The Viet Vegan

Vegan. Feminist. Nerd.

Vegan Lasagna with Spinach Tofu Ricotta

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This vegan lasagna is the real deal—hearty, full of protein and a vegan spinach ricotta.
Absolutely delicious for vegans and omnis alike :)

Despite the fact that I call myself “The Viet Vegan”, there are many aspects to me that are very Canadian. Having grown up here, I experienced a bit of both worlds—some Canadian and some Vietnamese.

There was a period of time where it was just me and my mom at home. I think I was 13 then. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my mom spent a lot of time working trying to support the two of us and I spent a lot of time home by myself reading or writing fan fiction because I was that kind of nerd. I ate a lot of TV dinners and boxed lasagna, which I was 100% okay with at the time, mostly because my mom didn’t have the time or resources to go to Toronto to get Vietnamese groceries.

There are so many things we don’t realize that our parents do for us when we’re younger. It wasn’t until I made this vegan lasagna and was feeling nostalgic that I realized that I ate these kinds of TV dinners and frozen meals because she was working so hard for us. It’s so fascinating to rediscover these memories or re-see them through my mother’s eyes as I make these foods I once loved.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and appreciate those who helped you become who you are today. <3

Check out the recipe video I made, it might help you see how I made the ricotta, but also I make a bunch of goofs you might enjoy =P

Yield: 6-8 servings

Vegan Lasagna with Spinach Tofu Ricotta

Vegan Lasagna with Spinach Tofu Ricotta

Ingredients

For the meaty pasta sauce:

  • 1 tbsp cooking oil of choice
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • ~1 1/2 jars tomato basil pasta sauce (my jars are 739 mL each)
  • 1 bag of beefless crumbles (I used gardein 13.7 oz / 390 g, but you can use two packets of the Yves brand original too)

For the tofu ricotta

  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1 tsp white miso (I use a low-sodium one)
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder/granulated garlic
  • 1 block firm tofu* (454 g)
  • salt to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp kosher salt)
  • 3 cups frozen spinach (loosely packed, or about 1 1/2 cups thawed spinach)

To assemble:

  • 1 box lasagna noodles (10 oz/280g) I used gluten-free pasta
  • 1 cup vegan cheese (add more if you like it super cheezy)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.

To make the pasta sauce:

  1. In a medium pot over medium heat, cook diced onion in oil until lightly browned. Add 1 1/2 jars of tomato sauce (maybe lower the heat to reduce splattering) and heat through.
  2. Add beefless crumbles and cook until just heated through. Set aside.

To make the tofu ricotta:

  1. Mix to combine lemon juice, tahini, white miso, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder. Crumble in the tofu and mix well to combine.
  2. Defrost the frozen spinach and add to the tofu mixture. Stir well to combine.

To assemble:

  1. Cook pasta noodles according to the package and drain well.
  2. Spread some of the sauce reserved from that 1/2 of the jar on the bottom of a 9x13 glass casserole dish.
  3. Arrange and layer noodles, meaty sauce, ricotta and repeat. Top with noodles, meaty sauce (if there's any left, if not use the rest of that jar of pasta), and layer of vegan cheese. Be sure to cover all noodles in sauce or else it'll dry out while baking
  4. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 30 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered.
  5. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

*I used one that had herbs in it, but you can add 1/2 tsp each dried oregano, thyme, and parsley to add extra flavour.

Also, if you'd prefer not to use the beefless crumbles, you can leave them out completely, but if you want a nice, bulky lasagna I'd recommend adding cooked lentils, TVP, or beans.

© Lisa Le

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About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julia says

    YUUUM I MADE IT and I’m eating it right now yummm. One thing I did was bake it longer because I like the top to be crispy/chewy and almost burnt on the edges :D 5/5

    Reply

  2. Leo Sigh says

    Don’t care about it being gluten free, but as a vegan this looks amazing, and soooo easy. Will definitely be trying it. Thanks for the recipe :) Nice photos too!!

    Reply

  7. Lavata Omni says

    I tried this recipe and it tasted absolutely great. My boyfriend isn’t a fan of vegan cheese or beef less crumbles, I wish he had liked it, but I truly did, thanks for sharing this.

    Reply

  9. Gabriel says

    I’m new to making vegan dishes and honestly wasn’t that excited to eat it, but after my family and I did we all agreed it tasted delicious! Would make again. Thanks for the recipe. Added some fresh garlic and mushrooms to the sauce.

    Reply

    • Lisa Le says

      I haven’t done it myself yet, but I’ve seen others use oven-ready noodles work just fine. Just make sure you coat them in sufficient sauce and follow the instructions on the package of the noodles since they may vary, brand to brand :)

      Reply

  11. Cat says

    Just became an almost Vegan…I still love cheese! I cannot eat meat anymore because it hurts my stomach. I still LOVE Lasagna…and this recipe looks amazing. Can’t wait to try it!

    Reply

  12. Alycia says

    Made this tonight exactly as you instructed and it was delicious! My boyfriend and I are calling it a definite make-again. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

    Reply

  13. Craig says

    Made this tonight, was very very good.

    We could not tell this was vegan. If you really wanted to hide the fact this was vegan you could sprinkle some real cheese on top and then sit back and wait for people to guess it does not have meat.

    Very good recipe – thank you!

