This Veggie Lasagne is loaded with a delicious vegetable pasta sauce, a smooth and creamy spinach ricotta layer and copious amounts of cheese!
I know this isn’t your regular lasagne, but trust me when I say you won’t miss the meat. And that’s coming from a bloke who runs a blog called Don’t Go Bacon My Heart 😂. I’ve had a few vegetarian lasagnes in my time, but this comes out on top. Am I allowed to say that?! Too late. Follow me…
Spinach Ricotta Lasagne
The spinach and ricotta layer is quite prominent in this lasagne. It adds a gorgeous creamy flavour & texture and balances out the rich, tomatoey veggie sauce so beautifully. I’m usually an ambassador of béchamel sauce in a lasagne, but we’ve already thrown the rulebook out the window so here we are. You’ll usually see recipes for spinach ricotta lasagnes OR vegetable lasagnes, but here we’re gonna combine the two. Here’s what you’ll need for the spinach ricotta layer:
Spinach Ricotta Ingredients
- Spinach – Go for frozen spinach and thaw it. It gives a more intense flavour. Plus it’s less prep, which is always welcome in a lasagne recipe where there’s a fair bit of prep.
- Ricotta – Opt for whole milk full fat ricotta for a bolder flavour.
- Mascarpone – I like to sub some of the ricotta for mascarpone. It breaks up the flavour slightly and makes the layer go lusciously creamy. Highly recommend adding this!
- Parmesan – This is where the bulk of the flavour comes from. Ricotta has a fairly subtle flavour, as does mascarpone. Parmesan adds a good punch of flavour to bring the layer to life.
- Egg – Helps keep the layer intact and prevents it from spilling out the lasagne.
- Seasoning – Nutmeg compliments the ricotta really nicely. Apart from that just a heavy helping of salt and pepper!
To make the layer I combine everything bar the spinach with a hand mixer, just until it’s nice and creamy. I then fold in the spinach (just so it doesn’t get caught up in the mixer). If you don’t have a hand mixer just beat the egg separately then stir it in.
Can I make this part ahead of time?
Yep! Just tightly cover in the fridge the day before. This is a great way to get ahead of prepping the lasagne.
Process shots: add everything bar spinach to a large mixing bowl (photo 1), combine with hand mixer (photo 2), remove hand mixer (photo 3), add spinach (photo 4), fold in with spatula (photo 5), place to one side until needed (photo 6).
Vegetable Pasta Sauce
To counteract the creaminess of the spinach ricotta layer I like a tomatoey layer. To create this layer you’ll want to use tomato passata (pureed strained tomatoes) and a heap load of finely diced veggies.
Best vegetables for a vegetable lasagne?
In reality there’s a huge range of veggies that go great in a lasagne. The one thing I highly recommend is using carrot, celery and onion to create a Soffritto. This builds a base flavour for the veggie sauce. From there here’s what I usually go for:
- Mushrooms
- Red Pepper
- Aubergiene/Eggplant
- Courgette/Zucchini
Baby sweetcorn, broccoli, butternut squash & sweet potato all go well too. In all cases though I recommend finely dicing the veg. Not only will this create a ragu-like texture, but it’ll also allow you to sweat down the veg properly as they fry. This is important to remove as much moisture as possible, which in turn prevents the lasagne from coming out watery.
Can I make this part ahead of time?
You sure can! You can even freeze it, then thaw in the fridge and use as needed.
Process shots: add veggies to large pot with oil (photo 1), fry until soft/browned then remove (photo 2), add carrot, onion, celery, garlic (photo 3), fry then add in other veggies (photo 4), pour in passata and water (photo 5), add herbs and seasoning and simmer until thickened (photo 6).
Vegetable Lasagne
Alongside the veggie sauce and spinach ricotta, to make the whole lasagne all you need is lasagne sheets and mozzarella (and some parmesan to finish). I always go for fresh lasagne sheets because I prefer the texture and the lasagne stays intact better. You can use dried just check the packet instructions to see if they need soaking or not.
