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.
Delicious… All made from scratch, even the 17 year old anti veggie boy took a second serve!
Win! Thank you, Valerie. I appreciate the review.
Would this be a good recipe to freeze?
I haven’t tried freezing all my recipes, but I have heard from other readers this freezes well!
Made this last night with my dad and it turned out perfect!
Great! Thank you, Anjali.
Made this tonight and it was delish! I am a new vegetarian and love your cookbook and blog. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Denise!
Loved it! All that vegetable-loaded cheesy deliciousness. Spouse thought the carrots were still a bit too al dente even after the “2nd cut”, so next time I’ll go with shredded carrots that will virtually dissolve. I think we’d add a layer of quartered canned-in-brine artichoke hearts during the layering next time, and there will definitely be a next time on this recipe. Thanks Kate!
Thanks for sharing, Mike!
This recipe is definitely one for the books!!! Didn’t have to modify a thing. So delicious!!!
Thank you, Jen!
Hi! Is it possible to use regular Lasagna noodles that need to be boiled? I already have some at home. And would I boil them as normal and just start assembling everything or would these type of noodles affect the recipe? Thanks!
You can use those! Follow my suggestions on prepping the GF no bake noodles. It should be very similar.
I’m struggling to search comments so I apologize if this is a duplicate, but I am making this tonight. It sounds and looks amazing. I have eggplant on hand, as well as a few turnips and carrots…beets…from our CSA. I know you said we could sub veggies, without omitting the onion, so I’m curious what you think would be best. Or could I try all without overwhelming the whole thing. I hate when people make a recipe and change it up, THEN rate it, so I want to keep it as close to your original as I can :)
Yes, you can sub vegetables that you like! I’m not sure how beets would work. But, eggplant and carrots would be delicious together.
This is truly best lasagne I’ve ever had. Entertained 8 guests they loved it
Def use the homemade tomato sauce it makes a big difference from bottled sauce. Tastes fresher.
Wonderful, Marianne!
Didn’t miss the meat! I will make this again.
Wonderful, Susan!
Best veggie lasagna indeed….. thank you!!
You’re welcome!
Is it possible to make and freeze this lasagna recipe? Thanks!
I don’t try to freeze all my recipes, but I believe other readers have had success freezing this recipe. You can look through readers’ comments to get tips! :)
Going to make this for my Daughter. Was wondering can you freeze what’s left over
I don’t try to freeze all my recipes, but I believe other readers have had success freezing this recipe. You can look through readers’ comments to get tips! :)
Going to make this for my Daughter tomorrow. Can you tell me if it’s ok to freeze the left overs for her
I don’t try to freeze all my recipes, but I believe other readers have had success freezing this recipe. You can look through readers’ comments to get tips! :)
This looks great. I am going to make it this weekend. There’s only two of us and I don’t want to freeze any. Do you think I could just use a loaf pan and cut the recipe in half?
Sorry I didn’t get to this until now. How did it go, Leslie?
Hey! Love his recipe so much it’s a staple for us, but I always make it in an 8×8 because for the life of me I can’t find a 9 in pan! Would you give me a link to the one you have? It would be greatly appreciated!! Big fan.
Yes! Checkout my shop page. You will find it there: https://capital-fly.pro/healthy-kitchen-essentials/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
So I tried tripling it to make everyone their lasagna of choice (one kid without vegetables, one white noodles). I should have measures the cheese sauce and tomato sauce better, but it still turned out delicious! I ended up cooking the tomato sauce and it is so much better than jarred! This will be my new go to sauce, I am whipping up a big pot of it today!
Wonderful, Dena! Thank you for sharing.
I made this lasagna tonight as we had a guest for dinner who was vegetarian. Honestly, it was fabulous. It was a hit with everyone! Packed with flavour. This is one I will for sure be making again. Thank you Kate. Your recipes continue to inspire me to cook healthy and to explore the world of vegetarian cooking. Awesome.
You’re welcome, Maggie! Thanks so much for your review.
I made this for my Mom when she was visiting and she ate it 3 days in a row! She loved it, as did I. My only adjustment was to include eggplant as well as the other veggies. Good recipe! Makes plenty (we got a good 6 large sizes portions out of one dish) .
Yes, makes a lot! I’m glad you liked it, Gina de. I appreciate your review.
