This vegan lasagna recipe is seriously decadent. Layers of vegan bolognese, vegan ricotta, vegan cheese sauce and marinara sauce make for the most delicious lasagna ever!
This vegan lasagna recipe is truly decadent.
The last time I made a lasagna I called it the easiest lasagna because it really was so easy.
But this one? Well I’m not going to pretend this is a simple recipe. It has a few parts to it, but wow is it good! So good.
It’s layers of a marinara sauce, homemade vegan bolognese, lasagna sheets, thinly sliced zucchini, vegan ricotta and a simply divine vegan cheese sauce.
Everything except the marinara sauce and the lasagna sheets gets made up from scratch.
So yes, I can’t call this easy, but rewarding? Definitely!
And it feeds a crowd. You can feed at least 8 very hungry people from this dish. And they will be super impressed with you that is for sure.
For more amazing vegan dishes that feed a crowd check out our vegan cannelloni, our vegan pasta bake, vegan mac and cheese and vegan eggplant parmesan.
How To Make Vegan Lasagna
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
The Vegan Bolognese:
We made up a bolognese from scratch and the recipe is only slightly adapted from our vegan bolognese recipe. We adapted the recipe to make it less saucy, since it was going in this lasagna with lots of saucy things like marinara sauce and cheese sauce.
- Add sliced mushrooms to the food processor and process until finely chopped. Add them to a mixing bowl.
- Crumble up a block of extra firm tofu with a fork. Add it to the mixing bowl.
- Add walnuts to the food processor and process into crumbles. Add them to the mixing bowl.
- Mix the mushrooms, tofu and walnuts together in the mixing bowl.
- Add chopped onions and crushed garlic to a pot with olive oil, dried basil, oregano and cayenne pepper and sauté until softened.
- Add the tofu/walnut/mushroom mix, dark soy sauce, tomato paste and marinara sauce and sauté until you have a bolognese sauce with no visible liquid.
- Add coconut sugar (for flavor balance), salt and pepper to taste.
The Vegan Cheese Sauce:
The vegan cheese sauce is an adaptation from our vegan white sauce (bechamel) and it works wonderfully for this lasagna.
If you see the top of the lasagna and that gorgeous crusty cheese, well that is this cheese sauce! We didn’t use any actual vegan cheese in this recipe, just this homemade cheese sauce.
The sauce is made with soy milk. We did try a version with coconut milk, similar to what we did for our vegan alfredo sauce and our baked vegan mac and cheese, but we really preferred soy milk for this. When combined with the other flavors in the lasagna it just worked out the best.
- Add olive oil to a pot or saucepan and let it heat until hot.
- Add all purpose flour and fry it briefly in the oil, stirring vigorously.
- Add all the soy milk at once and whisk it vigorously to get rid of lumps.
- Bring it to the boil stirring constantly. When it boils let it continue to boil, stirring all the while, for a few minutes until it thickens.
- Remove from the heat and add dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and ground black pepper and stir it in.
Layering:
A deep dish is going to work best for this recipe because there are a lot of layers!
- Add a thin layer of marinara sauce to the bottom of a 9×13 rectangular oven safe dish.
- Add 4 sheets of spinach lasagna.
- Add half the vegan bolognese and spread it out in an even layer.
- Add a thin layer of vegan cheese sauce.
- Add a layer of thinly sliced zucchini followed by a layer of vegan ricotta cheese.
Top Tip: For the ricotta layer we used one full batch of homemade vegan ricotta. Of course if you have a store-bought option that you like, you are welcome to use that instead.
- Add 4 sheets of spinach lasagna followed by a layer of marinara sauce.
- Add another thin layer of vegan cheese sauce (leaving the remainder to put on last for the final layer) followed by the rest of the vegan bolognese.
- Add a layer of sliced zucchini, followed by another 4 sheets of spinach lasagna and then a final layer of marinara sauce (leave a little marinara sauce behind to decorate the top of the lasagna after baking).
Baking:
- Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 390°F.
- Then bring it out, remove the foil and top with the remaining cheese sauce.
- Return to the oven to bake for another 20 minutes uncovered. The cheese sauce goes firm and melty on top, similar to melty cheese! It’s divine.
- When the lasagna comes out of the oven, stick a knife in to make sure it’s cooked through.
- And then put a swirl of the remaining marinara sauce into the middle to look pretty.
Decorating:
- Decorate with some chopped basil, a sprinkle of dried basil and black pepper.
Recipe Notes:
The vegan bolognese and vegan cheese sauce really make this lasagna special.
