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    Home > Vegan Entrees

    Easy Vegan Spinach Lasagna with Tofu Ricotta

    By My Pure Plants on 06/20/2022 - May contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure.

    Jump to Recipe Print Pin

    It is a super easy lasagna recipe with a hearty marinara sauce and a spinach tofu ricotta filling. Layer them up, ready, set, and bake! You won’t miss any vegan ground beef substitutes here. This vegetarian lasagna recipe will be just as delicious and hearty as any meaty vegan lasagna would be.

    A white plate with a slice of lasagna where you can see the layers of red sauce, pasta sheets and a white ricotto and chopped spinach leaves.

    If you love casserole-type dishes, check out our vegan shepherd’s pie recipe, our vegan eggplant parmesan recipe, or our vegan moussaka recipe. If you are looking for more spinach recipes, browse through our vegan spinach recipes gallery.

    Table of Contents hide
    1. What to expect from this recipe?
    2. Ingredients
    3. Instructions
    4. FAQs and substitutions
    5. Allergen info
    6. More vegan spinach recipes
    7. More vegan casserole-type recipes
    8. Easy Vegan Spinach Lasagna with Tofu Ricotta

    What to expect from this recipe?

    Lasagna or lasagne is a popular casserole-type Italian pasta dish where there are 3 alternating layers baked with melted cheese on top. The traditional recipe consists of:

    • ground beef cooked in a bolognese ragú sauce,
    • bechamel sauce,
    • dry or fresh lasagna pasta sheets.

    So when you hear spinach lasagna, you might start thinking of where spinach would fit with the above. Is it just a veggie addition to the ragú or is it used instead of the pasta sheets like in eggplant lasagna or cabbage lasagna? It is neither of these things.

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    Spinach lasagna is actually a vegetarian version of the classic lasagna where ground beef is substituted with a spinach ricotta filling.

    If you make this recipe, you’ll get a crumbly juicy vegan ricotta mixed with fresh spinach leaves baked in between a hearty marinara sauce and lasagna noodles.

    A white plate with a slice of lasagna where you can see the layers of red sauce, pasta sheets and a white ricotto and chopped spinach leaves.

    Ingredients

    Spinach lasagna is already a vegetarian recipe so we are one step closer to making it vegan. We have a super easy classic vegan lasagna recipe, from which we pulled some inspiration. So what do we need to make this yummy vegan spinach lasagna in the below photo beside the pasta sheets?

    A white plate with a slice of lasagna where you can see the layers of red sauce, pasta sheets and a white ricotto and chopped spinach leaves.

    Marinara sauce

    We made our vegan marinara sauce recipe and cooked it without adding any vegan ground beef alternative. The difference between Pomodoro sauce and marinara sauce is that the latter is chunky, while the other one is smooth. So what do you need to make a chunky marinara?

    • Olive oil
    • Red onion -> You can use purple onion, but red onion looks better in this sauce
    • Garlic
    • Basil -> You can use fresh basil leaves or dried ground basil.
    • Oregano -> Same goes here. You either have fresh leaves or use dried ground oregano instead.
    • Canned chopped tomatoes -> We used this one since ripe, sweet tomatoes are not always available in the produce section.
    • Sieved tomato puree -> You can probably find several type of tomato sauces in the stores. We recommend choosing sieved tomato puree which is thicker and unseasoned.

    Spinach tofu ricotta

    We kind of combined our 5-ingredient vegan cashew alfredo sauce with crumbled tofu, so the vegan ricotta, in the end, is juicy and not dry. If you need a nut-free version, make our vegan bechamel sauce recipe instead. So what do you need to make a spinach tofu ricotta?

