This is the best vegan cabbage lasagna I have ever eaten. It is seriously bursting with flavor. Just imagine this: vegan ground beef cooked in hearty marinara sauce layered with spinach cashew alfredo sauce and sweet cabbage leaves. I am telling you now: You will LOVE cabbage in this recipe!
I was already impressed with my husband when he made the first test. But – oh boy – this final version got seriously awesome. He told me even he was surprised by this result. He is humble or what. :)) I am telling you now: even if you hate cabbage, you will love it in this lasagna.
To make this recipe, we dipped into our Vegan and Gluten-free Pasta Sauces recipe gallery and used our Hearty Marinara Sauce and our Cashew Alfredo Sauce recipes as a basis.
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How to make cabbage lasagna?
To make any lasagna recipe, you need at least 4 layers baked together in the oven. These layers are:
- “ground beef” cooked in tomato-based red sauce,
- white creamy sauce,
- cheese, and
- pasta
Or do you?
Well, you don’t. 🙂 Cabbage leaves are a great substitute for pasta. It is low carb, easy to prepare, and allergy-friendly. They give you a little bit of crunchy texture in between the layers. I haven’t even missed pasta. I was too busy savoring the mix of flavors through garlic, cashew, spinach, tomato, and cheese.
Vegan Ground Beef in Marinara Sauce – 1st layer
There are various alternatives to make vegan ground beef. In this recipe, we used TVP (textured vegetable protein). To get real ground beef texture, you need TVP. However, if you eat soy-free or prefer a whole foods substitute, we have step-by-step instructions for you to make minced walnut-cauliflower “meat” within our Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese recipe. Both work perfectly in this pasta-free lasagna recipe.
How to make TVP into vegan ground beef?
First, soak TVP in hot water or veggie broth for 30 minutes. If they softened, drain the soaking water and squeeze any additional moisture out with your hands. Now, they are ready to be used as “raw ground beef”.
Heat-up your frying pan and let’s make our Marinara Sauce from scratch. (more tips, photos, videos in the original post)
Peel and chop the onion and cook it lightly in olive oil until it turns glossy (photo #1). Add peeled and chopped garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes (photo #2). Now, add the pre-soaked and squeezed TVP and stir it for a couple of times (photo #3). Finally, add sweet paprika powder and stir for a minute before adding the chopped tomatoes, the tomato sauce and the remaining seasoning (basil, oregano, salt, and pepper) and cook for 5 minutes (photo #4).
Top tips to make perfect vegan ground beef from TVP
- Soaking TVP in veggie broth gives them an additional flavor boost.
- If you soak them in cold water, you may need 2-3 hours to get them ready for cooking.
- TVP doesn’t need to be cooked long as they are already soft after soaking.
- We used canned chopped tomatoes as it is not always easy to get juicy fresh tomatoes.
- You can use red onion instead of purple onion.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
Spinach Alfredo Sauce – 2nd layer
Now, you need something creamy to make the marinara sauce mild. In the traditional lasagna recipes, they use bechamel sauce for this purpose. Obviously, in a vegan lasagna recipe, you can’t use that, but you have this awesome nut that can be turned into anything creamy. With an added zing, here is how to make our Cashew Alfredo Sauce with fresh spinach (more tips, photos, videos in the original post).
First, prepare the ingredients. Soak cashews in hot water for 20 minutes, then drain it. Blanch the fresh spinach leaves by dropping them in hot water for 1 minute. Drain it and squeeze out any remaining water with your hands.
Next, use a regular blender, a hand blender, or a food processor, whichever gives you a creamier result. Add the soaked cashews (photo #1), the pre-cooked spinach (photo #2), 1 clove of garlic in whole (photo #3), dairy-free milk (photo #4) and seasoning nutmeg, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper (photo #5) and blend them until creamy (photo #6). In this recipe, we used our homemade cashew milk.
Top tips to make perfect spinach cashew alfredo sauce:
- Blanching the spinach – Blanching means dropping them in hot water for 1 minute. It is easier to blend them after, but the more scientific explanation is that it removes the oxalic acid to better absorb the calcium. That being said, you can absolutely use fresh spinach leaves without blanching.
- Optional spices – Nutmeg and nutritional yeast are optional ingredients, although they give the alfredo more flavor.
- Raw cashews or roasted cashews? – We usually use roasted cashews especially if we cannot find raw cashews in the cheap. The sauce is PERFECT with roasted cashews. Even if you can only find salted ones, don’t worry, it will be washed off while soaking.
