Vegan Lasagna (High protein, oil-free)

Hey babes,

So, I’m not a food snob. I consider myself kind of a redneck vegan. I try to keep things simple, frugal, and almost always involve my heirloom cast iron skillets when I cook. HOWEVER, when I see something egregious, I can’t help myself.

All new chefs and home cooks are granted a pass. We all make mistakes, but recently I saw a video online of a lasagna from an individual who claimed to be an experienced chef that was so horrifyingly bad that I felt compelled to make my own just to redeem the world of people who eat lasagna. I’ll spare the creator the embarrassment because that’s not what I’m about, but it involved roughly four packages of noodles, curdled béchamel, and sriracha. Hard pass for me.

When most people think of lasagna, they think of the traditional combination of noodles, meat-tomato sauce, ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella. Or, if you’re into Netflix documentaries, you might think of the raw lasagna from “Bad Vegan.” This is the halfway point between those two. It’s rich, cooked, and packed with protein. The “cheese” layers are made with firm tofu and very similar to the one I used in my manicotti recipe, and the “meat” sauce is made with TVP and mushrooms for protein, umami, and added vitamins and minerals (are you sick of the quotation marks yet, because I sure am).

Now, I’ve already talked at length about the benefits of all these ingredients, so I’ll jump right into the breakdown, because this has a few more steps than I normally use in my recipes.

Ricotta by Any Other Name

Since this is a beautiful layered dish, I get the opportunity to split my favorite ingredients among the layers. Vegetables everywhere! For the ricotta mix, that means a combination of garlic and a spinach/baby kale combination. As you can see above, a pan full makes about 2 tablespoons cooked, so use this ingredient liberally. After those are wilted, you can let them cool while you add all of the other “cheese” ingredients to the food processor and blend. The first time I made this ricotta I took the time to press the tofu, but since you have to add water back into it anyway, you can honestly skip this step. Just drain that beautiful little block and throw it in.

Once all the ingredients are blended, scoop it out into a bowl and add the greens. Once well-stirred, I toss it into the fridge to keep it nice and firm until ready. If the stems are long enough to bother you, you can chop them with a food processor, kitchen shears or knife.

The other major layer of this dish is going to be the tomato side. I already had a big mason jar of homemade pasta sauce in the fridge from a recipe earlier this week, but either way you’ll add it after the other ingredients. I sliced up all the onions and mushrooms while the TVP rehydrated, then added them all to a deep cast iron. Once they had broken down, I added the sauce, or in your case, add the ingredients for the sauce and let it simmer for a while to develop the flavor.

After that it’s time to layer. I built mine in a 8×11 glass baking dish. Start with a small layer of tomato sauce, then four overlapping oven-ready noodles. Then it’s a layer of ricotta, a layer of tomato sauce, then noodles again. Repeat until you’re out. Easy, right? I like to end with a layer of noodles, then a very thin layer of the ricotta, then tomato, then a good dusting of vegan parmesan. Brittany at Eating Bird Food has a great recipe for parmesan that takes 2 minutes to make. Then it’s just bake, cool, and eat!

So give this recipe a try for your next pasta night or Meatless Monday, and let me know what you think, what you like, and what you’d change!