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Close up of lentil lasagna
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5 from 1 vote

Dairy free lasagna

This dairy free lasagna is absolutely delicious. Packed with protein and nutrition. Made with a dairy free tofu and cashew ricotta and a lentil marina sauce. Easy meal to feed a crowd or meal prep and eat all week.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 8 large servings
Calories: 526kcal
Author: Maria

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dry lentils brown or green
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • (2) 25 ounce jars of pasta or marinara sauce
  • 1 box lasagna noodles
  • 1-2 bags shredded dairy free mozzarella cheese
  • ½ cup unsweetened and plain dairy free yogurt optional

Dairy free ricotta

  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 14 ounces (one package) medium firm tofu
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 lemon - juiced

Instructions

Cook the lentils

  • Rinse the lentils. Then put them in a pot on the stove with four cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover and simmer on medium low for 30 minutes. Check the lentils, if they're still undercooked, cook for another 5-10 minutes. Strain away any excess water.
    1 cup dry lentils, 4 cups vegetable broth
  • After the lentils are cooked, add them to two jars of marinara sauce in a large bowl. No need to warm this up, since the sauce will warm up in the oven.
    (2) 25 ounce jars of pasta or marinara sauce

Make the ricotta

  • Boil some water. Then pour over the cashews. Let them soak for 10 minutes. While the cashews are soaking, boil some water for the lasagna noodles.
    1 cup raw cashews
  • In a food processor, add the soaked and strained cashews with the olive oil into a food processor or blender. Blend until roughly chopped
    1 cup raw cashews, 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Add in the tofu, salt, lemon juice, garlic powder and nutritional yeast. Blend until smoothish. You may need to stop a few times and wipe down the sides with a rubber spatula.
    14 ounces (one package) medium firm tofu, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ cup nutritional yeast, 1 lemon - juiced

Boil the noodles

  • Once the water for the noodles is boiling, add the lasagna noodles and cook for the amount of time the package requires. You can also skip this part and just put them in the lasagna raw. They will cook in the oven
    1 box lasagna noodles
  • Once the noodles are cooked, strain away the water, then put them back in the pot and cover with cold water. This will prevent them from over cooking and sticking together.

Assemble

  • Cover the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with a little of the lentil marinara sauce. Add a layer of noodles. Spread half of the vegan ricotta on top. Add about a cup or two of sauce on top of that. Add another layer of noodles add layer of vegan shredded cheese. Add another cup or two of sauce. Add in the optional dairy free unsweetened yogurt here. Add another layer of noodles, then the rest of the ricotta, then some more sauce. Finish with one more layer of noodles, sauce and top with shredded vegan cheese
    1-2 bags shredded dairy free mozzarella cheese, ½ cup unsweetened and plain dairy free yogurt

Bake

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of a strip of aluminum foil with non-stick spray. Cover the casserole dish with the aluminum foil. Bake for 60 minutes. Let the lasagna sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it and serving.

Notes

If you don't want to use tofu, you can just use all cashews. Increase the amount of cashews to 2 cups.
If you don't want to use cashews, because of a nut allergy, use only tofu and add a little more olive oil.
Instead of cashews, you can substitute raw, soaked almonds as well to make homemade almond ricotta cheese with tofu.
This will last in the fridge in an airtight container for up to five days. 
If you want to make this ahead of time, assemble, but don't bake. Then you can refrigerate or freeze this. If you freeze, you can bake from frozen, it will just take a while longer. About 90 minutes. 

Nutrition

Calories: 526kcal | Carbohydrates: 77g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 1703mg | Potassium: 1111mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 1027IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 136mg | Iron: 6mg