- Which dairy-free milk to choose? – We recommend using cashew, almond, oat or soy milk. Any other milk may alter the taste too much e.g. coconut milk.
Use Vitamix for a crazy smooth sauce
You can certainly use a hand blender (aka immersion blender) or a regular blender. They all make a creamy vegan cashew alfredo sauce. However, if you need this sauce to be extra smooth without a single little piece to find, we recommend using a high powered blender like Vitamix. It will make your alfredo from smooth to crazy smooth.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
Cabbage leaves as pasta – 3rd layer
First, peel the larger leaves off the cabbage head. Discard the first outer leaf and use the ones below that. Cook the leaves in hot water for 5-8 minutes until they are soft to the touch. Chill them before using them for pasta.
Top tips to prepare cabbage leaves
- You should buy large cabbage heads for two reasons: 1) larger head has larger leaves so you can form nice large “lasagna pasta sheets” and 2) it is easier to peel a larger head. As you don’t need the whole head you can use the remaining cabbage to make coleslaw or cabbage soup.
- You can cut out the stem completely if you feel that it is too hard and will not soften after 8-10 minutes.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
Why we love vegan cabbage recipes?
Cabbage is an underrated vegetable, although it is a staple in the low-carb / keto cooking scene.
No surprise there as 1 cup of raw, chopped cabbage contains only 22 calories, 5 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber. It is packed with nutrient especially with Vitamin K (85% of recommended daily per cup) and Vitamin C. If you are interested, you can read more about its health benefits in this article.
Cabbage is a perfect substitute for pasta in any lasagna vegan or not. If you are looking for something filling but low carb, or if you are looking for some variety, think of cabbage.
Layering a Vegan Cabbage Lasagna
This recipe will give you 4 servings and we used a 9 x 7 x 3 inch (23 x 18 x 8 cm) oven-safe glass dish similar to this one.
To ensure that the cabbage leaves do not stick to the bottom, we place some vegan ground beef and marinara sauce first. The layers should look like the following: pre-cooked cabbage leaves (photo #2), vegan ground beef in marinara sauce (photo #3), spinach alfredo sauce (photo #4), dairy-free cheese (photo #5). And repeat… We needed the above combination 6 times to fill the dish (photo #6).
Pre-heat oven for 400 F (200 degrees) and bake this vegan cabbage lasagna for 30 minutes.
FAQ and Substitutions
Why do you need to soak cashews?
First, it breaks down the phytic acid and enhances nutrient absorption for better digestion. Second, easier to blend and work with. – source
Can you use roasted and/or salted cashews?
Yes and yes. Roasted cashew tastes awesome, but you still have to soak them. If you have only salted cashews on hand, no worries wash the salt off with a sieve or strainer.
Can you use other leafy greens than spinach?
Yes, of course. The sauce should work with any other leafy greens, like kale for example. Let us know in the comments, which one would you try.
Can you use regular or gluten-free pasta instead of cabbage leaves?
Yes of course. This recipe works perfectly with any regular or gluten-free lasagna pasta as well. We especially like Barilla’s gluten-free lasagna sheets.
Can you use other vegan ground beef?
If you eat soy-free or prefer a whole foods substitute, we have step-by-step instructions for you to make minced walnut-cauliflower “meat” within our Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese recipe. That will also work perfectly.
This Vegan Cabbage Lasagna recipe is vegan so meat-free, dairy-free and egg-free.
This recipe is WFPB-friendly 1) if you cook the onions for the marinara sauce in water or in veggie broth or directly in the tomato sauce and 2) if you use oil-free dairy-free cheese.
This recipe is only gluten-free if you use cabbage leaves or gluten-free pasta.
⇒ Get our FREE 7-DAY VEGAN MEAL PLAN now! or check out all vegan meal plan recipes here! ⇐
More dinner recipes
You can browse through our Vegan and Gluten-free Dinner Recipes or our Quick Vegan Meals collection or check out
- Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
- Easy Vegan Eggplant Meatballs
- Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
- Easy Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Cauliflower Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce
Vegan Cabbage Lasagna with Spinach Alfredo
Equipment
Ingredients
TVP as Vegan Ground Beef in Marinara Sauce
- 1 Onion (medium)
- 2 cloves Garlic
- ¾ cup TVP (Soy) -> What is TVP?
