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.
Thanks for the inspiration! Came home from vacation to find that the teenager hadn’t eaten any of the fresh vegetables that had been left for him. Tossed them into this vegetable lasagna with great success. I had some plain skyr that had to be used as well so I added it in with the cottage cheese mixture – the result is worth repeating.
Happy to hear that, Annette!
Making this for Easter! How can I convert to a 9×13? I’m nervous about the no-boil noodles, I’ve never used them before!
I just converted to a 9×13 yesterday for our Earth Day dinner! I needed 4 noodles per layer instead of three, and used 1 cup of sauce each time the recipe called for sauce and it was awesome! I baked mine, covered, 20 minutes and uncovered 20 mins. Let it sit 15 mins before serving. I didn’t change proportions of veggies or cheeses. Our 5 year old didn’t pick a single veggie out of it.
This recipe has become part of our weekend rotation. We usually cook it up on Sunday and enjoy the leftovers for lunch. Our 3-year old and 1-year old absolutely love it! I was skeptical about the cottage cheese, but now I am a complete convert and tell everyone I know about this swap for ricotta. Thanks for the deliciousness!!
Sounds like a great meal prep! Thank you, Amber.
I have made this recipe three times now and last night I told my wife to never let me make it again. It has great flavor, but the consistency is like soup, even after cooking veggies exact amount, waiting to cool etc. In my estimation… this will not be the lasagna recipe that convinces meat-eating relatives veg is just as good because it ends up having a consistency that is nothing like lasagna. However, it’s very light. If that’s what you’re going for, this recipe is fine.
I’m sorry to hear that, Brian. Thank you for your feedback! I’m not quite sure your is so watery if you are following the directions.
It probably depends on the water content sauce, canned tomatoes, and cottage cheese that are used (and can vary quite a bit). That’s easy to adjust, Brian, by using different brands, straining the cottage cheese, draining the canned tomatoes, or cooking the sauce down more. All is not lost.
I had a similar issue with the consistency. I wondered if it had anything to do with using cooked noodles instead of no-boil and using a canned sauce instead of making this one. Regardless, the taste on this is 5 stars. I will most definitely make again and use a thicker sauce, or as Laura said, maybe strain the cottage cheese. Or I’ll just eat it with a spoon with a big hunk of bread cuz that works too. :)
Did you drain the tomatoes properly? I don’t even mind the liquid that much. Maybe don’t cover it for the first 18minutes to let some water evaporate? I put it on broil for the last 5min to get that extra golden cheese crust.
My husband is shifting to a vegetarian diet so I wanted super healthy alternatives to some of his favorites. He LOVED this one.
My carnivore 11-year old LOVED this dish.
This was delicious!
Thank you for this one.
Wonderful, Maxine! Thanks for your review.
I followed the recipe exactly as it says (and using the no-boil lasagna sheets), but after cooking, the lasagna sheets came out hard while the veggie mixture was amazing. I’m wondering what I can do next time to make sure this doesn’t happen again (or perhaps I missed something in the recipe). Should we be soaking the no-boil sheets before layering? Thanks for your help
I’m sorry to hear that, AJ! What brand/type of noodle did you use?
AJ I had the same issue. I used gluten-free no-boil noodles (Jovial brand from Whole Foods). I cooked it at 375, covered, for another 30 minutes and that saved the noodles. But the dish was very watery and mushy at that point. I’m a big fan but didn’t have luck with this one!
Made it for the firts time tonight AMAZING
I’m glad you loved it!
This is SO worth the effort (and dirty dishes! lol). Even the meat eaters loved it. The cottage cheese “hack” is genius :)
Thank you, Jackie! I’m glad you enjoyed another one.
I loved the ease and healthiness of this recipe! I followed the directions but took two shortcuts: using the Mediterranean blend of frozen veggies from Whole Foods to avoid chopping and a jar of Rao’s marinara sauce. The lasagna was perfect after it sat for 15 minutes. Mixing the veggies in the cottage cheese is brilliant. My sneaky kids couldn’t pick out a particular veg to remove! Love it!
I love it! Hooray for delicious vegetable lasagna. Thanks for your review, Kristen.
Can this made ahead and reheated?
Great Recipe!!
Made this with Brown Rice Lasagna noodles and only used 1 TBSP oil in the tomatoe sauce, and sautéed vegetables in vegetable broth. So enjoyable.
Thank you!
You’re welcome! Thank you for your review, Elisa.
The veggie lasagna was amazing !!!!!!
Do you know if it freezes well ?
I’m glad you loved it! I believe others have tried it, but I’m hesitant to say as it could get watery.
Does this lasagna freeze well? If so how did you freeze it in single servings or as a whole lasagna?
Hi Heather! I believe others have froze this recipe. I would see what readers recommend by searching the comments. I’m hesitant to say it will do well as I think it may become more watery.
Where did you get your lasagna 9″x9″ baking dish?
I got it at Crate & Barrel!
