Delicious Lasagna Recipe - Heart Healthy & Cholesterol Free

Including an easy homemade vegan ricotta cheese recipe

Prep time 20 minutes | Cook Time 60 minutes | Total Time 80-90 minutes

If you read the “My Story” section of this website you know I learned to cook traditional Lebanese dishes from my maternal grandmother. My dad’s family was 100% Italian though, and I also grew up eating homemade Italian food! A well-made lasagna is one of those special comfort foods that everyone loves and there are as many kinds of lasagna recipes as there are different pasta shapes - all with their own unique qualities.

Meatless lasagna is more common than you might think in Italian cooking. In my family, meatless lasagna was traditionally served during Lent, a time when my Christian grandparents did not eat meat. This meatless lasagna is my ode to my grandmother’s meatless lasagna.

Packed with layers of savory marinara sauce, hearty vegetables, and creamy dairy-free mozzarella and ricotta, this lasagna vegetariana is a crowd-pleaser that even non-vegans will love. I know because even my Italian dad liked it!

It is a wonderful vegetarian dinner recipe that is kid and family friendly.

Lasagna Ingredients

• 32 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce (see notes and adjustments regarding using jar sauce)

• 1 box of lasagna noodles

• 1 bag of vegan mozzarella cheese

• 2 cups of chopped veggies of your choice - I use broccoli, carrots, and yellow squash

• Homemade Tofu Ricotta (see recipe & instructions below)

• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water

• Oil to coat/spray lasagna pan

Tofu Ricotta Ingredients and Instructions - Make this first!

• 1 package of firm tofu

• 1/2 cup of vegan mozzarella cheese

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil (you can use fresh herbs too! - use about 2xs as many fresh as dried)

• 1 1/2 teaspoon parsley

• 1teaspoon salt

• 1 lemon

• 3 tablespoons of homemade parmesan or nutritional yeast (my homemade cashew parmesan can be found under recipes on this website - but the nutritional yeast works just as well)

Instructions

• Mix all the ingredients above well in a bowl, be sure to mash up the tofu until it has the consistency of ricotta cheese, and taste it before you put the lasagna together. You can watch my YouTube video on how to make this lasagna/cheese if this step seems confusing!

Instructions

1. Grease or spray an 8x13 lasagna pan and add 1/3 - 1/2 cup of water to the pan

2. Layer the bottom of the pan with uncooked lasagna noodles

3. Add a layer of vegan ricotta (use about 1/2 of your ricotta)

4. Add a layer of veggies - be sure they are chopped pretty small - 1/2 inch or smaller

5. Cover veggies and ricotta with a layer of sauce

6. Add a second layer of lasagna noodles

7. Add a layer of vegan ricotta - use the other 1/2 of the batch that you made

8. Add a layer of chopped veggies

9. Cover the ricotta and veggies with sauce

10. Add a final/top layer of lasagna noodles

11. Cover the top layer of noodles with sauce

12. Add a layer of vegan mozzarella cheese

13. Cover the pan with foil tightly and cook in a 350 degree oven for about 55 mins - 1 hour. Remove from oven, remove foil, and let sit for 10 minutes before cutting or serving

14. Enjoy!

Notes and Adjustments

This recipe can be customized to your taste - use whatever veggies you like!

Using jar sauce is considered a sin in some Italian kitchens, but this recipe is already pretty involved so I do use jar sauce most times when I make this. The trick is to use a high-quality jar sauce. My favorite jar sauce is Rao’s - it actually tastes homemade to me!

Not all vegan cheeses are created equally! My favorite mozzarella for taste is Chao cheese; I also really like Follow Your Heart mozzarella and Trader Joe’s makes a cashew mozzarella that is also quite good.