
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!
I’m gla you’re no longer a lasagna virgin…there’s a little extra love that goes into making it and you can always taste it!
There are so many vegan lasagna recipes floating around the blog world and i need to make them all. The cashew cheese is pretty awesome and personally, I think it trumps a tofu “ricotta”.
Yum! I think lasagna was seriously one of the first things I learned how to make when I started cooking. So gratifying because it feeds you for days. Oh man! A butternut lasagna with basil pesto and maybe some toasty pine nuts? You got my lasagna loving self thinking big now.
Oh that looks so yummy! I wonder if I could use edamame instead of the cashews as my boys have nut allergies? Would that work do you think? Daiya cheddar shreds make a great mac and cheese! Love the step by step photography…the photography in general…mine needs help!
I’m really not sure about the edamame!
Would a tofu ricotta work? I Know many ppl love that option too.
Mmmm, that looks delectable! I just had the last of the black bean and butternut burritos, have the mushroom millet soup on tap for later this week (when it gets all cold and soggy in my neck of the woods) and now I’m trying my best to figure out how to get this one in. The wonderful sadness of wishing I could fit in a few extra meals in a week. ;)
Yummm this looks delicious! I love the process photos (numbered 1-10)! And that purple baking dish you made the lasagna in is so cute.
Every time I make lasagna I always say “Why do I always think this is so difficult?” The last time I made it I just soaked my noodles in cold water while I prepped everything else. It is way less time consuming and messy than boiling them and it basically turns them into oven-ready noodles. I used a whole wheat noodle but I imagine it would work fine with other varieties.
I always make veggie lasagna and this looks yummy!
Cool tip, I will have to try that!
This sounds lovely! Great creation!
Something you MUST try while you’re on a lasagna kick is Spaghetti Squash Lasagna. I LOVE spaghetti squash, and I have no idea where she got her recipe, but my mum used to make it all the time and it’s probably up there in my top ten favourite meals.
I know for a fact that she uses Yves Meatless Ground Round in the lasagna, but other than that I have no real instructions to provide you with. I’m sure you’d figure it out, though :)
Wow that sounds interesting, I’ve never heard of that before!
Wow it looks good! Tasty! Gotta try it someday!
Looks delicious! I make lasagna every Christmas Eve and was just thinking of how to make it this year (have not found one I love – and have had dairy in past). I was thinking of using some lentil almond burger crumbles (I make the burgers which tend to fall apart so I use them in Italian dishes – so tasty!) – think I will try those with this recipe . Of course, I should do a test run (yum!) before having my extended family partake :-)
I love this! I recently experimented with using sliced zucchini instead of lasagna noodles, and it was the best “lasagna” i had ever tasted! I also think that by swapping the noodles for veggies, it means you can eat more bread and butter ;)
What cheese did u use to spinkle on top?
Daiya cheese
Do you think a creamy white bean would work in place of the cashews in the sauce? The recipe looks gorgeous, but I have had a few bad experiences with cashews and am not willing to risk using them.
I know what you mean about the cashews…I’ve had some bad experiences with them before too! I’ve also had a bad experience using a white bean puree, so I’m really not sure how it would turn out. I think with enough seasonings (to avoid it being bland) would be ok!
How yummy does that look!!! I’ve got my dinner set for a few nights – thank you Angela!!! :)
P.S. Congrats on reaching & passing up the 9,000 “Like” mark on Facebook!! :)
haha thanks Jen! :) Facebook is fun.
A super recipe I adapted from a non vegan version is a vegan butternut squash and vegan bechamel sauce lasagna. Layer sauce, NO cook noodles, butternut squash puree (add in seasonings and veggie broth to cooked squash to make your puree) and bechamel sauce made with earth balance, garlic, flour, almond milk, a few bay leaves, sage, etc etc…
You can add vegan cheese inbetween the layers if you want to – make it really soupy, let it stand for a while to soak up all the flavor and liquid – YUM. If you are interested I can write out the recipe when I haven’t just gotten home from work. tired.
LOVE the Gingerbread Iron woman smoothie by the way!
That sounds good!
Where do you find fresh basil in the winter?
And I love vegan lasagna that has zucchini in it….YUM.
I have an indoor basil plant that I haven’t managed to kill yet. You can also buy it from grocery stores.
Your photos alone are beautiful! I love the spread-it looks so good!!!
As always, this recipe looks so good! I just gave up meat, and might even be starting to move toward a (mostly) vegan diet, so I will definitely be making this. I have made a number of your recipes (all dessert ones ;) and the coconut chai!), and have loved every single one. Thanks for such beautiful posts.