I’ve tried a few Veggie lasagne recipes and this one is definitely my favourite! Everyone in the family loves it too which is a real bonus!
Thanks for sharing, Hilary!
Amazing! I prepped and put everything together the night before and baked it the next day- still delicious!! I used Rao’s marinara sauce to make a little less prep for myself. Thank you for sharing such a yummy recipe!
You’re welcome, Elizabeth!
Really tasty and easy to make, I have added eggplants because I had them and it was very nice.
Greetings from Spain
Thank you for sharing, Virginia!
This is the best lasagne anyone in my family has ever had, that includes my meat loving husband and my 11 month old daughter who literally licked her plate clean the first time she had it for dinner.
This has become my go-to dish for when we have company over for dinner, I recommend this for anyone and I’m very thankful for the detailed instructions.
You’re welcome!
We have made this twice now and absolutely love it. My 9 year old daughter eats 4 pieces and the whole family loves it. I add a little more cheese and sauce than the recipe calls for. The veggie mixture along with the cottage cheese is so yummy. It’ll be a regular at our household, thanks for this recipe!
You’re welcome, Gayathri! I’m glad it’s a hit.
It had sooo many steps and my family thought it was good but liked my other veggie lasagna better. They didn’t like the cottage cheese and thought it too bland.
I’m sorry you weren’t a fan. Thanks for trying it, though!
Best lasagna I have ever had! I changed the vegetables up and used zucchini, yellow squash, onion, mushrooms, and spinach. I also stirred in a can of drained and rinsed cannellini beans to the vegetable mixture. I used noodles that I had to boil before baking and they worked just fine. Anyway- this was really good and will be my go-to lasagna recipe from now on! Thank you for such delicious recipes!!
Hooray! Thank you, Anna. I appreciate the review and sharing what you used.
Hiya! Do you know how this would do if a froze it? Making freezer meals for baby coming soon. Just wondering about the no cook pasta….not sure how that would do. Thanks!
I didn’t have luck when freezing it, but I believe others found it ok. I suggest taking a look at the comments to see what others say. Congrats on the baby, too!
Oh. My. Goodness!!!!! I made this for dinner last night and I cannot believe just how amazing it truly was! Hands down the best lasagna I have ever made! We eat more vegetarian meals since my picky toddler will not eat anything with meat and I think I found a dish that will regularly be in our rotation. Thank you for an amazing dish packed full of veggies and deliciousness – I truly cannot wait to eat the leftovers! You have a serious talent and I cannot wait to try some of your other recipes! Thank you again :)
I’m glad it was a hit with your family and found something your toddler will eat. Thanks for your review, Ashley!
Hi. I love your blog and I have tried several recipes from it with a great success! However this lasagna recipe turned out very soupy and it fell apart as soon as I put it on the plate. I followed all of the directions, except I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. But I used the same exact amount of it as in your recipe. The taste was great, but the consistency was soupy….. Is there something you can recommend I should do? I don’t want to give up on this yet lol. Cook it longer? Les veggie sauce? I used Trader Joes noodles and they were fine.
Hi Gosia, I’m sorry to hear that! You used no-boil noodles, right? It must be due to the fresh tomatoes. The recipe is designed to limit the amount of moisture added from the tomatoes. I hope it set up better as it cooled!
It’s a good recipe but a little bland. I think ricotta cheese would amp it up.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one. Thanks for sharing, Jeanne!
OK, so I made it today, and the noodles weren’t quite done, so I just put it back in the over while it cooled, and it was fine. Really good because I added some Italian sausage to one side (for me). My wife was amazed at how good it was with Cottage cheese.
Thank you for sharing, John!
Excellent recipe. I had a bunch of dehydrated tomatoes to use up, so I tossed a handful into the blender along with the (undrained) tomatoes and then warmed the sauce on the stove while I prepared the other veggies. Also added parmesan cheese. Great lasagna!
I’m glad it worked well for you, Jonny! I appreciate your review.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! It came out amazing I used the no boil noodles from Aldi’s, Reggano Pasta, it worked well. Maybe next time will buy shredded carrots to save some time in chopping veggies (I’m a lazy cooker lol). But either way it was super good!! Family (including children) really enjoyed. Thanks again!!
You’re welcome, Evie! I’m happy you all loved it.
yummmy
This is by far the best recipe I have used. I do not like cottage cheese so I did use Ricotta. The no bake noodles did not cook all the way so I will be partially cooking them next time. This is absolutely delicious, thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing!
Yum! Thank you, Kate (and Cookie). Very, very nice lasagna. I discovered your website only yesterday and I’ll be sure to try more of your recipes.
Regards
Jenny Smith
Hooray and welcome, Jenny! Thanks for stopping to say you loved this one.
I don’t have good experience with no boil lasagna noodles. How would you change the baking time using the other noodles?
I would recommend following the note I provided for the gluten free noodles. Cook partially before assembling. I hope this helps!
