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 want to limit the amount of meat we eat, so I am looking for vegetarian alternatives to meat-based recipes. Well, from now and on this lasagna is going to be my go-to!I loved it!! It was delicious , and not hard to make. Even my carnivorous husband said it was the best lasagna he ever had. 5 stars from us!!!
Great to hear Georgia! Thanks so much for sharing and for your review.
This looks great! If I want to double the recipe and bake it in a bigger pan, does that change the cooking time required for the recipe? Also, I don’t have a food processor, does this recipe work without one?
The cooking time might vary. Start on the lower end and then increase a few minutes as a time based on doneness. Hope this helps!
This was really good. I followed the recipe except that I didn’t have time to use the blender for the cottage cheese or the veggies and it still turned out really tasty. Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I’m always a bit nervous to try new recipes but your recipes always turn out great!
I’m happy to hear that! Thank you, Sasha for sharing your method and providing a review. :)
HAve you ever tried using dried basil in the sauce instead of fresh? Sometimes I find it hard to find fresh basil. I’d like to make this again and just wondering if you have ever tried it with dry basil. Thanks :) going to try the eggplant one from your cookbook next! I’m looking forward to it!
could I make this the day before?
Sure! I believe other readers have done with it baked or not baked. You can always search the comments to see what worked best!
Amazing recipe! Next time I might try substituting some cheese for some more veggies (because I blended mine in with the cheese and it was great.
Thanks for sharing, Kaylyn!
Delicious! I will definitely make this again.
I made the veggie lasagna – absolutely delicious! Only change I made was I used bok choy instead of spinach. What was really pleasing was all the measurements and instructions were “right on” and it turned out exactly like the picture you show. Great for lunch or dinner – will definitely make it again – it is so tried and true! Thanks!!!!
Thank you for sharing! Bok choy sounds like a interest addition, but happy it worked well for you! I appreciate you taking the time to review, Charlotte.
Hello Kate. I have the spinach and eggplant lasagna (a recipe from your cookbook) prepped and ready to pop in the oven. I then came to the site to check some of your other lasagna recipes as I was a tad uncertain which temperature to bake the lasagne at. Am I correct in assuming I should bake this lasagna at the same 425 degrees I used to roast my eggplant (as the recipe states no temperature change)? 425 seems a bit high to me for a lasagna but I am hoping it will be fine as it is covered for part of the time. Just wanted to ask to as some of your other readers might also be unsure. Thanks!
Correct! 425 degrees for the recipe in the book. See step 12 so the lasagna doesn’t burn. Hope this helps!
Lovely idea and lovely lasagne!! Mine turned out good for 4 portions, I would’ve added a little more of the drained pasta sauce just to make it a little more moist.
Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome! Thanks for sharing and for your review.
Delicious! Used mushrooms instead of carrots and store bought marinara sauce. So much flavor! Will definitely make again.
Thank you, Krista for sharing your variation!
This is the best lasagna I’ve made with or with out meat! I’ve been trying out of a lot of your recipes recently and I’m really enjoying eating my way through your website!! Thanks so much!
Hooray, Bonnie! I’m happy to hear that. Thanks so much for sharing.
I’ve made this twice now and it’s delicious once again! I may add more spinach next time but overall I wouldn’t change a thing! So glad I found this recipe.
I’m happy you found it too, Kara! More spinach sounds great!
Made this tonight for my family, 4 kids aged 8-15 and it was a huge hit! Love the texture and the flavours, this will be made again.
Thank you Kate.
Can’t wait to try your other recipes.
Nicole
That’s wonderful, Nicole! I really appreciate you taking the time to review.
Hi. The sauce is not made from scratch. How would I make it with raw tomatoes. Canned are expensive where I live (mexico)
You could buy fresh tomatoes and bake them. Although, I haven’t tried that. You can always substitute 2 cups prepared marinara sauce instead. Hope this helps!
Great recipe! It was delicious and I will definitely make it again.
Great to hear, Kristina!
I made this with my 12 year old daughter and it turned out delicious. I used organic marinara sauce instead of making my own because I have a 7 month old baby and just didn’t have the time. But everything else was exactly like the recipe and doing the marinara sauce from the bottle was so easy and it still turn out absolutely delicious. Another thing I did was use regular lasagna pasta not the no-bake kind. All you do is use the lasagna and not about a quarter to half a cup of water in the pan around the edges of the lasagna before baking the water helps the lasagna noodles bake it took about 1 hour and total nothing was burned and everything was cooked perfectly
I’m glad this turned our perfectly, Miriam! I appreciate the review.
Can this recipe be frozen? If so, would you still use no-boil noodles? Planning ahead for thanksgiving weekend! Would love to have frozen food ready to go :)
Hi Michele, I do believe others have have had luck freezing this recipe as is!
