How To Make Easy Vegetable Lasagna Recipe (No Ricotta)

This easy vegetable lasagna recipe (without ricotta) and week-night friendly meal is the best lasagna and the easiest lasagna that you willl ever make! Packed with fresh and seasonal vegetables with the key veggies being zucchini, bell pepper, fresh spinach and pumpkin. This meal is so delicious, it's hard to believe that it has no meat but it does have cheese, loaded.

3 Top Reasons Why We Love This Veggie Lasagna

Classic Comfort Food:  A combination of pasta, sauce, and cheese makes lasagna a traditional Italian favorite. Our Sunday classics are always made up of some sort of pasta bake, tradional lasagna, meatballs and sauce with pasta bake. These comfort food dishes are perfect for a big family lunch or guests alike. 

Convenient Make Ahead Meal:  Comfort foods are convenient in that most of these dishes can be prepared ahead, kept ovenight in the fridge, they freeze well and you always a meal-ahead when needed. 

Versatile:  Pick and choose the ingredients to what is seasonal and use what you have. 

3 Ways To Make This Great Recipe Even Easier!

1. Buy the vegetables cut, cleaned and fresh. My only suggestion would be take a packet that's got cubed veggies and not tiny pieces or slices, like julienne carrots. You want the vegetables uniformed in size so that they cook evenly. 
2. Instead of making (tomato) marinara sauce you can buy the ready-made jar. (although I have the best tomato sauce and marinara sauce recipe!) 
3. Grate the cheese ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.

Ingredients For Easy Vegetable Lasagna

Here is what you will need for this delicious vegetable lasagna. ​You can find the full recipe in the recipe card below.

• Pasta
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Fresh vegetables
• Canned Tomatoes
• Passata
• Coconut cream
• Seasoning 
• Mozzarella cheese

Lasagna Noodles

Lasagna sheets that don't need boiling! Trust me on this, I've been boiling lasagna for too long 🙂 Look for no-boil lasagna, it will say so on the box.  I used Barilla no-boil lasagna sheets and they are very convenient. Naturally, if you can't find no-boil lasagna then use regular lasagna sheets (boil noodles).  My suggestion would be to not boil them all at once, that just leads to them sticking and a nightmare of trying to get them apart. Boil a few at a time and layer the dish as you go. Also, they don't need to boil till al dente, they will finish cooking in the oven. 

Fresh Vegetables  

The vegetables can be made up of any of your favorites or vegetables that are available. This recipe uses pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, onion, celery, bell peppers etc. Love the red peppers!

Tomatoes

Use canned chopped tomatoes, try and get a good quality, there's less water in it. The passata is very good to help thicken the sauce. For something more concentrated, you can use tomato paste. If your tomatoes are watery, strain them before adding them into the sauce.

Cream 

Traditionally a Classic Italian lasagna is made with Béchamel Sauce but in this veggie lasagna we are using coconut cream. Feel free to use white sauce (beschamel), thick cooking cream (there is a difference, not all cream is cooking cream) or ricotta cheese.

Quick Note: Coconut cream is as high in fat as regular cream. It's low in carbs but not fat. 

Seasoning/Spices

Basic salt & pepper but feel free to add any of your favorites.  I use this vegetable spice.  More spice options are: red pepper flakes, fresh parsley, garlic powder and onion powder. 

Cheese

The cheese in this recipe is mozzarella but I quite often use mature cheddar, plain cheddar, mozzarella & ricotta, etc.

How To Make The Best Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe

This is a very easy step by step recipe and there's no need to boil lasagna noodles thankfully. 

Step #1  Prepare the oven and the oven dish. 

Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F and place the rack one down from the center.  The oven dish should be one that's large enough to hold your pasta bake, normally a 9x13inch in size.  You can spray the bottom of the dish, leave it bare or I like adding either passata on the base of the dish or tomato sauce (in this case, veg sauce) for the '1st layer'.

Step #2  Clean and saute the veggies 

Rinse and chop the vegetables. (Unless you are using store-bought already-cut veggies). Heat a large skillet on medium heat and cook the onion until shimmering (2 to 3 minutes) add the garlic, mix it in, and add the veggies. Don't add the spinach now and use room temperature vegetables. 