We used a store-bought marinara sauce, because we didn’t want to be busy ALL day making this! But if you have a favorite homemade marinara sauce you’d like to make, well, go ahead superstar!
The homemade vegan ricotta layer also really makes this lasagna special. But if you’re looking to save time and have a ready-made option that you can buy, you can definitely use that.
We used lasagna sheets that don’t need to be pre-cooked, because ain’t nobody got time for cooking that in advance!
The sliced zucchini layers are awesome because having some extra veggies in your lasagna is only a good thing. However, this can be omitted if you can’t get hold of any zucchini.
Serving Suggestions
Some vegan garlic bread served on the side will never go amiss. A salad on the side like a vegan kale salad or vegan caesar salad would be awesome too.
Make It Gluten-Free
You can use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend when making the vegan cheese sauce, and you can use gluten-free lasagna sheets. Also use a gluten-free soy sauce in the vegan bolognese or switch it for tamari. These are the only adjustments needed to make this a gluten-free lasagna.
Make Ahead, Storing and Freezing
Make Ahead:
The vegan ricotta can be made in advance, it can even be frozen if you need to make it far in advance and then thawed in the fridge when you need it.
The vegan bolognese can be made a day or two in advance and stored in the fridge.
The vegan cheese sauce can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a couple of days. Give it a good whisk to make sure it’s smooth. It will thicken up in the fridge but this is okay.
Then you just need to assemble the lasagna and bake it when you’re ready. I don’t think it would be great to assemble it a couple of days before, just because it could cause your lasagna sheets to get mushy.
Storing:
Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 3-4 days and can be reheated slice by slice as needed! Or simply reheat the whole dish in the oven at 350°F until heated through.
Freezing:
This lasagna is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months if you’d like to freeze it. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat as usual.
More Vegan Comfort Food Recipes
- Vegan Pasta Bake
- Vegan Baked Ziti
- Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
- Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Moussaka
- Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lasagna Recipe
Ingredients
For the Vegan Bolognese:
- 2 ½ cups Cremini Mushrooms (240g)
- 8 ounces Extra Firm Tofu (226g)
- 1 cup Walnuts (100g)
- ½ Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
- 1 Tbsp Crushed Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Dried Basil
- 1 tsp Oregano
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
- ½ cup Tomato Paste (130g)
- 1 cup Marinara Sauce (240ml)
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Sugar
- Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Vegan Cheese Sauce:
- 6 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 5 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 4 cups Soy Milk (960ml)
- 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- ⅔ cup Nutritional Yeast (40g)
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 2 tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Salt
- ¾ tsp Ground Black Pepper
For the Vegan Ricotta:
- 1 Recipe Vegan Ricotta
For the Marinara Sauce:
- 2 ½ cups Marinara Sauce (600ml)
For Assembling:
- 12 Sheets Spinach Lasagna*
- 4 Small Zucchini Sliced
For Decorating:
- Marinara Sauce
- Fresh Basil Chopped
- Dried Basil
- Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- If you’re making the vegan ricotta from scratch as per our recipe, then put your slivered almonds in a bowl, pour over some boiling water from the kettle and leave them to soak for 1 hour.
Vegan Bolognese:
- Slice the mushrooms and add them to the food processor. Process until very finely chopped. Add them to a mixing bowl.
- Crumble the tofu with a fork and add it to the mixing bowl.
- Add the walnuts to the food processor, process into crumbs and then add it to the mixing bowl.
- Mix the mushrooms, tofu and walnuts together in the mixing bowl.
- Add the chopped onion to a pot with the crushed garlic, olive oil, dried basil, oregano and cayenne pepper and sauté until the onions are softened.
- Add the tofu/walnut/mushroom mix, dark soy sauce, tomato paste and marinara sauce and sauté until you have a soft bolognese sauce with no visible liquid.
- Add coconut sugar (for flavor balance) and salt and pepper to taste.
Vegan Cheese Sauce:
- Add the olive oil to a pot and let it heat until hot. Add the flour and fry it briefly in the oil, stirring vigorously and then add in all the soy milk and whisk it vigorously to get rid of lumps.
- Bring it to the boil stirring constantly. When it boils let it continue to boil, stirring all the while, for a few minutes until it thickens.
- Remove it from the heat and add dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and ground black pepper and stir in.
Vegan Ricotta:
- Prepare your vegan ricotta as per the linked recipe. Or you can use 1 and ⅔ cups of store-bought vegan ricotta.
Assemble:
- Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).
- Add a thin layer of marinara sauce to the bottom of a deep 9×13 baking dish.
- Then add 4 sheets of spinach lasagna noodles.
- Then add half the vegan bolognese and spread it into an even layer.
