Servings: 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
The first time my college boyfriend brought me home for the weekend, I could tell that his family was challenged. They lived in a small town, very meat-and-potatoes. They weren’t quite sure what to do with a Jewish girl from Philly who didn’t eat meat. But his mom definitely rose to the occasion, and had a special meal prepared just for me. While the rest of the family dined on roast pork, I delighted in a creamy, garlicky vegetable lasagna that was the most delicious lasagna I had ever had.
Making sure your lasagna doesn’t come out watery
What are the best vegetables to use in lasagna?
- sweet bell peppers (I like orange, but you could also use red or yellow)
- baby spinach
- broccoli
- onions
What is the white sauce, i.e. bechamel?
When we assemble the lasagna, we’ll make layers of noodles, vegetables, ricotta cheese and white sauce. We’ll make three layers like this and then top it all off with noodles.
For more family-style recipes, try these:
- Baked Ziti with Tomato Gravy & Turkey Sausage
- Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas
- Pesto Ricotta Stuffed Shells
For more vegetarian dinners, try these:
- Zucchini Rollatini with Summer Marinara
- Garden Tomato & Whipped Goat Cheese Tart
- Meatless Linguine Bolognese
Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce (Stouffer’s Copycat)
Ingredients
- 12 oz. no-boil lasagna sheets
- 15 oz. ricotta cheese
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 1/2 cups milk
- 2 1/4 cups each onion, bell pepper and broccoli chopped
- 3 3/4 cups spinach chopped
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 4 cups grated mozzarella cheese divided
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Sautee the onions, bell peppers, spinach and broccoli in the oil until softened. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Melt butter over medium-low heat in a large saucepan. Stir in the garlic and let it start to sizzle. Add the flour and whisk constantly until it starts to bubble. Pour in the milk, salt, broth, parmesan and 3 cups of mozzarella. Bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and whisk, allowing mixture to thicken. Remove from heat.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Spread a thin layer of the cheese sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish. Layer the lasagna noodles:Layer 1: On top of the cheese sauce, layer the noodles, then sprinkle with 1/3 of the vegetable mixture. Dot the vegetable layer with ricotta cheese. Pour 1/4 of the white sauce over the ricotta, making sure all noodles are covered. Layer 2: Noodles, 1/3 vegetables, ricotta, 1/4 of the sauce. Layer 3: Noodles, remaining vegetables, ricotta, 1/4 of sauce, noodles, remaining sauce, then remaining 1 cup of mozzarella.
- Cover with foil and bake 45-50 minutes, until bubbly. For extra browning, remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.
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