This roasted vegetable lasagna is absolutely chock-full of veggies and has a delicious cottage cheese layer. The whole thing is topped with plenty of mozzarella cheese for one epic meal! This will be your go-to meatless lasagna recipe for Sunday supper and special occasions!
Remember that homemade lasagna recipe I shared a little while back? Well, today I’m sharing another delicious lasagna recipe.
Like traditional lasagna, this vegetable lasagna is a labour of love.
This ain’t no 30-minute meal kinda thing. This homemade veggie lasagna is a proper Sunday supper or a special occasion meal. Feel me?
This time of year I crave all the comfort food.
And one of my fave things is lasagna.
I mean, cheese, carbs and a rich tomato sauce; what’s not to love?
And, though it is a labour of love, homemade lasagna is always worth it.
This recipe makes a big pan of lasagna, so it’s great if you have a crowd.
I think one of my favourite parts about making anything like this is watching the cheese bubble in the oven. It’s hypnotic, isn’t it?
Ingredients for Vegetable Lasagna
- Lots and lots of veggies (onion, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper, carrots, celery, onion, spinach and fennel)
- Plenty of cheese (cottage cheese, Parmesan, fresh & shredded mozzarella cheese)
- Lasagna noodles
- Tomato sauce
- Tomato paste
- Lots of flavour-packed seasonings (like basil, parsley, oregano, chili flakes, bay leaves, nutmeg, garlic, salt and pepper)
- Water (rinse out your empty cans of tomatoes to get every last bit of that tomato goodness)
- Olive oil and butter
- Egg
How To Make This Recipe
So, essentially, this vegetable lasagna recipe has:
- Layers of roasted veggies
- Layers of sautéed mushrooms
- Creamy cottage cheese layers
- Veggie packed tomato sauce
- Plenty of shredded mozzarella cheese
- Fresh lasagna noodles
There’s lots of goodies packed in here but if you take each step at a time, there’s nothing to it! So, let’s get going!
Full details are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:
Roast vegetables
- Get your eggplant and zucchini ready for the oven first by peeling, slicing and placing on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Brush with olive oil and give a little sprinkle of salt and pepper.
- Roast and set aside once done.
Cook mushrooms
- To a pot, add some olive oil and butter. Once butter is melted, add sliced mushrooms.
- Cook, season and set aside.
Make cottage cheese layer
- Heat olive oil in a pot, and then add baby spinach and nutmeg and cook until just wilted.
- Remove excess moisture in the spinach by placing it in a fine mesh sieve and pressing it against the sieve with a spoon (this is so your lasagna doesn’t get all watered down). The spinach isn’t actually going through the sieve (only water). Once done, chop the spinach.
- Combine spinach with mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper and egg.
- Mix together and set aside.
Make lasagna sauce
- Heat olive oil in a pot and add finely chopped carrots, celery, onion and fennel. Cook until softened. Season with a little salt and pepper. Add garlic and cook a little.
- Stir in tomato paste and cook out a little.
- Stir in bell peppers, tomatoes, herbs, crushed red pepper flakes, water and more salt and pepper.
- Cook until thickened. Remove and discard bay leaves.
Looking good, right? You can taste test, if you like, with a little hunk of bread. Don’t have to twist my arm!
Assemble and bake
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grab a deep lasagna pan and start assembling this bad boy. Add a little sauce to the bottom of the pan. Then, the order goes:
- Fresh lasagna noodles.
- ⅓ each of tomato sauce, roasted eggplant, roasted zucchini, sautéed mushrooms, cottage cheese mixture and 1.5 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Do this two more times (repeating with the lasagna noodles).
- Then add some fresh mozzarella over the last layer.
- Place some wooden toothpicks (that have been first soaked in water before using) over top of the lasagna (sticking out for easy removal later) and bake. The toothpicks help prevent the aluminum foil from sticking to the cheese. Lost cheese stuck on aluminum foil and not in your pie hole is never a good thing, LOL. Note: Make sure you keep track of how many toothpicks you stick in the lasagna (and they are mostly sticking out) so you can easily remove them all later.
