A vegan creamy pesto and sausage lasagna with tomatoes and parmesan, packed with whole foods. Plus you also get a bonus 4 dinners from the ingredients!
I Give You Vegan Creamy Pesto And Sausage Lasagna
After over 1,000 likes in record time when I posted a photo on Instagram of a lasagna I made up for dinner one night, followed by loads of requests for the recipe, I knew I couldn't keep this from you guys...so it is here.
My advice, make this when everyone in your house is gone, so you can eat the entire pan yourself. And when you're done, if you want to try another kind, this amazing lasagna recipe would be my next vote!
A healthy but gluttonous lasagna full of veggies, layers upon layers of amazing whole foods based sauces and even a non processed option for vegan "sausage". Topped with Grateable Vegan Parmesan like you've never seen and baked until bubbly.
Plus use some of the parts to make 4 extra meals! You will not find a better way to healthily fill that comfort food void. This creamy vegan pesto and sausage lasagna is mouthwatering food in all it's glory.
Veggies up the wazoo!
The amount of veggies I packed into this thing is unreal. From the broccoli and spinach in the pesto, to the cauliflower in the ricotta, it's like a farmers market in a pan. I even hid a few veggies in the red sauce! You could skip the actual spinach layer and still be loaded with so many veggies you'll be regular for weeks. Seriously.
I love all in one meals like this that you can serve and not worry about how to make dinner a well rounded meal. The only downside is that if you're expecting leftovers, you may want to prepare yourself, because my family devoured this in one night.
They just couldn't resist a vegan creamy pesto and sausage lasagna with tomatoes and loaded parmesan topping. They were animals.
Lasagna is a pain in the butt. Especially when it's vegan and layered with multiple ingredients.
Yep. But it's so good that I find myself putting it on our weekly menu more often than not. With 3 kids, a husband who travels for work, and a million other things to get done in my daily life, I need to make lasagna manageable.
So what do I do? I go back to my teaching roots and apply a strategy I used countless times when teaching kids with learning disabilities. Break up big tasks/words into small parts you can handle. Here's a breakdown of the days leading up to lasagna day. Let's call it lasagna management:
- Day 1: make red sauce (or you can also use this marinara recipe) and grateable parmesan. Double the red sauce (or if you're making the fresh marinara you'll need to triple it) and parmesan recipes and serve each with pasta with broccoli for dinner. Boom. Dinner. Done.
- Day 2: make pesto (you can also use this pesto or for a spicy kick use this one). Use some of it to make pesto pizzas using pita bread as the crust (you only need about 1 ½ cups for the lasagna). Easy and super kid friendly. Bam. There's your dinner.
- Day 3: make ricotta. Buy a bigger head of cauliflower and use half for these amazing burgers. See what I'm doing here?
- Day 4: make cream sauce. Also, if you are going the whole foods route, and not buying ready made vegan sausage, make the chickpea sausage crumbles as well. Make double the sauce and sausage crumbles. Then use some of each to make these pizza burritos right here. I promise you will thank me, they are insanity in a wrap. Plus, you should have spinach already for the lasagna (just get a little extra). Win win.
- On lasagna day: simply cook the noodles and put it all together! You can always use some of those no cook lasagna sheets too if you're being really lazy. No judgements here, been there done that.
Now that I have not only broken down this vegan creamy pesto and sausage lasagna in manageable steps, but also taken care of dinners using some of the parts, there are no excuses. I'm drooling again just thinking about it. Perhaps I should make this one more time for quality control...
Other vegan Lasagna Recipes You Might Like;
- Green and white lasagna
- Lasagna, vegan, gluten free and delicious
- Lasagna Wontons
- Creamy butternut squash lasagna roll ups
- 7 layer dessert lasagna
Vegan Creamy Pesto, Tomato and Sausage Lasagna (and a Bonus 4 Day Meal Plan!)
Ingredients
- Crockpot Red Sauce (or you can use my Fresh Tomato Marinara, see note if doing the 4 additional dinners option)
- Broccoli Spinach Pesto (or you can use my Spinach Tahini Pesto, see note if doing the 4 additional dinners option)
- Low Fat Cauliflower Ricotta (only make the ricotta part of this recipe, everything at the top of the ingredients except the shells, see note if doing the 4 additional dinners option)
- Cream Sauce (only make the cream sauce part of this recipe, see note if doing the 4 additional dinners option)
- Chickpea Vegan Sausage Crumbles , or for an easy route use 2 links store bought Italian style vegan sausage, about 92 grams each (double the sausage crumbles recipe if making them, see note if doing the 4 additional dinners option)
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- Grateable Vegan Parmesan (double this recipe, see note if doing the 4 additional dinners option)
- 12 lasagna noodles
Instructions
- Make the red sauce, pesto, ricotta, cream sauce, sausage if not buying, and parmesan. Crumble the store bought sausage links with your hands if using them and not making the sausage crumbles.
