Nutrition
Ingredients
Mushroom Spinach Filling
- 6 cups baby bella mushrooms chopped
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 4 cups spinach
- 5 cloves garlic mined
- 1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
Tofu Ricotta
- 2 blocks extra firm tofu I used Wildwood extra firm high protein tofu
- 10 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1/2 cup soy milk unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Vegan Parmesan I used Follow Your Heart shredded parm
Other
- 10-12 lasagna noodles
- 1 cup vegan shredded mozzarella I used Follow Your Heart
- 40 oz pasta sauce (whatever your favorite is, or you can make homemade – I did not, b/c I'm lazy)
Instructions
Mushroom and spinach mixture
- In a medium-low heat pan, cook onions until translucent. Add in garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes
- Add mushrooms and continue cooking until most of the liquid is gone
- Add in white wine vinegar and seasoning listed above. Cook for another 5 minutes
- Add in spinach last and cook until it looks like you only added in like five spinach leaves even though you had handfuls and handfuls of spinach
Tofu Ricotta
- In a high powered food processor, mix tofu, nutritional yeast, soy milk, and seasonings listed above until well combined and paste-like (should be similar to ricotta).
- Mix in the vegan parm!
Noodles
- Cook noodles per package instructions
Assembly
- Pre-heat oven to 375 F
- Casserole dish – you will need a big one; this is a lot of stuff!
- Spray casserole dish with olive oil so that nothing sticks
- Layer as follows:
- Sauce
- Noodles (should be three across)
- Ricotta
- Mushroom/spinach
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
- Noodles
- Ricotta
- Mushroom/spinach
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
- Noodles
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
Bake
- Cook for 35 – 40 minutes until cooked all the way through; cover with aluminum foil
- Remove foil and broil for a few minutes at the end to really brown the parm
Equipment
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Notes
- Would recommend working multiple steps at the same time to save time
- I like to broil for a few minutes at the end to really brown the mozzarella
This is a high protein vegan spin on a classic lasagna. This protein magic comes from the homemade vegan ricotta; this is made with super firm tofu and nutritional yeast! Since this recipe makes 8 servings, I think this is a great one for meal prepping. If you’re going to freeze this for meal prep though, make sure you portion it out beforehand. It’s never fun cutting frozen blocks of food, especially if you’re already running late for work and are just trying to pack your lunch (this definitely has never happened to me, because I’m like really smart 😉 ).
This is also a great meal if you’re trying to eat more plant-based foods! Because lasagna often doesn’t have meat, it’s a super easy beginner vegan meal to slip into the rotation – perfect for a Meatless Monday! Also, lasagna is one of those foods that everyone in the family usually loves, even picky kids and orange cats!
This is a very basic vegan lasagna, so you could definitely put your own spin on it, and make it a lot of different ways by adding in different veggies or crumbled tofu/TVP/beyond crumbles, etc.! I used a homemade vegan ricotta for extra protein. If you’re running low on time or just don’t have that high of a protein target, you could always use store-bought – I really like Kite Hill vegan ricotta! I’m lazy so I used store-bought sauce, but you could make your own to make it extra special! I also used no-boil lasagna noodles; they came out a little inconsistent in the bake, so next time I will probably stick with regular boil lasagna noodles. You can use whichever ones you feel most comfortable with!
If you’re trying to eat a more Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) diet, you can omit the vegan Parm and mozzarella. If I were to do that myself, I would probably add extra nutritional yeast or make a cashew and nutritional yeast based cheese sauce to add on top for more cheesy flavor! Speaking of the vegan cheese choices – I used shredded mozzarella when I made it this time, but I also really love Miyokos Liquid mozzarella and think it works amazing on pizza, lasagna and other casseroles – it’s just hard to find near me so I opted for shredded.
Ingredients
Mushroom Spinach Filling
This can be a choose-your-own-adventure if you have other veggies you prefer in your lasagna! Spinach and mushrooms just happen to be some of my favorite – flavor-wise and also because they’re very high in protein! I’m sure this would taste amazing with other vegetables too though – like carrots, peppers, squash, etc.!
- Baby Bella Mushrooms – I am low-key obsessed with Baby Bella Mushrooms for no particular reason, but you can use whatever your favorite mushrooms are for this!
- Onion – I used a sweet onion for this. I think it has a more mild flavor that works well with the other ingredients.
- Spinach – I used fresh baby spinach. You could also use frozen spinach if you don’t have fresh!
