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    Home » Recipes » All recipes

    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    Published: Mar 13, 2019 · Modified: Sep 27, 2021 by Maria · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

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    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    Easy vegan pesto ricotta lasagna

    Creamy pesto ricotta cheese made from white beans. Healthy, high in protein and delicious meat free lasagna.

    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta
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    Lasagna is one of my favorite childhood foods.  On a frigid, dark Sunday night, I would come in from playing in the woods all day to the smell of lovely lasagna.  

    The fresh aroma of garlic, basil and hearty tomato sauce warms up the even the coldest of winter evenings.

    My mother had a busy work week, so she made a lot of quick and easy recipes during the week, but on a Sunday she would have a little more time to spend on dinner.  

    She loved making lasagna on this day because we could have a comforting family dinner and it makes delicious leftovers for the busy week to come.

    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    As comforting as it is, lasagna can be quite an unhealthy dish.  This recipe keeps all of the comfort and heartiness of lasagna, but cuts down on the cholesterol and saturated fat all while packing a high protein punch! Now you can eat lasagna and feel good about it.

    Instead of ground beef, we veganize the meat sauce with lentils.  I love using lentils as a substitute for ground beef. You can use them in any instance you have ground beef.  

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    Cook them up on the stove and flavor them like you would ground beef. Add in some garlic, caramelized onions, salt and pepper and you can’t go wrong.

    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    One cup of cooked lentils provides ninety percent of your daily folate, thirty six percent of your daily protein and thirty seven percent of your daily iron.  It’s also packed with copper, manganese, zinc and vitamin B1.

    Are you a busy vegan? Click here to download my FREE Guide "Effortless Vegan Cooking: Time and Money Saving Hacks You Need to Know"!

    I was wrapping my head around how to make a dairy-free ricotta cheese.  I saw quite a bit of recipes that use tofu. I didn’t have any tofu on hand, but I always have beans stocked in my pantry.  I used cannellini beans to make a creamy, velvety ricotta cheese base substitute.

    You could also use any sort of white bean like great northern beans or chickpeas. The beans lend themselves well to soaking up a lot of flavor.

    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    I then made an easy pesto sauce and added it to the cannellini ricotta cheese.  This makes the color an interesting, minty green but the taste insanely delicious.

    One cup of cooked cannellini beans provides fifteen grams of protein and are rich in B vitamins (including B12), iron, potassium and zinc.

    With the combination of lentils and cannellini beans, you have yourself quite a power punch of protein, essential minerals and fiber in this dish.

    I didn’t include shredded cheese in this recipe, but if you would like to add that, the dairy-free brand that I love is “Follow your heart”.  I love using their smoked gouda flavor and then just shredding it up by hand. If you’re ready for a healthy version of a comfort food classic, grab a baking dish and let’s get started!

    This is  great for a family dinner on the weekend when you have a little more time in the kitchen.  This is also perfect for a small dinner party. You can easily whip up a salad and garlic bread and have a delicious feast for friends.

    If you have any leftovers, this lasagna freezes perfectly.  You can even double this recipe and freeze it before you cook it.  Just take it out of the freezer on a busy week and pop it in the oven for an hour.  

    More recipes to try

    • Dairy free Alfredo sauce

    📖 Recipe

    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    Easy Vegan Pesto Ricotta Lasagna

    Hearty, high protein and delicious vegan lasagna. Only 10 ingredients! This will fill you up and make you feel good all at the same time. The bright flavors in the pesto ricotta add a perfect counter balance to the savory lentil pasta sauce. The flavors in this dish balance together perfectly, making a healthy, mouth watering meal.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: Italian
    Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes
    Servings: 12
    Calories: 298kcal
    Author: Maria
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    Ingredients

    • 1.5 cups of dry lentils
    • 16 lasagna noodles
    • 1 jar of pasta sauce

    Pesto Ricotta

    • Handful of basil leaves
    • 2 15 oz cans of cannellini beans – drained and rinsed
    • 3 cloves of garlic
    • 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
    • 1 teaspoon of salt
    • 2 tablespoon olive oil
    • Juice of 1 lemon

    Instructions

    • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
    • Rinse dry lentils and place in a saucepan. Cover with three cups of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer until softened. About 20 minutes. Once lentils are cooked, add two jars of pasta sauce to the lentils.
    • WHILE THE LENTILS ARE COOKING cook your noodles as well. Once cooked, drain and rinse with cool water. Drizzle with olive oil or keep noodles in cool water to prevent sticking.
    • In a blender or food processor, combine basil, olive oil, salt, lemon, nutritional yeast and garlic. Mix until roughly blended.
    • Add in rinsed and drained cannellini beans in with the pesto mixture and lightly blend until mixed. Add a little water or unsweetened plant milk to thin out as needed.
    • In a 9×13 inch baking dish, lightly cover the bottom of the dish with lentil sauce.
    • Layer in this order until dish is full: noodles, pesto ricotta, noodles, sauce
    • Top with sauce and sprinkle with nutritional yeast
    • Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes
    • Uncover and cook for 20 minutes

    Nutrition

    Calories: 298kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 200mg | Potassium: 536mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 10IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 4mg
    Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @DamnTastyVegan or tag #DamnTastyVegan!

    The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    High Protein Easy Vegan Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta

    « Creamy Curry Vegetable Lentil Soup
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    About Maria

    Maria is the creator of the blog and YouTube channel Damn Tasty Vegan. She has been a vegetarian since 2005 and vegan since 2015. She loves showing new vegans how easy and delicious living a vegan lifestyle can be. She is passionate about animal welfare and strives to help change the way animals are viewed and treated, by helping people transition to a vegan lifestyle.

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    Hi, I'm Maria Rose! I'm a professional singer by night, and recipe developer by day. I run this blog and am also the creator of the One Month (30 minute) Meal Plan. I love helping people learn how to cook easy and delicious plant based meals.

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