Can I prepare this ahead of time?
Yup! Just make sure you let the sauce cool down, or it’ll start cooking the pasta and make it go mushy when it bakes. You can tightly store in the fridge or freezer (thaw in fridge before baking).
How do you keep vegetable lasagna from being watery?
If you’ve ever tried your hand at making a veggie lasagne before you may have noticed it came out slightly watery. Which isn’t surprising as veg is packed with so much water. However to prevent this happening I recommend the following:
- Spinach – Ensure you squeeze as much moisture from the spinach as possible once it’s thawed, otherwise it’ll release into the lasagne as it cooks.
- Frying – Really ensure you fry the veg until it’s softened/lightly browned. Get as much moisture out as possible.
- Sauce – Make sure you thicken the sauce to reduce down as much water as possible.
- Resting – Allow the lasagne to rest for 10mins before serving. This helps it retain its shape and soak up the final bit of moisture before you slice.
Serving Vegetable Lasagne
What’s a lasagne without garlic bread? (or cheesy garlic bread or cheesy pesto garlic bread for that matter).
Can I save leftovers?
Yes – store in the fridge for 2-3days or freezer and reheat in the oven at the same temp until piping hot through the centre (if freezing thaw in fridge over night then bake).
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this vegetable lasagne shall we?!
How to make Vegetable Lasagne (Full Recipe & Video)
Epic Vegetable Lasagne
Equipment
- 8x12" Baking Dish (or similar size)
- Large Mixing Bowl & Hand Mixer (for spinach ricotta)
- Large Pot & Wooden Spoon (for veggie sauce)
- Fine Cheese Grater (for parmesan)
- Serving Spoon
- Spatula
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Ingredients
Spinach Ricotta
- 3x 9oz/250g tubs of Ricotta
- 1x 9oz/250g tub of Mascarpone
- 10.5oz / 300g Frozen Spinach, thawed (weighed whilst frozen - see notes)
- 1 cup / 80g freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg
Veggie Sauce
- 4 cups / 1kg Tomato Passata (pureed/strained tomatoes in US)
- 4 cups finely diced Veggies, here I used mushrooms, red pepper, courgette/zucchini & aubergine/eggplant (see notes)
- 2 ribs of Celery, finely diced
- 2 small/medium Carrots, finely diced
- 1 large White Onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves of Garlic, finely diced
- 1 small bunch of Fresh Basil, finely diced
- 2 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1/2 tsp EACH Salt, Sugar, Chilli Flakes, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
- Olive Oil, as needed
Lasagne
- 12oz / 350g Fresh Lasagne Sheets (see notes)
- 3 cups / 300g Mozzarella, shredded
- 1/2 cup / 40g freshly grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Veggies: Add a drizzle of oil to a large pot over medium heat and add mushrooms, courgette/zucchini, aubergine/eggplant and red pepper. Fry until soft right through and starting to char, then remove to a side bowl. Add a drizzle more oil then add carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Continue frying until they soften/begin to brown then add back in your fried veggies and mix everything together.
- Veggie Sauce: Pour in tomato passata, swill out the jar/cartons with 1 cup/250ml water and pour that in too. Add basil and oregano, then add sugar, salt, chilli flakes and pepper (all to taste). Allow the sauce to simmer on low for around 20-25mins, or until it turns nice and thick. If it's too watery just continue simmering for another 5 or so mins (see video for ideal texture).
- Spinach Ricotta: Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl add ricotta, mascarpone, egg, parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Combine with a hand mixer until smooth, then fold in thawed spinach with a spatula until evenly incorporated.