- Carefully remove cover and toothpicks partway through and bake some more.
- Let cool a little, garnish and serve up this scrumptious vegetable lasagna!
Best Pan To Use for Lasagna
This is a large lasagna with a lot of depth.
I recommend going with a 9-inch x 13-inch deep lasagna pan.
Sides To Serve With Lasagna
This meatless lasagna recipe is delicious with any of these sides:
- Mixed green salad
- Roasted broccoli
- Garlic bread
- Focaccia or simply your favourite variety of bread
Tips For Making This Recipe
- I highly recommend using good quality canned tomatoes. I love San Marzano.
- A food processor is your friend here. Save time chopping those veg for the sauce by blitzing them with a food processor. Don’t have one? No worries! Simply finely chop.
- If you want to used canned mushrooms instead of fresh, that’s okay. You could skip cooking them. Just drain and use in the recipe.
- Fresh lasagna noodles were used so they literally went from the package to the casserole dish. You could use dried lasagna noodles should you wish. Simply cook them according to package instructions before using in this veg lasagna.
- If you don’t want to use fresh fennel, try a teaspoon and half or so of fennel seeds.
More Yummy Comfort Food Recipes
If you make this vegetable lasagna recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!
This recipe was originally published in February 2016 but has been updated.
Vegetable Lasagna
This roasted vegetable lasagna is absolutely chock-full of veggies and has a delicious cottage cheese layer. The whole thing is topped with plenty of mozzarella cheese for one epic meal! This will be your go-to meatless lasagna recipe for Sunday supper and special occasions!
Ingredients
Roasted Vegetables
- 2 eggplants, peeled and sliced about ½-inch thick
- 3 zucchini, peeled and sliced about ½-inch thick
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sautéed Mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 pounds baby bella (cremini) mushrooms, sliced (or use white button mushrooms)
- pinch salt
- pinch freshly ground black pepper
Cottage Cheese Layer
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 10 ounces fresh baby spinach
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ⅔ cups grated Parmesan cheese
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large whisked egg
Lasagna Sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 ribs celery, finely chopped
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 bulb fennel (bulb only), core removed and bulb finely chopped
- ¾ teaspoon salt, divided (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided (or to taste)
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (5.5-ounce) can tomato paste, a 156 millilitre can
- 2 bell peppers, diced
- 2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, tomatoes roughly mashed with a potato masher to break before using
- 1 cup chopped fresh basil, loosely packed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup water, rinse out your empty cans of tomatoes and use that water
Other Lasagna Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh lasagna noodles (6 to 8 sheets, depending on size), or your favourite dried variety (if your sheets are the smaller dried variety, you'll need around 10 sheets)
- 4.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced (or you could use 2 cups of shredded mozzarella)
- Basil, chopped or torn (garnish to taste, optional)
- Parsley, chopped (garnish to taste, optional)
Instructions
Roasted Vegetables
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Place the eggplant and zucchini onto the sheet pans, then brush with ½ of the olive oil (1.5 tablespoons) and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon each of salt and black pepper. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the sheet pan from the oven, then flip the eggplant and zucchini to the other side. Brush with the remaining olive oil (1.5 tablespoons) and sprinkle with remaining ¼ teaspoon each of salt and black pepper. Place the sheet pan back in the oven and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Once done, carefully transfer the eggplant and zucchini to a place and set aside.
Sautéed Mushrooms
- Meanwhile, heat butter and olive oil in a large sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add mushrooms, cook for 10 to 12 minutes (allow mushrooms to cook for a few minutes before stirring occasionally). Once done, season with salt and black pepper. Transfer mushrooms to a plate and set aside. Yields about 3 cups (cooked).
Cottage Cheese Layer
- In the same pot you cooked the mushrooms in, heat olive oil (wipe out pot first, if needed). Add spinach and nutmeg and cook, stirring occasionally, until just wilted, about 3 to 5 minutes. Place the spinach in a fine mesh sieve and squeeze out excess moisture. To do this, I like to press the spinach against the sieve with a spoon, allowing the excess water to flow out.Note: You're not pressing the spinach through the sieve, just using it to get rid of that extra water. Note: If you'd rather, you can use a clean tea towel instead of a fine mesh sieve to remove excess moisture from the spinach. To do this, after cooking the spinach, allow it to cool a bit until it's cool enough to handle, place it in a clean tea towel and squeeze out the excess moisture.
