Vegetable lasagna is a delightful and nutritious twist on the classic Bolognese lasagna recipe. It's an easy main course perfect for many occasions.
This lasagna recipe with vegetables is a delicious and aromatic dish that can be prepared ahead of time and will stay fresh for the next 2-3 days in the fridge. You can even bake and freeze the lasagna for a ready-to-serve main course for your weekly meals or special Sunday dinners.
It's an adaptable recipe that's perfect for a variety of occasions and can be customized to suit your tastes with the ingredients you have on hand. This lasagna is irresistible with its hearty filling of mixed vegetables, mozzarella, creamy béchamel and a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
With just a handful of ingredients, you can create a dish that's sure to please everyone. Preparing vegetable lasagna a day in advance makes it even more flavorful.
For this recipe, I used zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, red bell pepper, but you can let your creativity and the season's offerings guide your choice of ingredients!
Finally, I've used dried lasagna sheets. If you use fresh lasagna, be sure to blanch the sheets before assembling your lasagna.
Let's see how to make this mouth watering Italian recipe, the vegetable lasagna!
Ingredients
- Prep Time: 30 Min
- Cook Time: 1 H 10 Min
- Servings: 4
Doses for a 13x9 inch lasagna pan
For Lasagna
- About 12 lasagna: you can make fresh homemade lasagna noodles following our step by step recipe: here you can find out how to make Italian Homemade Pasta
- Or you can buy authentic Italian flat lasagna, oven ready (no cooking or boiling necessary), made with durum wheat (we recommend Tuscanini brand)
For the Filling
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 eggplant
- ½ onion
- 4 medium tomatoes
- 1 red bell pepper
- 230 g (8 oz) of fresh mozzarella
- 200 g (2 ¼ cups) of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Try this Italian Parmigiano Reggiano DOP 36 Months
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Try this authentic Ligurian extra virgin olive oil that's perfect for this recipe
- salt and pepper
For the Béchamel Sauce
- 1 liter (~4 cups) of fresh whole milk
- 100 g (3.5 oz - ~1 stick) of unsalted butter
- 100 g (3.5 oz - ⅔ cup) of all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon of fine salt
- freshly grated nutmeg
Vegetable Lasagna: Instructions
The Bechamel Sauce
Step 1) - In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour with the help of a flour sieve: in this way you are sure that there are no lumps. Meanwhile warm the milk, without bringing to a boil.
Step 2) - Mix quickly with a whisk, until the mixture is smooth. The mixture of butter and flour is called roux and it should be a nice golden color. Pour the milk slowly over the roux, while stirring with a whisk.
Step 3) - Keep mixing constantly, and cook over low heat until you have a fairly thick consistency for about 10/15 minutes. Season with salt and grated nutmeg. The sauce is ready when it sticks to the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside.
For more information and tips about bechamel, read our béchamel sauce recipe.
The Vegetable Filling
Step 1) - Wash the vegetables thoroughly and cut them into not too small pieces. Remember to remove the seeds and the white inner part of the bell pepper. Also, do not remove the skin from the eggplant. If the tomatoes are quite large, remove the seeds.
Step 2) - Chop the onion into very small pieces. Place them in a fairly large pan and sauté with 3 tablespoons of EVO oil.
Step 3) - When the onion is translucent and golden, add the vegetables. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a pinch of salt and a little ground black pepper to taste. When done, set aside.
Make the Layers
Step 4) - Place two or three tablespoons of béchamel sauce in the bottom of a baking dish or casserole, then add the first layer of lasagna on top.
Step 5) - Top with a layer of vegetables and shreds of mozzarella cheese.
Step 6) - Then add three tablespoons of béchamel sauce and a few grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Spread the ingredients as evenly as possible. Finally, cover with more lasagna.
Step 7) - Continue to make layers following the steps above until you run out of ingredients. For the last layer, use only mozzarella, bechamel, and lots of Parmigiano cheese.
The Baking
Step 8) - Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 30-40 minutes until crisp on top. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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- Pasta all’Ortolana | Italian Pasta with Vegetables
How to Store Vegetable Lasagna
Storing vegetable lasagna properly is important to maintain its freshness and flavor.
First allow the vegetable lasagna to cool to room temperature after cooking. If you have a large amount of lasagna, consider dividing it into smaller portions. Smaller portions will cool, freeze, and reheat more evenly.
In the Refrigerator
For short-term storage (a few days), place the lasagna with vegetable in an airtight container or cover it tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil to prevent it from drying out. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
In the Freezer
For long-term storage, wrap the lasagna portions tightly in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil or place them in airtight freezer-safe containers. Properly stored, it can last in the freezer for up to 2 months. Freeze vegetable lasagna only if you have used fresh ingredients.
Don’t forget to label your lasagna with the date it was cooked or frozen. This will help you keep track of how long it has been stored!
