Vegan Vegetable Lasagna

Whether you are dairy-free, vegan, or just looking for a change – this lasagna recipe needs to meet your dinner table! This lasagna uses a faux ricotta cheese made from tofu and hummus. Sounds strange – it’s not, I promise.

The Vegan Stuffed Shells are a huge hit around here. But, some of you have mentioned that it’s hard to find the shells in these COVID days. And, if you can find them, that they’re a pain to stuff. Lasagna to the rescue!!!

Packed full of protein – 18 gm of plant based protein per serving – from the tofu, hummus, and even the noodles. <that’s right – wheat contains protein too!> A recent poll told me that only about 50% of you eat tofu on the regular. Whether you are a tofu eater or not, you should give this a try. In our experience, meat eaters are very welcoming to this meal.

This lasagna is also packed full of vegetables because nobody likes a wimpy lasagna. You’ll saute the carrots, zucchini, and onions – then add spinach – and stir this mixture into the faux ricotta. Feel free to mix it up and use whatever vegetables you have or like. <mushrooms, butternut squash, summer squash, green beans – get crazy!>

This will keep great in the refrigerator for 5 – 7 days so get ready for some delicious leftovers. When you reheat, add a little extra sauce to keep things saucy.

It’s not the prettiest meal ever – but it’s super delicious, satisfying, and balanced. Fuel it up!

Vegan Vegetable Lasagna

Servings 6 squares

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Ingredients

  

• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 onion diced
• 2 large carrots diced
• 1 large zucchini diced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 oz fresh spinach
• 14 oz tofu drained
• 8 oz garlic hummus
• 9 no bake lasagna noodles
• 25 oz jar of your favorite tomato sauce

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chopped veggies - zucchini, onion, and carrots. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add salt and fresh spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted, 1 - 2 minutes.
• In a large bowl, mix together tofu & hummus - until it resembles the texture of ricotta cheese. Add vegetable mixture and stir.
• In a 9 x 13 inch pan, spread 3/4 cup of sauce. Top with 3 no bake lasagna noodles. Top this with 1/2 the tofu + veggie mixture. Spread 1 cup of sauce over this. Top with 3 more noodles. Top this with remaining tofu + veggie mixture. Top with 3 more noodles. Top this with remaining sauce.
• Cover tightly with foil.
• Bake for 50 - 55 minutes covered. Allow to sit for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

How-to-Use:

Athletes: This recipe is a great way to get more vegetables into your day without even realizing that you are eating more vegetables. <Win!> I’d highly recommend if you’re training hard – eat 1/6th of this lasagna PLUS more carbs. Eat some fruit or bread or something on the side.

Healthy Eating: The theory of volumetrics in eating is a tried and true way to help us stay satisfied with less food. What is volumetrics? When we augment macronutrient dense foods with lots of vegetables, we can eat a large portion of food for less total energy. Our eyes and stomachs are satisfied! This lasagna is a great example of this concept. A massive 1/6th portion of this lasagna has 330 balanced calories – 11 gm fat, 40 gm carbs, 18 gm protein.

Kids: We had one successful attempt on this recipe for our 2 year old. She wasn’t sold. She’s also not accepting the color green in her diet these days, so I suppose we should try again soon. Remember – exposure is incredibly important with kids. Put some on their plate. Even if they don’t try it, it’s still great exposure because one day they WILL try it.

Other Thoughts:

• No need to press the tofu. The extra moisture is needed to soften the no bake noodles while cooking.
• You can use boiled lasagna noodles. Boil them according to the package and then assemble. DO press the tofu to squeeze extra moisture out of it if pre-cooking your noodles. Cook for 20 – 25 minutes.
• You can use whatever lasagna noodles you want – white, whole wheat, gluten free. Just follow the above directions if you need to bake the noodles first.