The BEST Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe. Filled with layers of eggplant and zucchini, a homemade dairy-free ricotta, and meatless 'meat' crumbles made from walnuts and sunflower seeds. This is a healthy, pasta-free vegetarian lasagna that won't leave you hungry!
Ingredients
Best Whole30 Vegetarian Lasagna
- 1 ea large eggplant sliced into ¼” rounds (at least 18 slices)
- 1 ea medium zucchini sliced into 1/8” rounds
- 1 ea medium green pepper cut in half, seeded, and cut into ¼” slices
- 1 ea small head of broccoli cut into small, ½-¾”(~2 cups)
- 1½ jars lucini organic roasted garlic marinara sauce
- 1½ cup vegan ricotta see below
- 1 ea egg
- 1 8oz bag shredded dairy-free mozzarella chees
- 1 cup Meatless crumble see below
Vegan Ricotta
- ½ cup raw cashew pieces
- ¾ cup raw blanched almond slivers
- ½ cup dairy free milk I used almond milk
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
Vegetarian 'Meat' Crumble
- 1 cup Raw walnut pieces
- ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup onion chopped (1 small-med onion), heaping cup
- 10 oz Mushrooms chopped small
- ½ tsp salt
- tsp ½salt
Instructions
Vegan Ricotta
- Soak almonds and cashews together in boiling water for 30 minutes then drain. Add drained nuts to food processor along with all other ingredients. Do not use a Vitamix as it will make the mixture too smooth. Blend up to 5 minutes until mixture is fine grained like dairy ricotta. Refrigerate mixture for at least an hour before using.
Vegetarian 'Meat' Crumble
- Add raw walnuts and sunflower seeds to a food processor. Pulse until the walnuts resembles the texture of ground meat (the sunflower seeds will stay mostly intact). Set aside.
- Add olive oil to medium saucepan. Add onions and saute on medium heat until onions are clear. Add mushrooms and continue to saute mixture until completely dry and starts to brown (8-12 minutes.)
- Finish by stirring in walnut/sunflower mixture and continue to saute for another 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
Best Whole30 Vegetarian Lasagna
- For the vegetarian lasagna, start by salting both sides of eggplant rounds and allow to drain on their edges for 20 minutes using a colander.
- Use a paper towel to pat off water from eggplant slices. Brush both sides of each slice with olive oil. Line slices on a rimmed baking sheet. Broil 4-6 minutes until well browned. Remove from oven. Set aside until final assembly.
- Bring 2 quarts of water to boil with 1 tsp salt. Add zucchini, peppers and broccoli pieces all at once to boiling water. After 2-3 minutes, drain the vegetables into a colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside until final assembly. Note: by blanching the veggies, there will be less water released as the lasagna cooks.
- Mix one raw egg into vegan ricotta. Set aside until final assembly.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a 9x13, 2.5-3” deep baking dish, rub olive oil on all inside surfaces.
- Layer One- Spoon a thin layer of Lucini Roasted Garlic Marinara sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place a layer of cooked eggplant on top of the sauce without overlapping the eggplant slices. Spoon a thin layer of marinara sauce over the eggplant. Sprinkle ⅓ of the meatless crumble over the sauce. Drop ⅓ of the ricotta mixture on top of the crumble in small dollops. Sprinkle dairy free cheese over the top of the ricotta.
- Layer Two - Place the green pepper slices, broccoli, and zucchini in a single layer over the top of the cheese. Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the peppers. Sprinkle another ⅓ of crumble over the sauce. Drop ⅓ of the ricotta mixture over the top of the crumble. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the ricotta layer.
- Layer Three - Finish with a final layer of eggplant slices followed by the sauce, remaining crumble, ricotta and cheese.
- Bake for one hour at 350F. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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