We are constantly seeking for new recipes to include in our rotation for Meatless Monday. For our three children, it’s crucial to increase the protein intake, therefore adding tofu to the cheese mixture in the vegetarian lasagna works beautifully. Make a high-protein salad dressing with the extra tofu.
| Prep Time: | 35 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package dry lasagna noodles
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
- 4 ounces silken tofu
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large carrots, shredded
- 2 medium zucchini, diced
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup sliced portobello mushrooms
- 1 ½ (28 ounce) jars pasta sauce
- 4 ounces fresh baby spinach
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil to prevent sticking and add flavor.
- Meanwhile, mix 2 cups mozzarella, ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, tofu, and eggs together in a bowl. Combine remaining mozzarella and Parmesan in a smaller bowl.
- While the noodles are cooking, heat remaining tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots, zucchini, onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms; saute until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add pasta sauce and spinach; simmer until sauce is heated through and spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes.
- Cover the bottom of a 2-quart rectangular baking dish with a little of the vegetable sauce and arrange 1/2 of the lasagna noodles, overlapping slightly, over top. Layer with 1/2 of the cheese-tofu mixture over noodles and 1/2 of the remaining sauce. Repeat layers with remaining noodles, cheese-tofu mixture, and sauce. Top with mozzarella-Parmesan mixture.
- Bake, covered, in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until bubbly, about 20 minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing into 8 large squares and serving.
- If you want to make this for picky eaters, use an immersion blender to make the veggies disappear into the pasta sauce.
- Choose a high quality pasta sauce that you love. That is where all of the seasoning comes from. I love Bertolli’s(R) Arrabiatta and I add 3 cloves of minced garlic to the veggies. Although extra sauce seems inconvenient, 1 jar does not create a moist enough lasagna. We always have leftovers, so I top the cold lasagna with leftover pasta sauce and microwave. This keeps it from becoming dry when reheated.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 669 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 73 g |
| Cholesterol | 106 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 1160 mg |
| Sugars | 19 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I don’t usually use a whole package of lasagna noodles, but wanted to make this as written despite my preconceived notions of how many noodles to use. I used my own homemade spaghetti sauce and weighed it to meet the ounces. We were pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I did use a bit more parmesan (not on purpose-oops!). I also left out the tofu because people in my house don’t like tofu, but it turned out amazing. We’ll be returning to this one!