    • Firm tofu -> Tofu is usually gluten-free, but always check the packaging.
    • Spinach leaves -> If you use frozen leaves, make sure to thaw them and squeeze the water before adding it to the lasagna.
    • Soaked cashews
    • Dairy-free milk -> We usually use homemade cashew milk, but use any unsweetened plant-based milk.
    • Garlic
    • Nutritional yeast -> This brings a cheezy, Parmesan cheese-like flavor.
    • Nutmeg -> If I have to pick one spice to elevate the flavor of spinach, I would choose nutmeg. You should try it, it fits perfectly just like in our spinach soup recipe.
    • Salt and black pepper

    🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

    Instructions

    Marinara sauce

    1. Peel and chop onion and garlic.
    2. Heat a frying pan or a large skillet over medium heat.
    3. Add olive oil, chopped onion, and garlic and saute them for 2-3 minutes until the onion turns tender and opaque.
    4. When the onion and the garlic are cooked, add canned chopped tomatoes and canned tomato sauce. Stir well.
    5. Add dried basil, oregano, salt, and black pepper. (If you use fresh ingredients, chop them finely.)
    6. On low-medium heat, bring the sauce to boil so that the herbs and spices are activated. In the end you will have a sauce just like the one in the below photo.
    A large saucepan with lots of chunky red sauce with yellow and green bits and pieces ready to be served on pasta. A spoon is taking a small amount.

    Spinach tofu ricotta

    Get your blender, food processor, or immersion blender. Let’s make a delicious vegan spinach ricotta filling. I promise you it will be super quick and easy, you’ll see.

    1. Boil water in a kettle and soak cashews in hot water for 5-10 minutes. You can boil water on the stove and kind of cook the cashews for 5 minutes. When the time is up, drain it. 
    2. Add all ingredients: soaked cashews, one clove of garlic in whole, dairy-free milk, nutmeg, nutritional yeast, salt, and black pepper to your blender or food processor. (photo #1)
    3. Blend them until creamy. (photo #2)

    Pressing tofu

    Use firm tofu and press it. We used our trusted TofuBud*, but you can choose any DIY method or tofu press. For more information, tips, and steps, read our guide to pressing tofu, including an honest review of TofuBud.

    1. After pressing the tofu, take a large mixing bowl and crumble it with your fingers.
    2. Add the cashew white sauce. Stir and mix well.
    3. Wash the fresh spinach leaves and chop them in a food processor. Add it to your mixing bowl.
    3 photo collage of a glass bowl from above 1 a hand is crumble tofu in it, 2 a white sauce is added on top, 3 chopped spinach leaves are added

    Layering and baking

    Let’s talk about metrics so that you know how much vegan spinach lasagna you will get at the end.

    • The recipe yields 4 servings.
    • We used a 9 x 7 x 3 inch (23 x 18 x 5 cm) large oven-safe dish.
    • We made 3 layers of noodles, 4 layers of tomato sauce, and 3 layers of spinach ricotta filling.
    A white plate with a slice of lasagna where you can see the layers of red sauce, pasta sheets and a white ricotto and chopped spinach leaves.

    Ready, layer, bake! You can watch the recipe video or follow the below steps:

    1. You don’t want to have the first layer of noodles just like that at the bottom as they may stick to it while baking. So start with a thin layer of tomato sauce.
    2. The next layer is should be the lasagna pasta noodles.
    3. Then marinara sauce again.
    4. Next up is the vegan spinach ricotta mixture.
    5. Then pasta again, marinara next and spinach ricotta mixture again, and so on.
    6. The last layer should be marinara sauce. You can sprinkle it with grated vegan mozzarella or vegan parmesan or more nutritional yeast. 

    Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and bake your vegan spinach lasagna for 30 minutes. 

    A white plate with a slice of lasagna where you can see the layers of red sauce, pasta sheets and a white ricotto and chopped spinach leaves.

    FAQs and substitutions

    How to store it?

    All casserole-type dishes are great for batch cooking. You can easily store it in the fridge for 3-4 days without any problem.

    Can you freeze it? 

    Store any leftovers per serving (in an air-tight container) in a freezer and thaw whenever you need it. 

    Can I use frozen spinach instead of fresh leaves?

    Absolutely. Let frozen spinach thaw before adding them to your filling. It is important to squeeze any excess water out of it otherwise it will thin your filling significantly. Usually on bag of frozen spinach is 10 oz (280g), which is equal to 1 pound (450g) of fresh leaves. In this recipe we used 4 oz (120g) fresh spinach leaves, so you can substitute it with 2.5 oz (75g) frozen spinach.

