This is a protein-packed, healthy roast vegetable lasagna with cottage cheese, ricotta, spinach, butternut squash, zucchini, and mushrooms. It's easy to make since it skips the bechamel sauce and you can use store-bought tomato sauce for added convenience.
Ingredients
For butternut squash layer
- 1/4 - 1/3 butternut squash peeled and cut into 0.5 cm pieces (half moons, see notes)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- A pinch of salt
For cottage cheese and spinach mixture
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 280 g baby spinach (9-10 oz.)
- 2 cups low-fat cottage cheese about 500 g / 15-17 oz.
- 1 cup ricotta cheese smooth
- 2 cloves garlic finely diced or minced
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
For the mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 300 g button mushrooms sliced and chopped (10 oz.)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the zucchini
- 2 large zucchini sliced lengthways (about 0.5 cm thick)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Other
- 3-4 cups tomato sauce e.g. I like using tomato basil sauce, you will need about 650-700 grams or 22-23 oz.
- 350-375 g lasagna pasta sheets you will need enough sheets to make 4 layers of pasta layers in the tray, I measured about 2.5 sheets per layer but it will depend on the brand and your baking dish.
- 1-1.5 cups mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
Roast/bake or air-fry butternut squash
- Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F. Rub the butternut squash piece in a little olive oil using your hands and layer on a flat baking tray. Sprinkle with a little salt and bake for 20 minutes, until just tender. You can also use an Air Fryer for 10-15 minutes.
- While the butternut squash is cooking, prepare other fillings.
Sauté Onions & Spinach
- In another large frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, onions, and salt and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until golden and soft. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Add baby spinach leaves to the same pan and a splash of water, cover with a lid and cook for a minute or so. Stir as it starts to wilt and cook for a couple of minutes until all of the spinach is wilted, you can add a little more water if needed.
- Once done, transfer the spinach to a cutting board and chop it finely with a knife. Transfer the chopped spinach to the bowl with the onions.
Make Cottage Cheese Mixture
- To the bowl with the onions and spinach, add the cottage cheese, smooth ricotta, minced garlic, black pepper and another pinch of salt. Mix through and set aside.
Cook Mushrooms & Zucchini
- Slice zucchini lengthwise or into elongated pieces. Sprinkle all pieces with a little salt and set aside.
- In one frying pan, add the olive oil and chopped mushrooms, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp of salt. Cook over medium-high for 7-8 minutes, stirring a few times, until browned. Transfer to a bowl.
- Now, using one or two frying pans, pan-fry the zucchini in a little olive oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes or so on each side, until golden brown and slightly charred. Remove and set aside.
Precook lasagna sheets (if dry)
- Pre-cooking lasagna sheets is optional, you can also use fresh lasagna sheets sold in the refrigerated section, in which case the baking time will be a little bit shorter. Pre-cooking dry lasagna sheets makes it easier to layer them in the baking dishes and results in a more saucy lasagna as the sheets don’t absorb as much liquid. Plus, this speeds up the baking time.
- Boil enough water to fill half of a large pot. Place on a stove and bring back to boil. Add lasagna sheets, 1-2 at a time and cook for 2 minutes. Remove onto a plate or tray and continue until you have two layers worth of pasta sheets. You can then start layering the lasagna while continuing to cook the remaining pasta sheets.
How To Layer Vegetable Lasagna
- Make sure to preheat the oven back to 180 C / 355 F ahead of time.
- Spread 1/2 cup of the tomato pasta sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Layer 2-3 lasagna sheets (my dish fits 2.5). You can use scissors or a knife to cut one of the sheets in halves. It’s a bit of a Tetris game, really.
- Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce and cottage cheese filling on top of the pasta layer, about 1.5 cups and sprinkle all of the pre-cooked mushrooms on top.
- Place another layer of lasagna sheets and spread another ½ to 1 cup of pasta sauce. Place butternut squash pieces on top. They would have shrunk so you can tear them into pieces to cover the sheets evenly. It's okay to have a few gaps.
- Place more lasagna sheets and more sauce. Spread another cup or two of the cottage cheese and layer the pre-cooked zucchini slices.
- Add the final layer of pasta sheets, spread another cup or two of sauce, and make sure to spread all the way to the corners. Spread the remaining cottage cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese over the top evenly.
- Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Once done, remove the lasagna and let it sit for 5-10 minutes so it settles and finishes cooking. It will also cool down slightly as it's incredibly hot straight out of the oven.
- Slice into 6-8 slices and serve.
Video
Notes
- Butternut squash - you will need 12 to 14 pieces. The easiest way is to layer them on the lasagna baking dish to see if you have enough. They will shrink a little while cooking as well.
- If not pre-cooking dry lasagna sheets, add ¼ cup of water to the bottom of the baking dish and another ¼ cup when adding the pumpkin layer, evenly splashed, this will give more liquid for the pasta sheets to absorb so that lasagna doesn’t dry up. Cook for 35-40 minutes instead.
- If using fresh lasagna sheets, follow the main instructions and cook for 25 minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 521kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 1130mg | Potassium: 1113mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 6731IU | Vitamin C: 38mg | Calcium: 358mg | Iron: 3mg
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