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.
Followed recipe, absolutely delicious!
I am super excited to make it for Thanksgiving!!!!!!!
I hope it was a hit, Lily! Thank you for your review.
I’m in a new awesome 6 week relationship and I’m hosting for the first time. I wanted to make something that I could put in the fridge and throw in the oven the next day for dinner. Your recipe was my first and only click. I have never made homemade lasagna, or pasta sauce. I enjoy to cook I’m always cooking at home just never done this type of entree. I followed your directions exactly and it came out perfectly he said it was so good I could sell it..lol thank you so much for a simple, fun, exciting, and healthy dish. I finally have a go-to dish for certain occasion..yay!
Made it for dinner today and it was lekker = delicious as we say in the Netherlands. I left the veggies in their diced shape and added mozzarella as final topping.
I made this for my families ‘day after Thanksgiving’ meal. BEST vegetarian lasagne I’ve ever had. I divided the veggies into 3 and made a little more marinara so I could have an extra layer
Thank you for sharing, Bethany! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hi! This recipe looks delicious. And, funny, but both the lasagna and the sauce recipes are very similar to a veggie lasagna dish that I crafter many years ago, when my daughter first adopted a vegetarian lifestyle. (I add mushrooms, but no peppers) Both my husband’s and my families will eat it w/o missing any meat.
Sooo good! I’ve never used cottage cheese before in lasagna (opted for a lactose-free brand) but I really didn’t notice a difference between this and my usual ricotta. I also couldn’t find zucchini in my supermarket so used eggplant instead (roasted it in the oven for about 20min before adding it to the mix) + I added mushrooms. This recipe is delicious! Will definitely make it again :)
I’m glad you loved it, Erika! Thank you for your review.
Delicious! Need to mark this one for repeats!
That’s great, Cara! Thank you for your review.
Great looking recipe, and I can’t wait to try it. Quick question: are we supposed to puree all of the cottage cheese, or only the first cup of it, and mix in the un-pureed remainder of the cottage cheese? Thanks!
Hi Paul! Yes, see step 6.
It’s cheesy goodness. Followed the directions as given. (Except my baking pan is a different size.)
Wow I’m surprised at the positive reviews! Made this tonight and have genuinely never been so disappointed in a recipe. There are soooo many veggie lasagna recipes, and I recommend people find another. The vegetable preparation is surprising–these would taste good roasted but sautéing and blending make it a strange mash that resembles what you would find in children’s food. Minimal seasoning as well.
Additionally, 180 degrees??? Results in a lukewarm lasagna and have never heard of cooking at such a low temp.
This is like one of those ‘raw’ diet type lasagnas.
Kate should stick to cookies.
Hi Anna, I’m sorry you are disappointed bu this recipe. The temperature to bake is at 425 degrees (step 1). In step 11, it calls for you to rotate the pan 180 degrees, so back side is front and vice versa for even cooking. The temperature confusion likely impacted your results. I hope you try it again.
This comment made me smile. I’ve been guilty of not reading directions too! Btw I tried the recipe and had amazing results!
This looks perfect for my Christmas Eve celebration which will include several vegetarians. Is there a way to adjust the recipe to fit a 12×10 pan in which case I could make two and put them in a chafing dish?
Hi Gina, I haven’t tried to make that much. Sorry to not be of more help!
Hi, Kate
Do you think this recipe is large enough to feed for 4 adults and two young kids? I don’t have a 9 inch square baker. What other size would work?
Hi Amanda! It may be enough, depending on portion size. You could try a 9×13 but it may need less time. I believe others have tried it. Let me know what you think!
Do I thaw it in the refrigerator then bake as directed or bake frozen? If I bake it frozen do I still bake it at 425 and if so for how long?
Hi Lorie! I don’t have those instructions right now. Sorry!
Honestly without fail the best lasagna! My husband and I would eat this any day over the traditional lasagna
Are you supposed to thaw in the refrigerator or cook from frozen?
Hi Lorie, I don’t have specific instructions for you on that. Sorry!
can you use homemade lasagne noodles? and would you have to cook them?
Hi Hillary, I haven’t tried this with fresh noodles, sorry!
This Vegetable Lasagna was fantastic!!!! We had it for Thanksgiving and everyone wanted to bring some home.
Thanks
I’m glad it was a hit!