- Then add a thin layer of vegan cheese sauce.
- Then add a layer of sliced zucchini.
- Then add all the vegan ricotta into one thick layer.
- Then add 4 sheets of spinach lasagna noodles.
- Then add another layer of marinara sauce.
- Then add another thin layer of vegan cheese sauce, leaving the remainder to add on last.
- Then add the rest of the vegan bolognese.
- Then add a layer of sliced zucchini.
- Then add another 4 sheets of spinach lasagna noodles.
- Then add another layer of marinara, leaving a small amount behind for decorating the top.
Bake:
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes bring it out, remove the foil and add all the remaining vegan cheese sauce to the top.
- Return to the oven and bake uncovered for a further 20 minutes.
- Bring it out, stick in a knife to make sure it’s cooked, and then add a generous drizzle of marinara sauce to the middle section of the baked lasagna.
- Decorate with fresh chopped basil, dried basil and ground black pepper.
Notes
- Cremini mushrooms are also known as ‘portobellini’, ‘baby bella’, or ‘baby portobello’ mushrooms. You could also use white button mushrooms.
- Marinara sauce. We used a simple store-bought marinara sauce. Use whatever marinara sauce is your favorite.
- Soy milk. We found soy milk the best for this vegan cheese sauce in light of the other flavors of the lasagna. It just worked really well. We also tried some with coconut milk and it works fine, but for overall flavor with the other elements of this lasagna soy milk tasted best.
- Vegan ricotta. You can make the vegan ricotta as per our recipe or, if you prefer to buy ready made vegan ricotta then the amount needed would be around 1 and ⅔ cups.
- Lasagna sheets. You don’t have to use spinach lasagna you can use plain lasagna, that’s up to you. Ideally you want to use a brand that does not require pre-cooking. You may need a few more sheets of lasagna, depending on the size of the sheets. Just use as many as needed.
- This recipe was first published in March 2019.
A lot of work but worth it. I make the full recipe of bolognese but only make 1/2 the lasagne recipe- I then freeze the bolognese to make your moussaka – which is also delicious. Thankyou.
Thanks for sharing and for your great review Deborah!
Thanks for the recipe! The bolognese sauce is really good. I’ll be trying this again with another cheese or cheese sauce that doesn’t rely so heavily on nutritional yeast. I do appreciate nutritional yeast in small doses, so I cut it way back (just 2 tbsp in the sauce and about half a tbsp in the ricotta). I still found the yeast flavor of the cheese sauce to be very dominant, and I ended up leaving out all the cheese sauce that gets added at the end. The lasagna was still very good with just the marinara, a swirl of olive oil, and some sautéed mushrooms on top.
I didn’t make the cheese sauce recipe Instead i used shredded vegan cheese. The ricotta is amazing! I will definitely be making this on a regular basis.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Daphne! Thanks so much for the great rating!
oh my goodnes !!!!! I followed this recipe to the letter and my entire family LOVED IT! which i have to add is extremely rare, thank you so much Alison! this is now a firm staple at my house.
So happy you loved it Fiona! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi Alison, I loved the bolognese component of this dish. Definitely would have fooled a carnivore in my opinion. I found the cheese sauce really rich (and yellow) and wonder if my ingredients here in Australia were a super strong version. I would love a more mellow “white sauce” taste in the sauce, any ideas?
Also I used a small saucepan for cooking the cheese sauce so the flour ended up swimming in the oil. Perhaps this mistake of mine was why it took quite a lot of extra flour to thicken it up.
Hi Jo, I’m wondering if you used nutritional yeast powder? We used the flakes. The powder is much more concentrated. Other than that if I make a basic white sauce, it’s usually just oil, flour, soy milk and then some salt and pepper. So you are welcome to dial back any of those other flavorings to make sure it’s to your taste. All the best!
I would love to make this recipe but have an allergy to walnuts. Could you recommend a substitute?
Thank you!
Hi Janine, you could do something like swap out the bolognese for this recipe for our lentil bolognese that doesn’t use walnuts.
This looks fantastic! I was wondering, however, if I could make the vegan ricotta without nuts? Thank you so much.
Hi Heather, you can leave the ricotta out if you prefer. We don’t have a nut-free version of ricotta.
I want to make this for Thanksgiving for my vegan son, plus I’m making a turkey dinner for my other son and family. Seems like its a lot of work, Can I make up the sauces before hand and freeze them till the night before?
Hi Mariah, yes we have info about this in the blog post under the heading ‘make it in advance’. You can certainly make up aspects of the dish in advance and then assemble and bake on the day.