Ok, the title of this post gives it away, but let me start by saying you will not miss the noodles in this vegetable lasagne recipe – I promise!
It’s oozy, yummy and so good just like traditional lasagne but instead of being just meat, grains and dairy – this recipe is almost entirely made up of vegetables. A huge win in the nutrition department, if you ask me.
This dish freezes beautifully (I’ve got half a dish in my freezer right now myself) and is the perfect straight from the freezer into the oven kinda meal when you are short on time or have a busy week. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser too, perfect for gatherings and potlucks.
I posted a picture of this recipe a couple of weeks ago on my facebook page after craving this while writing about my favorite healthiest pastas. Several of you requested the recipe, so here it is! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do around here – it’s one of my husband’s favorites.
- 1 jar of strained tomatoes (24 ounces)
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 egg
- 1 container of ricotta cheese (15 ounces)
- 1 tbsp dried italian herbs or ¼ cup fresh basil chopped
- ½ cup shredded raw parmesan
- ½ cup goat mozzarella or other raw cheese
- 1 large zucchini sliced long into ½ pieces
- 1 large yellow squash sliced long into ½ pieces
- 4 cups of baby kale, spinach or other dark leafy greens
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- For the tomato sauce, start by sauteeing onions in olive oil for 5 mins on low/medium heat in a pan on the stove
- Once onions are cooked tender, add garlic and sautee 2 more minutes
- Add tomatoes, red pepper, and salt and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer
- Allow tomatoes to cook for at least 10 mins
- (Alternatively you can use your favorite jarred tomato sauce)
- In a bowl combine egg, ricotta cheese and herbs and stir well
- Place about ⅓ of the cooked tomato sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish
- Layer zucchini on top of tomato sauce
- Spread ½ ricotta mixture on top of zucchini
- Layer with ⅓ more tomato sauce
- Layer squash to top of tomato sauce
- Spread ½ ricotta mixture on top of squash
- Layer greens on top of squash
- Top with remaining sauce, shredded cheese and bake covered for 30-40 mins until bubbly and cheese is slightly browned
- Allow lasagne to rest for 10 mins before serving - it's HOT!
If you know someone who loves lasagne, please share this post with them, and remind them to buy organic zucchini and squash to stay away from GMOs.
Buon Appetito,
Food Babe
P.S. We’ve just finalized all the recipes for September’s Meal Plans for Health program using some amazing seasonal ingredients and some really nutritious and yummy ingredients. If are you unhappy with the way you’ve been eating this Summer and need to get back on tract, this is the program to start ASAP! You get a monthly calendar with weigh-loss recipes, exactly what to eat and which Food Babe approved groceries to buy. Signing up for this program helps to support all the Food Babe investigations – so thank you!
Making this for my kiddos and I tonight, can’t wait to try it! 🙂
This recipe was my first discovery of Food Babe, found while Googling for a veggie (no-noodle) lasagna recipe I had made years ago, and still had fond memories of. This is delicious! We made it tonight for the second time since I first tried it two weeks ago…and also made a third for the freezer. The only change was adding mushrooms to cook with the onion mixture/sauce, they work really well.
LOVED this recipe!! I added another layer of chopper broccoli and used kale for my top green! I made it for our family Super Bowl party and it was a hit!! Even with all the carnivores on the house!! 😉 Thanks food babe! xoxo
I was really looking forward to the vegetable lasagna, I made it tonight. It is sooooo watery. What did I do wrong?
Probably did nothing wrong. The veggies do release quite a bit of liquid during the cooking process. You could extend the time required to prepare and bake your veggies first to eliminate some water. What I did was very carefully tilt the pan to dump some of the liquid into the sink. Note you need to be very careful if you try this as you might dump the entire thing in the sink.
Zucchini can be salted and drained to remove excess water before cooking. I did this for another lasagna recipe and it worked!
http://www.thekitchn.com/tip-salt-and-drain-cucumbers-a-81825
Sweet the zucchini first, layer it between paper towels sprinkled with some course sea salt, all the moisture will come out 🙂
Sorry….Sweat the zucchini, This is also a good trick when you want to BBQ or bake Zucchini topped with parm cheese, you got to get the moisture out first. Just wipe off the liquid that comes out of zucchini and it will remove the salt as well. The salt draws out the moisture!!!!
