oh man! This was so good! I didn’t blend the veggies and used pumpkin squash, 3 diff peppers, mushrooms, garlic and onion along with snap pea micro greens.I made a “meat sauce”using jar sauce and quinoa crumble for the “meat” I also made the vegan sour cream (2 tbsp) of nutritional yeast and combined half of it w/ store bought pesto (didn’t have the ingredients to make it from scratch). Topped w/ plant bases parm and oh man! We ate the whole dish! I’ll dbl it next time because it was a real hit! Thx so much for this! I’ve been craving lasagna since I stopped eating meat and this hit the spot! It was pretty quick & easy!
Honestly this is the best lasagna we’ve ever made! It’s packed full of flavor and absolutely delicious! Great way to get all your veg, this is definitely getting added to our lineup.
Made this today and I have to say it’s delicious and once I got my head around the method it was so easy to make and will probable be a bit quicker next time.
Will definitely be making this again
Thank you for sharing
If you were to freeze this for later consumption would you bake it or leave it unbaked before freezing?
Hi Laura, I don’t have my method down just yet, but I recommend freezing once it’s been baked.
Made this last night for dinner tonight. Unfortunately I missed the part about cooking ahead and reheating. Hope it works out ok! :)
How did it turnout? I hope you enjoyed it!
I am planning to make it tomorrow, however I only have ricotta cheese , can I substitute instead of the cottage cheese?
Hi Shukla, Yes ricotta can work as well. I just prefer cottage cheese here.
Good Afternoon Kate! Am I able to make this the night before and not bake it until the following night?
Thank you
Hi Pree, I find it can release water as it sits. I prefer it baked right away, but others haven’t minded the results. It can just be more mushy.
This was really, really good. I had seconds. My kitchen looked like a disaster because I don’t cook a lot and I’m a hot mess. TY for a yummy recipe!! Next time I will have a 9×9 dish too:) hmmm what to make next from your site…
That’s great, Patti! Thank you for your review.
Hi Kate, I wanted to ask, I don’t normally used ready made noodles, so I was wondering if there isn’t more liquid, do the noodles cook okay and is it moist enough? I mean, it looks so easy and delicious, maybe it just looks too easy to be that yummy …LOL
Hi! You can use regular noodles, just follow my notes on the gluten free noodles. I hope you love it!
I added some cooked corn which gave an interesting texture contrast. Kroger’s oven ready worked great, with a cup of milk added just before cooking. 50 minutes at 375, removed the foil and another 15 to brown.
If you drain the veggie mixture overnight, you then can assemble the lasagna and store it to bake later. I double the tomato sauce and don’t purée the vegetables as I like the texture. I have made this for my family and for friends to rave reviews.
Thank you for sharing, Nancy!
This was phenomenal! My veggie-hating son ate this without complaint and even asked me to send it in a thermos to school tomorrow for lunch! Incredible flavor. Made sure to get the veggies nice and carmelized.
This was so good…the whole family loved it! Thank you! I made the filling the day before and then assembled it all the following day. I used 2 bottles of spaghetti sauce because we love it extra saucy.
My family loves this recipe and I’ll take a cottage cheese lasagna over ricotta every time. I also like that there’s plenty of room to customize. I made the sauce with strained tomatoes from the Italian market and pesto instead of scratch, and it turned out great. The first time I used the marinara, and that was also great.
I suggest leaving the whipped cottage cheese in the bottom of the blender and then just dumping the veggies on top. Only a couple steps saved but still a win.
One small argument – lasagna pans and noodles are not designed for 9×9. For those who are with me on this, the recipe works fine with 9×13, and I shuffled the layers to accommodate 12 noodles.
Making this for the first time today. I have a bumper crop of fresh tomatoes this year and wondered about substituting the fresh for the canned. is there anything special you need to do to the tomatoes when using fresh? Haven’t tasted it yet but looks and smells delicious!
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure, Chrissy. Sorry!
My daughter is a vegetarian so I am always on the lookout for tasty and healthy recipes. I have made this lasagna a few times now and it always turns out great. I have made it with the marinara sauce from your recipe but the last time I tried it with homemade lentil bolognese to up the protein and it was also delicious. It also freezes really well. She is leaving for university next week and she asked me to make her a big batch that we can freeze in portions because it is the meal she will miss the most when she leaves home. Thanks so much for the amazing recipe!
What a great idea, Gaby! Thank you for your review.
This was wonderful- worth all the time it took to prepare! Great way to use up those garden vegetables! Even the meat eaters loved it! Will definitely make again!
I love it! Thank you for your review, Pam.