This is the best tasting lasagna I’ve ever made.
We love lasagna and all its cousins. Stuffed shells, manicotti, and raviolis, are all super yummy. And to be honest, they are a bit like the same thing in different forms. So maybe they’re closer than cousins. They all have pasta, marinara sauce, and cheese. Usually ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
So deciding to choose a vegan lifestyle can be the end of dining at traditional Italian restaurants if the thought of Italian food without cheese is impossible. There’s always spaghetti and marinara sauce. Or any of the other pastas with marinara sauce. So it gets very same-same, which turns into ho-hum, aka boring. And that’s only if the marinara doesn’t have butter, parmesan cheese or even anchovies added to the traditional meatless recipe. (Always ask the server.)
But give up Italian Food?! Absolutely not! (Even if it’s one food pretending to be a bunch of different foods. We still love it all.) So what can we do?
Make the best tasting vegan Italian food at home!
It is so easy to make your favorite vegan recipes at home now. It was over ten years ago when The Hamptons Vegan went from vegetarian to vegan and the options for ready made vegan items were nothing like they are today.
There are more choices of vegan meats now like Impossible meatballs, Beyond burgers, and Field Roast sausages.
There are more cheese choices like Miyokos mozzarella, Violife parmesan, Follow Your Heart cheese shreds, and Kite Hill ricotta.
There are also ready made vegan frozen Italian meals like Amy’s Vegan Lasagna with vegetables, Target’s vegan raviolis (by Tabitha Brown), and Gardein Italian style rigatoni n’ plant-based saus’ge.
And there are some wonderful vegan recipe bloggers and cookbook creators to help you make any kind of recipe you could want or need like The Gentle Chef, THEPPK, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken, and The Kind Life to name just a few.
And Now: Our Favorite Vegan Lasagna!
Our new favorite lasagna is inspired by BOSH! Their videos are so much fun to watch. So grateful for this recipe inspo:
It includes: veggies,
lasagna noodles,
homemade red sauce, (but if you’re too tired for the all homemade version, just sub with marinara from a jar),
and the most delicious vegan bechamel sauce.
And here’s a photo dump of the steps in action to achieve this lovely, stand alone vegan veggie lasagna!~
Favorite Vegan Veggie Lasagna
Equipment
- High Speed Blender or large food processor
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Raw Cashews
- 3 Cups Water Plus more to soak cashews
- 6 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
- 6 Tablespoons Corn Starch
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- 9 Cloves Garlic minced and divided
- 4 teaspoons Salt
- 1 Cup Soy Milk unsweetened and unflavored
- 2 Small Eggplant cut into 1/4 inch lengthwise slices.
- 2 Zucchini cut into 1/4 inch lengthwise slices.
- 1 Large Onion chopped
- 1/2 Cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes chopped
- 1/3 Cup Basil chopped
- 1/3 Cup Vegan Pesto Use our recipe or store bought.
- 10 Plum Tomatoes chopped
- 8 – 12 Lasagna Noodles amount depends on size of noodles.
- 2 Cups Strained Tomatoes or tomato puree
- 260 ml Vegan Red Wine
- 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 1 Tablespoon Oregano
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil for cooking or use avocado oil.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- SOAK THE CASHEWS:In medium pot, bring 3-4 cups of water to a boil then turn off water, add raw cashews and cover with a lid. Let soak for 30 minutes.
- While cashews are soaking:ROAST ZUCCHINI AND EGGPLANT SLICES (on parchment paper to prevent sticking) in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 15- 20 minutes, flipping halfway through until golden brown in spots and not hard anymore.
- While cashews are soaking and eggplant and zucchini are roasting:COOK NOODLES:Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When boiling add a tablespoon of salt to water then add lasagna noodles and cook per directions on package. When cooked, drain, then set aside on parchment paper without touching each other to avoid sticking together.
- While cashews are soaking and eggplant and zucchini are roasting and noodles are boiling:MAKE THE RED SAUCE In a large skillet, cook the onions in the olive oil until softened and translucent. Add 5 cloves of garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and oregano and cook 1-2 minutes more. Add tomato paste and red wine. Cook about 4 minutes to cook down the wine. Add the chopped plum tomatoes and strained tomatoes to the pan. Cook until bubbling then turn heat to a simmer, cover, and cook about 10 -15 minutes.
- MAKE THE BECHAMEL SAUCE:After cashews have been soaked, drain and add to high-speed blender or food processor. Then add the 3 cups water, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, corn starch, 4 garlic cloves and salt. Blend well until it is all incorporated and smooth. Pour mixture into pan used for soaking cashews and heat on low – medium. Then add in the soy milk. Stir and cook a couple minutes to thicken a bit, then set aside.
ASSEMBLING THE LASAGNA
- Line a 9×13 inch pan with red sauce to cover bottom. Add a sprinkling of the basil. About 1/4 of the chopped basil.
- Top with 2 lasagna noodles- (if the noodles you're using are too small and you cooked 12 noodles, use 3 but don't overlap- just cut off extra.) Add sauce to cover slightly. Then add about 5 dollops of the bechamel sauce. Top that with little dots of pesto. (1/3 of the pesto amount you have)
- Add a layer of zucchini slices.
- Top with red sauce and some scattered basil.
- Add 2 more lasagna noodles. Top with the bechamel sauce and pesto.
- Add eggplant slices to fit. Top with red sauce and sprinkle with basil.
- Add 2 more noodles. Top with bechamel, dots of pesto and then red sauce.
- Add the rest of the zucchini and eggplant and top with red sauce,
- Add 2 more noodles. Top with the rest of the sauce and basil. Then cover the whole top of dish with the bechamel sauce. (You may have extra left over).
- Cover pan with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove foil and continue cooking for 10 – 15 more minutes.
- Let cool out of oven for 5-10 minutes to achieve a lasagna that stands proudly on the plate.