Filled with homemade cashew ricotta and tempeh “beef”, this gluten-free and vegan zucchini noodle lasagna is a meal that the whole family will love.
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I’ve been dreaming up this recipe for a while.
As someone who needs to limit my gluten but LOVES my pasta, life can be a bit of a challenge.
But then, a couple of years ago, I started hearing about zucchini noodles and I was beside myself with excitement. Pretty quickly after I discovered that gluten and I were not friends, I got myself a spiralizer and started making vegetable noodles.
After experimenting with zoodles for a while, I decided to take my experimenting to the next level. So I dusted off the old mandoline and made some zucchini lasagna noodles.
Gluten-free pasta for days!
Since perfecting this recipe for the blog, I have made it nearly once a week and I feel confident that you’re going to love this vegan Zucchini Noodle Lasagna as much as I do.
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
This recipe is light, refreshing, and delicious. You’re going to love the combination of zucchini with marinara sauce and tempeh beef. So good!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Oil – Any high heat, neutral flavored oil will do. I recommend coconut or avocado.
- Zucchini
- Cashew Ricotta – This homemade vegan ricotta is a blend of raw cashews, water, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and salt.
- Herbs & Spices – You will need fresh parsley, chives, and oregano. In addition, you will need dried sage, oregano, parsley, and paprika.
- Tempeh – There is a variety of tempeh. I like multigrain the best. My go-to brands are Lightlife and Trader Joes.
- Soy Sauce – Use Tamari for a gluten-free option.
- Onion
- Garlic
- Marinara Sauce – Use either store bought or homemade.
- Vegan Parmesan – I recommend Violife parmesan. It is creamy, melty, and tastes exactly how I remember parmesan to taste. If you don’t have access to Violife, you can make your own parmesan.
- Salt and Pepper
Recommended Equipment
For this recipe, I recommend a mandoline slicer. The mandoline allows you to make thin, uniform slices of any fruits and vegetables and while it’s not something I use often, for recipes like this, I am so glad I have one.
You will also need a high-quality food processor. You will also need a 9×13 baking pan (or similarly sized pan), basic kitchen utensils, a sauté pan, and tin foil. (<<affiliate links)
Check out the full list of my recommended kitchen tools and gadgets.
How to Make Zucchini Noodle Lasagna
How to make Zucchini Noodle Lasagna
Step One – Make the Cashew Ricotta
Blend together the cashews with nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and a few spices. While I typically recommend using a Vitamix for blended cashew recipes, in this case, since you’re looking for the consistency of ricotta cheese, a food processor works great!
Transfer the cashew ricotta to a small bowl and add minced parsley, oregano, and chives. It’s important to stir this in by hand so that the herbs don’t get completely puréed.
Step Two – Make the Tempeh “Beef”
To make this savory tempeh, combined tempeh with herbs and spices until it resembles ground beef. One the tempeh is well seasoned, sauté it along with garlic and onions for a nutty and savory filling that is hearty, protein-packed, and nutritious.
Step Three – Assemble the Lasagna
Evenly spread 1/2 cup of sauce over the bottom of a 7×11 pan. You can either use store-bought marinara sauce or make your own at home.
Top with a layer of thinly sliced zucchini noodles. Add a few dollops of herbed ricotta cheese over the noodles. Spread 1/2 of the tempeh beef over the top.
Repeat.
Top with one more layer of zucchini noodles. Cover with the remaining sauce and finish with vegan parmesan
Step Four – Bake
Cover in foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes until parmesan is golden brown and sauce underneath is bubbling up.
Remove from the oven and let it sit 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Serving and Storing
Serving – Once out of the oven, let the lasagna cool 15 minutes before serving. Serve it with fresh herbs and vegan parmesan alongside artisan bread and a big salad
Storing – Store leftover lasagna in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. To eat from the freezer, let the lasagna thaw in the refrigerator overnight before baking it. It will need a little longer in the oven since it will be chilled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can vegan zucchini noodle lasagna be made in advance?
Yes! You can make this recipe and then, rather than baking the lasagna, wrap it airtight, and place it in the freezer. For best results, chill the lasagna first in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Then when you are ready to place it in the freezer, it will freeze quickly. This reduces the chance of freezer burn.
Frozen lasagna can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you are ready to eat it, let it thaw completely in the refrigerator overnight. Then cook it according to the instructions below.
More Vegan Lasagna Recipes
- Classic Mushroom Spinach Lasagna
- Butternut Squash and Kale Lasagna
- The Ultimate Meaty Vegan Lasagna
- Roasted Vegetable Lasagna w/ Garlic Herb Ricotta
Vegan Zucchini Noodle Lasagna
Ingredients
Herbed Ricotta
- 1 batch cashew ricotta
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/8 tsp pepper
Tempeh "Beef"
- 12 ounces tempeh
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp dried sage
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/5 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Everything Else
- 2 large zucchinis
- 1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce
- 1/4 cup vegan parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Start by making the cashew ricotta. Once it resembles ricotta, add the remaining herbed ricotta ingredients and blend until herbs are well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.
