Vegetable Lasagna

This Vegetable Lasagna is packed with healthy veggies, including mushrooms, onions, zucchini and spinach. It’s the perfect vegetarian main dish when you’re craving cheesy, hearty comfort food!

If a classic lasagna is one of your favorite pasta recipes, you’ll be equally as smitten with this vegetable lasagna! Hearty veggies, creamy ricotta and flavorful marinara sauce are layered between noodles in this irresistible vegetable lasagna recipe. This savory casserole is baked until the cheesy layers are hot and bubbly and the top is golden brown. Serve up this wholesome comfort food with a crisp green salad and a side of garlic bread for a meal that you won’t soon forget!

Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this vegetable lasagna recipe, along with ingredient notes and substitutions.

• Olive Oil: For sautéing the vegetables.
• Onion, Bell Pepper, Mushrooms, Zucchini: These vegetables make this veggie lasagna recipe so hearty and full of flavor. Cremini mushrooms are one of my favorite substitutes for meat in vegetarian recipes. You can substitute yellow squash for the zucchini, if desired.
• Garlic: I always use plenty of fresh garlic in Italian dishes like this easy vegetable lasagna.
• Marinara Sauce: Use a good quality store-bought marinara or, if you have extra time, make a batch of homemade marinara sauce.
• Seasonings: Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes infuse the lasagna with flavor. Using the 2 pinches of red pepper flakes called for in the recipe gives the lasagna a subtle hint of spice.
• Fresh Parsley: Brings fresh, herby flavor.
• Spinach: The fresh spinach wilts down into the sauce as the lasagna bakes.
• Ricotta & Egg: You’ll combine one egg with ricotta cheese to make creamy pockets of ricotta throughout the lasagna. If you really love ricotta you can use a full 15 ounce container. We prefer this vegetarian lasagna with just 1 cup of ricotta cheese. You can substitute cottage cheese for the ricotta if desired. 
• Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles: To make the best vegetable lasagna use oven ready (no boil) lasagna noodles because they will soak up the extra moisture from the vegetables (especially the zucchini) as they cook in the oven. I tested this recipe with regular noodles and the lasagna was a bit too soupy and difficult to serve.
• Mozzarella & Parmesan Cheese: Both classics in lasagna recipes, the mozzarella cheese and grated Parmesan bring plenty of comforting cheesy flavor to this recipe.

How to Make Vegetable Lasagna

The basic steps to making this recipe are: sauté the veggies, simmer the sauce to develop the flavors, layer and bake! Find the full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions in the recipe card below.

1. Sauté the vegetables in olive oil until softened. Then stir in the minced garlic.
2. Stir in the marinara and seasonings, then simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Next, stir the spinach into the sauce.
4. Layer the ingredients in the baking dish. Start by spreading 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Then layer noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan. Repeat this layer of ingredients once more. For the top layer, use noodles, sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan.
5. Bake. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake at 375° F for 35 minutes. Then uncover and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes, until the lasagna is hot and bubbly on the sides and golden brown on top.
6. Let it rest! Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. The rest time allows the lasagna to set up so it won’t be too soupy when serving. Don’t skip it! Then sprinkle on some fresh basil or parsley and enjoy.

Recipe Tips

• If you wish to swap in other vegetables in place of the ones used in this recipe, just be sure they are cooked until soft before assembling the lasagna.
• Be sure to use no boil/oven ready lasagna noodles. They will soak up extra moisture from the vegetables as they cook, and they also save on prep time and dishes.
• The noodles will expand as they cook, and the baking dish will be very full. I recommend putting a rimmed baking sheet on the rack under the lasagna as it bakes in the oven to catch any drips.
• You can halve this recipe and bake it in a 9×9-inch baking dish. The baking time will be the same.

