You're going to love this delicious roasted vegetable lasagna with white sauce! Roasted butternut squash and red pepper, along with zucchini and basil, are layered in a creamy béchamel sauce. And two kinds of cheese. It's a delicious, hearty and comforting meal the whole family will love.
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Almost everyone loves lasagna! It's a perfect cheesy comfort food and it's great for family meals or even for company.
The classic lasagna with a meat and tomato sauce will forever be a fan favorite. And my popular broccoli and chicken alfredo lasagna is always a hit.
But this vegetable lasagna with white sauce is equally delicious.
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Why You'll Love this Cheesy Vegetarian Lasagna
- Easy to Make: This white lasagna recipe is very easy to make, although it does take some time to build and bake.
- Healthy: Packed with healthy veggies and calcium rich cheeses, this veggie lasagna is a hearty, nutrient packed meal.
- Customizable: You can use any vegetables you like, or add more. Same with cheese!
Ingredient Notes
Ingredient quanities and full recipe instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Vegetables
- Butternut Squash: Butternut is a versatile winter squash that works well in many recipes. However, you can use any winter squash instead. Acorn squash, Hubbard, buttercup, or even pumpkin, will all work beautifully for this easy vegetable lasagna.
- Red Bell Peppers: I'm using two fairly large bell peppers. If you have smaller peppers you may need more than two. You can also use yellow or orange bell pepper.
- Zucchini: Yellow squash works here too.
- Basil: I love the flavor and aroma of fresh basil. However, if you only have dried basil, use that. Use two teaspoons of dried basil, but add it to the sauce, along with the thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Béchamel Sauce
- Butter: To make the white sauce, you need to first make a roux with butter and flour. You can use olive oil in place of the butter if you prefer. Use 3 tablespoons of oil.
- Garlic: Mince fresh garlic cloves or use pre-minced jarred garlic. However, if garlic powder is what you have on hand, use a teaspoon of garlic powder and add it to the sauce along with the other seasonings.
- Flour: Use all purpose flour. I use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend.
- Milk: Any milk will work in this recipe. Whole milk, oat milk, and almond milk are all great. Avoid using heavy cream.
- Seasonings: If you have fresh thyme, that's great. If not, use 1 teaspoon of dried thyme. Nutmeg adds a warm, nutty flavor dimension to the sauce. A little goes a long way! Sometimes I use a teaspoon of Italian seasoning instead of thyme and nutmeg for this white sauce recipe. You can also add a dash of red pepper flakes for a little bit of spice.
Cheese & Noodles
- Mozzarella Cheese: Mozzarella is the classic, melty cheese for lasagna.
- Ricotta Cheese: Ricotta gives this vegetable lasagna an even creamier texture and richness.
- Lasagna Noodles: I'm using oven-ready, gluten-free lasagna noodles. You can use dried lasagna noodles, but you will need to cook them ahead of building the lasagna. If so, boil the noodles for a couple of minutes less than the package directions. This allows for the cooking time in the oven.
How to Make Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce: Step by Step.
- Core and seed and cut peppers in half. Prick the butternut squash all over with a fork. Roast squash and peppers about 30 minutes or until peppers have started to blacken, and squash can be pierced with a fork.
- Put peppers straight from the oven into a covered container for about 5 minutes. The steam will make the skins easy to remove.
Now let's make the creamy white sauce.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter and cook the garlic for a minute or two.
- Whisk in the flour until it's nice and smooth. Cook until it's a light sandy color, about 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the milk, one cup at a time, constantly whisking until the sauce is thick and smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir in thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Time to assemble the lasagna.
- In a 13 x 9-inch (3 L) baking dish, spread ⅓ of the béchamel sauce.
- Arrange lasagna noodles over the sauce.
- Arrange the squash slices on top of the noodles.
- Spread half the mozzarella cheese over the squash slices.
- Spread ⅓ of the béchamel sauce over the squash and cheese.
- Add another layer of lasagna noodles.
- Spread the ricotta cheese evenly over the noodles.
- Arrange zucchini slices over the cheese. Sprinkle basil leaves over the zucchini slices.
- Arrange the roasted red pepper evenly over the zucchini and basil.
- Cover with a final layer of lasagna noodles.
- Spread the remaining white sauce over the noodles.
- Finally, evenly spread the remaining grated mozzarella over the top of the lasagna.
- Bake the lasagna for 60 minutes.
- Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting into slices and enjoy!