    A white plate with a slice of lasagna where you can see the layers of red sauce, pasta sheets and a white ricotto and chopped spinach leaves.

    Allergen info

    This Vegan Spinach Lasagna recipe is meat-free, dairy-free and egg-free.

    • Vegan – All ingredients are supposed to be vegan.
    • Nut-free – Use our vegan bechamel sauce recipe instead of the cashew white sauce described here to make it nut-free.
    • WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – You can skip the oil, if you sautee onion and garlic in water, vegetable broth, or directly in the tomato sauce. If you add grated vegan cheese use an oil-free alternative. Since white flours are also usually avoided try to find whole wheat lasagna noodles or if you need it to be gluten-free, choose brown rice lasagna noodles or lentil lasagna sheets
    • Gluten-free – All ingredients are supposed to be gluten-free but always cook with certified products. If you plan to use oat milk, be sure to buy a certified gluten-free brand. Otherwise, choose another type of dairy-free milk. Lasagna is not gluten-free, so choose GF noodles like these. Unseasoned tofu is supposed to be gluten-free.
    • Soy-free – Tofu is a soy product. Sadly I haven’t found a good soy-free alternative that is cheap and easy to buy. Kite Hill does have dairy-free ricotta made of almond milk, but we never tested this recipe with it. Let us know if you do.

    More vegan spinach recipes

    You can browse through our vegan spinach recipes or check out these.

    • White bowl with fettuccine pasta covered in green sauces sprinkled with yellow flakes and a pair of basil leaves. A fork is next to the bowl.
      Creamy Spinach Pasta Sauce
    • White bowl with tortiglioni pasta covered in green pesto topped with cherry tomato halves and sprinkled with yellow flakes.
      Easy Vegan Pesto Pasta
    • Small white bowl with a chunky green paste and a fresh basil leaf on the side.
      Vegan Spinach Pesto (Nut-free)
    • A bowl of green soup sprinkled with vegetable crisps and white swirls.
      The Easiest Cream of Spinach Soup (Vegan)
    • A white bowl with green sauce sprinkled with yellow flakes and red chili flakes. A hand is holding a piece of toasted bread to dip it in. More small toasted bread pieces are around the bowl.
      Cheezy & Spicy Vegan Spinach Dip
    • Vegan Cabbage Lasagna with Spinach Alfredo

    More vegan casserole-type recipes

    You can browse through our vegan gluten-free dinner recipes or check out

    • Red sauce topped with stacks of thick white paste sprinkled with freshly chopped green herbs.
      Lighter Vegan Eggplant Parmesan (No breadcrumbs!)
    • The corner of a glass dish with a serving spoon. The dish is full of yellow-red-brown food topped with chopped parsley.
      Meaty Vegan Moussaka (TVP Ground Beef)
    • Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
    • 4 small white pots covered with brown pie crust and topped with green herbs. 2 of them has some crust missing and you can see the veggie stew within the yellow, green, orange, brown veggies of corn, green peas, mushrooms and carrots
      Vegan Pot Pie (+2 Crust Options)
    • A white casserole dish from above showing orange mash topped with grated crumbles and thyme twigs. A serving spoon is dipped within.
      Savory Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole

    THANK YOU so much for visiting our website. Please comment below if you have tried this recipe. We LOVE hearing from you! If you loved the recipe, please don’t forget to give us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RATING. We appreciate all of our readers.  

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    A white plate with a slice of lasagna where you can see the layers of red sauce, pasta sheets and a white ricotto and chopped spinach leaves.

