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!

Portion of vegetable lasagna on a blue plate with a pan of lasagna behind it.

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

Ingredients for a veggie lasagna recipe.

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:

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.

Collage of steps to make sauce for veggie lasagna.

Looking good, right? You can taste test, if you like, with a little hunk of bread. Don’t have to twist my arm!

Vegetable tomato red sauce in a pot with a wooden spoon.

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.

Collage: slices of zucchini on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan before and after roasting.

Cook mushrooms

To a pot, add some olive oil and butter. Once butter is melted, add sliced mushrooms.
Cook, season and set aside.

Collage: sliced mushrooms in a pot before and after cooking.

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.

Collage of steps to make a spinach and cottage mixture for lasagna.

Assemble and bake

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grab a deep lasagna pan and start assembling the lasagna. 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!

Close-up of veggie lasagna in a lasagna pan with a knife resting on top.

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.

Close-up of veggie lasagna in a pan with a piece cut out.

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

Portion of vegetable lasagna on a blue plate.

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

Dawn | Girl Heart Food

Print Recipe Save Recipe

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 1 45

Cooling 30

Total Time 3

Course Main Course

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

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
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 (5.5-ounce) can tomato paste
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

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 egg, whisked

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

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.
Tip: While the sauce is simmering, you can get start preparing the other lasagna components.

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. Then, 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.

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 the sauce.
Add one layer of fresh lasagna noodles on top of the sauce.
Note: If using fresh lasagna noodles, there is no need to cook them first. If using dried lasagna noodles, cook them according to the package instructions, drain, and proceed with the recipe.
Spread ⅓ of the 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.

Keyword cooking for a crowd, lasagna recipe, veggie lasagna

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!

Ingredients for Vegetable Lasagna