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.
I just made this and because I don’t have a food processor, I didn’t smooth out the cottage cheese or the veggies. Still amazing! One this to note: the store didn’t have the gluten free no boil noodles I like (made from lentils) or no-boil whole wheat ones, so I used ones made with corn and rice. It could be in my head, but I feel like there’s a hint of corn tortilla peeking through, and I don’t like it! Hopefully I won’t notice as the days go on and the flavors of the sauce, veggies, and seasoning get bolder
Thank you for sharing how you were able to make this work, Erin! I appreciate your review.
What is missing here is Oregano. In a 9 x 13 I use 2 teaspoons. A 9 x 9 might take only 1 teaspoon.
Why no Parmesan cheese in this dish?
I prefer it as written. You can add some to your cheese topping if you wish.
This is a great recipe! Everyone loved it.
There is no one that writes a more detailed recipe (thank you! ) Telling me how many pulses really helps!
What I would like to know is if a glass lid works as well as foil or parchment. My 9×9 pan has a lid that I could use, but since it is not mentioned in the recipe, I dare not try ;) Follow your recipes to the letter has worked so far.
Can you make this in 2 loaf pans so that you can freeze one, for 1 person meal?
I know others have tried freezing this and didn’t mind the results.
Thank you Kate. Love your recipes! The Veg lasagna was great! I made a few changes to mine: sauteed baby bella mushrooms (then drained liquid off), then sauteed chopped bell pepper, carrots , onions and baby spinach.Added garlic, italian seasonings last few minutes on stovetop. Omitted zucchini. Also, used 15oz of Ricotta with one egg in place of cottage cheese. I did not use food processor to chop veggies further since I like the chunky texture.
I also did not find it watery the next day; maybe b/c omitted zucchini.
Wonderful! Will definitely make again!!
This is absolutely delicious! I used Rao’s sauce and did everything else as written. This is the best vegetable lasagna I have ever had.
Hi! Can I assemble this recipe the night before, and wait to bake the next day?
I find it releases liquid. Others have tried it and didn’t mind the results.
My hard core meat and potato FIL always goes for seconds. That’s says a lot about this recipe! I also make it frequently for post partum families. Thank you!
Wowee! This turned out soo delicious. I was skeptical about using Cottage cheese but the consistency and flavors worked very well with the lasagna. Our entire family loved this recipe, even a picky 6 year old :D. Also a great way to get in more veggies. Will definitely be making this again, Soo YUM
Great to hear, Michelle!
I typically used whole tomatoes to make sauce, but your recipe states diced. Is it better to use diced in this instance?
I recommend this best as written. I hope you try it!
Good lasagna but ricotta is MUCH better in it than cottage cheese.
Overall very happy with this recipe. I made it for a vegetarian family with a new baby in a disposable 9×9 foil pan and fit perfectly. My noodles though were still hard on top. This recipe doesn’t call for enough sauce to soften the top layer. Or tell you to add a bit of water. The cook time was also not long enough. I had to add some water and cook longer. I’m going to try it again with more sauce than called for thinned with a bit of water if I use no boil noodles again and cook longer.
This recipe sounds so good and I really wanted to try it, but it only makes a small 9” square pan. I need a larger size, like 9×13 to feed 10-12 people. I tried clicking on the double recipe, but the pan size remains 9” square, which I know won’t work.
I made the recipe exactly as written. I like the fresh taste, but, for me, it was a bit too bland. No distintive flavor; not enought tomato taste. Also, the larger pieces of zucchini( (maybe a 1/2 wide) did not cook during the time alloted.
I will try making it again, but I will increase the amout of tomato sauce, garlic, basil, and double the pepper flakes. Maybe add sliced mushrooms. I wouls alo decrease the vegetable filling by about 1/3.
I’m sorry you didn’t love it as written, but glad you have something that works for you.
This recipe is delicious! I’ve made it a couple times now and it always turns out amazing. Thank you Kate :)
Such a yummy lasagna!! Delicious and comes together very quickly for a lasagna, thank you
East to make nutritious tastes great. I made it gluten free. I just love your step by step instructions so easy to follow. Thank you
Bon Appetite
You’re welcome, Anne! I appreciate your review.
By far the best veggie lasagna. My husband and I are vegetarians but other family members aren’t. This recipe gets rave reviews from everyone. Made some for my sister-in-law when she was recovering from back surgery. Thank you this excellent recipe.
You’re welcome, Robin!
Kate – (or Cookie, whoever wants to answer) –
I need to freeze this – is it better cooked first and then frozen, or frozen before the cooking stage?
Thanks! – Deb
Others have froze after baked and didn’t mind the results.
This recipe was so delicious! I am the only vegetarian in my household so I have to find recipes that make my meat eaters forget that they are eating veg. This one fits the bill. Everyone loved it and went for seconds. Fabulous, tasty and great for the calorie conscious. A hit that has gone into my recipe book. Thank you!
I’m delighted you enjoyed it, Brynn! I appreciate your review.
Making this dish right now for tomorrow night. Can I assemble it ad cover it well, refrigerate it overnight and cook it tomorrow night? I was trying to avoid freezing it. Or would it be better to cook the veggies, make he sauce and assemble it tomorrow afternoon? It looks like an amazing recipe. Thank you!
I find it tends to release liquid as it sits. Others have tried it and didn’t mind the results, but some mention the no-boil noodles get soggy.