Indeed the best lasagna I’ve made! My husband loved it too! I told me he couldn’t wait to eat it again the next day. I used half ricotta and half cottage cheese and it was perfect! I also added some sundried tomatoes. Can’t wait to make this again!
I love to hear that, Reina!! Thank you for sharing. It make awesome leftovers.
Making this for Thanksgiving day friends and family. If I freeze it after baking, how should I reheat the dish if it is frozen in an aluminum roaster pan? Low and slow in the oven? Don’t want it to dry out or burn during the reheating process. Have some great Classico Roasted Garlic jarred sauce to use in it also, cannot wait to try it myself! Gave it a five star, I can tell from the ingredients and the comments this one is a winner!
I’m glad you like it! A great thanksgiving option for sure. I don’t freeze all my recipes, but do know from other readers this freezes well. I recommend checking the other comments to see what has worked for others. Happy Thanksgiving!
I am going to make this recipe for the second time in a week tonight. It’s SOOOOfriggingn good! I’ve also just made the pasta sauce alone and used it on pasta. I’ll be coming back to this site often.
I’m glad you love it so much! Thanks for sharing and coming back to the blog, Sarah.
Best veggie lasagne I’ve ever had
Wonderful!
Thanks so much for this recipe! Best lasagna ever. I love that the veggies are thrown in the food processor to make them super tiny. You get all the flavor without the big chunks.
Mixing the veggies in with the ricotta or cottage cheese mixture is perfect. If you like it a little cheesier I would use a bit more mozzarella. This is definitely a favorite!
You’re so welcome, Sable!
This really was divine! Although I appreciate your trying to make it as easy as possible, I felt it benefited from a long-simmered tomato sauce rather than an instant one, and I upped the veges, but it was absolutely delicious and it will be something I make endlessly..
Thanks for sharing, Sasha!
Absolutely Delicious! Worth the extra steps. Thank you Kate for another great recipe.
I’m really glad you thought it was really worth it, Sharlyn! Thanks for your review.
A great recipe! Made our Thanksgiving special, thanks a lot for sharing!
You’re welcome!
This was delicious! It took a bit of time to put together, but I will definitely make it again. Thanks for the great yummy recipes. My all time favorites are the vegetarian chili, lentil and the Mexican Quinoa soups. I need to branch out and try some of your other recipes.
I’m so glad you thought it was worth it, Marina! Thanks for the review.
I’m not a very good cook, but I made this tonight and it was a hit!! Thank you Kate for this bomb recipe XX
I’m glad this one worked out so well for you, Sammy! Thanks so much for your review.
Delicious and freezes well, too! So glad I stumbled across your website :)
Thanks for sharing!
Delicious. Way simpler if you skip all the food processing steps – they’re unnecessary. I just mixed in the ricotta (or cottage) cheese directly into sauté pan once veggies were finished cooking and then spooned it into layers as directed. Don’t bother with the extra steps! I also doubled the number of carrots and used 8 oz frozen spinach instead of fresh (easier). I don’t think it would have enough veggies for our taste as written. And another simplifying step (working mom!) – we just used Raos spicy sauce. I recommend using more than the recipe calls for. Yum yum yum.
I’m glad that worked for you!
Just adore this recipe. I roasted my vegetables rather than saute them (cause I just love roasted veggies) and added a log of herbed goat cheese to the ricotta to spice up the cheese taste. Love the no-boil noodles!!!! Your recipes are just the best. Lynn
Thanks so much, Lynn!
Loved this! I’ve been looking for a good, simple veggie lasagna recipe for a while. I’m based in France where cottage cheese is hard to come by so I replaced it with crème fraiche which gave a nice creamy sauce.
Thanks for sharing, Emma! I appreciate your review.
This was delicious! A total hit at our vegetarian friendsgiving! I enjoyed making it and the instructions were very easy to follow. Thank you very much! Next time I’ll try it vegan.
I love that you had a vegetarian Friendsgiving! Thanks for letting me know it was a hit, Ness.
Hi Kate,
I recently made this lasagna for my boyfriend and I and it was delicious! I made one pan for dinner that evening and assembled another and froze for later. Any recommendations for cooking the frozen lasagna? Defrosting in the fridge the night before perhaps?
Thanks!
Sarah
Hi Sarah! I’m glad you loved it. I haven’t froze this one, but I would recommend thawing it and then baking as directed. Keep an eye on it though!
I loved your recipe and so did my husband when he tasted the lasagne! I couldn’t make myself substitute ricotta for cottage cheese, sorry!
