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This Vegan Lasagna is made with a robust mushroom and spinach bolognese sauce, fresh basil, vegan ricotta and no-boil lasagna noodles, topped off with a creamy marinara sauce, drizzled with Arugula Pesto. Vegan comfort food at its tastiest!

Vegan Lasagna

  • Author: Sylvia Fountaine | Feasting at Home
  • Prep Time: 50 mins
  • Cook Time: 60 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: vegan, main
  • Method: baked
  • Cuisine: italian
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

This Vegan Lasagna is made with a robust mushroom-spinach bolognese sauce, fresh basil, vegan ricotta and no-boil lasagna noodles topped off with a creamy marinara sauce, drizzled with Arugula Basil Pesto. Vegan comfort food at its best! READ NOTES.


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1/3 cup cashews
  • water to cover

Mushroom Bolognese Filling: 

  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • one large onion, diced
  • 48 garlic cloves, rough chopped
  • 1 lb mushrooms, sliced (see notes for other options)
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 25-ounce jar marina sauce- divided
  • 23 big handfuls of baby spinach
  • optional additions: cooked lentils, vegan ground meat or ground walnutssee notes.
  • ———
  • 1/2 cup basil ribbons, divided

Tofu Ricotta:

12 No-Boil lasagna noodles

Optional: 1 1/2 cups shredded meltable Vegan Cheese

A batch of Arugula Pesto or use store-bought pesto


Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F

Simmer Cashews: (or soak in cold water 4-8 hours) Place cashews in a small pot, cover with 1 cup water, bring to simmer, cover, simmer 10 minutes, turn heat off, leave covered so they soften. At the same time, start the Mushroom Bolognese.

Make the Mushroom Bolognese: Heat oil in an extra-large skillet. Saute the onion 4-5 minutes until fragrant. Add the garlic, lower heat to medium, and saute 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms, red bell pepper,  salt pepper and fennel seeds, and saute until mushrooms release their liquid, and begin to caramelize about 10-15 minutes. Deglaze with red wine if you like, cooking it all off. Stir in the spinach, wilting.

Reserve 1 cup of marinara sauce, and put this in a blender.  Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of marinara sauce to the mushroom mixture, stirring it in. Rinse the jar with 1/2 cup water and pour this into the bolognese. Bring to a simmer, for 2-3 minutes, season to your liking, adding salt and pepper if you like. If using a sugar-free marinara, a couple teaspoons of maple syrup is nice here. If it lacks depth, you could stir in a little a miso paste. Every jar of marinara is different, so make sure it is flavorful and “saucy” enough to cook the lasagna noodles. If it seems dry, add a little more water.

Creamy Marinara: Add the 1 cup marinara to the blender, along with drained cashews and 1/3 cup water. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. All together in the blender, you should have about 2 cups- so add more water if need be. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Blend until very creamy and smooth, a full minute. This will be used on the top and bottom of the lasagna.

Make the Tofu Ricotta: Place everything in a food processor and pulse, scraping down sides, Pulse until combined and creamy but not overly smooth.

Assemble: Grease a deep 9 x 13-inch baking dish with spray oil or olive oil.   Pour 1 cup of the blended Creamy Marinara Sauce in the bottom, enough to lightly coat. Layer 4 lasagna noodles. Spread out half of the mushroom bolognese. Dot with half of the tofu ricotta. (Feel free to add meltable vegan cheese here if you like). Sprinkle with a third of the basil ribbons. Repeat: add 4 lasagna noodles, the remaining mushroom bolognese,  the remaining tofu ricotta, (optional vegan cheese) and 1/3 of the basil ribbons. Top with the final layer of lasagna noodles, pressing down a bit to create a level base. Cover with the remaining blender sauce. Cover tightly with foil. If the lasagna touches the foil, place a piece of parchment between the lasagna and foil. At this point, you could refrigerate and bake 1-4 days later (letting it come to room temp first).

BAKE: Place in the middle of the oven and bake 50-60 minutes. While it is baking, make the Arugula Pesto.

Remove the foil, test with a knife to see if pasta is tender, all the way through. Let stand 10 minutes. Spoon a little of the Arugula Pesto over top and sprinkle with remaining basil ribbons.

Enjoy!


Notes

Bolognese: After publishing this recipe, I’ve been adding cooked lentils and/or ground walnuts to the bolognese for added protein and heartiness. For example, you could swap out 8 ounces of the mushrooms and add 2 cups of cooked lentils. Or add 1/4 cup or 1//2 cup ground walnuts to the existing recipe. You can also add other veggies or swap out plant-based ground meat for half of the mushrooms.  Just keep in mind you’ll need at least 4 cups of bolognese sauce– making sure it is quite saucy.

Creamy Marinara Sauce: You can use hemp seeds instead of cashews- no need to simmer, just blend with the 1/3 cup water and 1 cup marinara, salt and olive oil.

Vegan Cheese: Feel free to use store-bought vegan ricotta, or add meltable vegan cheese to the layers, and/ or on the top.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: ⅛ th serving without the Arugula Pesto.
  • Calories: 394
  • Sugar: 9.9 g
  • Sodium: 816.6 mg
  • Fat: 14.3 g
  • Saturated Fat: 2.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 51.4 g
  • Fiber: 8.6 g
  • Protein: 15.1 g
  • Cholesterol: 2 mg

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