- Lasagne: In an 8x12" baking dish (or similar size) add a couple of spoonfuls of veggie sauce to the base of the dish. This is so the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom. From there your layers will go as follows: Pasta Sheets, Veggie Sauce, Spinach Ricotta, Mozzarella. The last layer will be Pasta sheets, then Spinach Ricotta, then Mozzarella and Parmesan to top. That's 4 layers of pasta, 4 layers of Veggie Sauce (including very bottom layer), 4 layers of Spinach Ricotta and 4 layers of Mozzarella.
- Bake & Serve: Pop in the oven at 350F/180C for 30-40mins or until crispy and deep golden on top. Allow to rest for 10mins before serving (this is important or it will be too liquidy). Serve up and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
For more veggie loaded recipes check out my Veggie Pasta Bake or Roasted Veggie Soup!
For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Delicious Lasagne Recipes
Delicious. My zucchini skin was very thick so it was still tough but that was no fault of the recipe. The recipe is perfect. Love the mascarpone cheese so creamy and yummy. Lasagna sheets game changer. How would you recommend freezing it and reheating?
Great to hear this went down well! Just tightly store in the fridge (I usually go up to 3 months). From there I recommend thawing in the fridge, then either blitz individual portions in the microwave until piping hot. Or, bring it to room temp, cover in foil and bake in the oven at 180C/350F until piping hot right through the centre again. C.
If using fresh lasagna sheets do you have to boil?directions for sheets say boil 3 mins.
No need to boil them, they’ll cook with the liquid from the veggie sauce 🙂 C.
I didn’t follow this recipe exactly but used most of it to create my own and it worked out great! I didn’t have ricotta so I made a white sauce and added cheese and spinach to that.
Thank you!
Great to hear it went down well, Carmen! Thanks so much for the review 🙂 C.
Definitely yummy! All the flavors came together too make this epic. Will make again! Thank you
Great to hear, Yolanda! Thanks so much for the review 🙂 C.
Loved this recipe sooo much! Made it for Christmas dinner. The mix of sweet and a bit of spicy was perfect. I used no boil noodles and it came out perfectly.
That’s so great to hear! Thanks so much for the review and hope you had a lovely Christmas 🙂 C.
Delicious! This is my new favorite veggie lasagna.
Great to hear, Nicole! 🙂
This is an amazing recipe. I ended up using a high-end store-bought spaghetti sauce. I used celery onions carrots mushrooms zucchini spinach garlic. I did cover my lasagna for 35 minutes with foil. Then I uncovered it turned up the heat to 400 and let it cook and get bubbly and brown for another 10 minutes. It came out amazing.
Tracy, so happy to hear the recipe went down well! Thanks for popping back for a review 🙂 C.
I have just spent ages (and about £18 on ingredients) before seeing in the footnote that you cannot use fresh spinach. I’m not a cook by any means so rely on recipes which is my fault but it would have been really helpful for that to have been pointed out sooner as no doubt the lasagne will now end up in the bin.
Hi Hollie! Sorry you missed the use of frozen spinach. It does specifically say it in the blog post, alongside in the recipe card itself, in addition to ‘see notes’ to it. Having said that, it’s certainly not a deal-breaker, so please don’t throw anything away! If you’ve already made the lasagne with fresh spinach, depending on how you prepped the spinach I imagine it’ll still come out just fine. If you’ve got the ingredients ready to go I recommend frying and wilting down the spinach, then once cool enough to handle squeeze out the moisture. Then roughly dice and combine with the ricotta etc. Hope this helps! C.
In one place it says to cook for 1 hour 5 minutes, but in the instructions it says to cook for 30-40 minutes. Which is correct? This looks amazing!
Hi Teresa, the 1 hour 5 mins is total cooking time (i.e making the sauce as well), 30-40mins is just baking the lasagne. Hope this helps! C.
Thanks for the quick reply! I can’t wait to try this. 🙂
So excited to try this! Love your vegetarian recipes, your roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas are one of my favourites
Hope it goes down well!! 🙂
Those layers in that last pic look a-MAZING! Must try