The Best Vegan Lasagna

This vegan lasagna is perfect! It tastes exactly like a classic, traditional lasagna, but it is meatless and dairy-free. Lasagna sheets are layered with creamy, tofu-free ricotta cheese, homemade vegan parmesan, vegan mozzarella shreds, and a meaty marinara that's so tasty you'll want to eat it out of the pot! It's perfect comfort food for a family pasta dinner, a potluck, or a holiday gathering.

Here's my beloved recipe for a very classic and traditional lasagna recipe with all of the cheeses and meat sauce -- only it's all vegan. This lasagna recipe has lived on the blog for a few years now and so many of you love it. I am bringing it back up and updating the post with new photos and text.

Lasagna has always been a big favorite in our home, and I sometimes experiment with different versions, like this Vegan Wild Mushroom Lasagna or this low-carb Vegan Zucchini Lasagna.

As delicious as these recipes are, there's nothing that can quite beat the comfort-food feel of a traditional lasagna with a red "meat" sauce and lashings of parmesan, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses.

That most perfect vegan lasagna recipe is what I have for you today. I guarantee you, no omnivore will miss the meat and the dairy -- unless you tell them. And why would you? You can serve it for a family dinner or take it to a Thanksgiving potluck. Then just sit back and enjoy the compliments that roll in.

Table of Contents

• Why you will love this vegan lasagna recipe
• Helpful tips
• Ingredients
• Variations
• How to make the best vegan lasagna
• What to serve with the vegan lasagna
• Recipe FAQs
• More vegan Italian recipes
• Vegan Lasagna

Why you will love this vegan lasagna recipe

• It's the best vegan lasagna you'll eat, guaranteed. Exactly as you remember it, just meatless, and healthier.
• It's an easy lasagna recipe. Because this is a dairy free lasagna you do need to make the ricotta and parm ahead of assembling the lasagna. You will also make the meaty marinara sauce. These are really quick and easy to make--the ricotta and parm need just a turn in the food processor and if you like you can use store bought, jarred marinara sauce--I'll show you how in the FAQs below.
• You can make it ahead. Like most casserole dishes, a lasagna is easy to make ahead and refrigerate or freeze. You can do this both before and after baking the lasagna.
• It's tweakable for different diets. I deliberately kept the ricotta tofu-free because that gives you the best flavor. But if you are nut-free I will show you, in the FAQs, how to make a nut-free ricotta and a nut-free parmesan. You can easily make the lasagna soy-free or gluten-free by using soy-free meatless meat and gluten-free lasagna noodles. I used whole wheat lasagna noodles this time and you can't tell the difference.
• It's a healthy lasagna recipe. It's clean, real food and everything that goes into it is good for you. Each of the 12 immensely hearty servings is packed with 21 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber.
• It's kid-friendly. And adult-friendly. And omnivore-friendly. So if you're feeding all kinds of eaters at one sitting, here's the food that'll please everyone, and get rave reviews.

Helpful tips

• Make the three elements of the vegan lasagna in advance. You can make the ricotta, parm and the "meat" sauce the day -- or even a couple of days -- before you want to bake your lasagna. Assemble the dish and bake the day you want to serve.
• You can also make the entire lasagna in advance. Cover the assembled but unbaked lasagna tightly with cling wrap, and refrigerate for up to five days or freeze for a month. Thaw and then bake as instructed.
• Use two kinds of meatless meats. This is not necessary, but it improves the texture of the meatless marinara sauce. I used a combination of Beyond sausage and Impossible Beef this time, but any combination of meatless meats or meatless crumbles are fine.
• Use no-boil lasagna noodles. This saves you from the tedious extra step of boiling the noodles first. I have made this lasagna with both regular and no-boil noodles and the recipe works well with both. You do need to incorporate a cup more of liquid in the recipe if using no-boil noodles. Also no-boil noodles are shorter than regular lasagna noodles, so you will need more of them.
• Soak the cashews for the ricotta for a few hours so they blend up into the perfect consistency.
• Season the ricotta. This is a great opportunity to add some fresh, herby flavor into your lasagna. I use basil or parsley or both. You can also toss in a few leaves of fresh oregano if you have them.
• Bonus tip: Some lasagna boxes have 18 noodles, others have just 14 or 15. The whole wheat lasagna noodles I used had 15 noodles, so I fell short of one. If that happens, no need to open another box of lasagna noodles. Just use 3 noodles for one of the middle layers and no one will know!

