Vegetarian Lasagna

With the Stay-At-Home Order going on right now, we have been eating a lot of vegetarian and vegan meals in our house lately. We aren’t going to the grocery store so we aren’t re-stocking our fridge with meat, plus we just feel better physically when we eat vegetables, fruit, and grains only. No bloating, healthier “number two’s”, no heartburn, no stinky toots, more energy, and so on. Needless to say, when I made this vegetarian lasagna last week, it was a huge hit and we downed that thing in only a few days. 

What makes the vegetarian lasagna vegetarian is the “Beyond Meat Hot Italian Sausage” that I used instead of regular hot italian sausage. The beyond meat ht italian sausage is all plant-based, vegan, and soy-free, non-GMO, and gluten free, which is what you want to look for when you shop for meat alternatives. BUT I used real cheese to make this vegetarian lasagna because we didn’t have any non-dairy cheese. So that’s what makes it vegetarian and not vegan. If you did want to make vegan lasagna, just use vegan cheese. And we didn’t have any eggplant or zucchini to make it a veggie vegetarian lasagna. I wanted it to be just like regular lasagna to fool the meat-eating boyfriend 😉

So here’s what you need to make this vegetarian lasagna:

• Lasagna noodles
• 32oz marinara sauce (or more if you like extra saucy)
• Beyond Meat Hot Italian Plant-Based Sausage
• 16oz shredded mozzarella cheese 
• 8oz shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt & pepper 

And here’s how you will make the vegetarian lasagna:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. In a large pot, fill halfway with water and add olive oil. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add lasagna noodles and a pinch of salt. Boil the lasagna noodles for 10-12 minutes until desired tenderness. 
3. While noodles are boiling, add plant-based sausage to a large pan over medium-high heat, separate and “ground” the meat-alternative and cook for 10 minutes. 
4. Once the noodles and the plant-based sausage are done, spread a thin layer of marinara sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish. 
5. Next, layer noodles, meat, cheese, and another layer of sauce and repeat. Sauce, noodles, meat, cheese, sauce, noodles, meat cheese, until you are out of ingredients. I like to end with the parmesan cheese on the top. 
6. Cover the baking dish with foil and place into the oven for 25 minutes. 
7. Remove the foil from the dish and bake for another 25 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with salad or garlic bread. Enjoy! 

There you have it. Vegetarian lasagna that tastes and looks just like regular lasagna! I swear your family wouldn’t know the difference!

This recipe is also perfect to make at the beginning of the week and eat the leftovers for lunch.

You can also check out the recipe for my Meatless Monday Lasagna here if you want to get rid of the meat component altogether!