Can I make this a day ahead and refrigerate it without it becoming watery?
It makes great leftovers once baked. Otherwise, it will release liquid.
Great tasting lasagna!!
Could the lasagna be prepared a day ahead?
This is the best lasagna I’ve ever eaten. I love all your recipes. Thank you
Made this for my husband who is freaked out by cottage cheese – we usually cook together but I “surprised” him with this when he got home, served with garlic bread. He said it’s one of the best things I’ve made, ha! Funniest part is the cottage cheese was sitting front and center in the fridge for the past 3 days and he didn’t even put the pieces together. Muahaha! Healthy lasagna for the win.
Great to hear, Melinda!
I never thought to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta. It is such a game changer! This lasagna was a hit with my family, I’ll definitely make it again! Delicious!
Hi Kate,
I had planned to make Lasagna for the family, and the doctor just recommended that my husband skip red meat. So I needed a quick Veggie Lasagna recipe. I made it, and we both loved it. We’ll surely be enjoying your recipe in the future.
Thank you for sharing
Linda
This is delicious! Do you know the calorie count for an average serving?
Hi Catherine, the nutritional information is below the notes section of the blog.
This is one of my husbands favourite all times recipes. I love the variety of veggies and he loves them chopped small. Easy to make ahead and a crowd pleaser for adults and children. I use fresh lasagna sheets.
Can I substitute cottage cheese with something else?
You can use ricotta cheese if you like.
Can you prepare this recipe the day before and refrigerate to bake the next day?
I have made this several times now. I recently swapped out the zucchini for portobello mushrooms and it officially became my husband’s favorite thing I make. This is his requested Thanksgiving meal.
Thank you for your always amazing flavor profiles and easy instructions.
The chopping takes a little more time. I made 2 at a time with fresh hand rolled pasta and also added a layer of sliced mushrooms sautéed with garlic and a nice balsamic vinegar. Really loved the cottage cheese instead of the ricotta.
Amazing – will repeat.
Hi Kate,
We had this lasagna for our non-traditional Thanksgiving.
I prepared it the day before, and baked it on Thanksgiving day.
It was Loved by All, and dibs have been placed on the leftovers!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe and happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! As a dog person, thinking of Cookie, too.
This was a new one for me (veggie lasagna) and I am a convert! This recipe goes way beyond simply layering some vegetables in place of the meat sauce. It was a hit for all the folks around the table. While there is some prep work for this delicious entree, not having to cook the tomato sauce layer was a plus. This is a make-again, print out the recipe delight.
Hooray! That’s great to hear, Paula. I appreciate your review.
My favorite veggie lasagna recipe and my family of 5 love it too. I’m going to try butternut squash next time.
Our favorite lasagna recipe ever!
That’s great to hear, Jen! Thank you for your review.
I have made this a few times before and so worth it! I need to double this recipe for Christmas what size baking dish is recommended?
Readers have used 9×13 without issue. I hope it’s a hit!
I have not made it yet. To those of you who have, did you use cottage cheese or ricotta?
Hi Kate! If I want to make two of these at one time, will baking both in the oven at the same time change the cooking time or otherwise interrupt the baking process?
You should be able to make them at the same time. You may want to switch their positions halfway depending on your baking dish and size of container.
Can I use the glass lid instead of foil to cover this lasagna ? I make this all the time – we love it, but I would love it even more if I did not have to make a lid ;)
I’m not sure, sorry!
This is the best lasagna hands down! Everyone raved about it! I made it once and am ready to make it again. Quick question: If i want to make it the day before serving, do you suggest baking it first and reheating? I am worried about it getting soggy
I know others have reheated it in the oven. I haven’t tried to make it ahead of time, sorry!
I usually love your recipes, but cottage cheese over ricotta? NEVER! That reminds of all the church pot luck lasagnas of my youth. Sorry, but that’s just gross! I will always use ricotta, for it’s taste, texture, dryness and visual appeal!
I’m sorry to hear that. You can always try ricotta.
I will….thanks…great recipe (with ricotta)……
Made this for my wife. I actually thought it was pretty good. She felt the no boil noodles were chewy and tough she said it was inedible. I ate 2 servings and plan on eating rest over next couple of days. I will concede that lasagna ive made in past with boiled noodles have been less chewy.
This is really the best veggie lasagna. I make it exactly as written with the exception of the spinach because I’m always out. My meat eating family prefers that over others!
I love to hear that, Leah! Thank you for sharing.
I do not understand how this recipe has such good reviews. It’s absolutely disgusting – mainly I think due to the cottage cheese. It’s not that tomato-ey, or cheesey. Took me ages to make, as it was my first time trying this recipe.
Posting this review firstly to potentially stop others from wasting their time, and secondly to see if my review comes up on the reviews section because I’m really struggling to understand how this recipe has so many 5* reviews.
Hi Lauren, I’m sorry to hear that. You can use ricotta cheese if you prefer. Did you follow the layering steps?
This lasagna was really tasty! ! I’m a vegetarian, but the meat eaters in my family loved it as well. Will definitely be making this again.
Looks yummy- wish adds wouldn’t pop up so I could write down the recipe
Hi Elaine, I’m sorry you were having issues. You can always click the x in the top corner to get rid of them. Were you on your computer or phone?
This vegetarian lasagna is so good that even my meat loving husband will ask for this for dinner.