This lentil and mushroom lasagne will seriously make your mouth water. It’s healthy, flavoursome, meatless and dairy-free.

I am so excited to share this vegan lentil lasagna recipe with you today! For some reason, it makes me really happy when I make a healthy version of comfort food, and it’s still delicioso! Sorry, this quarantine life is making me think I speak Spanish. I don’t.

To be honest, I was always aware of all the calories in lasagna when I was eating meat but more than that, I was ALSO aware it’s a killer (literally) combo of red meat, a ton of cheese, and buckets of salt (from meat, cheese, and seasoning). Yes, it was delicious but a conventional lasagne recipe would make my stomach feel funny and I just wanted to sit on my sofa for another hour or so and hibernate. That being said, when I switched to a vegan diet I stopped feeling that heaviness in my stomach.

Read more about What To Eat On A Vegan Diet here

Since changing my diet that feeling was gone. I would finish my lunch and feel like I could go for a run. I could do some push-ups or jumping jacks. Okay, I’m exaggerating now. But I wouldn’t feel like all the energy has been sucked out of my body. So after you try this incredible vegan lentil lasagna, let me know in the comments below how many push-ups have you done 🙂

Why is this vegan lasagne recipe so special?

It’s seriously delicious and also versatile as you can add any veggies you like or have in your fridge. Although you can technically swap lentils with chickpeas it won’t taste the same. It will still be delicious tho but not the same.

TIP: Try to presoak green lentils the night before or at least for a couple of hours. Soaking will reduce the cooking time, it will help eliminate gas-producing compounds and it won’t make you bloated. Read more about soaking nuts, lentils and beans here.

I can hear you wondering where the heck is the famous bechamel sauce and cheese if the lasagna is vegan. Well, I decided to combine bechamel and cheesy sauce into one. Bechamel helps to make this vegan lasagna softer and juicier and cheese helps with saltiness. It’s really creamy and yummy!

Okay, okay..I will now stop talking, I mean, typing and let you try this vegan lentil lasagne! 🙂

Vegan Lentil Lasagne

Course: Lunch, DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

Delicious, flavoursome, meatless, dairy-free and healthy vegan lentil and mushroom lasagna that will make your mouth water.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

• 1 big yellow onion

• 2 garlic cloves

• 300g closed-cup mushrooms

• 4 celery stalks

• 2 carrots (medium)

• 1 aubergine

• 5 sun-dried tomatoes (from a jar)

• 1 cup green lentils (soaked overnight)

• 1 cup red lentils

• 300ml vegetable stock (low salt)

• 500ml passata

• 1 can chopped tomato

• 2 tbsp dried oregano

• 1 tbsp dried thyme

• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes

• 1/2 tsp turmeric

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• salt to taste

• Lasagna sheets

• Bechamel/cheese sauce

• 1 cup nutritional yeast

• 1 1/2 cup cashews (pre-soaked)

• 450ml dairy free milk (preferably soya)

• 1 tsp mustard

• a squeeze of lemon juice

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Chop the onion and mushrooms, mash the garlic, shred the carrots and dice celery and aubergine into really small pieces to make the lasagne more rich and flavoursome.
• Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium-size pot, add chopped onion and mashed garlic and saute for a couple of minutes until softened.
• Add the herbs – thyme and oregano, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, salt, mix well and saute for another minute.
• Add mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes before adding the rest.
• Now add the shredded carrots, aubergine, celery, and saute for another 5 minutes.
• When veggies release the juices, you can now add both lentils, chopped tomatoes, passata, stock (add the stock gradually so the sauce is not too watery), turmeric, smoked paprika, chilli flakes and season with salt again if needed. Cook covered for about 20mins, stirring occasionally.
• Whilst the sauce is cooking you can now start making the cheesy bechamel and preheat the oven to 220°. Place all the ingredients (except the nutritional yeast) into a blender and blend until creamy. Leave it aside.
• Place a medium-sized pot on medium heat and add nutritional yeast. Toast it until it starts to turn brownish but be careful not to burn it. When it starts turning slightly brown, lower the heat.
• Add the mixture from the blender and simmer for 3-5min stirring non-stop until it slightly thickened.
• Now start assembling the lasagna. I always put a bit of sauce into the base of a baking dish and spread it evenly as it helps lasagna sheets to soften on both sides and also not to stick to the bottom.
• Add a layer of lasagna sheets, then the lentil sauce and top with the bechamel cheese. Repeat again – sheets, the sauce, and bechamel cheese. Repeat until you used up all the sauce and bechamel cheese. I managed to do 3 rows.
• Bake for 25mins or until the top turns slightly brown.
•  Remove the lasagne from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

• Feel free to swap aubergine with courgettes and closed-cup mushrooms for any other mushrooms.
• If you are not consuming soya milk, try using almond or oat but bear in mind it might change the taste. I do not recommend using rice or coconut milk as they are too watery.
• In case you forget to soak the lentils, double the cooking time for the sauce. Not soaking the lentils can also make you bloated.

Let me know in the comments below how did you like this vegan lasagne.