The Vegan Lasagna of Sadness
This is a vegan variation of lasagna al forno, a traditional Italian lasagna. It’s the best vegan lasagna you’ll ever have.
This recipe is an enormous amount of work and expensive. I suggest you do it over 3 days. I only make this when someone dies. This is not a casual lasagna recipe.
You can make all the components of this recipe in stages across several days depending on how much distraction you want to create for yourself. The bolognese and béchamel can be in the fridge for 2-3 days, or the freezer for several months. You can also freeze the assembled lasagna for 3 months.
You can double or triple this easily, which is great if you want to have components on hand in case of emergencies.
For a traditional meat sauce variation, click here. A beautiful, printable PDF version is available for paid newsletter subscribers.
Make it one day
9am – grocery shop
10am – make ragù and leave to simmer until assmbly time
11am – make pasta dough up to resting stage
12pm – make béchamel
12:30pm – stop for lunch break
1:30pm – roll out pasta dough
2:30pm – boil and rinse pasta
3:30pm – assemble lasagna
Bake or freeze within 3 days of assembly.
Make it two days
Day 1 – ragù
Day 2 – béchamel, pasta, assembly
Bake or freeze within 2 days of assembly.
Make it three days
Day 1 – ragù (1 hour work, 3h waiting)
Day 2 – béchamel (30 min work)
Day 3 – assembly (3–4h work)
Bake or freeze within 1–2 days of assembly.
Caramelized Onion and Lentil Ragù
This is an excellent, and tedious, vegan ragù. Since there is no meat being browned, the umami caramel flavours need to be replaced. Caramelizing onions achieves the same meaty taste.
Black and brown lentils provide a soft but meaty chew with the texture and colour ground beef. You could also use split red lentils or finely chopped walnuts. Either option adds protein to the dish, so it will be as filling and comforting as meat ragù.
Ingredients
1,000g | 2lbs onions, mixed variety, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium carrots, finely diced (1 cup)
2 celery stalks, finely diced (1 cup)
6–8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (75g)
60ml | 1/4 cup tomato paste
500ml | 2 cups good but affordable red wine (like Beaujolais-Villages)
1 x 794g | 28oz can of tomatoes
1L | 4 cups vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
250g | 1/2lb black caviar/beluga lentils, rinsed, soaked, and drained
250g | 1/2lb small brown lentils, rinsed, soaked, and drained
Salt and pepper to taste
Ingredient notes
Lentils will absorb quite a lot of liquid, so you may need to add additional vegetable stock if the ragu is very thick.
Method
Caramelize the onions
Normally I would caramelize onions in strips, but since this will be in lasagna form you want smaller pieces. Chop all of your onions. You will have an impossibly large amount of onions.
In a very large pot add the olive oil, onions, a big pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup of water. Set on medium-high heat, cover, and steam-cook for 10 minutes. The onions will rapidly soften and begin to release their water.
Remove the lid, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until deeply caramelized. You will have an impossibly small amount of onions given where you started.
Due to the lack of butter the onions will take a long time to brown, but it also means they are less likely to burn. You can stop at around 45 minutes, but I usually let this go for a few hours. The slow cook time creates a deep, rich flavour that can’t be rushed.
Make the ragù
Rinse the lentils under cool water, then place in a medium bowl. Cover with cool water by at least 1 inch.
Add the carrots, celery, and garlic to the onions. Add more olive oil if the pot looks dry. Add a pinch of salt, which helps pull moisture out of the vegetables so they cook faster. Stir often until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and cook for another 3–5 minutes.
Add the wine, bring it to a boil, and cook for another 5 minutes, until jammy.
Blend the can of tomatoes with an immersion blender (or crush the tomatoes with your hands) and add to the pot. Add the stock and bring to a boil.
Drain the lentils of their soaking liquid, add the pot, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 20–30 minutes until the lentils are soft.
Partially blend (about half) of the ragù with an immersion blender which will give the ragù a luscious texture. Since these are whole lentils, breaking them up with the blender will release their starch and thicken the ragù. If after blending the ragù is too thick, add some additional water or stock. Taste and adjust seasoning for salt, pepper, acidity.
Béchamel
Béchamel is one of the French five mother sauces. It’s a great foundational recipe to know. You can use it here for lasagna, but also for croque moinsuer, and as a base for mac and cheese.
I prefer this vegan variation. I recently made this lasagna for a friend, with meat ragù and cashew béchamel, and she kept talking about how delicious the cheese was. I had to tell her there is no cheese.
Ingredients
45g | 3 tbsp olive oil
60g | 1/2 cup flour
6 cups cashew (I use Elmhurst)
1 tsp sugar
50g white miso paste
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp sweet paprika
Salt and pepper
Ingredient notes:
When choosing a non-dairy milk for béchamel, look for the following:
The nutritional content should be similar to milk, around 100-140 calories per cup. Look for 5–10g of protein and 5–10g of fat.