No fiddling with the veggies: Remember not to fiddle too much because that breaks the veggies down and they lose their 'structure'. No sooner use a spatula (I use a flat wooden ladle) to gently move the veggies around and combine the ingredients. 

The vegetables will begin to slightly change color, 5 minutes. You are not looking to fully cook the veggies, the oven will do all the work us later.

Step #3 Seasoning and "Fold' 

Salt, pepper, vegetable or Italian spice, part of the butter.

Add the vegetable spice, salt and pepper and 1 teaspoon butter as soon as you see the vegetables are starting to change color. Try not to add any seasoning when you just add the veggies to the pan, give them a chance to heat up on a low sizzle and as they turn a deeper golden color, that's when you season, add the spice and fold it in. You can also use Italian seasoning for this dish. 

Step #4 Tomatoes 

Tomato paste, canned tomatoes and one part tomato puree.

Add tomato paste and give it a minute or two to cook with the vegetables. Add the canned tomatoes and half the passata and cook on medium-high heat for a gentle simmer. 

Step #5  Spinach & Simmer

Add baby spinach and/or fresh herbs (the herbs are completely optional).  I went with a combination of fresh basil and parsley. 

Step #6  Butter

As the sauce thickens, roughly 2 to 3 minutes, add the remaining butter (for creamy richness) and chopped herbs. Add the butter to melt, for flavor and richnes!

Step #7 Vegetable Lasagna Layering Process

The exiciting part is the layering of the no-boil lasagana noodles (sheets). We have a prepared oven dish, sprayed OR with a layer of sauce on the base. The sauce can be just passata or it can be a ladle full of the vegetable sauce.

• Then add a layer of noodles. 
• Top the noodles with a more of the vegetable sauce mix. 
• Pour a cup of the tomato sauce (passata) over the vegetables
• Pour the cream over the tomato or passata sauce
• Follow with another layer of lasagna sheets and keep repeating the layers until you get to the top of the dish. 

Step #8 Cheese Layer

Top with a final layer of lasagna sheets, the remaining sauce and the remaining cheese must be the last topping. 

Step #9 Bake The Vegetable Lasagna

Oven bake the vegetable lasagna until the lasagna is al dente, the cheese has melted and is a golden brown color. Lower the oven temperature to 60°C/140°F and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

And that's all there is to making the most delicious meatless lasagna!

Step #10 Carve and Serve

This easy vegetable lasagna doesnt need any garnish, but adding freshly chopped parsley gives a little pop of color. And a little healthier over all that cheese :)!

Remember to let the lasagna sit when it comes out the oven, for 10 minutes before serving.

FAQ's

How Long Does Lasagna Take To Bake?

If you are using no-boil lasagna, bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Add an extra 20 minutes for regular lasagna sheets.

What's The Difference Between Passata & Tomato Paste?

Tomato paste is passata that's been double or triple concentrated. Tomato passata is like the watered down version of tomato paste.

What Cheese To Use For Lasagna? 

You can use any cheese for lasagna. Feel free to use parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese or even a ricotta mixture which is great for pasta bakes.

How To Store Cooked Lasagna

Let the lasagna cool down completely before transferring to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, and reheat in the microwave or in the oven the next day or when needed. 

How To Freeze Lasagna

Freeze in an airtight container but to avoid freeze in the lasagna, foil wrap it first and them into a container. If you can use a foil container even better and convenient for the next re-heat.

​How To Serve

We love vegetable lasagna as it is because it's delicious! However, this cheese and garlic bread is a fantastic side or appetizer before the meal. 

Looking for more delicious recipes?

Sign up to our newsletter and follow alon Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for our latest recipes! Tag all your fabulous creations #anosmickitchen so we can all enjoy with you. 

Visit Our Shop to browse quality extra virgin olive oils and spices.

Discover More Pasta Bakes

​Star Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you loved this recipe give it 5 Stars below and let us all know what you thought about it.