Vegetarian Lasagna with Plant-Based Sausage. Homemade, delicious, satisfying, and comforting if you are craving some home-cooked healthy Italian food. Some garlic knots and vegetarian antipasto will complete the meal. Now, where is that glass of red wine? I’m hungry for dinner.
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Make the Pasta Sauce
I love the smell of a pot of homemade marinara sauce simmering on the back burner. This recipe is my basic sauce. It’s delicious as a marinara sauce over pasta if you like a hearty meat sauce, like farmer Fred add some meatballs and sausage to the sauce while it simmers.
To make the homemade pasta sauce, I use my canned garden tomatoes that I puree before adding to the sauce kettle. Purchased crushed tomatoes may be substituted for the home-canned tomatoes. Saute the garlic and add all of the ingredients to the tomato sauce. I use fresh herbs. However, use 1 tsp. of each herb if you are using dried herbs. Simmer for two hours. Prepare the ingredients for the Vegetarian lasagna while the sauce is simmering.
Make the Vegetarian Lasagna
Prepare the ingredients:
- Grate the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and set aside.
- Saute the plant-based sausage with the onions and garlic until the sausage browns, and the onions are translucent. Set aside to cool.
- Cook the Lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water. I add about a tbsp of oil to the water. This prevents stuck-together noodles when it’s time to assemble the lasagna. If the noodles are still sticky, I toss them with a bit of olive oil and lay them out flat.
- Steam-cook the fresh spinach in a bit of water. Press the cooked spinach between two kitchen towels to remove as much moisture as possible. Chop the cooked spinach before adding it to the Vegetarian Lasagna.
Assemble the Vegetarian Lasagna
First Layer:
- Spread two cups of sauce in the bottom of a lightly greased 9 X 13-inches deep dish baking pan. A deep-dish pan works best. However, I use a regular baking pan as well. I used a regular baking pan in this recipe.
- Add a layer of cooked lasagna noodles on top of the sauce. I use 1/3 of the total number of noodles in each layer.
- Add half of the plant-based sausage mixture.
- Add half of the spinach.
- Add 1 cup of ricotta cheese. Scatter rounded teaspoons full across the top of the pasta noodles. Add 1/2 cup of the sour cream.
- Top with one and 1/3 cup of the grated mozzarella cheese and 1/3 of a cup of parmesan cheese.
- Add two cups of marinara sauce.
Second Layer:
- Top the bottom layer with more lasagna noodles and repeat the above steps for the vegetarian lasagna ingredients.
Top Layer:
Add the last of the lasagna noodles, the rest of the sauce, and the rest of the grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
My SIS (Simple is Smart) Tip:
Spray a piece of aluminum foil with non-stick cooking spray before you cover the Vegetarian Lasagna pan with the foil. This keeps the melted cheese from sticking to the foil during baking.
Baking, Storing, and Freezing the Lasagna:
Cover the Vegetarian Lasagna with lightly sprayed aluminum foil. Bake the Lasagna for 30 minutes at 350-degrees F. Uncover and bake another 30 minutes or until the center is hot and bubbly.
Freeze uncooked lasagna for up to two months. Cover the pan with a lid before freezing. Defrost overnight and bake as above.
Store leftover lasagna in the fridge. Leftovers reheat well in the oven or microwave.
Create a yummy appetizer with the leftovers. Make Fried Lasagna Bites.
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Vegetarian Lasagna with Plant-Based Sausage
Equipment
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- 1 large kettle (4-quart)
- 1 9 X 13 deep dish baking pan
Ingredients
Homemade Pasta Sauce
- 1 quart tomato sauce (1 liter) home-jarred is best. For purchased, use one 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 quart whole tomatoes(1 liter) home-jarred stewed tomatoes are best. For purchased, use one 28-ounce can of whole plum tomatoes.
- 1 can tomato paste
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ cup red wine merlot or malbec
- 1 tbsp basil minced fresh
- 1 tbsp oregano minced fresh
- 1 tbsp Italian parsley minced fresh
- salt to taste
- sugar to correct the acid at the end (about 1-2 Tbsp.)
Lasagna
- 8 cups homemade pasta sauce or 64 ounces of purchased sauce. (2 liters)
- 1 lb Lasagna noodles(450g)
- 8 ounces plant-based sausage(225g)
- 1 cup chopped sweet onion (52g)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 10 ounces baby fresh spinach (280g)
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese (450g)
- 4 cups grated mozzarella cheese (450g)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese(113g)
- 1 cup sour cream(225g)
Instructions
Make the Pasta Sauce
- Blend the whole tomatoes in a blender, put them in the three or four-quart kettle.
- Saute the garlic until fragrant in a little olive oil. Then add to the sauce.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the Kettle.
- Simmer for 2 hours stirring occasionally.
- At the end of 2 hours, salt to taste and adjust acidity by adding up to 1 tbsp sugar.
Prep the Lasagna Ingredients.
- Add a tbsp of oil and a tsp of salt to a large pot of boiling water. Add the lasagna noodles and cook until Al-dente. Drain and run under cool water to stop the cooking process.
- Lay the noodles out flat. Add a little extra oil to keep them from sticking together.
- Prepare all of the rest of the ingredients for the lasagna.
- While the noodles are cooking, saute the plant-based Italian-style sausage with onions and garlic. Saute until the sausage cooks and the onions are translucent. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add about 2 tbsp of water to the same pan and cook the baby fresh spinach until it wilts.
- Press the cooked spinach between two towels to remove as much moisture as possible. Chop and set aside.
- Grate the cheese and set it aside.
Assemble the Lasagna
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bottom of the baking pan, put two cups of the sauce. Add a layer of noodles. Watch the video to see how I lay the noodles in the pan to make two layers of noodles. Use 1/3 of the noodles for each layer.
- Sprinkle half of the spinach and half of the plant-based browned sausage with onions mixture on top of the ricotta cheese and sour cream.
- On top of the noodles, drop one cup of ricotta cheese by spoonful scattered across the lasagna. Add 1/2 cup of the sour cream by spoonful.
- Sprinkle 1 1/3 cups of the shredded mozzarella and 1/3 of a cup of grated parmesan cheese on top.
- Add 2 cups of the homemade sauce and spread over the cheese.
- Add the second layer of noodles and repeat with the rest of the ricotta cheese, sour cream, plant-based sausage, and spinach. Add 1 1/3 cup of the grated cheeses plus 1/3 cup of the parmesan. Top with another two cups of sauce
- Add the final and top layer of noodles. Use the rest of the noodles in this layer. Spread the remaining two cups of sauce on top and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the sauce.
Baking the Lasagna
- Spray a piece of Aluminum Foil with non-stick cooking spray. Cover the Lasagna with the foil. The cooking spray keeps the cheese from sticking to the foil during baking.
- Bake the covered Lasagna for 30 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the center of the lasagna is hot and bubbly.
- See notes for freezing and reheating.