Omg! I just found food babe a few days ago and subscribed today. and I can’t believe it has taken me this long to find this awesome blog!!!! I am inspired to transform my diet for good! I am seriously contemplating purchasing the food guides. Anyone existing bloggers have any feedback? Are the recipes affordable? Are most of the ingredients easy to find?
Anyway I am going to try this meatball recipe tomorrow! I just bought these amazing organic dried herbs on Amazon from Manana Organic that will work perfectly in this recipe! Thanks foodbabe 🙂
Like everything else on your website this recipe was amazing!!
The only issue I had was that my Lasagna was watery. I used jarred tomato sauce, maybe I should have condensed it a little bit before adding it to the dish. Taste wise it was simply awesome and so are you! Thanks Food Babe.
Even though I am not a vegetarian 100%, I have pretty much always scraped everything off the lasagna noodles. Who says you have to have noodles? 🙂 So I can’t wait to try this recipe!
I would like to comment on the wateriness of the dish. I’m sure if you slice the veggies and put sea salt on them and then let them sit for a few minutes, a lot of the water will drain off. The salt will draw out the moisture. Then you can put it in the dish.
Plus, I can see eggplant and/or asparagus, spinach in this recipe also.
The issue I’ve had with salting veggies is the salt doesn’t rinse off and then the dish is too salty. This has happened 3 times with eggplant and zucchini. Roasting veggies takes more time, but then you won’t have a watery, salty casserole.
Slice the veggies to 8mm thickness, then bake on cookie sheet at 325F for about 30min. I also add 1 layer of “half cooked” pasta lasagna noodles in the bottom of the baking dish to soak up any excess water.
You spelt lasagne properly!!! Thank you, you just made this Italian-Canadian’s night! Now can you get people to stop saying panini sandwich?? That would make my YEAR! lol
Love your website by the way! It’s so informative and interesting! 🙂
I’m confused. I thought food babe was against dairy. Thought dairy was pretty much bad for everyone and causes inflamnation…
Food Babe has never said she is against dairy?? She has said she loves CHEESE, lol……Dairy causes inflammation, but everything in moderation, she advocated to buy Organic Milk free of hormones, produced by grass feed cows, who are free range.
Thanks for your many recipes and your advocacy on healthy food.
One of my challenges is that I am lactose and gluten intolerant (as well as having a quinoa allergy)…and I do not eat meat or fish (might have to rethink the latter). I find it difficult to get enough fat in my diet…and often feel hungry, even within 30 minutes of eating. Would you have any suggestions re substitutes for the dairy items in your recipes.(Even without the gluten and dairy in my diet, I still suffer from serious bloating…which I hope to one day figure out.)
Bloating could be an indication of malnutrition. Perhaps try brown rice and lentils. You may not be getting enough complete proteins, add avocado, banana, and walnuts for healthy fats. Good luck.
Thank-you Katie. I had not thought of that! Just FYI, I do eat lentils/ butter beans, avocado and banana daily; almonds (I react to walnuts); brown rice (maybe 1-2 times/ week). I will revisit my portion sizes. I have gained about 5 pounds since the beginning of the year and my clothes is tighter (but that could be the bloating). Thanks again for raising my awareness!
I cook mine this way for years but I’ve learned to shred my veggies and layer them so when you cut a slice the whole piece of zucchini doesn’t slide out
Others are saying their version was watery, does shredding the veggies reduce that problem do you think? I have always added shredded veggies to my noodle pastas and did not notice an increase in water. Opinions?
I just made this yesterday and I have to say… it’s DELICIOUS! Thank you so much for this healthy alternative :).
I sprinkled sea salt on the zucchini and let sit for 10-15 mins. Then I grilled it in my GF grill for 1-2 mins. My lasagna wasn’t watery at all. It’s worth the time for a great recipe. This is a keeper.
Looking forward to making this, thanks for the heads up on the watery issue Sara, im thinking maybe put it in an aluminum pan with holes and then one larger without?
Loved this recipe. I didn’t have enough time to salt the veggies, but it was still amazing. I sent the left overs home with my daughter and she ate them for breakfast the next day!
This recipe was amazing! It looked delicious and tasted even better. Even my husband and son enjoyed it. Ate the leftovers for lunch today and a coworker commented on how yummy it looked. I will definitely make this again!
