A few years ago when we were in South Africa we went over to my mom’s childhood friends home for a home cooked meal and it was honestly one of the best lasagnas I’ve ever had in my life! It was loaded with all the veggies and a perfect bechamel sauce. I’ve been futzing with the recipe ever since and finally nailed it. This perfect Vegetable Lasagna is one for the regular rotation!
The beauty of this recipe is that it works with WHATEVER vegetables are in your fridge. I’ve done it with a combination of zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, carrots, red bell peppers and mushrooms. The key is just making sure all the veggies are chopped in the same size so they cook evenly! Once they are caramelized and perfect, they get layered with sheets of pasta, béchamel sauce, basil vin, a tomato sauce of your choosing and all the cheese. All that’s left to do it bake the lasagna until the cheese is golden and bubbly and EAT. Serve it up with a simple salad, I’m partial to this Kale Vegan Caesar and call it a day!
Need a few other lasagna recipes for these chilly winter months – here you go!
Vegetable Lasagna
The most perfect vegetable lasagna with layers of caramelized vegetables, béchamel, basil vinaigrette and plenty of cheese!
Ingredients
For the bechamel:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups milk
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- pinch of grated nutmeg
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
For the vegetables
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced into ½ inch pieces
- 2 large carrots, diced into ½ inch pieces
- 4 cups chopped vegetables (½ inch cube) use any combination of zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, red bell peppers, mushrooms
- 24 ounces marinara sauce
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Remaining Ingredients
- 1 package 9 ounces no-boil lasagna noodles
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 pounds shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 recipe basil vinaigrette
Instructions
For the béchamel
- In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook for just a minute or so. Slowly add the milk and keep whisking. Add the nutmeg, parmesan, salt and pepper whisk. Cook for a few minutes, whisking, until the béchamel has thickened slightly. Set aside to cool. Stir it once in a while so no skin forms on the top.
For the vegetables:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large Le Creuset, heat the olive oil, and add the onion and carrot and start to sauté. Once soft, add the remaining chopped vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 15-20 minutes until starting to caramelize and get soft. Add the marinara sauce and parmesan and stir to combine. Keep over medium low heat.
- Spray a 13x9 baking pan with cooking spray. Spoon some béchamel thinly on the bottom of the pan. Start with a layer of noodles, a layer of béchamel, some vegetables, a layer of basil vinaigrette and then a layer of a cheese. Repeat layers until you have 3 layers of noodles. On top of the last layer, finish with béchamel and the remaining cheeses. Cover tightly with a greased piece of foil.
- Bake for 50 minutes, remove foil, increase heat to 450 and bake for 15 minutes more until top is golden brown, cheese is bubbling and the noodles are crisp on the edges. Let sit for 15 minutes before slicing.
Do you have any recommendations to “lighten” this dish up? Less cheese and milk? Thanks!
Looks great – do you think it would freeze well?
YES!
This one is right up our alley! Love all the vegetables and cheesy deliciousness.
How many ounces of no bake lasagna noodles are in this recipe? Thanks!
9 ounces!
How do I save recipes from this site to Pinterest ?
There should be a pinterest button on the left side of each page where you can pin!! Is it not showing up?
The indredient list calls for black pepper in the bechamel sauce but the directions call for white pepper?
my mistake!! either works
Oh my goodness. I made this tonight for a couple of girlfriends and we nearly finished the pan! This is so delicious and I will definitely be making again. I added the vegan kale salad you have linked as well and it was a hit!
This just made my day!! XO
Looks great and is brought up to a completely new level with so simple ingredients ! Grazie milla!
Can you make this a day ahead and bake the next day?
totally!
I just made this and loved it! I prepped it and baked it halfway the night before to be a faster weeknight meal. Unfortunately the bechemel separated a bit. I think next time I’d freeze then bake from frozen and see how that does. I roasted butternut squash, zucchini, and grape tomatoes. My toddler thoroughly appreciated how much cheese there was!
Made this tonight and it was terrific, I love how you can use whatever veggies you have on hand! I omitted the eggplant and added broccoli, peas, and more mushrooms, (For anyone that needs measurements, I put in 1/2 tsp nutmeg, pepper and salt to the bechamel sauce). Delicious, a great alternative to “classic” lasagna with red sauce! Thanks for sharing, Gaby!
Delicious! I think next time the only change I will make is to add roasted garlic to the vegetable mix for a wee bit more flavor there, otherwise the whole family enjoyed this. Used a bit less of the mozarella as my kids don’t like super-cheesy dishes.
Made last night. My first bechamel! Whole family loved.
One humble suggestion. If you’re using either type squash, make sure you cut very thickly before roasting at 425. I about burned down our kitchen. Thankfully had a second large zucchini in reserve to sub in. Roasted that at 350 and turned out fine. Oddly, no issue with the mushrooms or red pepper getting charred.