- Cook the noodles for only 3 minutes (this will be baking and you don't want the noodles to be overcooked).
- Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.
Layer the lasagna as follows in a 9 x 12 baking dish:
1 ½ - 2 cups red sauce
4 lasagna noodles
Crumbled store bought sausage or 3 cups chickpea sausage crumbles
¾ - 1 cup cream sauce
1 ½ - 2 cups pesto
4 lasagna noodles
cauliflower ricotta (use it all)
1 ½ - 2 cups red sauce
spinach
4 lasagna noodles
1 ½ - 2 cups red sauce
¾ - 1 cup cream sauce (swirl with the red sauce)
1 ½ cups parmesan (sprinkle over the top)
- Bake covered for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until bubbly.
- Hide in closet and devour alone. Or share, but be prepared with a fork so you can dig in fast.
Notes
- Be sure to make extra of each part if you are following my guide for the extra 4 dinners.
- You can use no boil lasagna noodles if preferred, but check to make sure they are cooked through when the 30 minutes is up, they may need additional time.
- Feel free to increase amounts of each ingredient, just make sure you have made enough.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
Jane
We are up for trying the whole week of dinner ideas and just got done shopping. So excited to give all your recipes a try. Will let you know how it goes.
veggiesdontbite
Awesome Jane!! Hope you enjoy! Thanks so much!
Karey
Hi Sophia,
Just wondering what size pan you bake this in? 13x9 or smaller?
Thanks,
Karey
veggiesdontbite
Hi Karey!! My recipe plugin was changed and it looks like it has missed some stuff in the carry over. I just added it! I use a standard 9 x 12 baking dish. 9 x 13 would work fine too. Hope you are well!
JD
This is hands down my favorite meal. It’s so flavorful and perfect!
Linda from Veganosity
Great lesson about breaking down the steps. That certainly makes it easier. Vegan lasagna is just as good, if not better, than the kind I used to make with dairy. This looks delicious!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Linda!!! This one is definitely one of my favorites, vegan or not!
Kristina
wow, this nearly week long project looks GOOOOOOD. I'll take that whole pan thing when I'm the only one home, pleez.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you friend! I have to make these big old meals over a few days because I simply don't have time all in one day! You know what would happened if I cooked for this long and left the monsters to themselves?!
Sandi
That looks amazing. I need to find gluten free noodles.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you Sandi! I linked to the ones I love in my post!
Laura
Great breakdown of work flow, it makes it so easy to follow. Great recipe for food intolerance.
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Laura! That was my goal. I appreciate the feedback!
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables
I love lasagna and this sounds soooo good. I thinks this would be satisfying enough for even my dad! 😉
veggiesdontbite
Ah the dad thumbs up is always the best! LOL! Thank you!
Vaughn
looks so yummy cant wait to do this
veggiesdontbite
Thanks!
Vaughn
will definitely try this at home!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks!
Stephanie@ApplesforCJ
Wow..This looks fabulous and I'm seriously drooling! I can see Why all the requests for the recipe!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you Stephanie!
Nicole Dawson
Loving all the veggies you managed to get into this pan of lasagna! No wonder it gets eaten up so quickly.
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Nicole! It packs a powerful punch!
Alisa Fleming
You pulled out all the stops with this recipe Sophia! It's crazy unique but looks amazing!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you Alisa! I tried hard to make it manageable for others. We love lasagna so much but it really is a lot of work, however if I make it step by step like this with all the extra meal ideas, it really makes it work it!!
Dianne's Vegan Kitchen
Lasagna has always been my go-to comfort food meal. I love that you used both tomato sauce AND pesto in this recipe. I can't wait to try it!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Dianne! It's a lot of work but it's so good!!
Cathy
Lasagna is a lot of work, but it looks delish! Brilliant to give us 4 bonus recipe ideas, and that will definitely make it worth the effort. I plan to try the whole thing in the next few weeks.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much! It sure is! I tried to make it as simple as possible by breaking it up for you all. Let me know if you give it a try and if the extra meals helped with the prep!