UNBELIEVABLY good. My meat-loving sons and husband raved about this and I ate 3 pieces. It is a forgiving recipe as well- I didn’t really measure the veggies and messed up the exact layering but it did not matter. Just. so. good. This will be going in my favorites on regular rotation.
Thank you, Laura! I appreciate you taking the time to set me know you all loved it.
I made it & it is very good.. I should have used a larger dish than 9”/9”, when I doubled the quantity I wanted to make.
I went with that size container which did NOT change with the increased quantity
However this is a very tasty recipe
Thank you
Hi Kate!
I have tried a number of your recipes and love them all! Thank you!
I have a question about the cottage cheese you use for this lasagna. In the video, you seem to be using the cottage cheese with curds- the same kind that one can eat plain or on toast. But there is also a smooth, drier cottage cheese that is normally used for baking. I was wondering if I can use that second kind of cottage cheese – the baking one- in this recipe. The biggest motivation for that change is that the baking cottage cheese is far lower in salt. Any idea on how that substitution might work?
Hi, you want the one with the curds. I hope you try it!
Hi Kate, We absolutely loved this vegetable lasagna and your instructions were wonderfully detailed and very clear. I made it with part skim ricotta, bottled sauce, regular lasagna sheets, frozen spinach, added some garlic to the vegetable mixture and did not use the food processor at all. I also sprinkled Italian seasoning and freshly grated Parmesan cheese between the layers. Definitely a five star recipe! Thank you!
I’m glad you loved it, Illiane! I appreciate your review.
Hi! Loved this recipe so much and want to make it for a big family gathering. Could I cook and assemble it and freeze it before baking? Should I thaw before baking or would it release too much liquid? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer! It will likely release a lot of water. You can try to bake and then freeze. I don’t have specific freezer instructions yet, sorry!
My daughter is home from college for the holidays and I’ve been searching for new vegetarian recipes for her and found this one. My husband – a true carnivore – said this is the best lasagna I have ever made and he thinks I should keep it ready for nights when we have company. It is beautiful when done and is truly delicious! The only substitution we made was Cremini mushrooms in place of the zucchini, just because of the availability of good produce in our area in December. Otherwise we followed the recipe exactly and it was so amazingly good! Everybody, vegetarian or not, should try this recipe. It’s a total keeper and will be in our rotation from here on out.
Hello,
How far in advance (how many days) can I make this with it still being just as good as the first day?
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Hi Jean! It does make great leftovers. However, I find it best right out of the oven.
Ok. Awesome! Where can I leave pictures?
Hi Lorriane! You can always share them on social media and #cookieandkate. I’m glad you loved it!
I added a can of Black beans drained even yummier! And shredded cabbage and celery and some pesto sauce
Thanks for the basic recipe though love it
Hello.. I made this recipe today as I have a few vegetarians coming round today! Delicious and really healthy! I added some cheddar for extra cheesiness. I loved how the cottage cheese whipped so smooth too. Would make a great jacket potato filling.
I’ve made it with fresh noodles… excellent
I made your lasagna tonight and it was delicious! I had to use dried basil and some provolone for the topping but otherwise used your recipe exactly! I will definitely keep this recipe and make many more times!!
Hi, I’m late to this party but please……does the mozzarella go stringy?
I have an aversion to stringy cheese but SO want to try this recipe? Thank you
Carole UK
Hi Carole, I don’t find it’s too stringy. I hope you try it!
This is my go-to lasagna recipe! Love it. I typically double it for a full pan so we can freeze the leftovers. I found I don’t need to double the veg however… maybe I just use big veggies? We also occasionally add sausage for the meat eaters and it is a big hit.
Better tasting than I imagined. Loved the cottage cheese instead of traditional Ricotta. I followed recipe exactly except added a cup and a half of cooked mushrooms to the mix, after draining off the extra liquid. I didn’t have quite enough of the red sauce, even when following the recipe exactly. So next time I will make 1.5 times the red sauce recipe.
Wonderful, Maureen!
I’ve made this multiple times (my once finicky daughter doesn’t bother to pick out the veggies because they’re blended in to the cheese and it tastes so good!)
Today I realized I didn’t have any greens and so I harvested a ton of nasturtium leaves and used those! The heat from baking seems to remove the bite from the nasturtium, leaving a more flavorful spinach presence. SO GOOD. Worth trying if you have a bed of nasturtium.
