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.
Absolutely fantastic recipe! Thank you. I made it for our Christmas eve dinner and my only regret is there are no leftovers. I’ll have to either invite over fewer folks or double the recipe.
Thanks Sabine! 🙂
We already did this lasagna twice and it just gets better and better ! Also We used the Bolognese part and turned it into Spaghetti Bolognese ????
Thank you for making it so easy to understand, we turned Vegan just a couple of months ago and we were struggling to make tasty food until we found your website ☺️ Greetings from Portugal ????????
Hi Rita! So happy to read your comment, I’m so pleased you found the recipe easy to follow and versatile! Thank you so much for the wonderful review! xo
This recipe looks DIVINE! I want to make it for my non plant based boyfriend. I have one question, I don’t like mushrooms. Could I just leave them out or is there something I could substitute them with?
Hi Marilyn, I don’t know if there is a sub for the mushrooms, I will say though that it doesn’t taste like mushrooms in the end result, the mushroom flavor is quite well hidden if that helps! 🙂
Hi Marilyn! I subbed in cauliflower for the mushrooms when I made this the other night. It was delicious. Aubergine would probably work too. Just sub in a veg that you like.
YUM!
I wasn’t convinced about the sauce when I tried it beforehand, but I read your comments and went for it anyway. I was not disappointed!! I loved it and I love this recipe.
I swapped out the spinach lasagna noodles for green lentil lasagna noodles (higher protein) and it was still excellent.
Thank you!
So happy to hear that Rachel! Thanks so much for the awesome review. 🙂
I made this last night. It does take a long time to make! My husband who has just gone plant-based loves it. I am so not keen on the ricotta part or the nutritional yeast in the cheese sauce BUT the bolognese sauce bit was amazing!!!! Will definitely make it again but will miss out the ricotta bit and will make my usual bechamel instead. Thank you for making me try new things and for all your recipes!
Thanks so much for sharing Isabella and so glad you liked the bolognese! 🙂
Hello!
I would really like to make this delicious looking lasagna! I just had a question about the zucchini layer. Would it be possible to remove this layer for people with sensitivities to zucchini? If there something else you would recommend in place or add another layer of noodles?
Thank you kindly! 🙂
Also wondering if you could substitute the vegan ricotta cheese with your vegan cottage cheese recipe?
Hi Hilary, yes, that would have a slightly different flavor/texture but would also be totally delicious! 🙂
Another layer of noodles would be perfect! 🙂
Would love to make this for my daughter in law, who arrives next week. Sounds delicious but would like to make it now and freeze it (uncooked). Do you know if I can freeze it, if so, do I defrost in refrigerator then cook when ready? Thank you.
Hi Candy, I think if you freeze it before baking it that should work great. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge and then bake it as usual.
Hi Alison. I love the sound of this recipe and would love to try it but I’m having trouble finding spinach lasagne sheets here in Australia. They look amazing and I’d love to use them rather than a substitute. What brand did you use?
Hi Kay, I used a local (to me) brand called Fatti’s and Moni’s. I don’t think the spinach part is a deal breaker, if you use regular lasagna sheets it will also work great! 🙂
URGENT HELP! I love your recipes. I am about to make this Best Lasagna recipe and noticed that this Bolognese does not have lentils as do the your other Bolgonese recipes. Leave it out for the Lasagna?
Hi Karen, yes we left it out for this recipe, we don’t make it the exact same way every time and adjust it for the particular recipe, though if you have a version you prefer (maybe with lentils) then you can switch that out for this one. All the best! 🙂
Oh my! I have no words that will do justice to this recipe. I had to stop myself licking my plate ( not a good look in front of children…). I skipped the ricotta cheese part so can only imagine it would be even better. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would also. Next time I’ll make double and freeze. I had to use a hand blender to remove lumps from my cheese sauce but it was perfect and beyond delicious. The only problem was mine was wetter than in your photos so I wasn’t able to slice up tidy pieces. Did I put too much marinara sauce do you think? I think I used less lasagna sheets too. I’m guessing that would not have helped either. My family are a few months into our new vegan way of life and thanks to recipes like yours I can’t understand why anyone needs to be eating animal products in 2019. Keep up your amazing work!! ??
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the awesome review! I don’t think you used too much marinara, it was probably perfect. We let it cool to room temperature before we did the slicing shots so that we could get those clean slices showing the layers, when served hot it is going to be more saucy which is nothing but a good thing! 🙂
I love having this and not having to worry about dairy or meat and still feeling like I’m eating lasagna as usual. This recipe is delicious! I just wanted to ask if there is a substitution for the coconut cream in the ricotta?
So glad you love it! I think you can use any non-dairy milk or non-dairy cream in place of the coconut cream for the ricotta. Thanks for the awesome review! xo
Absolutely the best lasagna I have ever had. Will definitely recommend it to others.
Yay! Thanks so much! xo
Thank you so very much for the reply. I will make it without the lentils as the recipes states. Your recipes are the best, so will make as printed. Thank you again for the clarification.
You’re welcome! Hope it turns out great and thanks so much for the kind words, so pleased you like the recipes. xo
WOW! I made this tonight and it was amazing! I used regular lasagna noodles since I couldn’t find spinach and added some shredded Miyoko’s mozz to the top for the last 20 minutes of baking…otherwise followed the recipes. My meat-eating chef husband was totally impressed! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Shellie! This is wonderful to hear, thank you so much for the amazing review! 🙂
This looks amazing! Is there a substitute for the walnuts if you’re trying to be nut free?
Hi Cindy, you might prefer our other recipe for the easiest vegan lasagna that doesn’t use any nuts. 🙂 Alternatively you could leave off the ricotta layer since that’s nut based and just leave out the walnuts from the bolognese altogether.
As soon as I saw this recipe come out on your blog today I decided to make it. I was in the mood for some fancy cooking and let me tell you, this recipe is totally worth the slightly longer time investment. It is AMAZING! Probably the best lasagna I have ever eaten. I am going to savor every slice of this over the weekend, and the next time I have friends over, this is definitely on the menu!
Wow Amanda you’re super fast! So happy you love it, and that’s the best compliment! I also think it’s the best! Thanks so much for the amazing review. 🙂