I used “Rana Lasagne Sheets”. They come pre-boiled in packs of six sheets. I highly recommend them. I found them refrigerated, next to the cheese section of Publix grocery store.
Also, I did not have time to make the marinara sauce. I used “Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil” pasta sauce (no sugar added).
I will make your recipe over and over again!! Absolutely delicious!
Maybe, I’ll try to make the marinara myself and use cottage cheese! If I do, I’ll make sure to let you know.
I’m so happy to hear that! Store-bought works too and I do really like that brand myself. Thank you for taking the time to comment and review, Christina!
this lasagna is truly the “best vegetable lasagna”!!…i enjoyed the prep as much as i enjoyed eating…LOVE your recipes Kate!
I’m happy you agree, Heidi! Thanks so much for your review.
HELLO!
I have news. I am vegetarian but try to eat as plant based as possible… my boyfriend, however, is not. He is a meat eating man and doesn’t want any of my substitution-shenanigans. I made this lasagna for dinner last week and this man asked for a SECOND helping AND took some to work the next two days. It was absolutely delicious.
That’s a win! I love it. Thanks for sharing, KayLeigh.
This was wonderful! My first introduction to your site and I’ll be back for sure. This came together quickly and even my veggie-hating kiddo went back for seconds.
I love it! Thanks for sharing, Laura.
I did a CTRL-F for “overnight” and “refrigerate” to see if this recipe if fine to make the day before. I saw a lot about freezing but not refrigerating overnight. Is that okay to do? I am hosting a party for around 20 folks and have a toddler and two dogs so trying to do as much prep the day before as possible. TIA.
I believe some have had good luck with that, although I haven’t tried it. Thanks, Darcy!
I used an organic marinara sauce instead of the canned tomatoes. I really like the method used in this recipe for the layers. I added a bit of good quality parmesan to the sauce and extra the red pepper flakes. Didn’t have fresh basil, dried was fine. Subbed about an eighth of a cup of red wine for some marinara. SUPERB! Best veggie lasagne I ever made.
Love it! Thank you, Lucy.
I want to serve this recipe as part of my family Christmas dinner.
Do you feel this is a make ahead dish to save time?
Thanks
Hi Cheryl! I believe others have made this ahead and it’s turned out nicely. Take a look through the comments to see what readers recommend!
Seriously the best veggie lasagna. Thank you.
I love that you agree, Jason!
Can I make this ahead of time and refrigerate before baking?
I believe others have tried it! I recommend searching the comments to see what has worked well for other readers.
I made this for my partner and I and we had days of yummy lasagna. I also just shared it with my entire workforce. We are doing something called health for the holidays and today I thought I would share this recipe. So be prepared for more Napa county employees to come looking for your recipes :)
Thanks for sharing the love, Jason! I appreciate the review.
Made this a while ago and loved it! Planning to make it again, but wondered how I would go about it if I wanted to use zucchini for the noodles? I know the cooking time might vary, and wanted a more experienced opinion!
That’s an interesting thought! I would be hesitant as zucchini releases a lot of water. Without trying this method, I’m not sure. I would see how to get some of the water from the zucchini perhaps.
Can I put everything together and then place in the fridge until I’m ready to bake? Or…mix all the ingredients together so they’re ready to go and place in the fridge until I’m ready to put it all together to bake?
I believe others have tired that in the past and it has worked well.
Absolutely delicious and worth the time to chop and assemble. I highly recommend not skipping out on fresh cheese as it truly makes a difference. Thank you for always providing delicious, vegetarian meals; my kids thank you :)
You’re welcome, Jen!
Can you make this a day ahead and then bake?
I believe others have tried it and it’s worked well. Although, I haven’t personally tried it.
I made this yesterday for our Christmas meal, let me just say it really was delicious (eating leftovers now!) and even the meat eaters had to try some! They loved it too. I made the recipe as is but added a little extra cheese. I highly recommend making the homemade sauce, it had so much fresh flavor. Somehow my prep time took almost an hour, not sure why but give yourself the time just in case. Due to that I may not make this very often but it was worth it. Thanks Kate for this great recipe!
You’re welcome, Amber! I’m glad you thought it was worth it.
I’ve made a lot os lasagne and can say this is a great recipe! I loved the whipped cottage cheese with the veggies. I used several peppers, zucchini, and carrots. I will omit the carrots next time, but everything else really worked well! Thanks!
I’m glad you loved it, Lynda! You can always use a different vegetable that you like or increase one of your favorites. Thanks for the review!
We had it for Christmas Eve dinner, and it was delicious. Everyone dug in and loved it. It was surprisingly easy and fun to make! I would DEFINITELY use this recipe again for next Christmas Eve dinner and any other special occasions.
A great recipe for special occasions! Thanks, Pik!