Vegan Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Recipe
A delicious vegan lasagna recipe filled with pumpkin, spinach, and sprinkled generously with vegan parmesan cheese and vegan ricotta is exactly what you need for Veganuary. The slight sweetness from the pumpkin pairs so nicely with the saltiness of the vegan parmesan cheese and vegan ricotta. Serve on its own as a meal or pair it with a green salad and your favorite dressing! This recipe freezes well so a great vegan lasagna recipe if you prefer to cook in bulk.
What Do You Need To Make Vegan Parmesan Cheese For This Vegan Lasagna Recipe
It’s so ironic that vegan parmesan cheese was a bit difficult for me to process to truly make a vegan lasagna recipe. It was easy to make! A true testimony to the idea of making things harder that they really are.
Here’s the ingredient list:
- Cashews (raw and unsoaked)
- Nutritional Yeast
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Raw sesame seeds
- Salt
Disclaimer & Disclosure: There may be affiliate links in this post. Nothing here should be taken as medical advice. Please consult with a certified dietician or nutritionist about nutritional needs specific to you. This recipe contains nuts.
Do You Need To Make Vegan Ricotta For This Vegan Lasagna Recipe
Building the layers for this vegan lasagna turned out to be a really fun kid friendly activity. The best part of is the vegan ricotta is essentially the same ingredients as the vegan ricotta cheese. There are a few slight but significant differences tho.
Check out the differences in the ingredient list:
- Cashews (soaked)
- Nutritional Yeast
- Garlic Powder
- Salt
- Paprika
- Lemon Juice
- Hot Water
For this vegan ricotta mixture, I combine the cooked spinach with the prepared vegan ricotta for a spinach ricotta layer. I enjoy this preparation so much. I personally don’t miss the cheese at all. But if you want it “cheezier” think about adding a vegan mozzarella layer to your lasagna.
What I Love About This Vegan Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Recipe
The pumpkin and spinach combination is such a classic vegan recipe. Perfect for this vegan lasagna recipe. It’s filled with whole foods and absolutely no need whatsoever for a meat substitute with 12 grams of plant-based protein per serving. And let’s be real, lasagna is comforting, inexpensive, and extremely easy for anyone to make. It’s all about building your layers!
The ricotta layer is mixed with the spinach so less layers to remember for the building stage. There is also very minimal preparation for the pumpkin layer.
FULL RECIPE PROVIDED IN RECIPE CARD BELOW. Like this recipe? You may like these too
Extras + Tips
So when talking vegan lasagna recipe, we have vegan parmesan cheese, vegan ricotta, and for this particular recipe we have pumpkin and spinach. We haven’t touched on what noodles to use!
Can we make this recipe even greater by making it low carb?
I’m glad you asked! Egg roll wrappers. They are not only a great low carb hack, but also a great no bake noodle option. I used these egg roll wrappers to make this recipe. Two wrappers per layer for a total of 12 eggroll wrappers used for the recipe.
Want to make this pumpkin spinach lasagna vegetarian instead of vegan?
Sure! Use a ricotta mix boned with egg, garlic powder, and a splash of milk. Your cheese layer will be mozzarella and parmesan.
How many layers does this lasagna make? What container to use?
This vegan lasagna recipe makes six (6) layers. I used a 3X7 glass container that holds 64oz/8 cups.
What kind of milk to use?
I personally prefer a soy milk or flaxseed milk for this vegan lasagna recipe for the pumpkin layer. Oat milk even plain is too flavored for this recipe. I would also suggest plain almond milk for those without an allergy. I have an almond allergy so it’s soy milk for me. Fortunately, when I tested this recipe, I was able to test almond milk too as my allergy had allowed me to still drink almond milk at that time. Those days are gone for me now though but I’m glad I have many years of experience with almond milk to know how it taste in savory dishes vs other plant-based milks.
Vegan Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Recipe
Equipment
- 1 3×7 oven safe glass container holds 64 oz or 8 cups
- 3 mixing bowls 1 for cooked spinach and ricotta combined, 1 for pumpkin, 1 for parmesan
- 1 blender or mortar and pestle
- 1 Food processor or blender
- 1 whisk
- 1 sautee pan
- 1 can opener
Ingredients
Vegan Parmesan Layer
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- ¼-¾ tsp Pink Himalayan salt or salt of choice I used ¾ tsp for this recipe. Provided variety based on saltiness levels!
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds raw
- ¾ cup cashews raw and unsoaked
Vegan Ricotta Layer
- 1 cup cashews soaked (30 minutes up to 8 hours) in hot water
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ¼-½ tsp Pink Himalayan salt or salt of choice I used ½ tsp for this recipe. Provided variety based on saltiness levels!
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice fresh squeezed preferred
- 1 tsp Paprika
- ¼ cup Hot water
Spinach Layer
- 7-10 oz bag raw spinach
- 1 tsp olive oil extra virgin preferred
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Pumpkin Layer
- 1 can organic pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup soy milk flaxseed milk or almond milk also good options
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
Other Ingredients
- 1 box lasagna noodles or eggroll wrappers of choice
Instructions
How To Prepare Vegan Parmesan Layer
- Combine all ingredients referenced in vegan parmesan list
- Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender.
- Gently blitz in food processor for several pulses until mixture is fine crumbles.
- DO NOT OVER BLEND. Over blending will result in a paste instead of the desired crumbles texture.
- Set aside in bowl for building layers
How To Prepare Vegan Ricotta Layer
- Soak cashews in hot water for at least 30 minutes but no longer than 8 hours.
- Combine soaked cashews with remaining ingredients in ricotta ingredient list and blend until smooth.
- Set aside in bowl for building layers
How To Prepare Spinach Layer
- Head saucepan on medium heat
- Add 1 tsp olive oil
- Sautee bag of spinach until it wilts down in olive oil and season with ¼ tsp each of salt and black pepper.
- Spinach will be wilted and completely cooked within 5 minutes.
- Add cooked spinach to mixing bowl with prepared vegan ricotta. This makes the vegan ricotta layer a ricotta spinach combination.
How To Prepare the Pumpkin Layer
- Open can of organic pumpkin puree and combine all ingredients referenced in pumpkin layer ingredient list in an empty mixing bowl.
- Whisk all ingredients together until smooth
Building Vegan Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Layers
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Prepare lasagna noodles according to package. Here we will be using eggroll wrappers.
- Before placing first layer of noodles of choice, put a thin layer of pumpkin mixture in the 3×7 baking dish.
- Next place a layer of eggroll wrappers or lasagna noodles of choice.
- Add a layer of pumpkin mixture
- Add a layer of vegan ricotta and spinach mixture
- Add a layer of vegan parmesan
- Repeat layers in order above for 6 layers
- Top with more vegan parmesan
- Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Serve immediately. Refrigerate and use remaining within 3 days.
- Optional: Freeze before baking to use later. Optional: Add a layer of vegan mozzarella cheese
GOT QUESTIONS? I’m happy to help. Leave a comment and add some stars to let me know if you enjoyed this recipe. Let me know how you re-created it too. Also, please share it on social media. Tag #thenaturalfoodie. Thanks! -Salei
Hey foodies! I’m Salei. I am a mom, partner of a law firm, and the cook in my home. Enjoy my tasty, low sugar, low carb, high-protein, easy recipes, healthier Caribbean recipes, and vegetarian and vegan recipes.
