Back during my Week of Vegan Eats, I shared this picture with you. I swear I did not intentionally try to be mean and taunt you with such delicious pictures of food and then make you wait nearly a week for the recipe. But unfortunately, that is just the way that things worked out this time! On the bright side, it was a good test of your patience, right? 😉 I cannot promise that this extended period between posting a picture and posting the accompanying recipe won’t happen again, but I will promise you that this dish is most definitely worth the wait!
Vegan Vegetable Lasagna
Adapted from this recipe.
Servings: 2 to 3 (large portions..because hey, I like to eat!)
Ingredients
olive oil cooking spray
water, for cooking
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1/2 zucchini, cut into quarters
1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
3/4 of a 14 oz block of extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed
1/4 cup roasted garlic hummus
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp dried basil
salt, to taste
2 TB nutritional yeast
pasta sauce (I used 3/4 of a 26 oz jar)
6 whole wheat no boil lasagna noodles
additional nutritional yeast, for topping
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a small baking dish (I believe mine is a 2 qt Pyrex dish) with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Line a medium skillet with a thin layer of water. Heat over medium-high heat until very hot. Once hot, lower the heat to medium and add garlic, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms. Cook for approximately 6 to 8 minutes, or until softened. Add additional water, as necessary.
3. Add spinach to the skillet. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for approximately 2 to 3 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted.
4. While the vegetables are cooking, crumble the tofu into a medium bowl. Add hummus and seasonings and stir until well-combined.
5. To assemble your lasagna, pour a thin layer of sauce into the bottom of the baking dish. Top with 2 lasagna noodles. Top the noodles with half of the ricotta “cheese” mixture. Top the cheese with half of the vegetable mixture. Top the tofu ricotta and vegetables with a layer of sauce.
6. Repeat the above layers (noodles, cheese, vegetables, sauce) once more.
7. Top the sauce with 2 more lasagna noodles and your remaining pasta sauce. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast.
8. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until the lasagna noodles are cooked through.
9. Let sit for approximately 10 minutes before serving.
As I mentioned above, this lasagna makes large portions! But when we are talking about Italian comfort food, who does not want a large portion? I ate half of the dish for dinner, and then split the other portion up to make two lunches.
I really cannot rave enough about the taste of this lasagna. The noodles were perfectly cooked, the vegetables were flavorful and filling, and the best part…
…I never ever would have guessed that this lasagna was dairy-free and contained tofu instead of cheese. I am 100% convinced that I could pass this recipe by a meat-eater and he or she would never guess that a main component of the recipe is tofu. Every time that I cook with tofu, I become more and more impressed by the versatility of it. When I say that you can make tofu taste however you want (when seasoned properly), I am not kidding. Who would ever guess that tofu could replace ricotta cheese in lasagna?
All it took was one bite of this lasagna and it instantly shot to the top of my “to make again” list of recipes. It is that good.
If you are curious about tofu or have a desire to try cooking with it for the first time, this is the perfect recipe for you. Give it a try! I promise that you will be seriously amazed when you taste this lasagna. You may think that making a flavorful and delicious lasagna without meat or dairy products is impossible, but I am here to challenge you on that one!
