Vegan Skillet Lasagna

A vegan skillet lasagna in a cast iron pan surrounded by various ingredients
A vegan skillet lasagna in a cast iron pan surrounded by various ingredients

Hello Friendly Feast readers! Last night I whipped up this quick vegan skillet lasagna! I didn’t want to go to the trouble of making a traditional lasagna simply due to time constraints, so I wrote out this recipe and wanted to share it with you all.

Instead of the usual tomato sauce and ricotta lasagna, I opted for a cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes. I also wanted to make the meal in 30 minutes or less and decided to write it using common ingredients and no special equipment. I know not everyone has a high-powered blender for making cashew cream, so I chose store-bought almond milk. The recipe has sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and uses common ingredients. Using oven-ready lasagna sheets helps make this a one-pot meal that’s ready in 30 minutes from start to finish!

Normally I would use cashew cream here, but making a roux from butter and flour, then whisking in almond milk worked great! The key here is to make sure you have enough liquid to cook the lasagna noodles.

This vegan skillet lasagna makes enough for a heaping portion for 4 people. It’s optional to add the ricotta but it makes it nice and creamy!

This recipe for vegan skillet lasagna does use vegan cheese, but this is optional. I know these can be more difficult to find and can be pricy. As long as you use nutritional yeast you will still get a creamy, cheesy flavor. We are relying on the flavors of garlic, onion, nutritional yeast, and sun-dried tomatoes, here. The miso in the homemade ricotta gives a nice umami punch, but you can use store-bought ricotta if you’d like to make it easier.

I was surprised at how good this vegan skillet lasagna turned out, yall! Not only did we accomplish the goal of using more common ingredients and using only one pan, but it also ended up being one of the more affordable meals I’ve made in a while! I’d say that’s a win for a weeknight meal experiment!

I love using my Lodge Cast Iron skillet for meals like these, but a shallow dutch oven would work well too. Basically, any pan that is shallow and pretty wide, but no wider than 12 inches will work great. Enjoy and let me know in the comments if you try it or have questions!

A vegan skillet lasagna in a cast iron pan surrounded by various ingredients

Vegan Skillet Lasagna

Kate Veltkamp
A unique, simple recipe for vegan skillet lasagna using sun-dried tomatoes and a cream sauce using just one pot!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American, Italian

Equipment

  • Food processor optional for making the ricotta

Ingredients
  

Tofu Ricotta

  • 1 sweet onion, diced
  • 1 pckg. extra firm tofu
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 T miso paste
  • 2 T nutritional yeast
  • juice from half a lemon

Vegan Skillet Lasagna

  • 250 g oven-ready lasagna pieces (about 12)
  • 1/2 sweet onion, sliced thin
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3 T butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 3 cups plant-based milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 T nutritional yeast
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 handful vegan mozzerella
  • 1 cup fresh spinach
  • 1/4 cup vegan parmesan

Instructions
 

Tofu RIcotta

  • If you aren't making the Ricotta, skip ahead to lasagna part. Otherwise, sautee diced onion in a little oil until translucent, for about 5 minutes.
  • In the food processor, add the garlic clove and process until minced. Add the sautéed onion and the remainder of the ricotta ingredients and blitz unti it's thoroughly combined. Put it in the refrigerator until it's needed later.

Vegan Skillet Lasagna

  • Put your large pan on medium heat and add the butter. Add the sliced onions and minced garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't burn.
  • Next, add the flour to the pan and stir until it's thoroughly mixed with the butter, forming a roux. Let this cook for 1 minute.
  • Add the milk. water, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, nutritional yeast, and mozzarella and bring to a boil. Break apart the lasagna noodles and place into the pan, stirring until they're coated in sauce. Cover the pan and reduce heat to almost low, simmering for 15 minutes.
  • When the 15 minutes are up, stir in the spinach and parmesan. Add dollops of the ricotta to the pan and simmer another 5 or so minutes, or until the noodles are thoroughly cooked. Top with a sprinkle of parmesan and chopped parsley if desired. If you like the noodles to be crispy on top, feel free to throw the pan into the oven on low broil for a minute or so to brown.

Notes

  1. You may use store-bought ricotta. Kite Hill, Miyoko's, and Tofutti all make vegan ricotta that is sold in the dairy section of many grocers.
  2. If you don't have a food processor, you can still make the ricotta, Mince the garlic,  crumble the tofu into a bowl, and add the remainder of the ingredients. Stir to thoroughly combine. 
  3. Vegan store-bought cheese is optional. The recipe will still taste amazing without it if you don't want to add it. Nutritional yeast will impart a cheesy flavor. 
Keyword creamy, dinner, easy, pasta, quick, sauce

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