What to Serve with Vegetable Lasagna

Round out your meal with a fresh green salad and some warm bread. You can’t go wrong with a loaded Italian Salad, or try this simple Arugula Salad. Slice up a loaf of crusty bread or make a batch of Garlic Knots.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

• Make Ahead: The lasagna can be assembled up to 24 hours before baking. Cover and refrigerate, and add about 15 minutes to the covered baking time if baking a lasagna that is cold from the refrigerator.
• Refrigerator: Leftover baked vegetable lasagna can be stored, wrapped airtight, in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. 
• Freezer: Leftover lasagna can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. I like to freeze individual portions for quick meals later on. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
• To Reheat: Reheat slices of veggie lasagna in the microwave or in a covered dish in the oven until steaming hot.

More Lasagna Recipes

If you love this vegetable lasagna, try one of these lasagna recipes next. Some are vegetarian and some are made with meat, all are delicious!

• Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups
• Butternut Squash Lasagna
• Kale and Mushroom Lasagna
• Instant Pot Lasagna
• Slow Cooker Lasagna
• Slow Cooker Turkey and Veggie Lasagna

5 from 10 ratings

Vegetable Lasagna

Servings: 12 servings

Prep Time: 45 minutes mins

Cook Time: 50 minutes mins

Resting Time: 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 50 minutes mins

This Vegetable Lasagna is packed with healthy veggies layered between noodles, marinara sauce and cheese. It bakes in the oven until it's hot, bubbly and golden brown on top. This recipe is perfect meatless main dish when you're craving comforting pasta for dinner!

Print Recipe Leave a Review Pin Recipe

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 ½ cups chopped yellow onion
• ▢ 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• ▢ 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped
• ▢ 2 medium zucchini, chopped into ½-inch pieces
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ 48 ounces marinara sauce
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• ▢ salt and pepper, to taste
• ▢ 2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ▢ 5 ounces baby spinach, coarsely chopped
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 cup ricotta cheese, 8 ounces
• ▢ 9 oven ready (no boil) lasagna noodles
• ▢ 16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese, about 4 cups
• ▢ ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ▢ chopped fresh basil or parsley, optional, for serving

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375° F.
• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, mushrooms and zucchini and cook until softened, 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
• Add the marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and parsley to the skillet and stir. Bring to a simmer and then reduce the temperature to low. Cook at a low simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in the chopped fresh spinach.
• While the sauce simmers, crack the egg into a medium bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Add the ricotta cheese and stir to combine. This is also a good time to shred the mozzarella cheese.
• To assemble the lasagna, put about 1 cup of the sauce into a 9x13-inch baking dish. Lay 3 noodles in an even layer over the sauce. Spread ⅓ of the remaining sauce over the noodles. Place small spoonfuls of the ricotta and egg mixture on top of the sauce, using ½ of the ricotta. Sprinkle ⅓ of the mozzarella and ⅓ of the Parmesan over the top.
• Repeat the same layer one more time: 3 noodles, ½ of the remaining sauce, the rest of the ricotta, ½ of the remaining mozzarella and ½ of the remaining Parmesan. For the top layer of the lasagna, use the remaining 3 noodles, the rest of the sauce, and finally the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan.
• Cover the lasagna with a piece of foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray on the underside (to prevent the cheese from sticking to the foil).
• Bake the lasagna in the center of the oven, covered with foil, for 35 minutes. (Put a rimmed baking sheet on the rack below the lasagna to catch any drips of sauce.) Then uncover and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until the lasagna is hot and bubbling on the sides and the cheese is lightly browned on top. Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes before serving. Do not skip the rest time, or the lasagna will be too soupy when serving.

Notes

• Leftover lasagna can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days after baking. You can also freeze lasagna after baking, for up to 3 months. Thaw and then reheat in the microwave or in a covered dish in the oven until it is steaming hot.
• To make ahead: You can assemble the lasagna ahead of time and refrigerate it, covered, for up to 24 hours before baking. If you are baking a lasagna that is fully chilled from being in the refrigerator, add about 15 minutes to the baking time.
• You can halve this recipe and bake in a 9x9-inch baking dish.

Serving: 1/12 recipe, Calories: 293kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 17g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 64mg, Sodium: 885mg, Potassium: 732mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 2491IU, Vitamin C: 33mg, Calcium: 320mg, Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is an estimate.

Cuisine: Italian

Course: Main Course

Tried this recipe?Mention @kristines_kitchen on Instagram or tag #kristineskitchenblog.