This recipe resulted in an INCREDIBLE lasagna! I am just started my first full time job in a big city and cooking intricate meals (such as a lasagna!!) has kind of scared me; however, this recipe was easy to follow and came out delicious. Thank you thank you Kate!!!
Congratulations on the new gig and trying something new in the kitchen too! I’m glad this one worked well for you.
Hey Kate!! Love your recipes!! I’ve made two of your salads, arugula and watermelon salad and one with kale, apple, goat cheese, dried cranberries and toasted pecans. Everyone LOVES those. A question about the veggie lasagna: Can it be made ahead of time and frozen?? I bought all my ingredients for a dinner party and the party was postponed until next month! Thanks for your advice!
Hi Nancy! I’m happy to hear it. I don’t freeze all my recipes, but I believe other readers have had success with freezing it. Let me know what you think!
I was in search of a comforting meal after a rough week, and by chance I came across this recipe. It was wonderful! I also included some mushrooms, and replaced half of the cottage cheese with ricotta for a bit of decadence. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you, Kate!
I’m so happy to hear it, Aoife! Thanks for your review.
I never leave comments on blogs but this is literally the best lasagna I have ever had! Even my non vegetarian husband went back for seconds! Thank you, I will definitely be making this again!
This is a fantastic recipe. I’ve made it 3 times, tweaking it each time. I added some vegetarian ground to the tomato sauce for added protein and everybody raved about it. I’ve used sweet potato once and it was also great. I also added 1/2 ricotta and 1/2 cottage cheese with homemade lasagna noodles and it was incredible.
I’ve also frozen different batches. If using no-cook noodles, you must cook the lasagna first. You can freeze it uncooked if using regular cooked noodles (don’t recommend with homemade noodles). The best results I found were with baking the lasagna before freezing.
Thanks for sharing your variation, Susan! I love you have made it more than once and are changing it up. Thanks for your review!
My vegetarian friends were impressed and w all enjoyed…
YUMMY!
Thank You!
Susan
Had to use regular lasagna as I use glycemic pastas. Partial cooked drained and well and finished the cook process in the oven.
Susan
Thank you, Susan for sharing! I appreciate the review.
I kind of like texture with the veggies..any issue with not chopping in the food processor? Cut mine small enough, but they look so yummy and pretty.
Susan
This was delicious! A 9×9 pan was too small- I used a 9×12. I used mushrooms instead of carrots. Next time I’ll add some Parmesan cheese.
Thank you, Maggie!
Oh my! This is bloody awesome, I made it veggie and gluten free and it’s the best lasagna I’ve ever eaten and I’ve had a few in my time ;) I now have a very happy boyfriend too who is ridiculously fussy!! Thanks
Hooray!! All is well when everyone loves it. Thank you, Shona!
So much flavour, loved this! Currently packing away for lunches for the week. Delish!
Yes, great lunch option! Thank you, Liz.
Made this recipe over the weekend and it was super yummy! I love how when you write your recipes Kate you add notes when to wash a dish or when not to when you are going to use it more than once. Greatly appreciated.
I’m glad you find that note helpful, Allison! I appreciate your comment and review.
Is this ok to freeze after assembly or would it need to be cooked before freezing?
Hi Hillary! Great question. Although I don’t freeze most of my recipes but I believe readers have tried this both ways with success. Hope this helps!
I literally never post comments on recipes I try out because I’m either left disappointed or not totally blown away. That was NOT the case for this recipe; I love this lasagna!! My boyfriend requests it every week! I use half mozzarella, half parmesan but other than that I don’t alter the recipe one bit. Thank you so much for this delicious recipe
I love that it’s a weekly request! Thank you, Llyssa for sharing and for your review.
hi kate,
I’m excited to try your recipe!
For gluten free lasagna noodles I use Catelli’s sans gluten free lasagna pasta noodles. They make great pasta!
Thanks for sharing your gluten-free favorite! I will have to check that brand out.
This absolutely delicious. Cooking the veggies beforehand takes out all the leakage ;)
I was skeptical but am obsessed- I’m not even a big lasagna fan but this recipe changed me! Amazing.
I’m glad you are obsessed! Thanks for sharing and for your review.
Thanks a lote for the recipe!
It was quite fast and easy to make, but soooo yummy at the same time
Love to hear that! Thanks for your review, Khrustyna.