Thank you.
I made this today for lunch and absolutely love it! Very tasty and a new recipe for me to start making. I tried it with mushrooms and used ricotta cheese. Plenty of leftovers for my husband and I since I used a 9×13 pan and increased some of the quantities. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Kristin! Thank you for your review.
This was delicious but I believe I overblended the vegetables. It still tasted great but just didn’t look as good as your pic!I don’t have a food processor so had to use a blender.
Will make again!!
I’m glad you were still able to enjoy it, Cath! If you try it again, let me know what you think.
Can I use a blender instead of a processor?
Hi Jessica, just be sure to not over blend. I hope you love it!
Thanks for the great recipe. One note: your list calls for 8 oz (2 cups) of Mozzarella. Should be 1 cup. Or 16 ounces?
Hi! Volume and weight are the difference. I hope that helps! Let me know what you think, Francis.
My husband and I loved the recipe. Next time I plan to use fewer carrots and 2 zucchini. I’m not a big fan of the no boil noodles so I plan to use the noodles you boil next time.
So good!
I don’t usually comment on recipes, but I here I have to! I’m vegetarian for the last 10y and love lasagna, but I never really found a recipe that measures up with the classic meat version without having to use crazy and unhealthy amounts of cheese – until now. This was just amazing, not mentioning the fact that it is also very healthy! Definitely my favourite veggie lasagna recipe! Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time, Magda! I’m glad you really liked this lasagna.
Can you make this recipe with regular lasagna noodles that you boil. Also can you bake it halfway and finish the baking before you are ready to serve . I am interested assembling it in the morning for dinner that evening.
Hi Dianne! Follow the gluten free instructions if you aren’t using no boil noodles. I don’t find lasagnas do well sitting for too long as they tend to release water from the vegetables and the sauce. If you try it, I would be interested in your results.
Amazing recipe! I absolutely love it. I added in a bit of lean minced meat, since I am a meat lover. It was amazing. I kept the ration 4:1 veggies to meat and I regret nothing. Will be keeping this recipe close to heart. Thanks so much.
You’re welcome, Saretha! I appreciate your review.
Wowza! This is absolutely delicious! I have to say I am a Midwest girl and love my meat. I prefer this!
I did substitute the cottage cheese for ricotta cheese. I added mushrooms and a jalapeno for some kick. I didn’t have basil so I added more spinach.
Thank you so much!
Love this!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Nicole!
Great recipe! I subbed store bought vodka marinara for the sauce. I also added chopped garlic and Italian seasoning to the vegetables, and then grated parmesan to the mozzarella because I thought it needed a bit more flavor.
This lasagna was the tastiest veggie one I have made. I used muscapone cheese instead of ricotta and had no mozzarella, so had to use a touch of cheddar. I loved the garlicky tomato layer and no bechemel sauce layer. Great recipe. Thanks!
It’s delicious. I substituted ricotta for cottage cheese. Also added faux meat crumbles to the veggies. It’s one of our favorite dinners.
I made your recipe today. It was great! I bought a new Cuisinart, and I wanted to put it through its paces. This was a perfect dish for that. I have to learn how to chop vegetables less; they all came out chopped too small, the opposite of my hand chopping. But it tasted good. It is hard to spread ingredients evenly. But it worked out well.
I’m glad it still tasted good! Yes, be sure to not over process. I hope you try it again, Orval!
I made this lasagna on Sunday. I think I could have used more mozzarella cheese. The middle layers did not seem very cheesey at all. It was like the cottage cheese ate all of my mozzarella cheese! lol…
But the flavor was really great. The cottage cheese didn’t really melt inside the lasagna though, for me. It tasted fine, but it was not melty cheese.
You can always add more cheese :) Thank you for your feedback and review!
This was the best lasagna ever. I had meat eaters talking about how amazing it was and how they would rather have this than any other version with meat. I have shared this recipe with so many people and they have loved it. Highly recommend and wouldn’t change a thing. Except to make an extra and freeze it to have it whenever I want. Thanks for the great recipe!
This recipe is INCREDIBLE! Even the meat-eaters in my family enjoyed it. The only change I made was subbing green pepper for red (that’s what I had on hand) and using spicy marinara sauce purchased from the store.
A++++
Wonderful to hear, Michelle! I’m glad you enjoyed it.