This vegan lasagna recipe takes the classic Italian favorite and gives it a healthy, plant-based twist. Instead of tofu, soy, or store-bought vegan cheese, it’s made with a hearty cauliflower bolognese and a silky cashew cream sauce. The result is a wholesome, protein-packed vegetable lasagna that’s completely soy-free, oil-free, and can easily be made gluten-free.
This vegan lasagna is not like the "classic" vegan tofu-based kind. It doesn't contain lentils either. Nope! The base of this recipe is actually mostly vegetables.
The filling of my veggie-packed vegan lasagna consists of cauliflower and almonds, to be precise. This may not sound very exciting, but trust me - this is by far my favourite vegan lasagna recipe. If I had to convince a non-vegan of pure plantbased food, I would totally serve this soy-free vegetable vegan lasagna!
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Why You’ll Love This Vegan Lasagna Recipe
- Whole food plant-based: no processed substitutes, no oil, no soy
- Naturally gluten-free if you use gluten-free lasagna sheets
- Packed with vegetables and healthy fats from nuts
- The perfect comfort food that will also impress guests
- High in protein – about 25 g per serving with lentil or legume pasta sheets
This may just be the best vegan lasagna recipe you’ll ever try.
Cauliflower as A Ground Meat Substitute
While you find a lot of recipes for cauliflower bechamél, I actually use this wonderful vegetable in the lasagna filling. Cauliflower has a mild taste and when you process it to a rice-like consistency you have the perfect base for creating a minced meat subsitute.
Yes, I admit, plain ground up cauliflower is far away from tasting and looking like meat. But when you process it together with almonds (or walnuts), sun-dried tomatoes and spices you've got yourself healthy vegan meat substitute from whole food ingredients.
Making The Cashew Bechamél
Authentic bechamél sauce is made with flour, milk, and butter. My creamy cashew bechamél may not be like the real deal but it is a healthier alternative and just as easy to make. You simply blend soaked cashews with nutritional yeast, lemon juice, water plus salt and pepper.
Now it is time to assemble, bake and dig in!
Variations
- Instead of almonds you can also use walnuts.
- Missing the protein? You can also use my Lentil Bolognese sauce as a filling for this vegan lasagna recipe. For even more protein, use lasagna sheets made from legumes.
- If you want to add even more veggie-power, slice up a zucchini and place the slices onto the lasagna sheets when assembling the zucchini lasagna.
FAQ
Unfortunately frozen cauliflower doesn't work that well as it tends to be quite watery when thawed and too soft to be processed into cauliflower rice.
Absolutely! Simply swap out the lasagna sheets for gluten-free (legume-based) lasagna sheets.
The leftover lasagna or slices can be stored in the covered casserole dish or an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat, simply pop into the microwave or oven.
Check the package instructions – many brands are oven-ready.
More Cauliflower Recipes
I hope you’ll give this healthy vegan lasagna recipe a try. If you do, let me know in the comments below. And don’t forget to rate the recipe. You can also tag a photo (#veggiejam) to show me your creation on instagram.
PrintRecipe
Soy-Free Vegan Lasagna with Cauliflower Bolognese
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
- Total Time: 50-60 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Description
Lasagna is the ultimate comfort food – rich, cozy, and always satisfying. This vegan lasagna recipe takes the classic Italian favorite and gives it a healthy, plant-based twist. Instead of tofu, soy, or store-bought vegan cheese, it’s made with a hearty cauliflower bolognese and a silky cashew cream sauce. The result is a wholesome, protein-packed vegetable lasagna that’s completely soy-free, oil-free, and can easily be made gluten-free.
Ingredients
Cauliflower Filling
- ¾ cup almonds (100 g)
- 3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (20 g)
- 1 medium head cauliflower (approx. 500 g)
- 1 onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 carrots
- 2 cans chopped tomatoes (400 g each)
- 1 cup tomato purée (250 g)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
Cashew Béchamel
- ¾ cup cashews (100 g)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2-3 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ cup water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 9 (whole grain) lasagna sheets
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in hot water and put aside.
Cauliflower Filling
- Process the almonds and the sun-dried tomatoes in a food processor until a coarse meal forms. Repeat with the cauliflower, but avoid overprocessing to keep the texture a little chunky. Then mix everything together.
- Mince the garlic and onion and chop the carrot into small chunks. Heat a bit of water in a large pan and sautée the garlic, onion and carrots for a few min until the onion is translucent.
- Add the almond-cauliflower mixture, stir and cook for 4-5 min.
- Now add herbs and spices, as well as all tomatoes, including the tomato purée. Mix well und cook covered for 10 min at low to medium heat. Stir in between and add more spices to taste.
- In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F).
Cashew Béchamel
- For the cashew béchamel, drain the soaked cashews and blend together with the remaining ingredients until creamy. Season with salt and pepper.
To Assemble
- In a large casserole dish, add a bit of the cauliflower mixture to cover the bottom. Top with a layer of lasagna noodle sheets. Add a layer of cauliflower filling and a bit of the cashew sauce and repeat until everything is used up.
- Bake the lasagna for about 30 min in the pre-heated oven.
- Let the lasagna cool for 5-10 min before serving.
This post is also available in German (Deutsch).
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