Decadent & Healthy Veggie Lasagna (Gluten-free and Dairy-free)

I have been making this gluten and dairy-free veggie lasagna for 15 years, it is a classic within my family. I layer pesto, tomato sauce, cashew cream, zucchini and eggplant to make a really satisfying and flavorful dish.

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 15

Servings

Author Muneeza Ahmed

Ingredients

1 organic eggplant thinly sliced
2 organic zucchinis thinly sliced
4 cups organic mushrooms thinly sliced
6 cloves organic garlic sliced
organic Pizza seasoning Frontier Coop
organic Lasagna pasta I use Zen B or Jovial
Sea salt optional

Cashew Sauce

2 cups organic cashews
4 organic garlic cloves mashed
2 organic lemons juiced
½ cup water add more if needed
1 tsp organic mustard powder
1 tsp organic smoked paprika
1 tsp organic onion powder
½ tsp sea salt optional

Tomato Sauce

I recommend making my tomato sauce recipe ahead of time. **If you do not have time to make it use a ready made fat-free sauce option. **See notes for links to both options.

Pesto Sauce

3 cups organic basil
1 cup organic spinach
1 cup organic raw pumpkin seeds
1 organic lemon juiced
⅓ cup organic cherry tomatoes
4 cloves organic garlic
½ tsp organic crushed black pepper
½ tsp organic crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp sea salt, optional

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Instructions

Heat your oven to 425 F
For this recipe I would recommend using this trick to get your lasagna pasta ready: I don’t like to boil them ahead of time but instead I like to soak them in hot water.
Fill a glass baking dish with hot water from your tap or if you are using filtered water, heat it up (but not boil) for prepping the pasta.
Place the dry pasta in the water making sure it's fully submerged for about 20 minutes. Start this process before you roast the veggies.
While the pasta is soaking, start prepping the veggies. Use a mandoline to thinly slice the eggplant and the zucchinis. I personally don’t slice them in rounds, but rather longways. This way, they resemble lasagna strips.
Prep a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper. Lay the vegetable slices on the baking sheet. Place the garlic slices evenly distributed over the veggies.
Sprinkle pizza seasoning (and salt, if using), over the veggies and bake for 10 - 12 minutes until the veggies are soft and slightly roasted.
While the veggies are roasting, you can prepare the cashew sauce. This should take about 3 - 4 minutes.
Place all the ingredients for the cashew sauce in the blender. Blend at high speed for 60 seconds. Pour out and keep it ready for assembling the lasagna.
Rinse out your blender and blend the pesto sauce. Place all the pesto ingredients in the blender and blend but keep the sauce chunky. Save for later until you assemble the lasagna.
After making the two sauces your veggies should be roasted slightly, take them out of the oven. Don’t turn your oven off as you will need it for the lasagna next.
You can make the lasagna with veggies only, or you can add in the pasta as well. When I make it for my family I only use veggies. And when serving guests I often add the lasagna.
Drain the pasta (don’t rinse). And start assembling.
Layer a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of your baking dish, spreading it evenly.
Add a layer of the roasted eggplant. Add drops of pesto evenly distributed. Then add a layer of the pasta.
Add a thicker layer of tomato sauce. Place the sliced mushrooms on top of the tomato sauce. Then a layer of zucchini, followed by a layer of cashew sauce.
Then repeat. Eggplant, drops of pesto, pasta, tomato sauce, mushrooms, zucchini and cashew sauce and keep going until you have run out of space.
Wherever you end up in the layering, top the lasagna with tomato sauce and cashew sauce so that it bakes with a “cheesy” melt on top.
Bake for 45 minutes. I like to serve it right out of the oven.
Enjoy!

Notes

** I recommend using a fat-free ready made tomato sauce if you don't have time to make a tomato sauce ahead of time. Try these varieties:

If you do have time to prepare a tomato sauce recipe, here is mine you can use!

If you are meal prepping this dish or making it in advance for a dinner, you can store it in the fridge or freezer and reheat it at 350 F for 15-20 minutes.