- 14 oz Chopped tomatoes 1 can
- 5 oz Sieved tomato puree aka Tomato sauce
- 1 tsp Sweet paprika powder
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 2 tsp Basil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Spinach Cashew Alfredo Sauce
- ¼ cup Spinach
- ½ cup Cashew
- ½ cup Dairy-free milk
- 1 clove Garlic
- ½ tsp Nutmeg optional
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast optional
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Vegan Lasagna with Cabbage Leaves as Pasta
- ¼ Cabbage head (use larger outer leaves)
- 7 oz Dairy-free cheese
Instructions
Initial preparations
- Soak TVP (textured vegetable protein) in hot water or veggie broth for 30 minutes. If they softened, drain the soaking water and squeeze any additional moisture out with your hands. Now, they are ready to be used as "raw ground beef".
- Soak cashews in hot water for 20 minutes, then drain it.
- Blanch the fresh spinach leaves by dropping them in hot water for 1 minute. Drain it and squeeze out any remaining water with your hands.
- Peel the larger leaves off the cabbage head. Discard the first outer leaf and use the ones below that. Cook the leaves in hot water for 5-8 minutes until they are soft to the touch. Chill them before using them for pasta.
TVP in Marinara Sauce
- Peel and chop the onion and cook it lightly in olive oil until it turns glossy. Add peeled and chopped garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the pre-soaked and squeezed TVP and stir it a couple of times.
- Finally, add the chopped tomatoes, the tomato sauce and the seasoning (sweet paprika powder, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper) and cook for 5 minutes.
Spinach Cashew Alfredo
- Use a regular blender, a hand blender, or a food processor, whichever gives you a creamier result.
- Add the soaked cashews, the pre-cooked spinach, 1 clove of garlic in whole, dairy-free milk and seasoning (nutmeg, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper) and blend them until creamy.
Layering the Vegan Cabbage Lasagna
- To ensure that the cabbage leaves do not stick to the bottom, we place some vegan ground beef and marinara sauce first.
- The layers should look like the following: pre-cooked cabbage leaves, vegan ground beef in marinara sauce, spinach alfredo sauce, dairy-free cheese.
- And repeat... We needed the above combination 6 times to fill a 9 x 7 x 3 inch (23 x 18 x 8 cm) oven-safe glass dish.
- Pre-heat oven for 400 F (200 degrees) and bake this vegan cabbage lasagna for 30 minutes.
Notes
Top tips to make perfect vegan ground beef from TVP:
- Soaking TVP in veggie broth gives them an additional flavor boost.
- If you soak them in cold water, you may need 2-3 hours to get them ready for cooking.
- TVP doesn't need to be cooked long as they are already soft after soaking.
- We used canned chopped tomatoes as it is not always easy to get juicy fresh tomatoes.
- You can use red onion instead of purple onion.
Top tips to make perfect spinach cashew alfredo sauce:
- We blanch the spinach leaves as it is easier to handle and blend them afterward. The more scientific explanation is that it removes the oxalic acid to better absorb the calcium. That being said, you can absolutely use fresh spinach leaves without blanching.
- Nutmeg and nutritional yeast are optional ingredients, although they give the alfredo more flavor.
- We usually use roasted cashews especially if we cannot find raw cashews in the cheap. The sauce is PERFECT with roasted cashews. Even if you can only find salted ones, don't worry, it will be washed off while soaking.
- We recommend using cashew, almond, oat or soy milk. Any other milk may alter the taste too much e.g. coconut milk.
Can you use other vegan ground beef?
If you eat soy-free or prefer a whole foods substitute, we have step-by-step instructions for you to make minced walnut-cauliflower "meat" within our Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese recipe. That will also work perfectly.Video
Nutrition
UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in May 2019, but was rewritten and republished with new photos and tips in April 2020.
Nancy Perine
Hi there! I really enjoyed cruising around your web site. Your recipe for Vegan Lasagna caught my eye. I hot footed it to the store to pick up the items I didn’t already have on hand. I have to say, this recipe was really a challenge! VERY lengthy and thorough descriptions. I felt like quitting a few times, but by then I was already on my way and could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m glad I persevered because the finished product was delicious. Thanks for sharing!!!
My Pure Plants
Yes, it isn’t a 3-ingredient cookie-type recipe for sure. We are so glad you finished it and liked it. We hope that the steps and the photos helped. Thanks for sharing.