- Chop the spinach.
- Place cottage cheese in a bowl, along with cooked spinach, mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, salt, black pepper and egg. Mix to combine and set aside.
Lasagna Sauce
- Heat olive oil in a large enameled cast-iron Dutch oven over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and fennel. Cook, stirring every so often, for about 15 to 20 minutes. Season with ¼ teaspoon each of salt and black pepper.
- Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in tomato paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in bell peppers.
- Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, bay leaves, water and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt and remaining ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer so the sauce is gently bubbling/simmering and cook, stirring occasionally, for 35 to 40 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and the flavour has intensified. Remove bay leaves. Will yield about 7 to 8 cups of sauce after it has reduced.Note: Taste for seasoning and if you want a little more salt, add to taste.
Assemble and Bake Lasagna
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place 6 to 8 wooden toothpicks in a dish of water on your countertop to soak for use later.
- In a large 9-inch x 13-inch deep lasagna pan (with sides at least 3.5 to 4 inches tall) add ½ cup of sauce.
- Add one layer of noodles on top (if using fresh, no need to cook. If using dried noodles, cook according to package instructions, drain, and proceed with the recipe).
- Spread ⅓ of sauce on top of noodles, followed by ⅓ of the eggplant, ⅓ of the zucchini, ⅓ of the mushrooms, ⅓ of the cottage cheese and 1.5 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese.Note: The cottage cheese is thick. I like to dollop the cottage cheese onto the lasagna all over (rather than spread).
- Repeat TWO more times (another layer of noodles, followed by ⅓ of sauce on top of noodles, followed by ⅓ of the eggplant, ⅓ of the zucchini, ⅓ of the mushrooms, ⅓ of the cottage cheese and 1.5 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese).
- Top with sliced fresh mozzarella.
- Stick 6 to 8 wooden toothpicks (that have been soaked in water before using) in top of the lasagna, mostly sticking out (so the aluminum foil doesn't stick to the cheese), cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the lasagna from the oven, and remove aluminum foil and toothpicks (and discard). Place the lasagna back in the oven and continue to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese is melted and gets a little golden brown in colour.Note: Make sure you keep track of how many toothpicks you stick in the lasagna (and they are mostly sticking out) so you can easily remove them all later.
- Carefully remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes (don't skip this). Garnish, if desired, with basil and parsley, cut into pieces and serve. Enjoy!
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
Kim - The Puffy Biscuit
This looks supremely delicious, Dawn! All those veggies… mmm. So comforting. Also, your toothpick trick has just changed my life. Cheese lost on the foil is one of the most heartbreaking food stories, ever!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Thank you Kim!! Lol! So true 😉
Ann
I am in the process of making this as we speak. I’m sure it is going to be delicious. I am a lasagna mama and make lasagna as for those who need a warm meal or just a break. This week it was a veggie lasagna request. So, I’m making it to deliver tomorrow. It is probably the most labor intensive lasagna I’ve ever made but so far the sauce is to die for and I’m sure it will knock their socks off!
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
That’s so sweet! Thank you very much, Ann!! Hope you all enjoy the recipe!!
Leanne
This is my kind of lasagna – packed with veggies! Looks so hearty and loving the new photos. Mouth watering Dawn!
Philip - Chef Sous Chef
A perfect vegetairian fall comfort food. I love how many vegetables you packed in the recipe.
Lisa
This looks fabulously delicious, Dawn! Pinning so I don’t forget to try making this!!
Elaine
Who would notice that this lasagna is meatless with all those hearty, nutritious veggies stuffed in there?! Love that you can assemble this ahead of time and bake when needed. A great recipe for a hungry crowd.
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
I agree!! Thank you Elaine 🙂