Avoid gums and other thickeners. These can behave strangely at high heat and create a gritty or gluey texture.
My go-to brand is Elmhurst unsweetened cashew milk. I prefer it over dairy milk in this recipe.
The small amount of sugar is required to promote browning, similar to lactose in dairy milk.
Use sweet paprika, not hot smoked paprika. Smoked paprika will overwhelm the dish. You can also use cayenne or any other type of chilli flake. You’re not looking for heat, just a tiny bit of flavour.
Method
Make roux
In a 3-quart or larger pot, add the olive oil and heat until it is shimmering and fluid, but not smoking. Add in the flour and using a whisk mix it together. Cook for 2-3 minutes, whisking constantly, until it smells nutty.
Add the milk slowly
Add in the milk in batches. If you add all of the milk it will be lumpy and difficult to work with. Start with 2–3 tablespoons of milk. Instantly you’ll see it become a very thick paste. Keep adding a few tablespoons of milk at a time and whisking until incorporated before adding more milk. It will take adding at least 2 cups of milk this way to get a thin enough consistency, then you can add the rest all at once.
Increase heat to medium-high, whisking constantly. You may want to use a spatula to scrape the bottom/sides. Be careful that the milk doesn’t scald to the bottom of the pot, if it does do not scrape it. You must cook this until you see bubbles, that indicates the mixture has reached 212°F and the flour will be cooked. If you don’t get to bubbles it will taste starchy.
Remove from the heat, add the sugar, miso, nutmeg, and paprika. Taste, then add salt and pepper to taste.
Béchamel will thicken as it cools so you may want to gently warm it before assembling your lasagna.
Make ahead
Béchamel will keep for 3 days in the fridge, but you will need to gently re-warm it to assemble your lasagna (it will be thick like pudding when cold).
Freeze béchamel up to 3 months. I prefer to freeze in vacuum sealed bags, laid flat, which store easier and thaw faster. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
Mushroom Duxelles
Mushrooms are an optional, not traditional, component.
Many vegan lasagna recipes add mushrooms: they provide a meaty, umami falvour – but mushrooms are not filling. If you want to add mushrooms for flavour you can make duxelles. Duxelles is made from finely chopped mushrooms and shallots, with herbs, and deeply cooked. You might know it from beef wellington recipes.
When assembling the lasagna, add it after the ragu layers. If you are making this lasagna for someone else, ask if they like mushrooms first!
Ingredients
500g | 1lb mushrooms (4 cups chopped)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 shallots, finely diced (200g | 2 cups diced)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (20g)
1 tbsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup red wine
Ingredient notes:
You can use any kind of mushroom, cremini is easily available. If you can find fresh shiitake or oyster mushrooms they will add a tremendous depth of flavour.
METHOD
Chop the mushrooms finely, ideally with a food processor.
Pre-heat a large pan on medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and when it’s shimmering and fluid add the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for 10–15 minutes until the mushrooms and shallots have softened and begun to brown.
Add the red wine to deglaze the pan, allow it to cook for about 30 seconds, then remove from heat.
Make ahead
You can prepare keep duxelles in the fridge for 3–5 days.
Duxelle is excellent to keep on hand, it can be added quickly to rice or omelettes for a fast meal, on crostini for an appetizer, or added to any pasta dish.
Semolina pasta
You can use all purpose or 00 flour, but durum wheat semolina flour has a much higher level of protein which will give you a great finished texture.
Ingredients
190g water (3/4 cup)
450g semolina flour (3 cups)
30g olive oil (2 tbsp)
1 tsp salt
Another 1 cup semolina flour, for dusting
Ingredient notes
Semolina flour is a high protein variety of wheat, usually 14–15% (compared to 10–12% for all purpose flour). Typically it is used for extruded pasta.
Special equipment
Pasta machine
Baking sheet
METHOD
Clean your counter and your schedule to make space for the work ahead.
Place the flour on the counter and make a well for your water. Pour the oil, water, and salt in.
With your fork, bring the flour in a little bit at a time, mixing it in with the liquid. You don’t want to knock down all your walls yet, you and the pasta will end up a big mess on the floor. Do this a little bit at a time until it is very thick. When the fork isn’t cutting it, switch to a bench scraper. When you are ready, switch to your hands.
You will knead the dough for 10 minutes. It’s a dry dough, it will be tough to knead. If its not coming together, or the dough is tearing, you can tap your fingers in a bowl of water, then pat the dough. If you add too much water the dough will be sticky and will stick to your pasta roller.
Leave the pasta to rest for at least for 30 minutes, up to 2 hours at room temperature. This can go in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Get ready to roll
When you’re ready to roll out the dough, set up your pasta machine. Divide the dough into 4–8 pieces, depending on how familiar you are with rolling out pasta. It’s easier to work with smaller pieces when you’re new to it.