- Crumble up the tempeh in a bowl into small pieces. Mix in soy sauce, herbs, spices, and pepper. Heat cooking oil over medium heat in a heavy bottom pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are fragrant and translucent. Add seasoned tempeh and sauté until tempeh is lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Cut 1" off each end of the zucchinis. Using a mandoline slicer set at .5mm, slice the zucchini lengthwise to get flat lasagna "noodles".
- Layer a 7x11 pan with 1/2 cup of marinara sauce. Top with one layer of zucchini. Add a layer of herbed ricotta, tempeh beef, and marinara sauce in that order. Repeat once more ending with marinara sauce. Add one final layer of zucchini and marinara sauce. Top with vegan parmesan cheese.
- Cover in foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes until parmesan is golden brown and sauce underneath is bubbling up.
- Let sit 10 minutes before serving.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Tonya Harrington says
Everyone in the family enjoyed the lasagna, though the non-vegans had a thin layer of Italian blend cheese on top. I made everything in one day and it took me a lot longer than we could have hoped, a little over 2 hours (not counting the 2 hours for soaking the cashews). So, we had a late dinner. I made it in three different containers, 2 with zucchini noodles and one with gluten free lasagna noodles. The zucchini version was better, with or without the (real) cheese on top. I might make it again, though I would probably make the cashew cheeses a day ahead, just to save time. In addition, I didn’t have a good mandolin, so I cut the zucchini by hand (I’m sure that added time). I recommend this recipe though, very good. I did not have any trouble with excess liquid from the lasagna (and didn’t pat them dry). Thanks for the great dinner!
Anna says
I found it helpful to salt the zucchini noodles and pat dry several times so that they don’t become soupy in the lasagna. It’s astonishing how much liquid is released from them.
Sarah says
I made this tonight and discovered a new favorite recipe! It’s so yummy I can’t stop eating it. Thank you for sharing!
Lisa says
WOW! Just made this tonight and it was AMAZING!!! I did add a little red pepper and fennel into the tempeh because I love those seasonings in Italian sauces. Will definitely make again! Thank you for sharing! ?
Kelly says
Hi Sarah,
I am thinking of making this recipe for Mother’s Day, do you recommend doing any drying of the zucchini as it has a lot of water in it, I am wondering if it will make this recipe more soggy if you don’t have a drying out of the zucchini to get rid of the moisture. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance for your help.
Sarah McMinn says
It should be fine. The zucchini is cut super thin and so it dries out nicely in the oven. But if you wanted to blot to zucchini noodles, it wouldn’t hurt!
Sasha says
I made this and it was AMAzING! Thank you
Holly says
Can you sub ground turkey?
Robert says
Great, delicious recipe.
Although the Calorie count per portion isn’t right. This recipe requires 1 batch of cashew ricotta which consists of 2 cups of cashews (1800Cal)…this recipe then produces 6 portions so that alone is 400Cal/portion not taking into account the Tempeh or the rest of the recipe….still delicious, but perhaps an error in the Calorie calculation?
Sarah says
I use a plugin that calculates it for me but I’ll look into it!
Laura says
My family enjoyed this! I had never thought of using Tempeh as a substitute for ground beef. I changed it a little bit by cooking onion, garlic and mushrooms, then added the tempeh and fresh herbs from my garden. Didn’t add soy sauce. The ricotta was lovely, I added cashew milk to thin it out so I could just pour it on. Just make sure to use the mandolin or if you’re cutting by hand, no think pieces because they won’t cook, mine was a little think, so I’ll fix that next time I make this recipe. Thank you!
Lori says
This recipe looks amazing but how much is a “batch” of cashew ricotta?
Sarah says
If you click on the cashew ricotta in the recipe card, it will take you to this page. You want a full batch of this recipe to go inside the lasagna. It makes approximately 2 cups.
geometry dash says
WOW! Sarah, this looks AMAZING! As do all of your recipes! Not the biggest fan of cashew ricotta though, maybe I’ll try a tofu ricotta? Have you ever done a tofu ricotta? Perhaps I’ll like that better. Can’t wait to try it out!
Sarah says
Thanks! I’ve done it tofu ricotta before; not in this recipe but it would definitely work. Enjoy!
Alison says
WOW! Sarah, this looks AMAZING! As do all of your recipes! Not the biggest fan of cashew ricotta though, maybe I’ll try a tofu ricotta? Have you ever done a tofu ricotta? Perhaps I’ll like that better. Can’t wait to try it out!
Sarah says
Thanks so much! I think you would like with with tofu ricotta. Here’s a recipe to try: https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/quick-vegan-tofu-ricotta/
Suzy says
Lasagna!!! This.was.great! I cut the recipe in half and the two of us polished off the whole dish. I have a question though: how do you get the tempeh to brown? I cooked it slowly thinking that would help because I’ve tried browning for other dishes. What’s the secret?
Other than that, I think I’d cut the zucchini slightly thicker than I did this time. But overall, this is absolutely a 5 star meal! Oh! It was a bonus that I made the dish in the morning and left the cooking instructions so the hubby could put in the oven when he got home. It held wonderfully in the fridge all day and baked up nicely. Made dinner quick and easy! Thank you so much!!
Sarah says
I’m so glad you liked it! I would brown the tempeh at a slightly higher heat so it gets a bit crisp on the outside. Also, I have found that cast iron skillets work best for this method.