After reading comments I grilled the zucchini and summer squash thin “planks” first to reduce moisture. I didn’t like the squash texture and small seeds compared to noodles. Kale was a good addition. This didn’t need added sugar as the ricotta and cheeses contain a lot of salt. Will stick with noodles.
I make mine with eggplant instead of noodles, with spinach as well. If you feel the need for meat, fresh ground (real) turkey is great in this, just add sage to the meat for awesome flavor.
Sweat the zucchini first, layer it between paper towels sprinkled with some course sea salt, all the moisture will come out, I make this every week, you have to sautee the veggies as well to get the moisture out of them as well, (but don’t sautee the zucchini lol)
Can you give me a vegan version of this?
The fact that you use tomatoe sauce from a jar reduces your credibility in my eyes. I can whip up tomatoe sauce from scratch in 10 min for pennies on the dollar.
She’s food babe not food nazi. Sheesh.
LOL! Right on Sue!
To make for a freezer meal is it best to cook and then freeze or freeze before cooking?
This may be a dumb question, but I’m new to the cooking world and this is my first time making lasagne. I followed the instructions precisely and then at the very end (just before placing in the oven) I realized that I never used the mozzarella. When was I suppose to add mozzarella? I hope this was optional and I didn’t totally ruin my first attempt at this! Thanks a bunch!
(blushes)
I’ve scrolled through the responses and I don’t see that anyone has asked how the cooking time is affected when baking it from frozen. Maybe it’s a silly question… Does the temp need to be increased? And how much longer should I allow for it to fully cook?
I am trying to eat healthier, a friend told me about this website. This was the 1st recipe I tried. It was awesome. Thanks!
Do you have a non-dairy/soy recommendation in place of the cheese? And if so, would that change the cooking time?
Look up recipes for cashew cream, cashew cheese, and zucchini milk. There are a ton of them online, and garlic, herbs, spices can be added to them to make them savory. I had to make a dish one year for a holiday guest who was both vegan and celiac- it seemed daunting but I made a lasagne using these and even the meat and dairy eaters were falling on it. They’re not complicated and can be made in advance.
Just made this dish for the 5th time this year, it just gets better! Just a great thing to have, and the smell when cooking is a bonus!
That was unbelievably delicious. We thought it tasted better then using noodles. I did sweat the veggies with salt for 30 minutes, rinsed and paper toweled them dry. I also used jarred Bertolli marinara. My husband and both my little boys gobbled it up. Thanks for posting!
This recipe rocked my world! I modified it a little. Added some Burgundy and a pinch of brown sugar to the Marinara, threw in the bottom some eggplant and on top some quickly sauteed mushrooms. For the greens, I used that organic mixed green box they sell in the produce section. Finally, with a little ricotta I had left, I mashed in some Ezekiel toasted bread crumbs… I will say, I am carb addict and LOVE pasta but I did NOT miss the noodles, not even for a minute. My husband is 6’2 230 pounds and loves his fill as well, he did not even notice there were no noodles (or meat!). We looked at each other for a while, in love with this dish! Try it!! (and make your own sauce if you can, it will taste tangier and better)
I made this for dinner tonight and it is delicious! Keep up the good work Foodbabe!
I do nt think it can taste like lasagna if the beef and noodles are gone,
I was just wondering where do you get the organic ricotta cheese? I’ve been wanting to make lasagna for a long time now, but could find no organic ricotta anywhere.
Any specialty grocery store should have it. Here in Washington, we have QFC, Haggen, and Yokes that normally have large specialty cheese/dairy sections. Its normally not next to the regular cheese. I bet a Whole Foods or Trader Joes would have it also. Hope that helps!
I just made this recipe and it turned out great. I noticed that the ingredients had mozzarella and the recipe didn’t use it. Did I miss where the mozzarella goes?
I ended up placing it on top of the ricotta.
Did you mean goat cheese? I was wondering the same thing.
Can a flax egg be substituted in this recipe?
Sometimes I can find squash at the corner shop. Is there any other thing I may replace it with please?!
Question: can this Veggie Lasagne be frozen and still taste ok? I need to make some meals to have on hand in the freezer.
The recipe above calls for goat cheese but it doesn’t say where to put it. Do you mix it in with the ricotta cheese?