Thank you for your advice. It came out great and when reheated the tiny piece that was left the next day it was even tastier. So i think from now on I’ll leave it for few hours in the fridge before serving it. It was absolutely delicious
I wish I could click a button to automatically convert ounces into grams and Fahrenheit in Celsius. I’m sure all your non-USA fans would also appreciate.
Thank you for your feedback, Ruben!
This recipe is absolutely divine and so easy to make. Thank you so much for a healthier option. The cottage cheese is ingenious and works so well. This will definitely be a regular in our house.
Thank you
I’m glad you loved it, Brownyn! Thanks so much for your review!
Thanks for this easy vegetarian lasagna! We loved it! So easy to make too!
Thanks for your comment, Irene!
I made this recipe for dinner tonight and while I love the flavour it turned out very runny. Maybe I didn’t drain enough, maybe I blitzed too much?I’m left with many an unanswered question. I’m going to try again and tweak a few things to see if I can get it right. Thanks a million for the recipe!
You’re welcome! Did you allow your vegetables to cook long enough? That helps to get water out of them.
I’m trying this recipe for the first time and am very excited!
Is it possible to put the lasagna together ahead of time and bake later? For example, 20 hours or even 8 hours before baking?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried it, but I believe others have. I would worry it would get watery. Let me know if you try it!
I found this recipe through google, and WOW what a delicious surprise! We all loved it, even my extremely unsure husband ( I did add a portobello and small handful of parsley to it, since we all love that)
New fan!
I’m so glad you loved it, Nina!
I made this yesterday for my book club ladies and it was awesome! Turned out that I had over 5 cups of veggies, so changed up to a 9 x 13 pan, used all the tomato sauce and added some shredded parmesan cheese to the cottage cheese mix and it was perfect! Thanks for a great recipe that was enjoyed by all!
Thanks for sharing, Donnie!
Can I make this without a food processor?
Would really like to try it. It looks and sounds delicious.
Hi Dona, yes, you could! I would just chop the spinach before cooking, and dice the vegetables as small as you reasonably can.
Great lasagna recipe. Made it tonight for the family dinner of 6. Son brought his girlfriend to dinner who is vegetarian. Entire dinner crowd thought the lasagna was superb and asked for the recipe. When my critical/opinionated son said it was good then you know it’s good!!
Dinner win! Thank you, Arlene for stopping to comment and review.
I needed a meatless option for lent, so I tried this last night. It turned out fantastic. I boiled the noodles very al dente, also added a couple eggs to the cottage cheese mixture. I forgot to add the spinach to the veggie saute, so I just added a layer of raw spinach as I put it together. Nothing but rave reviews. The key to a firm lasagna is to let it sit at least 30 min before cutting into it, an hour works better.
I’m happy it still turned out so well for you, Brad! Thanks for the review.
Tastes really good and very light compared to other recipes, but mine came out quite watery. I’m probably not going to use the exact recipe again, but definitely loving the cottage cheese swap.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one, Pen! Make sure you cook the vegetables enough to get out more moisture. That may help next time. I appreciate the feedback!
This was super delicious and easy to make. Thanks for the recipe.
This is the best vegetarian lagsana. It turned out peeeerfect. I used all veggie except spinach cause I didnt have any. It tasted like meat in a very good way. I used Raos tomato sauce to make my life easier and use fresh homemade noodles. My picky husband loves it and its my togo recipe for vegetarian lagsana from now on. Thank you!!
You’re welcome, Talita!
So I made this for Easter and it was legitimately the best lasagna I’ve ever had. My meat eating friend who’s favorite meal is lasagna said she preferred it to meat lasagna!!! I made mine in a 9×13. I used 5 carrots, two zucchini, one bell pepper, and two big handfuls of spinach. I still only used 3 per layer. They fit all the way across perfectly. I used our favorite store bought sauce (Wegmans pomodoro) bc I was making so much already. We feel very strongly about ricotta, and used a boatload of that. We also used an entire bag of mozzarella. We will be making this for every holiday!
A great dish to have on Easter! I’m glad you loved it. Thanks for sharing, Carle!
delicious, best veggie lasagna I’ve ever made, I did add lots more tomato sauce, I froze it for 4 days, defrosted and it turned out great. It was a little dry so added at least double the amount of tomato sauce.
I’m glad it worked out when you froze it! Thanks, Karen!
This was, without question, the best vegetarian lasagna I have ever had. Both my meat eating family and vegetarian family members love it and have requested I make multiple times. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
My sauce is a brownie colour after blending. Is that right?
You don’t want to blend it completely, just enough to blitz the mixture. You should still see the colors.
Ok thanks Kate. I’ll try again. :)
An amazing veggie lasagna that the husband loved as well!
Loved the lasagne recipe! Will make again!
Delicious!!! My family loved it. Thanks for recipe:-)
Pretty tasty! I added about 1/2 c. Frozen, cooked edamame