    Reply

    • Lisa Le says

      Hahha well I’m glad you enjoyed it! I wouldn’t recommend adding cheese on it though, just tell people its a veggie lasagna :) It’s like the ones I used to buy at the store!

      Reply

  14. Daisy says

    Just made this and at two huge pieces! So delicious and will definitely make again. You are making my transition to veganism so much easier!

    Reply

  15. Pamela says

    You should watch FOOD INC. I was in Iowa for awhile, 3 houses away from the cornfields. Isolated in a small town, 3 hrs.from Des Moine. It was truly life changing, how they grow the corn and soybeans.

    I,m looking at your tofu spinach ricotta cheese recipe and I like it alot. I check out almost all tofu recipes just to see how other people prepare tofu. I make the tofu from scratch, using only organic soybeans.

    Organic soybeans are like organic vital wheat gluten, very hard to find here in America. I see you are in Canada. That is where I found my wheat, Organic Gem Of The West.

    Like you I write vegan recipies. I’ve been doing vegan since 1969.

    Don’t forget to look at the FOOD INC. Documentary on NET FLIX.

    With much love,
    Pamela

    Reply

    • Lisa Le says

      That was one of the first docus I watched when I started my vegan journey :) I’m pretty sure I buy all my tofu organic, not intentionally but most of the soy products I see are organic anyway.

      Reply

  16. Caitlin says

    I made this a couple weeks ago and we loved it. I was wondering if I could make two this week – one to eat and one to freeze?

    Reply

  18. Jessica says

    We take this lasagne to dinner parties with omnivores and everyone ends up asking us for the recipe. So good and most people can’t even tell it’s vegan. Thank you, Lisa!

    Reply

  19. Melanie Hutsell says

    Well, it’s in the oven and it smells good! I’ll let you know how it tastes. I think I combined your recipe with Cheap Lazy Vegan recipe. The last time I made vegan lasagna, I used the no boil lasagna noodles and didn’t have near enough sauce and it was kind of dry. Tonight I made double the sauced, but used noodles you have to boil. Hope I didn’t over do it on the sauce. Anyway! Very excited to try this!

    Reply

  21. Astrid says

    Hi Lisa, I made your lasagne last weekend and had the leftovers yesterday. I think it is a very good recipe. I adapted the ingredients for the ricotta because for me it needed much more extra’s to get it tasty, but I always need to do this when using tofu. I think I at least doubled the miso, nutritional yeast and of course added quite some salt and pepper. No problem, it turned out great! I used Vegusto Classic cheese. Yummie. This lasagne turned out really firm so I could slice beautifull pieces that stayed well on the plate. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply

  22. Jess says

    My LANTA, what a delight! I haven’t had lasagna in years since going vegan, and this truly hit the spot. I made a few alterations (extra spinach, more salt, garlic, mushroom marinara, etc.), but overall stayed true to the recipe. Immediately sent it to my mom and friends for them to try out. :)

    Reply

  23. Jenny says

    Hello! I want to make this for dinner tonight, but I don’t have any frozen spinach, but I do have fresh, would that work? If so, what should I do differently?

    Reply

  24. Kaitlyn says

    This is my families FAVORITE recipe, we make it for holidays and just random days without the year during the cold seasons. Cannot thank you enough ?? Been loving it for 2 years!

    Reply

  25. King says

    Amazing! I followed the recipe as stated and it turned out great. The taste and texture was perfect for me. I definitely recommend trying this one.

    Reply

    • Lisa Le says

      Hi Lorin! Sorry I didn’t get to this comment in time. I would have recommended freezing as opposed to refrigerating, hopefully you found what worked for you!

      Reply

  27. Nikki says

    I make a tofu-spinach lasagna with a pretty basic tofu ricotta filling (tofu, lemon juice, spices, and nut. yeast) every year for our Christmas meal. It was the first dish my non-vegan husband ever tried with tofu, and he’s always loved it! I always felt it was missing something, though, and could never figure out what to add. Miso and tahini – omg. Genius! We all loved this for dinner tonight (no vegan meat filling, just the tofu ricotta and spinach), and there’s extra to share with my brother and his family! :) Thank you so much for a wonderful twist on an old favorite.

    Reply

  28. Jody K. says

    I’m so excited to try this recipe! Can I freeze it and if so, would I freeze it before baking? How long would I bake once frozen? I assume I would not thaw it but put it directly in the oven? Thanks!!

    Reply

  29. Pamela says

    I had planned to make a vegetarian lasagna this evening but realized I did not have any ricotta cheese. I did have tofu though and thought this would be a great substitute. I wasn’t wowed by the various recipes but found this one with the great reviews. So the “experiment” was on as my non-vegan husband is not a fan of tofu.

    I altered a few steps along the way. I used no boil lasagna noodles. I cooked the onions with about 1 cup of vegan beef crumbles and about 3/4 pound of diced baby bella mushrooms. I then added about 5 large handfuls of fresh spinach and a small amount of the pasta sauce to the mushroom/onion/beef crumble mix and cooked until spinach wilted. To the tofu ricotta mixture, I added the cheese (vs. using it as a separate layer). Then layered starting with the pasta sauce, lasagna noodles, mushroom/onion/beef/spinach crumble mix, tofu ricotta mixture, sauce and repeated with the top being sauce and a sprinkling of cheese.
    It came out perfect. We both loved it! This is something I will definitely make again and fairly easy to do with the no boil noodles.
    I will be checking out more of your recipes. Thank you!

    Reply

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