
Are you feeling as well rested as I am today? I could seriously bounce off the walls right now and there isn’t a lick of caffeine in my body. Man, the extra hour is the best…aside from that whole getting dark earlier thing. That really put a wrinkle in my lasagna dinner photography plans last night!
Want to know a secret?
I’ve never made lasagna before! Not even before I became a vegan. Back then, the best thing I cooked was popcorn in my popcorn maker and frozen dinners.
Anyways, I always loved eating lasagna, but assumed it was super difficult to make. Well, it turns out that it’s not as bad as I imagined…like everything in life. (Thank you anxiety.) This lasagna was quite easy even for an experienced popcorn maker like myself. And if you’re a multi-tasker in the kitchen like I am things move along even quicker.

How do you make a vegan lasagna taste as good as its non-vegan counterpart?
Above all, it must have a creamy and cheese-like flavour. Most vegan lasagna recipes use a tofu-based “ricotta” cheese, but I wanted to try something different for my recipe. As a cheese replacer, I made a Lemon Basil Cashew Cheeze which I adapted from my Stuffed Portabella Pizza recipe. I absolutely loved it in this lasagna and it gave it a really luxurious creamy and cheesy flavour.
The first thing you do is make this cheeze spread in your food processor. I did this ahead of time and just kept it in a sealed container in the fridge until I was ready to make my lasagna.

I also saved time by using bottled pasta sauce (1.5 bottles), but you can make homemade marinara sauce if you prefer!

The next thing I did was sauté the vegetables. I chopped 1 sweet onion, 1 large red pepper, 2 small zucchini, 1 cup of cremini mushrooms, and minced 3 garlic cloves.

(I love the sunset light beaming into my kitchen at this time!)
While the vegetables are sautéing, you can boil your noodles. The best lasagna making tip that I can give you is to slightly undercook your lasagna noodles. I cooked mine for about 8 minutes and then quickly rinsed them with cold water. No one wants mushy noodles in a lasagna! I used Kamut noodles and they were very tasty.

Once that is done, it’s time to start layering your lasagna. I took step-by-step pictures to help guide you along the process. So yea…if you’re not taking a bazillion photos it should move along even quicker!
Tips:
- I used about 1 cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Use half of your basil cheeze for the 1st layer and the rest for the second layer. Ditto for the vegetables!
- You can add as much or as little cheese on top as you prefer. I think I used about 1 cup?

At this point you can wrap it up and put it in the fridge until you are ready to cook it, or you can bake it right away like I did.
After layering, bake in the oven, covered with tin foil, for 40-45 minutes at 400F and then remove the tinfoil and broil it over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes, watching closely.

That wasn’t so bad, right?
We also have a ton of leftovers to enjoy for lunches all week long!
Would I change anything next time?
The only thing I would add next time is to crumble a couple of my favourite Amy’s California burgers (pre-cooked?) onto a layer of the lasagna. I think that would give it a great “ground-beef” like texture. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing!
We both gobbled up two big pieces and Eric packed some for his lunch today. I’d say it was a success!


Vegan Lasagna with Basil Cashew Cheeze

Yield
6
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
I like my lasagna with lots of sauce and lots of vegetables, but you can tailor your version to your own preference. The best part about lasagna is that it can be adapted so many ways.
Ingredients
For the Cheeze:
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 30 mins or overnight
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup vegetable broth or water (or more as needed)
- 1.5 cups fresh basil leaves (lightly packed)
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (gives the cheese flavour)
- 3/4-1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste) + freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
For the Lasagna:
- 454 g Box of lasagna noodles*
- 1.5 bottles of pasta sauce or use homemade marinara sauce
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 sweet onion, chopped (2.5 cups)
- 2 small zucchini, chopped
- 1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 large red pepper, chopped
- 1 large handful spinach
- 2 pre-cooked veggie burgers, crumbled (optional)
- Lemon Basil Cheeze Sauce (from above)
- Daiya cheese (as much as desired)
Directions
- Drain and rinse soaked cashews. With the food processor turned on, drop in your garlic cloves and process until chopped. Add in the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large skillet, sautee onion and garlic over low-medium heat for 5 minutes. Now add in the rest of the veggies and sautee for another 10-15 minutes. *Season well with Herbamare or kosher salt and black pepper.* This is key or you will have bland tasting vegetables in your lasagna.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Boil lasagna noodles for 8 minutes, drain, and rinse immediately with cold water.
- Add 1 cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish. Add a layer of noodles, half the basil cheeze sauce, half the vegetables, more pasta sauce, another layer of noodles, veggie burger crumbles (optional), the rest of the cheeze sauce, the rest of the vegetables, more pasta sauce, and finally a sprinkle of cheese.
- Cover with tinfoil and prick with fork a few times. Bake at 400°F for 40-45 minutes and then remove tinfoil and broil for 5 minutes on medium. Watch closely so you don’t burn the edges. Remove and serve. Will keep in the fridge for at least 3-4 days.
Tip:
- * I cooked an entire box of noodles (16 oz) and had 6 noodles leftover. This will depend on how large your casserole dish is. My dish is a bit small, although I’m not sure of the actual size.