    Easy Vegan Spinach Lasagna with Tofu Ricotta

    Emese Maczko
    It is a super easy lasagna recipe with a hearty marinara sauce and a spinach tofu ricotta filling. Layer them up, ready, set, and bake! You won't miss any vegan ground beef substitutes here. This vegetarian lasagna recipe will be just as delicious and hearty as any meaty vegan lasagna would be.
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 30 mins
    Cook Time 15 mins
    Baking 30 mins
    Total Time 1 hr 15 mins
    Course Main Course
    Servings 4 servings
    Calories 530kcal

    Equipment

    • Immersion hand blender with 20 fl oz container
    • our Vitamix A2300
    • Non-stick frying pan (10.5 inch / 26 cm)
    • Oven-safe glass baking dish (8-inch / 20 cm)
    • TofuBud (pressing tofu in 15 minutes)

    Ingredients
     
     

    Marinara sauce

    • 1 Onion (medium)
    • 2 cloves Garlic
    • 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

    Vegan white sauce

    • ½ cup Cashew
    • ½ cup Dairy-free milk (homemade cashew milk)
    • 1 clove Garlic
    • 1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
    • ½ tsp Nutmeg optional
    • Salt and Pepper to taste

    Spinach tofu ricotta filling

    • 1 Vegan white sauce from above
    • 4 oz Fresh spinach leaves
    • 10 oz Firm tofu

    Other ingredients for the layers

    • 6 Lasagna pasta sheets
    • 7 oz Dairy-free cheese or vegan parmesan or more nutritional yeast
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    EXCLUSIVE 5-ingredient recipes for busy home cooks that are ready in 15 minutes!Check out our Express Vegan Cookbook!

    Instructions
     

    Making 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 chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasoning (sweet paprika powder, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper) and cook for 5 minutes.

    Making vegan white sauce

    • Use a regular blender, a hand blender, or a food processor, whichever gives you a creamier result. 
    • Add the soaked cashews, garlic clove, dairy-free milk, and seasoning (nutmeg, nutritional yeast, salt, and black pepper) and blend them until creamy.

    Making vegan spinach ricotta filling

    • Use firm tofu and press it. Pat it dry with a paper towel.
    • Take a large mixing bowl and crumble tofu with your fingers.
    • Add cashew white sauce. Stir and mix well.
    • Wash the fresh spinach leaves and chop them in a food processor. Add it to your mixing bowl.

    Layering vegan spinach lasagna

    • To ensure that the pasta sheets do not stick to the bottom, we place a thin layer of marinara sauce at the bottom.
    • After that, the layers should look like the following: pasta sheets, marinara sauce, and spinach ricotta filling. And repeat… We needed the above combination 3 times to fill a 9 x 7 x 2 inch (23 x 18 x 5 cm) oven-safe dish.
    • The last layer should be marinara sauce which you can sprinkle with vegan grated cheese or vegan parmesan or more nutritional yeast.
    • We made 3 layers of pasta, 4 layers of ragu, and 3 layers of white sauce. You can use less pasta and more sauce in-between the sheets, it is totally up to you. 
    • Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and bake your lasagna for 30 minutes.
    Tried this recipe? Can we see it?Please share a picture with us by uploading an image to Pinterest below ours.

    Notes

    Can you use frozen spinach?

    Absolutely. Let frozen spinach thaw before adding them to your filling. It is important to squeeze any excess water out of it otherwise it will thin your filling significantly. Usually on bag of frozen spinach is 10 oz (280g), which is equal to 1 pound (450g) of fresh leaves. In this recipe we used 4 oz (120g) fresh spinach leaves, so you can substitute it with 2.5 oz (75g) frozen spinach.

    Video

    Nutrition

    Nutrition Facts
    Easy Vegan Spinach Lasagna with Tofu Ricotta
    Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
    Calories 530 Calories from Fat 207
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 23g35%
    Saturated Fat 5g31%
    Polyunsaturated Fat 4g
    Monounsaturated Fat 5g
    Sodium 868mg38%
    Potassium 722mg21%
    Carbohydrates 66g22%
    Fiber 7g29%
    Sugar 7g8%
    Protein 18g36%
    Vitamin A 3311IU66%
    Vitamin C 25mg30%
    Calcium 263mg26%
    Iron 6mg33%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in June 2021. More tips, info, and details have been added and republished in June 2022.

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