I have had this post in my draft folder for two years now. TWO WHOLE YEARS (ahem, and a few months)! I am so excited to FINALLY be able to share this vegan lasagna with you. I’m leaving the text below as it was because, well, it’s more or less relevant to my life, and the instructions are the same anyway.
School is back in session, and sometimes I'm out of my house for about twelve hours each day. The commute each way is about 45 minutes, I get there an hour early, and depending on the day, I stay pretty long afterward as well to grade and prep so that I can "sleep in" the next morning. My poor husband, though extremely supportive of me, has started missing my homemade food. It was a whirlwind summer with a lot of traveling and guests that left literally zero extra time to prepare my home for the school year. Those first few weeks, I was just waiting for the long weekend so I could get some meal prep done (but hey, at least my classroom stayed organized!). I decided to take some time early one Sunday morning to get some stuff baked for the week, and I defaulted to one of our favourites: vegan lasagna.
It doesn't take too long to make - the baking part takes the longest. It just requires four main elements: tofu ricotta (which I mix with spinach), cashew cream sauce, tomato sauce and lasagna noodles, of course.
If you, like me, have had bad experiences with the dairy-free version of this classic comfort food, rest assured that this one is actually pretty darn delicious. The first time I made it, my husband didn't even miss the cheese!
This lasagna freezes well, and you can even assemble and keep it in the fridge for a few days before baking if you need to plan ahead!
I actually pursued this lasagna hard. I remember having a terrible vegan lasagna experience and I never wanted something like that to be recreated in my kitchen. The kicker is that this bad experience was almost 15 years ago and I still remember it vividly. So I am very excited about this one and that it tastes great!
You can use your favorite tomato sauce and noodles for this! I like the kind of noodle that you cook first before baking. The texture is just nicer to me. Plus, your sauce goes a bit further I find and you’ll have a saucier lasagna - which I prefer!
The recipe for the lasagna is for a pan that is smaller than 9x13, but I’ve included some changes for that size in the notes.
Best Ever Vegan Lasagna
What you need:
1 recipe of Vegan Tofu Ricotta (possibly 2 for 9x13 pan)
2 cups spinach (4 cups for 9x13 pan if double the ricotta)
1 recipe of Cashew Cream Sauce
1 package lasagna noodles of your choice
Your favourite tomato sauce (more for 9x13 pan)
What to do:
1) Preheat oven to 350ºF
2) Prepare the ricotta and cashew cream sauce.
3) In a large bowl, mix spinach and ricotta well.
4) Begin layering by adding about 1 cup of the tomato sauce to the bottom of your baking dish. Top with noodles.
5) Add layer of ricotta and top with more sauce.
6) Drizzle cashew cream sauce
7) Repeat layers (steps 4-6) until finished. Add a final layer of noodles and sauce
8) Bake covered for about 30 minutes. Add the rest of your cashew cream sauce to the top and bake, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. Then broil, watching carefully, until top is a beautiful brown (Make sure you can broil with the pan you use)!
9) Let the lasagna cool for 15-20 minutes (very important so it doesn't fall apart!)
Don't you just love a good lasagna?