- Garlic – I used fresh garlic here, and minced it. You could also use some of the already minced garlic in jars if you want to save time.
- White Wine Vinegar – I think this vinegar works really well to add some extra flavor to the mushroom spinach filling! If you don’t have White Wine Vinegar, another more mild flavored vinegar would work great too, like Apple Cider Vinegar or Rice Vinegar.
- Italian Seasoning, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder – these are just the seasonings I really like for this filling. If you have other spices if you prefer, adjust to your tastes!
Tofu Ricotta
- Super Firm/ Extra Firm Tofu – I really like Wildwood’s Super Firm Tofu that comes water-packed and is already pressed – Nasoya makes one as well! If you’re going to use Extra Firm Tofu that is not water-packed, make sure to press the water out of it.
- Nutritional Yeast – if you’re new to vegan cooking, nutritional yeast is a shelf-stable ingredient that is often used to get a savory, cheesy flavor! You can find this at most stores, and also buy it online. This is one of those ingredients that is pretty irreplaceable, so make sure you have this if you’re making your own ricotta for this recipe. Another cool thing about nooch is that it has an amazing amount of protein! Some of my favorite brands are Bragg’s, Frontier, and Bob’s Red Mill.
- Soy Milk – this is my personal favorite non-dairy milk; if you have another preference, feel free to sub!
- Garlic Powder, Basil, Italian Seasoning, Salt – you definitely want to season this otherwise it will just taste like a blended up block of raw tofu 🙂
- Vegan Parmesan – I used Follow Your Heart shredded Parm – it’s my favorite brand of parm! This mostly just adds a little bit more cheesy flavor to the ricotta. If you are going to skip this, I would recommend adding some extra nutritional yeast!
Other
- Lasagna Noodles – you can use no-boil noodles or regular noodles for this! They also make chickpea noodles that have more protein; I have used these before but didn’t love them because they were kind of mushy.
- Vegan Shredded Mozzarella – I used Follow Your Heart for this. You can really use whatever brand you like best! If you are lucky enough to find Miyokos Liquid Mozzarella, I think that’s actually the best things to use on the TOP of lasagna (not in between the layers)! I, sadly, have trouble finding it at my stores so I used Follow Your Heart, which was still awesome!
- Pasta Sauce – I used store-bought because it was easier. You can also make your own sauce if you’re ambitious, and want it to be extra special! If you’re buying store-bought, just make sure it’s vegan; companies are sneaky with the non-vegan ingredients these days.
Instructions
Mushroom and Spinach Mixture
- Prepare your veggies – dice the onions very finely, mince the garlic, and (wash and) slice the mushrooms.
- In a medium-low heat pan, cook onions until translucent. I used a non-stick pan. If you’re not using a non-stick pan, or are just worried about sticking, spray some oil. Stir the onions regularly to prevent sticking or burning.
- Add in garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring often to avoid burning.
- Add mushrooms and continue cooking until most of the liquid is gone. This will take about 10 minutes or so. Stir often.
- Add in white wine vinegar and seasoning listed above. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add in spinach last and cook until it looks like you only added in about five spinach leaves even though you had handfuls and handfuls of spinach! The important thing here is to make sure all the liquid is cooked out, otherwise your lasagna will be really runny and not amazing!
Tofu Ricotta
- In a high powered food processor, mix tofu, nutritional yeast, soy milk, and seasonings listed above until well combined and paste-like (should be similar to ricotta).
- Add in the vegan parm. If you’re skipping this, add some extra nutritional yeast so you ensure it’s cheesy and delicious enough!
Noodles
- Cook noodles per package instructions.
Assembly
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.
- You will need a lasagna-sized casserole dish because we’re making lasagna! You will need a big one; this is a lot of stuff!
- Spray the bottom and sides of the casserole dish. This is pretty important to make sure your lasagna comes out and doesn’t stick!
- Layer your goods as follows:
- Sauce
- Noodles (should be three across)
- Ricotta
- Mushroom/spinach
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
- Noodles
- Ricotta
- Mushroom/spinach
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
- Noodles
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
Bake
- Cook for 35 – 40 minutes until cooked all the way through; cover with aluminum foil.
- Depending on what type of vegan cheese you are using on top, you may want to uncover and broil for a few minutes to get the cheese to brown!
Silly Little Haiku
Garfield loves this shit
Lasagna has got layers
Just like an ogre
Author
Protein Deficient Vegan