Ingredients

• Lasagna noodles. You can use regular lasagna noodles, whole wheat lasagna noodles, gluten free lasagna noodles or no boil lasagna noodles. If using anything other than no-boil noodles make sure you cook the noodles according to package instructions until al dente.
• Extra virgin olive oil. This is the best oil for use in Italian recipes. If you don't want to use it for any reason use any other vegetable oil like sunflower, canola, grapeseed or avocado oil.
• Aromatics: Onion and garlic.
• Meatless "beef" or meatless beef crumbles or vegan sausages. Any one or a mix of these will work for this recipe. I have used different types of vegan meats for this recipe, including Gimme Lean, Tofurky and Field Roast and so long as you crumble it up before adding it to the skillet it doesn't result in any great difference to the final flavor. This time I used a combination of Impossible Beef and Beyond Sausage.
• Canned whole plum tomatoes. I really like San Marzano tomatoes in this marinara because they are so full of flavor. But any plum tomato will work almost as well. Make sure you squish the tomatoes with your fingers to break them down before adding them to the sauce. If you don't want to make a marinara from scratch see the FAQs below.
• Tomato paste. This adds more lovely tomato flavor and color to the marinara.
• Herbs and seasonings: Oregano, fresh basil (optional), fresh parsley, garlic, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, salt and ground black pepper.
• Nuts: Raw cashews.
• Vegan cashew Parmesan cheese. My recipe makes the perfect vegan Parmesan in seconds. You can use store bought parm if you prefer. See FAQs for making this nut-free.
• Vegan mozzarella cheese shreds. Again, I am not brand loyal. Use anything you can find. I used Daiya this time.

Variations

• If you want to add more veggies to the recipe, cut down the meatless meat by half and add a roasted, diced eggplant to your marinara sauce while you are making it. Or add finely diced mushrooms.
• Use lentils instead of the meatless meat. Use 28 oz, or roughly two cans, of brown lentils and add them to the marinara instead of the meat.
• Use zoodles or zucchini noodles instead of regular noodles for a low-carb version. Slice the zucchini ¼th of an inch thick with a mandoline or a knife and layer it on instead of the pasta. No need to cook the zucchini first.
• If you want to make this recipe in a slow cooker, check out my vegan crockpot lasagna recipe and follow directions there.

How to make the best vegan lasagna

• Make the meat sauce. Heat oil in a large saucepan with crushed garlic. Add the onions. Saute, until they soften, about five minutes. Add the "meat" and saute for a couple of minutes to brown. Add the tomato paste and mix in. Place the plum tomatoes in a bowl and squish them to break with your fingers. Add to the saucepan along with 3 cups of vegetable stock if using no-boil noodles, and 2 cups of stock if using regular noodles that have been cooked. Stir well, bring to a boil, add the oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and ground black pepper to taste. Cook the sauce without covering for about 15 minutes or until it turns a bright red. Turn off heat and check seasoning.

• Make the ricotta cheese. Place cashews in a food processor with all ingredients. Process for a couple of minutes until fairly smooth.

• Cook lasagna noodles. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions until al dente but not mushy. If you use no boil noodles you don't have to cook them first.

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/205 degrees Celsius.
• Assemble the lasagna. Spray a 12 X 9 inch lasagna pan or baking dish with cooking spray or oil. Ladle out a small amount of sauce into the pan and spread. Layer on four sheets of the noodles into the bottom of the pan. If using no-boil noodles, which are smaller than regular noodles, you might need to layer on five noodles vertically and one more horizontally.
  • Layer on one-fourth of the meat sauce over the lasagna noodles. 
  • Layer on one-fourth of the cashew Parmesan.
  • Layer on one-fourth of the vegan mozzarella.
  • Layer on one-fourth of the vegan ricotta.
  • Repeat until you have built up three layers of the meat sauce and the cheeses. Over the fourth and final layer, layer the remaining meat sauce, parm and mozzarella.
• Bake the lasagna. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, place the lasagna pan on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the aluminum foil and bake another 30 minutes until bubbly and hot. Let the lasagna stand at least 15 minutes to firm up, then cut and serve.

What to serve with the vegan lasagna

You don't need to serve much alongside this classic vegan lasagna, because it's a full meal on its own, but some Vegan Garlic Pull Apart Bread and a fresh salad like this Vegan Caesar Salad are the perfect accompaniments.

More vegan Italian recipes

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