Drool.
Now, my mind is swirling with a seasonal lasagna recipe like pumpkin or squash lasagna. I think that would be really good!
Im sure its lovely and it looks delicious but Ang why are you still rinsing your pasta in water when your done cooking it????? This is the worst worst worst thing you can do to it. Stop rinsing it, it just makes no sense you just make it gross. Please stop or I will send every Italian mother I know over to your house to see what you do! :D
Sabs.
Ahhh! I remember you saying this, but can you refresh my mind why it’s so bad?
Omg, THANK YOU!! I don’t know if you saw my Google search for “oh she glows vegan lasagna” this weekend, but I love coming to your site for recipes! After I couldn’t find one here, I made a pumpkin lasagna that was kinda…meh. My man wants me to make THIS one (and I have no objections), so it’s one the grocery list now :D Thank you thank you thank you, Angela!!
haha that’s awesome you searched that! I guess I read your mind :)
im gonna make this on saturday night! can’t wait!
It’s funny that you just posted this…I was looking for a vegan lasagna recipe to make this weekend and went looking for one on your site but surprised there wasn’t one. This one looks great!
My computer crashes for 8 days and look at everything I miss! Congratulations times 3 on all the amazing wins–Chatelaine, blog, BOOK! You deserve every one of them. Can’t wait! :)
Thank you Ricki :) Sorry to hear about your computer…I hope all is well again! That happened to me earlier this year and it was awful!
This looks delicious! Maybe I’ll make it for my family when I go home for a bit! Haha if I made it just for myself I think I’d get pretty tired of lasagna before I could finish it off!
Your lasagna looks great and for someone who’s never made it before, you nailed it!
The whole dinner photography thing in general….I get an epic fail at. My photos are dark or yellow, blurry b/c I am rushing, have a hungry family….the darkness just is going to compound that. If you have tips for what you do (other than pre-cooking and photographing things in the afternoon) I’d love to hear about it. I have lights that I’m not inclined to set up usually but I guess I should :)
hehe I have a couple lights (for my lightbox) but I fail to use them….and the two lights I have aren’t mounted so I’d have to mount them too. Way too lazy for that! I just tried to brighten these up in lightroom as much as I could. Oh and I threw out my lightbox! lol.
Looks delish. Add a layer of thinly sliced grilled eggplant. Then it would be perfect :)
I love the idea of the cashew and basil cheese…yum!
Thanks for the new idea for lasagna! The tofu for ricotta comes out fantastic BUT tofu and my tummy don’t necessarily get along so I’m always looking for a substitute. And since lasagna is one of my favorite foods, I’m so trying this! Just curious on the lemon though, does it come out as a prominent flavor or does it just blend in and compliment the whole dish? Thank you again for posting this!!!!
I didn’t notice the lemon pop off the dish at all. You can notice it in the cheeze itself, but not in the overall lasagna….at least in my opinion!
THANK YOU! I was really hoping that you’d create and share a lasagna recipe! (Yay! You’ve heard my prayer!)
:D :D :D
:)
this looks delicious! try no-boil lasagna noodles. i always use them in my vegan lasagnas- they work well and cut out a step. just make sure the noodle layers are covered with enough tomato sauce to cook them.
how very delighftul!!! I actually posted about our lasgane today too – although it was not a vegan version ;)
This looks delicious! Love your recipes- we just made your black bean and butternut squash burritos yesterday and had the leftovers for lunch today :) Will definitely give this one a try too.
Hi Angela,
I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that I LOVE your blog. After almost a year of faithfully following Oh She Glows, I have been inspired everyday by your stories, your journey, and most importantly your AMAZING receipes.
Thank you for all of the beautifully written and photographed posts and for keeping my kitchen adventures fun and delicious.
Vicki
Thank you Vicki :)
you really jam-packed it with a lot of healthy veggies- which makes me love this EVEN MORE :)
xoxo <3
Hi Angela – I recently found your blog looking for vegan Thanksgiving menu ideas. Your menu from last year looks amazing! I think I am going to have to try that walnut loaf this year. And, this lasagna looks pretty darn yummy too! :)
OMG Angela this looks too good to be true. Been craving lasagna hard lately and I think I just found the perfect remedy!!! Thanks girl!
Oh sweet mother of all things Lasagna! This sounds and looks so totally delicious. I’ve been looking for ways to still make a lasagna but not have it dripping in the usual ricotta or cottage cheese sauces. The idea for cashew cream sounds absolutely delectable. And so versatile too. I just a made a big batch of seitan last night and I have a feeling this would go really well stuffed inside this lasagna.
Do you have any suggestions for a different type of vegan cheese that melts really well? I can never seem to find Daiya around here and some of the other crap I’ve been buying lately seems to have a funky aftertaste.
Oh I wish I did! Daiya is the only good one I have found, but I’ve heard that Teese cheese from Chicago soydairy melts very well and is good
“This lasagna was quite easy even for an experienced popcorn maker like myself.”
Why this had me snorting with laughter I don’t know. Lol.
hehe :)