Reheating
When you're ready to eat the lasagna, reheat refrigerated lasagna in the oven or microwave until it’s heated through. For frozen lasagna, it’s best to thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
Make Vegetable Lasagna in Advance
Vegetable lasagna can definitely be prepared in advance. This is actually a great strategy for meals like lasagna, which often taste even better the next day as the flavors have more time to meld together. Here are some tips for preparing vegetable lasagna in advance:
You can assemble the entire lasagna, with all the layers of vegetables, bechamel sauce, and mozzarella, up to a day before you plan to bake it.
Once assembled, cover the lasagna tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate it. This will keep it fresh until you're ready to cook it.
If you're baking the lasagna straight from the fridge, remember it might need a bit longer in the oven compared to if it was assembled right before baking. Make sure it's heated all the way through and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Lasagna also freezes well. You can assemble it, wrap it tightly with aluminum foil, and freeze it. You can bake frozen lasagna directly from the freezer, but it will need additional baking time. Alternatively, you can thaw it in the refrigerator for 24 hours before baking.
If you prefer to bake the lasagna ahead of time, simply reheat it in the oven when you're ready to serve. Cover it with foil while reheating to prevent the top from drying out or burning.
Vegetable Lasagna: Some Variations
Here are some variations of vegetable lasagna, each with a different substitution of one of the key ingredients:
- Lasagna sheets: In this recipe, I used dry, ready-to-bake lasagna sheets. This type of lasagna cooks thanks to the liquids produced by the other ingredients, especially the béchamel sauce. You can also use fresh lasagne sheets. Just remember to blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes before using them in your recipes.
- Vegetables: For vegetable lasagna, you can use any vegetables you like, preferably in season. So go ahead and add mushrooms if you like them, or broccoli. Conversely, use only one type of vegetable if you prefer. You can use the same recipe to make lasagna with peppers, lasagna with zucchini, or lasagna with eggplant, to name a few.
- Bechamel: You can substitute ricotta cheese for bechamel. Dilute with a little water if it is too dry.
- Mozzarella: You can use fresh mozzarella, which is softer and more watery, or firmer mozzarella, which is also used to make pizza, for example. You can replace mozzarella with a string cheese that melts well in the oven.
- Parmigiano: You can replace Parmigiano with Pecorino Romano. It's definitely more flavorful, so use it with caution. The risk is that it will cover up the more delicate flavor of the vegetables.
- Vegetarian lasagna: If you want to make vegetarian lasagna, you have to do without parmigiano and mozzarella. These two cheeses are made with animal rennet. You can replace the mozzarella with fresh ricotta and the parmigiano with ricotta salata.
Recipe Card
Vegetable Lasagna Recipe
Ingredients
Doses for a 13×9 inch lasagna pan
- ~12 lasagna
For the Filling
- 2 zucchini medium size
- 1 eggplant
- ½ onion
- 4 tomatoes medium size
- 1 bell pepper red
- 230 g mozzarella 8 oz, fresh
- 200 g Parmigiano Reggiano 2 ¼ cups, grated
- 3 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
For the Béchamel Sauce
- 1 liter milk ~4 cups, fresh and whole
- 100 g unsalted butter ~1 stick
- 100 g flour ⅔ cup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- nutmeg to taste, freshly grated
Instructions
The Bechamel Sauce
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour with the help of a flour sieve: in this way you are sure that there are no lumps. Meanwhile warm the milk, without bringing to a boil.
- Mix quickly with a whisk, until the mixture is smooth. The mixture of butter and flour is called roux and it should be a nice golden color. Pour the milk slowly over the roux, while stirring with a whisk.
- Keep mixing constantly, and cook over low heat until you have a fairly thick consistency for about 10/15 minutes. Season with salt and grated nutmeg. The sauce is ready when it sticks to the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside.
The Vegetable Filling
- Wash the vegetables thoroughly and cut them into not too small pieces. Remember to remove the seeds and the white inner part of the bell pepper. Also, do not remove the skin from the eggplant. If the tomatoes are quite large, remove the seeds.
- Chop the onion into very small pieces. Place them in a fairly large pan and sauté with 3 tablespoons of EVO oil.
- When the onion is translucent and golden, add the vegetables. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a pinch of salt and a little ground black pepper to taste. When done, set aside.
Make the Layers
- Place two or three tablespoons of béchamel sauce in the bottom of a baking dish or casserole, then add the first layer of lasagna on top.
- Top with a layer of vegetables and shreds of mozzarella cheese.
- Then add three tablespoons of béchamel sauce and a few grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Spread the ingredients as evenly as possible. Finally, cover with more lasagna.
- Continue to make layers following the steps above until you run out of ingredients. For the last layer, use only mozzarella, bechamel, and lots of Parmigiano cheese.
The Baking
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 30-40 minutes until crisp on top. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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