This Meatless Lasagne recipe has no nuts, fake meat or tofu in it and the bolognese sauce is the closest I’ve ever found to the meaty kind most of us grew up with. It’s comforting and full of umami in the ways you will want to serve up with pasta, whether in lasagna or even just as Spaghetti Bolognese.
The key to making a really great vegetarian lasagne that tastes as good (or even better, perhaps) than a regular one is to create the minced meat texture with your vegetables and this can take a little time, but I’ve got some shortcuts in the ingredient section. Are you trying to consume less meat? I'd love to hear how you're replacing meat in your meals!
Table of Contents
We need to finely chop those eggplants and grate our mushrooms. Minced meat texture can be a little lumpy and suck up all the tomato herb flavor and we want the exact same thing with our meatless bolognese sauce.
Also, the cheese sauce in this lasagne is not dairy free, but you can absolutely replace with dairy free milk and cheese and I stand by the herb and garlic in it…extra vegetables are always a win! This dish is for people trying to eat more vegetables, less meat, but still allow those of us who do eat meat to enjoy dairy. It’s small steps here folks!
Ingredients and substitutions Meatless Lasagne
- Sofrito: The combination of onion, shallot, carrot and celery is the base of our bolognese, infusing depth of flavor into our sauce and savoriness.
- Mushrooms: Larger portobello mushrooms are best for their meaty texture and will help make prep a quicker task as you grate them. The large pieces of mushroom help create a large minced meat texture in the bolognese.
- Eggplant: Also known as Aubergine, this large savory fruit is key alongside the mushrooms in creating that minced meat texture needed for a meatless Bolognese. Cubing the produce can take some time; so another option to speed up preparation is to peel the eggplant and grate in a similar fashion to your mushrooms. Thanks to the fact it soaks up any flavor and is perfect for adding the savoriness needed for this dish. If you cannot eat eggplant/aubergine, you could substitute with zucchini's in equal measure, so 2 large eggplants would equate to 5 medium zucchinis.
- Canned tomatoes: The canned tomatoes make this a real tomato sauce with chopped used here, however, whole would also work.
- Tomato paste: Tomato paste is concentrated tomato sauce which adds depth of flavor to our bolognese.
- Butter: Salted butter was used here, though could be substituted with non salted or even non dairy butter in equal measure.
- Flour: Plain flour was used for the sauce, but could be replaced with bread flour due to the amount used. A gluten free flour mix that is similar to plain flour is recommended.
- Milk: Whole milk was used for the béchamel sauce as it results in a super creamy rich sauce. You can absolutely replace with non dairy milk in equal measure, though the flavor cannot be guaranteed.
- Cheese: Cheddar and parmesan cheeses were used here for a subtle and salty flavor. You could substitute the cheddar with any other mild cheese such as edam or polvorone. If you choose not use parmesan, it’s recommended adding 1 further teaspoon sea salt to make up for the lack of saltiness the parmesan adds.
- Garlic & Rosemary: Minced garlic and finely chopped rosemary add depth of flavor and additional savoriness to our béchamel, if you don’t like one or both, feel free to omit.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Meatless Lasagne:
Sofrito base: Place the onion, shallot, carrots and celery into a heavy pot and cook covered on low heat until slightly translucent.
1
Meaty vegetables: Cut the eggplants and grate your mushrooms and toss into the pot.
2
Stir: The mixture every 5 minutes until most of the water has dissipated and the eggplant is beginning to look translucent.
3
Tomato: Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, lemon juice and remaining sea salt.
4
Simmer: Stir and cook, with the lid ajar, until it resembles a rough bolognese sauce.
5
White sauce base: Whisk the butter and flour on low heat, to make a paste.
6
Milk: Add ¼ of the milk, whisking to thicken before stirring in more milk.
Add: The minced garlic, rosemary and mustard and whisk to combine.
7
Toss: In the grated cheese and whisk to combine until smooth.
Spread: A thin layer of the bolognese on the base of a baking dish.