Run the dough through on the thickest setting. Continue through each setting on your pasta machine until you can start to see yourself through it. For me that’s setting 7 of 9 on a Marcato Atlas.
I place my lasagna pan on the counter and trim the noodles with my bench scraper (scissors also work) to the length of the pan. Dust each sheet with semolina flour, which acts as a non-stick separator for them. Don’t try to use regular flour for this, they’ll all glue together. Continue rolling and trimming until done.
Blanching fresh lasagna noodles for better texture
This is a tedious technique that I learned in Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking – it has changed the way I think about fresh pasta. It’s amazing and you should try it at least once.
Special equipment
Fresh noodles
Large pot of heavily salted water
Large bowl of ice water (or cold)
Large bowl of cold water
Spider strainer
Baking sheet
3–6 clean, lint-free kitchen towels (preferably organic cotton flour sack towels) or parchment paper
NOTES
This is a very tedious but worthwhile process for fresh lasagna sheets. You likely have never had lasagna noodles with this texture before.
Fresh pasta doesn’t have much salt since salt inhibits gluten extensibility. It’s important to heavily salt the boiling water so the pasta can get some salt in it during the very brief cooking time.
Method
Set up your space
Fresh noodles can be problematic in lasagna. They can get too mushy. Traditional Italian recipes solve this through a tedious but worthwhile process.
Set your fresh noodles beside your cooking area
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, heavily salted like the sea (1/4 cup of salt)
Set a large bowl of ice water beside your cooking area
Set a large bowl of clean, cold water beside that
Set a clean baking sheet with clean, lint-free kitchen towels (or parchment paper) beside that
Boil, ice, rinse, wring, dry
Add a few of your lasagna noodles to the boiling water for 30 seconds.
Use a spider strainer to remove and plunge them into ice water.
Transfer them to the clean water to rinse off any surface starch. As this water gets cloudy with starch you can replace this water (usually 1–2 times for the recipe).
Gently squeeze the noodles to remove excess water, like squeezing a sponge.
Transfer them to a clean kitchen towel (or parchment) in single layers. Cover with a clean kitchen towel between each layer.
This will create the most perfect noodle texture you’ve ever had.
Assemble and bake your lasagna
Components
Lasagna noodles
8 cups of ragù
6 cups of béchamel
2 cups mushroom duxelles (if using)
2 tbsp olive oil
Special Equipment
13X9 pan
Offset spatula
1/2 cup measuring scoop
1/4 cup measuring scoop
Ideally have a 1/4 cup spring-loaded cookie scoop for béchamel, which will be fast and help make even layers – and save you from tediously scraping a measuring cup with a spatula.
To freeze/transport
Parchment paper
Aluminum foil
Method
Starting with an empty lasagna pan
Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and massage it around the bottom and sides
Add 1 cup of ragù. Use an offset spatula to distribute it (it will be a sparse layer).
Add your first layer of noodles. Use scissors to trim them to fit. It’s okay to have a bit of overlap but try not to have gaps. As you build your layers try to offset where the seams are (so the seams aren’t always in the same place). This will give you a stronger structure.
Add 1-1/4 cups of béchamel and spread it out into an even layer with the offset spatula. I like to use 1/4 cup and add 5 drops – 2 left, 1 middle, 2 right (like a 5 on a dice cube).
Add 1-1/2 cups of ragù and spread it out into an even layer with the offset spatula. I like to add 3 columns – left, middle, right – then spread out the ragù.
If using duxelles, add 5 tbsp and spread out into an even layer.
Add a layer of pasta.
Repeat this until you are at the very top of the pan.
For the final layer you’ll use extra noodles.You want to ruffle them, zjoosh them up. You want some pockets for béchamel, some parts that pop up for crispy lasagna moments. Once you’re happy with the layout, top with béchamel sauce.
There may be extra ragù and béchamel, if that’s the case you can make a mini-lasagna in a ramekin for yourself.
To bake immediately
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 1 hour until bubbling in the middle and the top layer of noodles and béchamel has golden brown areas (see photo).
To freeze for later
Cover with a piece of parchment paper directly on the surface (it will peel off easily once the lasagna is frozen). Wrap tightly with foil.
Freeze. Thaw overnight in the fridge before baking.
To bake directly from frozen, bake at 325°F for 90 minutes, until the middle is bubbling. The exact time will vary depending on your lasagna pan and how many layers you have. To brown the top, increase the temperature to 425°F for 10 minutes, but only after you see bubbling in the middle.
Leftovers
Leftover lasagna is one of the greatest gifts of lasagna:
Cut the leftover lasagna into 1” thick slices.
Heat a frying pan on medium-high with some butter or olive oil
When the oil is hot, place the lasagna in the pan cut side down (the layers face the pan, as if the lasagna fell over)
Cover with a lid or foil, reduce to medium, and cook for 8 minutes
It will reheat through and also get extremely crispy on one side and possibly taste even better than it was the day before