Ignore the crappy picture, I unfortunately left my camera’s memory card behind when I made this, so a cell phone picture will have to do until I make it again! This is probably one of the best versions of lasagna I’ve ever made though, don’t let the picture fool you. We had a dinner party and it was delicious. We followed up the lasagna with the Chocolate Pumpkin Pudding Cake from VeganDad. Mmm!
Vegan Lasagna
Ingredients
- - 1 package lasagna noodles
Vegan Ricotta:
- 2 lbs extra-firm tofu drained and rinsed
- 3/4 raw cashews
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cube veggie boullion
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup grated carrots optional
- 1 package frozen spinach thawed (optional)
Tomato Sauce:
- 2 six ounce cans tomato paste
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 cup water more if you like your sauce liquidy
- 1/2 medium-sized onion chopped very small
- 3/4 cup fresh broccoli chopped very small
- 1/2 cup mushrooms chopped
- 1 cup veggie crumble like Boca Crumbles or Lightlife Smart Ground
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- salt to taste (I used approx. 2-3 teaspoons)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- To prepare the ricotta, heat up the water and veggie bouillion until dissolved.
- Add the grated carrot and spinach and saute until the carrot is soft, about 5-10 minutes.
- In a food processor, combine one block of tofu, cashews, lemon juice, olive oil, basil and salt and blend until combined and smooth.
- Once the carrots are soft, add the tofu mixture.
- Crumble the second block of tofu in and stir. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
- Take off the heat and set aside.
- For sauce, heat up a medium-large saucepan with the olive oil. Once hot, saute the garlic for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the dried basil and saute 1 more minute.
- Add the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, water and stir.
- Add in the onions, broccoli and mushrooms, if using and cover. Simmer until the veggies are soft enough for your liking. You might want to get a large pot of water boiling while the veggies are simmering and cook the lasagna noodles.
- Once the veggies are soft enough, add the veggie crumbles, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast and stir. Simmer on low until ready to use.
- Pour a very thin later of the finished sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish (at least 9x13 in.). Put the first layer of lasagna noodles down.
- Cover the noodles with half of the ricotta mixture and lay down the second layer.
- Cover this layer with 1/3 of the tomato sauce and continue layering until everything is used up, with the final layer being the tomato sauce on top.
- Bake covered in aluminum foil for 15 minutes and then uncovered for 10-15 more minutes.
- Enjoy!
For a lazier version, you can just use pre-made sauce of course, but I prefer making my own as it’s much cheaper and I can make it to my liking!
For an easier version of the ricotta, try mixing 2 blocks of silken tofu with a ton of frozen spinach, about 1/2 cup soy sauce (I stole this idea from my friend, Gulliver, thanks Gulli!), Italian seasoning, nutritional yeast and basil to taste in a saucepan! I know the soy sauce sounds weird, but it works!
Sounds tasty, if only it wouldn’t kill me!
Haha, yeah, the 2 lbs of tofu might be a little bit of a problem with a soy allergy! Sorry!
nachos??
As of today, I am officially vegan, by the way! I’ve tried it before and failed, but this time I’m more optimistic for some reason.
Anyway, I mentioned to Ollie that you know this amazing pumpkin chocolate cake recipe, but I couldn’t remember where it was… so I come to your site, and not only had you linked to it, but referenced me later in the post. It’s a sign, fo’ sho’.
Yay vegan! This is actually a DIFFERENT pumpkin chocolate cake recipe (this one is a pudding/lava cake, the other was just regular cake). I think I gave you the recipe on your LiveJournal somewhere right when I got back to America, but I can give you it again if you want! They are both equally yummy. Mmm.
THIS SOUNDS SO NUMMIES!! om nom nom!!!