Try using roasted zucchini and Japanese eggplant to replace the noodles in this vegetable-loaded and gluten-free recipe for vegetarian zucchini and eggplant lasagna.
Oh do I love this vegetable loaded lasagna. It’s the vegetarian lasagna or vegetarian parmesan or casserole of my dreams. It uses vegetables to mimic the layers of lasagna (which means no noodles for an easy gluten-free verion).
A simple marinara sauce and just enough cheese to be decadent but not sleep-inducing.
What kind of vegetables should I use in a vegetarian lasagna?
If you’re wondering what kinds of vegetables to put in a vegetable lasagna, I started by looking at vegetables with shapes that mimic the shape of lasagna noodles. Zucchini and Japanese eggplant were where I landed.
When you thinly slice these veggies, they work the way noodles do in a traditional lasagna.
I like to use Japanese eggplant (as opposed to regular eggplant) because they are more similarly shaped to zucchini, meaning they will fit well into the dish and cook in the same amount of time.
When buying produce for this recipe, try to buy similar sized Japanese eggplants and zucchini to ensure they cook in the same time and you get the same amount of slices out of each vegetable.
The sauce in this lasagna is a simple marinara sauce (I like make my 20-minute marinara sauce), then I dot the layers with ricotta cheese which replaces a bechamel in this recipe. Using ricotta in place of a bechamel takes out a lot of the work that makes cooking lasagna somewhat laborious.
The final layer gets sprinkled with mozzarella cheese so you’ll still have that bubbly, melted cheese on top.
This recipe requires a couple of steps, but it’s all worth it in the end, I promise.
Why do you roast the zucchini and eggplant before making the lasagna?
The first step is to roast the zucchini and eggplant before assembling the lasagna because this ensures the vegetables cook properly and don’t release too much liquid into the dish.
Zucchini and eggplant are both very watery vegetables, so roasting them first will allow them to release some liquid while they cook.
Roasting the vegetables ahead of time also allows them a chance to caramelize which deepens the flavours of the dish. It’s a win, win!
I love to serve this with a big chunk of crusty bread to soak up all of the delicious leftover marinara sauce at the end.
Vegetarian Zucchini and Eggplant Lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 medium zucchinis, sliced lengthwise in ¼″ slices
- 3 Japanese eggplants, sliced lengthwise in ¼″ slices
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cups marinara sauce
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- ⅓ cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Toss zucchini and eggplant with olive oil, and salt. Arrange on two baking sheets, roast in the top and bottom thirds of the oven for 10 minutes switching sheets halfway through. Let cool until safe to handle.
- Spread ¼ cup marinara sauce on the bottom of an 8×8″ baking dish. Top with 4 slices of eggplant, followed by ¼ cup of marinara sauce, dot with ricotta cheese, layer 4 zucchini slices crosswise on top of eggplant, top with ¼ cup marinara sauce and dot with ricotta cheese. Repeat with remaining layers, finishing with zucchini, ¼ cup marinara sauce and ⅓ cup grated mozzarella cheese.
- Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes, sprinkle with fresh basil and cut into 6 slices.
Let me know if you give this zucchini and eggplant lasagna a try!
Fiori
Such a tasty recipe that’s also easy to make! Fantastic that it’s also vegetarian. Thank you Lou.
Johanne
My family really enjoyed this recipe, thank you!
Oludare Olasupo-Hassan
Very interesting.
Sylvia Klassen
I tried this recipe, it was tastey, but fairly watery. Not sure what I did wrong. but tastey.
Louisa Clements
Thanks Sylvia, glad you enjoyed it! The water content of the specific vegetables used can impact and make it a little watery from time to time, I have found the roasting step helps to mitigate this sometimes, but not always the case.
susan
So this is how I tweaked this recipe: I used more ricotta, probably about a cup. To the ricotta I added an egg, about 1/4 cup parmesan, a heaping tablespoon of pesto, granulated garlic and a pinch of kosher salt. The mozzarella I had in the fridge was smoked, so that’s what I used. I really liked using the roasted vegetable “noodles”, especially the eggplant. I may try this in future with just eggplant, as zucchini is pretty wet, even after roasting. But this satisfied my lasagna craving while I’m trying to maintain a low-ish carb lifestyle!
Louisa Clements
Your tweaks sound like they were delicious! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and I’m sure it would be delicious with just eggplant! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, it is much appreciated. :)
Mary Leon
This looks very delicious. I’m going to try the recipe soon. Thanks for sharing ;)
Louisa Clements
Thank you Mary! I hope you enjoy!
Alma Abazovic
Can I use any other cheese? like mozzarella, or a blend of cheeses? I don’t care for ricotta at all.
Louisa Clements
Hi Alma, definitely! You can leave the ricotta out or replace with another favourite cheese. :) Enjoy!
Cheryl De-Zilva
I’ve made this recipe with Quorn which is a plant based protein instead of using ground beef, and topped it with baby Spinach. Yum. My carnivores in the house couldn’t tell the difference.
Louisa Clements
That sounds delicious, Cheryl! Thanks for letting me know. I’m glad you all enjoyed! :)
Tyler
Do you think adding a bunch of other veggies would sog the lasagna out too much? I’d really like to add mushrooms and spinach and make it chock full of veggies.
Lou
Hi Tyler, I’ve never tried it, but you could definitely add some more veggies between the layers. I would recommend using thawed, frozen spinach and really squeezing out as much of the liquid as possible before layering it between the zucchini and eggplant. In terms of mushrooms, you’ll definitely need to cook them first so they can release their excess moisture. I’d go with either spinach or mushrooms in this case. Let me know how it goes!
Nick
We use meat sauce but replace the pasta noodles with eggplant and zucchini instead, it’s really good!
Lou
That sounds great Nick, I’m glad you enjoyed! Thanks for letting me know.
Gala
Very interesting recipe to try! I never made vegetarian lasagna. Thank you for sharing!
Lou
Thanks Gala, let me know how it goes!
Lori Gersten
Thank you! I love this recipe! I have made this multiple times , although I have used blended cottage cheese instead of the ricotta because that’s what I have around . I make it on Sunday and eat it for lunch all week , my co-workers are always jealous. I also thought to make it for a dinner party because there were a few vegetarians – everyone loved it!
Lou
Thank you, Lori! I’m so happy that you love this recipe and that your guests did too–it’s one of my favourites. :)
Food Mumbai
I’ve never heard of such veg zucchini… Can I use any non-veg, especially pork in this recipe… please let me know… Thanks for sharing
Lou
Hi there, sometimes zucchini is also known as “courgette” so perhaps you’ve seen it labeled as that before. I’ve never tried this recipe with pork, but I’m sure you can cook some ground pork with the marinara sauce and use that for a meat sauce. Let me know how it goes! :)