This sweet potato veggie lasagna is worth the effort. I prepared it for Father’s Day for our meat-eating friends and everybody loved it. I doubled the recipe to make one for the freezer. It’s filling and you don’t miss the cheese.
This recipe uses jarred pasta sauce, but if you prefer, here’s my recipe for homemade marinara that would work.
This recipe calls for steaming broccoli and you don’t want to over steam because you’ll lose the nutrients. I have included an informative video about how to properly steam broccoli to keep the flavor and vitamins.
This video shows you how to cook broccoli 5 ways, so don’t worry about fancy steamers if you don’t have one but watch out for oils when roasting or sautéing.
If you can use fresh herbs, then do it but dry herbs will work fine just make sure they’re fresh and not too dated. This article tells you how you should rotate or change herbs from your pantry.
Be sure to check out some more pasta recipes:
- Classic Basil Marinara with Angel Hair Pasta
- One Pot Penne Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
- Cauliflower Pasta Alfredo
- Pasta Primavera
- Vegan Oil-Free Basil Pesto with Pasta
Remember I made an extra lasagna to freeze, you can too. Keep it for one of those busy nights when you’re working late or running around with the kids.
You can also keep it and take it to a friend or family member in need or when they get sick. This dish freezes well. I have posted a few tips on how to freeze…. here. Thanks to engine2diet.com for the inspiration!
I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Sweet Potato Veggie Lasagna! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking
This recipe is Certified Plantricious because it meets the following guidelines.
The Trusted Seal for
Plant-Based Nutrition
- Must be whole food plant-based, contains no animal products
- May be minimally processed
- No added oil
- No added sugars
- No artificial additives or preservatives
- Sodium (mg) to Calories ratio, 1 ≤ 1
- Total Fiber to Calories, 2g ≥ 100 calories
Sweet Potato Veggie Lasagna
Ingredients
Vegan Ricotta Layer
- 1 12-14 oz package extra firm organic tofu drained and patted dry
- 1 cup frozen spinach squeezed water out after thawing and chop
- 2 Tbl nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
Lasagna Ingredients
- 1 boxes whole grain lasagna noodles
- 1 large onion chopped
- 9 cloves garlic chopped
- 8 oz mushrooms sliced
- 1 head broccoli chopped
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
- 2 25 oz. jars pasta sauce
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Topping
- 6 roma tomatoes sliced thin (any tomato will do)
- 1 cup raw cashews ground or finely chopped
Instructions
Vegan Ricotta
- Crumble the tofu into a large bowl until it resembles the texture of ricotta cheese. Add the spinach, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, basil, and salt. Stir to combine and set aside.
Lasagna
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil the noodles until soft. Or, if using noodles that will cook in the oven, move to step 2.
- Saute onion and garlic on medium high heat for 3 minutes in a large nonstick pan with 1/4 cup water.
- Add the mushrooms and broccoli and cook until the onions are limp and the mushrooms give up their liquid and the broccoli is crisp-tender. Add the herbs and spices. Stir to combine and reserve.
- Steam the sweet potatoes until soft. Mash in the same pan as you steam them and reserve.
To Assemble (you'll have 3 layers of noodles)
- Cover the bottom of a 9 x 13" casserole dish with a layer of pasta sauce. Add a layer of noodles. Cover the noodles with sauce again.
- Spread 1/2 of the vegetable mixture over the sauced noodles and cover with a layer of tofu ricotta and more sauce.
- Add another layer of noodles. Top with sauce, the other half of the vegetable mixture, a layer of mashed sweet potato and top with sauce.
- Top with the final layer of noodles, more sauce, and the thinly sliced tomatoes.
- Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the cashews, and return to the oven for 15 minutes. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.
This looks great but I didn’t see the recipe part for the sauce ????
Hi, it’s the “2 jars pasta sauce,” sometimes called spaghetti sauce. I like tomato basil flavor and usually buy organic. I do have a homemade recipe for marinara, if you prefer. I just made this again the other day and it was delicious.
This lasagna is killer good! Thank you for this recipe. It is now in my “Favorites” list from now on. Planning to make it again today. It was a huge hit with everyone and so beautiful to serve. I now have a vegan dish I can bring to pot luck dinners that everyone will love.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Mary! It’s greatly appreciated. ????
Hi
I’m not sure what type of tofu you used for this recipe
Hi, I wouldn’t use the Silken type of tofu since this part of the recipe is more like ricotta. Any other brand and a firm texture, preferably organic and non-GMO, would be good.
Any suggestions for tofu replacement? I still want the dish to be plant based but I don’t eat tofu
Hi Kim, It’s a little tough to replace tofu because there’s no direct replacement, but since it’s a bit like ricotta in this recipe, you could use a “cheese” sauce made out of cashews, almonds or white beans. It won’t have the consistency of tofu, but I think it would work. I have a cheese sauce recipe here. I recently made it with half cashews and half white beans and it tasted great. There’s one store-bought product that you could try made out of almonds from Kite Hill. I’ve tried it and it’s tasty, although a bit expensive. Otherwise, you can find many vegan “cheese” recipes if you do a Google search. I hope that helps. ????
This was delicious and oh so healthy! Thank you!
Thanks, so glad you enjoyed it! ????
Is this for one batch or two? Seems to be a lot of pasta and spaghetti sauce.
Hi Tom, I think you’re right, for the pasta, one box should do it as usually 9 lasagna noodles will be enough for the recipe. As for the sauce, I find it takes 2 jars of sauce for a pan this large and especially if you use the no-boil lasagna noodles which soften during the cooking. I hope that helps.
Can fresh spinach be used in place of frozen?
Hey, Kristi. Yes, you can use fresh spinach. It’s got a quite a bit of water so you may want to cook it first before you layer. I’m thinking that with fresh it might become a tad watery.
I used the frozen spinach as it called for!! It turned out fantastic!! I made this tonight and boy, is it yummy! I am new to plant based eating and this was so easy to make! Even my husband loved it!! Thank you!
I’m so glad you found it easy and enjoyed it… and your husband! ????????
Made it with roasted eggplant instead of noodles and cashew ricotta….fantastic blends of flavors.
Hey Nancy, it’s great to hear your take on it and it sounds delicious!