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Do you think you can’t eat lasagna anymore? I used to think that too, but I was wrong. This dish has thinly sliced eggplant spread with vegan ricotta layered around spinach, more delicious veggies, marinara sauce, and Miyoko’s Creamery Fresh Vegan Mozz. Just the right thing for your Italian fix.

I’ve been making veggie lasagnas for almost as long as I’ve been cooking. I’ve always preferred lasagna packed with spinach and other veggies to the traditional ground beef that I grew up eating. I’ve also always made a very mean lasagna, but my recipe has gone through some changes along the way.

First, when we entered the gluten-free world, the pasta was a problem. You can find an array of gluten-free noodles these days, but I’ve never seen lasagna shaped ones, and at the time we were going low-carb as well, so that meant pretty much no pasta. Bummed me out quite a bit because lasagna was always one of my favorite things to make.

After a while of living in a lasagna-free world, I discovered online that people were using thinly sliced zucchini in place of the noodles. Yum! I already put zucchini in my vegetable lasagnas anyway, so that worked out perfect. Somewhere down the road, I decided once to try eggplant instead, and I liked it even better! From that day on, my zucchini started getting cut in rounds again and went back to being a filling, and not a “noodle.”

Once becoming vegan, we hit another wall in the lasagna world. Lasagnas tend to be packed with dairy, unfortunately. Even though I made a pretty bomb ricotta within our first week of being vegan, I didn’t try making lasagna for quite some time. Eventually, I discovered Miyoko’s Vegan Mozz, and our lasagna days started all over again. Now that I know what I do about dairy, I am so glad to be no longer using it in meals for my family and me.

The ricotta I do in the morning because I like to let in sit in the fridge and collect more flavor throughout the day. This isn’t, however, a necessity. The marinara I start in the morning too, because I do mine in the Crock-Pot, and let it cook all day on low heat. I haven’t included my marinara this time around, but hope to post it soon. You’re free to use your favorite, whether it is homemade or store bought.

With an array of vegetables, there is a lot of chopping in your preparation in this. The eggplant I sliced on the thinnest setting of my mandolin, and be sure to salt, rinse, and press. This helps remove bitterness from the eggplant. If you’ve never done this, it’s simple, just a little time-consuming.

First, lay out your eggplant slices on towels (or paper towels) and salt both sides. Let these sit for about 15 minutes. Next, rinse the salt off, pat dry, and then lay them out on fresh towels, with towels on top as well. You will now want to lay something heavier on top, like a cookie sheet topped with cans, or even just a large baking dish. This will press out the added moisture. Let them sit with the weight for about another 15 minutes.

When the eggplant slices are ready, you will cook them and the rounds of squash in the oven for only about 5 minutes. The spinach you will layer on fresh, and the other veggies you will cook in a skillet with garlic, Italian herbs, salt, and pepper.

The onion, mushrooms, and carrots I cook together, but the asparagus I like to cook separately. I do this to make sure I get some in every bite, so I like to layer it on by itself. If this isn’t important to you, you can always add it to the same skillet as the other veggies, but it does cook faster, so don’t add it until halfway through.  Sometimes, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, asparagus can come very thick, and sometimes they come in little skinny pieces. If you have the thicker asparagus, you’ll want to cut these horizontally before slicing into 1-inch pieces.

A tip I always share when suggesting Miyoko VeganMozz is to freeze it first. This cheese is very soft, almost like a spread, but it does have a great mozzarella-like flavor. Being so soft makes it very hard to grate or slice, which is why I freeze mine first. You can freeze it ahead (I always keep some in my freezer) and pull it out about an hour before using, or you can put it in the freezer about an hour before use. That way it’s not rock hard, but still firm enough to grate or chop with a knife. If it is rock hard, you can still grate it — it just takes a lot longer.

With everything prepped, you can start building your lasagna. Spread each piece of eggplant with some of your ricotta. The nicest formed eggplant noodles you’ll want for the bottom and for the top. The bottom to form a good foundation and the top for a nice presentation. If some of the slices come out in halves or oddly shaped, go ahead and use them in the middle.

On top of the layer of eggplant slices, you’ll add layers of your cooked veggies, marinara, the Miyoko Mozz, and then the fresh spinach. You will next do another layer of each of these items. Finally, on the third and last layer of the eggplant, you will lay them ricotta side down. On top, spread the last of your marinara, some chopped spinach, and then the last of the Mozz.

I have a bad habit of making lasagnas too tall for my baking dishes. This is why you need to be careful when covering with foil. I make almost a tent, or you can stick toothpicks in the top of your lasagna as well. Anything to try and keep the foil from touching your cheese. The lasagna bakes for about 35 minutes.

This lasagna is pretty simple to make, but the preparation can be time-consuming. I’d say the only things harder about it is getting the foil on without touching, lol, and serving. Be very careful when removing it from pan, and make sure to let it cool for about 5 minutes beforehand. If one of your pieces does slide apart, just remember, it will still taste delicious!

So there you go. I really hope you like my garden lasagna, and if you do, you can thank my friend Tiamoya. She asked me for a lasagna recipe last week, which is what inspired me to write this all out for you. Thank you, Tia! It really had been too long since I’d made lasagna, and I think this turned out to be my best one yet!