Overall though, great recipe. Can not wait to try again.
My tiny local market only has regular lasagna. Can I cook that and use that as well?
totally
Veggie lasagna for the win!!!!!
with THAT much cheese it should be good 🙂
you get it!
how do I make this recipe gluten free
gluten free pasta sheets and GF flour!
What temp do we bake at for first 50 min? Sorry if I missed it!
375!
The recipe looks delicious. However, Please pay more attention when giving your prep time for recipes. There is no way this lasagna recipe only takes 15 minutes to prep.
prep time is the time it takes to prep all the food before cooking – so from the dozen or so times I’ve tested this recipe, 15 minutes rings true and then the cook time does as well.
What do we do if we have “regular” lasagna noodles that do not say “quick boil”? Can we boil them first and then use with the recipe? If so, should they be room temperature when assembling the lasagna?
yes that works and room temp is fine!
Sounds delicious – any tips on using zucchini slices instead of noodles for this?
that would totally work – just slice them in long thick strips and use them raw as “pasta”
sounds amazing… BTW, congrats on your beautiful baby daughter … hugs xo
Made this last night for dinner. It was amazing!! I usually use ricotta and eggs in my lasagna but the béchamel was a delicious change. Loved all the chunky veggies. Thanks for another great recipe Gaby!!
It’s a keeper. I have to admit that it is better than my mom’s lasagna which is pretty delicious this was my first bechamel and it’s just as good as ricotta.
omg so happy to hear that you guys love it!
Just enjoyed this for dinner. Hands down the best veggie lasagna I’ve ever eaten, thanks for sharing Gaby and congratulations on your new “sweet pea”.
Judy
THRILLED to hear it!
My husband said he likes this better than traditional meat lasagnas – it’s that good! I didn’t have enough basil to make the vin so omitted that, and used a bit less mozzarella, and it turned out amazing. I’m making a second batch today to freeze since I have a ton of extra veggies, going to get more basil to make it as written. Super versatile recipe, highly recommend!
Looks awesome;I need to use gluten-free noodles. Any that you recommend?
This veggie lasagna was SO good! I usually make lasagna with a bolognese and bechamel sauce, which ends up being an all day affair. This veggie lasagna was just as good, if not better. The veggie sauce was quick and easy to make (I used eggplant, yellow squash and red bell pepper), and while that was going on the stove I made the bechamel and basil vin. Another little story is that this Italian cafe near my old office in NYC had the best veggie lasagna and I have been wanting to recreate that dish. This lasagna was even better! I can’t wait to make this again.
I made this at the end of February, I was nervous because I’ve never made a veggie lasagna before. Let me just say I never want to eat a meat filled lasagna again!! THIS WAS SO GOOD. The basil vinaigrette made a GREAT touch, the béchamel! An incredible combo and one I would never think to put in a Lasagna. I’d give this 10 stars if I could
I made this recipe for the first time tonight and did not hesitate to go in for seconds! I have never made a bechemal sauce, so I don’t quite know what it should taste like but I used almond milk in place of regular and I think it turned out fabulous! Your recipes never disappoint! Thank you!
Really, really good! Rustic. Am I in Italy? One small tweak. Add 4 clove garlic to onion, carrots. Thank you for this recipe!
We honestly love all of Gaby’s recipes, but this is THE VERY BEST ONE!! My husband doesn’t like Italian food. Or pasta or cheese or mushrooms or eggplant… But he LOVES this dish because the flavors go so well together. Especially the addition of the basil vinaigrette! This dish is well worth the effort and so incredibly delicious!
So excited to make this! Question – for the layers of cheese, is that the combo of the mozzarella and parm?
yup
My daughter made this for Mother’s Day. It is the best veggie lasagna I have ever had! Will try the recipe myself now.
My my this was delicious !! I just had trouble with basil vinaigrette. It Was Very salty. Next time will leave out the salt til the end. I didn’t use the vinaigrette in the recipe. I think I probably didn’t read right. My favorite lasagna even with that step. Thanks
So delicious! The basil vinaigrette is such a great pop of flavor in there.
This was really good. My pan wasn’t tall enough for all the layers so we made a small one additionally. The Bechamel sauce worked really well for the lasagna, so much better than a ricotta. Will make again.
This recipe is incredible!! Thank you Gaby. I froze an additional second batch to enjoy another day!
Tasted very good! Great idea and loved the basil vinaigrette! My problem was it was a mess- followed recipe exacts written – ended up being a casserole.
Made it one day ahead though-was that the problem?
Dang this recipe is SO GOOD! I made it for dinner last night, and everyone got seconds! I recommend putting a sheet pan under the lasagna dish while it’s baking because the multiple layers make for a very full baking dish! Will absolutely make again