Made this for the second time tonight! It is absolutely delicious. I added 2 layers of beefles ground beef to give it a meaty quality for my carnivorous guests. I couldn’t ask for a better lasagna recipe!
Thanks for sharing, Valerie! I appreciate the review.
Best Vegetable Lasagna – this truly is amazing! It’s our go-to recipe for winter comfort food and we also serve it to guests.
However, I am vegetarian and wonder if you have a recommended protein to add that won’t change the wonderful texture?
Hi Heather! I’m really glad you like this recipe. There is protein in both the grain of the noodle and cheese. If you feel like you need more, you could look to possibly add some lentils? However, I haven’t tried it with this recipe.
I just made this recipe and I loved it!!! so good!!! I added mushrooms and some left over sweet potato I had in the fridge, and I used crushed tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes for the sauce. It was really delicious! Definitely I will be making this again. I don’t think I’ve made a recipe of yours that I haven’t liked. Thank you!
Hooray! I’m so happy to hear you love this and other recipes, Marisa.
Wow delicious! I’m not a huge veggie lasagna fan because it’s usually mostly mushrooms and spinach, but this is so flavourful and I love the cottage cheese instead of ricotta! This will definitely be made again :)
Great to hear!
Just baked the lasagna. Thought I’d make ahead for the guests tomorrow. I saw ealier that it was fine to refrigerate after completely baking it. What temperature and time should I reheat it for prior to serving it? Your answer will really help.
Thank you.
Hi! You can reheat individual pieces in a microwave. I haven’t reheated the full dish after preparing it, but you could search the comments to see what other readers have done. Sorry!
Made this tonight and it was so flavorful and the texture was perfect! The marinara sauce was so yummy…I am going to make it again for pasta. Thanks for helping me to impress my date!
I bet you impressed your date all on your own, Sarah! But, I’m happy you like this. Thanks for commenting and for your review!
Hi. I’d like to try this vegetarian lasagna. But I’m a little skeptical about puréeing the veggies. Seems like they are chopped pretty small to begin. Have you ever Not puréed them?
Hi! The puree helps with the overall texture/consistency and helps with baking volume. It really worked best flavor and baking when pureed. Thanks for the question, Anita!
Hi Kate,
I just made this Lasagna today and it was really good,easy to make and very tasty!!the the only thing i have to change was the onion i used some mushrooms instead,
Thanks.
Marjanne
Wonderful! Thanks, Marjanne.
Made this last night for dinner. DELICIOUS! I failed to focus on the pan size (9X9) before I started and I only have an 8×8 or a 9×13. I went with the 9×13 and added extra noodles. Because of this change, I was short on sauce. Next time I will make a bit more sauce since I prefer using the larger pan size. This was the creamiest most delicious veggie lasagna I’ve ever made. Thank you!!
Thank you, Melissa for sharing!
Does this freeze well?
I haven’t tried it but I believe others have had success!
This was so delicious!! I’d never even tried vegetarian lasagna before but decided to make it for a family dinner, as we have a vegetarian in the family. I doubled the recipe and my only regret is that there aren’t more leftovers.
I did make few modifications though, I used my own tomato sauce that I’d made from my garden tomatoes. Also, I had already cooked the noodles by the time I found this recipe so to cut back on the liquid I used used half dry curd cottage and half regular cottage cheese. Worked wonderfully, will definitely be making this again, thanks so much for the tasty recipe!
Thank you for trying it, Laura! I appreciate the review.
The recipe specifies 30 minutes cooking time. However, it also says 30 minutes of baking alone, plus 12 minutes to cook the vegetables plus extra time for the spinach, so in total there are at least 45 minutes cook time for the recipe as its written.
Hi Alex, I’m sorry for the confusion. The full details are Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 1 hour (plus 15 minutes cooling time). Hopefully that makes more sense. :)
I enjoyed this lasagna recipe very much. I chose to use ricotta instead of cottage cheese. I also added mushrooms. I don’t have a food processor so used a hand-held blender. I think the results turned out very well. What I like about this is that it is so much lighter then my other traditional meat sauce lasagna recipe. The simplicity of the sauce really helps the flavor of all the fresh vegetables shine through. Thanks!
Great to hear, Michelle! I appreciate you taking the time to comment and review.
I don’t have a food processor any tomato sauce you recommend to use?
You will really want to make sure the vegetable are chopped small. Muir Glen® Organic is a good brand overall.