8
Lay and layer: Lasagna sheets down and top with enough bolognese sauce to coat the pasta. Covering with the garlic bechamel before repeating the layering of pasta, bolgenese and cheese sauce.
9
Top: With grated parmesan and bake until golden and bubbling.
10
Serve: alongside a salad or not, you do you!
Enjoy: Dig in!
More pasta dishes you’ll love
Meatless Lasagne
Ingredients
Meatless bolognese
- 1 large onion peeled and finely chopped
- 1 shallot peeled and finely chopped
- 2 large / 3 medium carrots peeled and finely chopped
- 3 stalks celery finely chopped
- 750 grams / 1 ½ pounds mushrooms brown, button, portobello
- 2 large eggplants see Ingredients section
- 2 x 400 grams / 14 ounce canned tomatoes
- 56 grams / 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 grams / 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 17 grams / 3 teaspoons sea salt
- 10 grams / 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Garlic béchamel
- 75 grams / 2.65 ounces butter cubed
- 75 grams / ½ cup - ½ tablespoon plain flour
- 532 milliliters / 2 ¼ cups milk
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon rosemary finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
- 352 grams / 1 ½ cups mild cheese grated
- 45 grams / ½ cup parmesan grated
- 250 grams / 8.8 ounces lasagna sheets uncooked
Instructions
Meatless bolognese
- Place the onion, shallot, carrots and celery into a heavy pot with a little oil on low heat and cover.
- Cooking until slightly translucent, approximately 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, finely cube the eggplants and grate your mushrooms.
- Toss the eggplants, mushrooms and 2 teaspoons of salt into the pot and increase the heat to medium and cover.
- Stir the mixture every 5 minutes and cook until most of the water has dissipated and the eggplant cubes are beginning to look translucent, approximately 45 minutes.
- Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, lemon juice and remaining 1 teaspoon of sea salt.
- Stir and cook, with the lid ajar, approximately a further 40 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, but leave the lid on the pot (to keep the sauce warm).
Garlic béchamel
- Meanwhile, place the butter and flour into a small saucepan on low heat, whisking to melt the butter and make a paste.
- Add in ¼ cup milk and whisk until smooth, keeping it on low heat.
- Continue adding portions of milk, whisking constantly until the mixture has thickened into a rice pudding texture and it drops off your whisk thickly, and repeat with more portions of milk until it has been included and your sauce is smooth and bubbling thickly.
- Add in the minced garlic, rosemary and mustard and whisk to combine.
- Toss in the grated cheese and whisk to combine until your sauce is smooth. Set aside.
Lasagna
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/400F and spread a thin layer of the bolognese on the base of a baking dish.
- Lay enough lasagna sheets on top to cover the base and top with enough bolognese sauce to coat the pasta.
- Top with a thin layer of the garlic béchamel, coating the bolognese completely. Repeat layering with more pasta, bolognese and béchamel until your layers reach the top of your dish.
- Sprinkle the parmesan on top and place the baking dish in the oven, baking until golden and bubbling, approximately 40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving up.
- Serve alongside a salad or not, you do you!
- Dig in!
Notes
- Mushrooms: Larger portobello mushrooms are best for their meaty texture and will help make prep a quicker task as you grate them. The large pieces of mushroom help create a large minced meat texture in the bolognese.
- Eggplant: Also known as Aubergine, this large savory fruit is key alongside the mushrooms in creating that minced meat texture needed for a meatless Bolognese. Cubing the produce can take some time, so another option to speed up preparation is to peel the eggplant and grate in a similar fashion to your mushrooms. Eggplant is essential alongside the mushrooms thanks to the fact it soaks up any flavor and is perfect for adding the savoriness of this dish. If you cannot eat eggplant/aubergine, you could substitute with zucchini's in equal measure, so 2 large eggplants would equate to 5 medium zucchinis.
- Speeding up the prep process: The longest part of preparation is the fine chopping of the sofrito vegetables and eggplant…if you have a food processor, you could speed up the process quite substantially.
- Baking dish: A large 23x33cm or 9x13 inch baking dish is best here.
Nutrition
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