Helpful Tips & Variations
- Roux: It's important to cook the roux (the butter and flour) before whisking in the milk. This step cooks off the floury taste.
- Noodles: Layer your noodles in the pan you will be using. That way you know how many noodles you'll need.
- Pan size: This recipe uses a 9 by 13 inch pan or casserole dish, and is deep enough for three layers of noodles. Use a smaller but deeper pan if you would like to use more layers.
- Shortcuts: Using oven ready lasagna noodles allows you to skip the step of boiling the noodles. You can also buy jarred roasted red peppers, and pre-cut, peeled butternut squash slices in your grocery store. Save even more time by using a jarred alfredo sauce instead of making the béchamel sauce.
- Prevent Watery Lasagna: Vegetable lasagna recipes can often turn out watery. The reason for this is usually due to using uncooked vegetables, which will release a lot of water during baking. So don't skip the roasting step for the squash and peppers. (Besides, roasting just adds so much flavor!) In this vegetable lasagna with white sauce recipe, the zucchini slices do go on raw. But we are also using oven-ready lasagna noodles, which will absorb excess water as they cook.
- Cover: It's important to cover the vegetable lasagna with foil while it's baking. The foil traps moisture and prevents the lasagna from drying out. Tent the foil loosely so that cheese doesn't stick to it. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes of baking time so the top can brown.
- Resting time: Be sure to allow the lasagna to rest for 10-15 minutes once you remove it from the oven. This cools it down enough to let it set and firm up, so it will stay together when you slice it. (And also not burn your tongue!)
- Vegetables: You can use any veggies you like for this vegetable lasagna. Some other great vegetable choices are broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, kale, frozen or fresh spinach, or eggplant. This vegetarian lasagna recipe is a great way to use those garden vegetables.
- Cheese: If you want to lighten up this lasagna recipe, you can use cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese. Ricotta is best in this recipe, though, in my opinion. You can swap half of the mozzarella cheese with parmesan cheese, or Romano cheese.
- Make ahead: You can assemble the lasagna and keep it in the fridge for up to 24 hours before baking it.
- Freezing: You can freeze your assembled, uncooked lasagna before baking, or after baking. It's helpful to use an oven safe disposable foil lasagna pan if you plan to do this. Make sure to wrap it well, pan and all, in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. If the lasagna has been baked, make sure it is completely cooled before freezing. You can also freeze individual portions. Freeze for 3-4 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight.
- Leftovers: Store leftover vegetable lasagna in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Reheat in the microwave.
More Delicious Pasta Dishes
Pasta is always a family favorite and I have more recipes for you!
If you loved this vegetable lasagna with white sauce, try these other lasagna recipes: Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna Alfredo, or Perfect Meat Lasagna . Or more great pasta dinners like these:
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a rating in the comments below and let us know how it turned out. Did you make any changes? We would love for you to share and your feedback is important! Thank you for visiting The Food Blog!
Recipe
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Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce
Vegetable Lasagna with white sauce is a creamy, cheesy dish with roasted butternut squash, roasted red pepper & zucchini in a velvety béchamel (white) sauce.
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Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 406kcal
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 1 small butternut squash
- 2 large red bell peppers
- 1 medium zucchini
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves chopped
Béchamel Sauce
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 tablespoon all-purpose flour or gluten-free all purpose flour
- 4 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Lasagna
- 12 oven ready lasagna noodles gluten free if needed
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Prepare Vegetables
- Pre-heat oven to 400 °
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Prick butternut squash all over with a fork and place on the baking sheet.1 small butternut squash
- Core, seed and cut peppers in half, and place them cut side down on the other baking sheet.2 large red bell peppers
- Roast squash and peppers about 30 minutes or until peppers have started to blacken, and squash can be pierced with a fork.
- Put peppers straight from the oven into a covered container for about 5 minutes. The steam will make the skins easy to remove.
- When cooled enough for handling, remove seeds from squash and remove skins from peppers and squash. Cut the squash into ½ inch slices, and the peppers into strips.
- Slice zucchini into ¼ inch rounds1 medium zucchini
- If using dried pasta, in a large pot of rapidly boiling water, boil lasagna noodles for a couple of minutes less than package directions. Drain.
Make Bechamel Sauce
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.4 tablespoon butter
- Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes2 cloves garlic
- Whisk in the flour and cook for about 5 minutes or until it's a light sandy colour, (not brown).4 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- Whisk in the milk, one cup at a time, whisking constantly until smooth.4 cups milk
- Remove from heat and stir in thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Your cream sauce should be thick and smooth, but pour-able. If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it by whisking in some white wine, or vegetable broth.1 tablespoon thyme leaves, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Assemble the Lasagna
- Pre-heat oven to 375°
- In a 13 x 9-inch (3 L) baking dish, spread ⅓ of the béchamel sauce.
