Epic Vegetable Lasagne

lifting lasagne from baking dish with cheese pouring down

4.89 from 9 votes

This Veggie Lasagne is loaded with a delicious vegetable pasta sauce, a smooth and creamy spinach ricotta layer and copious amounts of cheese!

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 5

Total Time1 35

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Cost: £3 / $4

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

a) Spinach - I find frozen spinach has a slightly more intense flavour than fresh spinach. Plus you skip the step of having to cook and chop the fresh spinach, which is always welcomed in a recipe like lasagne where there's already lots of steps. You can thaw the spinach either in the fridge overnight, or at room temp. Or, you can thaw in the microwave. Make sure you squeeze as much moisture out as possible, or it'll release into the lasagne as it bakes and mess with the texture. Roughly chop once thawed if it's not already pre-chopped.

b) Veggies - You can use different veggies if you like, just make sure you keep the carrot, onion & celery for the base flavour (Soffritto). 1 cup finely diced veg is roughly 3.5-4oz/100-120g. Butternut squash, sweet potato, baby corn & broccoli all work well here. In all cases though it's important to properly sweat down the veg and remove as much moisture as possible. If the veg is still undercooked by the time you stack the lasagne it'll release moisture as the lasagne bakes and leave it watery. Finely dicing all the veg helps with this (and also gives you a ragu kind of feel to mimic a 'proper' lasagne).

c) Lasagne Sheets - I always go fresh (find in fresh pasta section in supermarket). I prefer the texture and the lasagne stays intact better (not so wavy). If you’ve got dried then check the packet to see if you need to cook before hand. If you don’t need to cook them then don’t reduce the veggie sauce so much (the dried sheets will suck up more liquid than fresh).

d) Can I prep this ahead of time? - Yep, just make sure you cool the veggie sauce before stacking or it'll start cooking the pasta and turn it soggy once the lasagne has baked. Prepare and tightly store in the fridge for 2-3days or freezer for a month. Preferably bring close to room temp before baking or add on another 10mins or so to baking (otherwise the centre won't cook through properly).

e) Calories - assuming 1.5 tbsp olive oil used. Whole recipe divided by 8, calories for 1 portion:

Nutrition