- Arrange lasagna noodles over the sauce.12 oven ready lasagna noodles
- Arrange the squash slices over the noodles.
- Spread half the mozzarella cheese over the squash slices.3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
- Spread ⅓ of the béchamel sauce over the squash and cheese.
- Add another layer of noodles.
- Spread the ricotta cheese evenly over the noodles.2 cups ricotta cheese
- layer the zucchini slices over the ricotta cheese.
- Sprinkle basil leaves over the zucchini slices.½ cup fresh basil leaves
- Arrange the roasted red pepper evenly over the zucchini and basil.
- Cover with a layer of noodles.
- Spread the remaining ⅓ of the béchamel sauce over the noodles.
- Finally, evenly spread the remaining grated mozzarella over the lasagna.
- Cover loosely with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake until cheese is golden, about 15 minutes. Let the lasagna stand for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Roux: It's important to cook the roux (the butter and flour) before whisking in the milk. This step cooks off the floury flavor.
- Noodles: Layer your noodles in the pan you will be using. That way you know how many noodles you'll need.
- Pan size: This recipe uses a 9 by 13 inch pan or casserole dish, and is deep enough for three layers of noodles. Use a smaller but deeper pan if you would like to use more layers.
- Shortcuts: Using oven ready lasagna noodles allows you to skip the step of boiling the noodles. You can also buy jarred roasted red peppers, and pre-cut, peeled butternut squash slices in your grocery store. Save even more time by using a jarred alfredo sauce instead of making the béchamel sauce.
- Prevent Watery Lasagna: Vegetable lasagna recipes can often turn out watery. The reason for this is usually due to using uncooked vegetables, which will release a lot of water during baking. So don't skip the roasting step for the squash and peppers. (Besides, roasting just adds so much flavor!) In this recipe, the zucchini slices do go on raw. But we are also using oven-ready lasagna noodles, which will absorb moisture as the cook.
- Cover: It's important to cover the vegetable lasagna with foil while it's baking. The foil traps moisture and prevents the lasagna from drying out. Tent the foil loosely so that cheese doesn't stick to it. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes of baking time so the top can brown.
- Resting time: Be sure to allow the lasagna to rest for 10-15 minutes once you remove it from the oven. This cools it down enough to let it set and firm up, so you can easily slice it. (And also not burn your tongue!)
- Vegetables: You can use any veggies you like for this vegetable lasagna. Some other great vegetable choices are broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, frozen or fresh spinach, or eggplant. This vegetarian lasagna recipe is a great way to use those garden vegetables.
- Cheese: If you want to lighten up this lasagna recipe, you can use cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese. Ricotta is best in this recipe, though, in my opinion. You can swap half of the mozzarella cheese with parmesan cheese, or Romano cheese.
- Make ahead: You can assemble the lasagna and keep it in the fridge for up to 24 hours before baking it.
- Freezing: You can freeze your assembled, uncooked lasagna before baking, or after baking. It's helpful to use an oven safe disposable foil pan if you plan to do this. Make sure to wrap it well, pan and all in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. If the lasagna has been baked, make sure it is completely cooled before freezing. You can also freeze individual portions. Freeze for 3-4 months.
- Leftovers: Store leftover vegetable lasagna in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Reheat in the microwave.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 406kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 384mg | Potassium: 574mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 8144IU | Vitamin C: 44mg | Calcium: 434mg | Iron: 2mg
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Krysten
This vegetable lasagna with white sauce is comforting and creamy! The velvety white sauce makes this a luscious, satisfying dish that's perfect for vegetarians and anyone who loves a hearty pasta bake.
Colleen
Hi Krysten, I'm so happy that you loved the lasagna! Thanks for your feedback.
Jamie
Oh my, this is such a great lasagna recipe! It's amazingly delicious and very enticing! An amazing treat for any occasion or for family dinner! Loved it!
Colleen
Hi Jamie, I'm so glad that you loved this veggie lasagna recipe. Thanks for commenting!
Veronika
I haven't had lasagna for so long because I gave up meat a while ago so these were right up my alley! I didn't even miss the meat, all the flavors went together really well.
Colleen
So happy you loved the lasagna, Veronika!