Epic Vegan Lasagna with Celeriac ‘Noodles’
Lasagna, but make it plants! This epic vegan gluten free lasagna is made entirely from whole foods, from the silky celeriac ‘noodles’ to the almond cauliflower ‘ricotta’. It is flavourful, nutrient-dense and absolutely worth the time for a whole food, plant-based lasagna feast!
Lasagna is such a celebratory dish for me; part of what makes it such is that it’s not the quickest thing to prepare. This lasagna takes about 45 minutes of active prep and at least that much time to cook. And you don’t make lasagna for two. To make a lasagna is to plan a feast.
And that’s exactly what this lasagna recipe is all about: one big, flavourful celebration of plants. This dish is layer upon layer of vegetables. It’s super yummy and crazy energizing – so you’ll have plenty of steam to rock around the Christmas tree until Santa comes a knocking.
This lasagna is about to become my new Christmas Eve tradition…I hope that it will become yours as well!
Try these other vegan family friendly recipes
- Easy Chickpea Coconut Milk Curry with Broccoli
- 5-Min Vegan Cashew Cream Alfredo Sauce
- Homemade Vegan Pot Pie Recipe
- Easy Vegan Pasta Salad
- Crispy Baked Tofu Paneer with Mint Chutney
Epic Vegan Lasagna with Celeriac Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 large celeriac (celery root), trimmed and peeled
- 5 oz clamshell of baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed or micro grated
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- pinch dried thyme leaves
- 21 oz jar of pasta sauce , (I've used both Rao's (fancy!) and Everland (sensible!) with success)
Ricotta Cheese
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 ½ cups raw almonds, soaked in hot water for 30 min
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed or micro grated
- 1 teaspoon salt
For topping
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup pine nuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F (200°C)
- Start by making the almond ricotta: steam cauliflower florets for 8-10 min until fork tender. Lift out of steamer using a slotted spoon (leave steamer assembled) into a food processor and let cool slightly.
- If you want the ricotta to look white, slip the almonds out of their skins while the cauliflower cooks and place the naked almonds into the food processor along with the cauliflower. It's extra work…but it adds to the look. If you don't mind a speckled look to your ricotta, leave the skins on – it's healthier that way!
- Then, add the garlic and salt and pulse until mixture is finely chopped. Scrape the sides of the processor and start drizzling in the lemon juice as you process to form a thick paste. Set ricotta aside while you prepare the rest of the lasagna.
- Prep the Celeriac: Cut celeriac into two halves, or quarters if need be to fit your mandoline. Using a mandolin on the thinnest setting, finely slice the celeriac and set aside. Using a mandolin is important here as if the celeriac isn't paper thin, it will take forever to cook! If you don't have a mandoline, you could parcook the celeriac in boiling water until fork tender.
- In the same steamer you used for the cauliflower, steam the spinach until wilted, about a minute. Let cool and carefully squeeze water out.
- Next, cook the mushrooms: in a large skillet over medium high, heat the olive oil and add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until they get a nice sear and start to release their water. Try not to fuss with them too much so they can brown.
- Once they release their water, add the garlic and stir constantly until water evaporates. Turn off heat and add thyme, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Now, assemble the lasagna. In a 9 x 12 casserole dish, spread on 1/3 of the pasta sauce. Next, add a layer of celeriac noodles, overlapping them slightly.
- Dollop on half of the ricotta mixture, pat gently to evenly distribute. Layer on half of the mushrooms and spinach.
- Next, follow the same pattern: celeriac, remaining half of the ricotta, remaining half of the spinach and mushrooms and top with 1/3 of the sauce. Add a third layer of celeriac and spread on the last 1/3 of the sauce.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake at 400 for 45-50 minutes, checking the celeriac for tenderness. I like it a bit al dente.
- Remove foil and bake uncovered for 5-10 more minutes to get the sauce bubbling on top. Let sit for ten minutes before garnishing with pine nuts and basil and serve.
7 Comments on “Epic Vegan Lasagna with Celeriac ‘Noodles’”
I am planning to make this epic vegan lasagna with celeriac noodles as soon as I can get all of these ingredients. I am super duper psyched because your creativity and talent continues to inspire and delight my family! 🙂 Look forward to sharing the outcome on here hopefully soon!
Two questions: 1. I want to buy the Rao’s pasta sauce that you recommended. There are 18 kinds!! Can you please tell me which kind you used when you first created this recipe? (Rao’s kinds: Marinara Sauce, Tomato- Basil Sauce, Arrabbiata Sauce, Bolognese Sauce, Alfredo Sauce, Pizza Sauce, Margherita Pizza Sauce, Four Cheese Sauce, Sensitive Marinara Sauce, Roasted Garlic Sauce, Mushroom and Bell Pepper Sauce, Vodka Sauce, Italian Sausage and Mushroom Sauce, Tomato Herb Sauce, Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce, Basil Pesto, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, and Imported Italian Peeled Tomatoes)
2. I would like to make the celeriac noodles soft so my mom’s bridge doesn’t break in her mouth! I see you suggest to parboil them for 5 min. to achieve the softest texture. Do I parboil the celeriac pieces whole after peeled, halved after peeled, or after they have been thinly sliced with a mandolin?
Thanks so much,
Jordanna
Hi Jordanna,
OOH YUM! Okay, here are the answers you need: 1) Any kind of Rao’s is delicious but I usually use the marinara. 2) Yes, parboil after peeling and slicing! Enjoy 🙂
WOW! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I made the epic vegan lasagna for lunch today and the flavor was outstanding! Love to share with you all my cooking experience today with this delicious and unique recipe! 🙂
I have been very intrigued by this recipe because it uses no cheese and no noodles. I am sure we have all had traditional lasagnas with noodles and gobs of cheese and even vegetarian lasagna with veggies and cheese (eggplant and cheeses, butternut squash and cheeses, wild mushroom and cheeses, etc. ). But only someone who is as gifted and creative as you, Desiree, can create a recipe with the same or even better flavor with a vegan lasagna using no cheese and no noodles. And you totally did, Desiree! This was a challenging task and you did it! Girl, high five! ✋My family loves cheese and noodles but we also loved this recipe just as much! And we do not feel like taking a comatose nap for the rest of the day because this recipe is not as heavy as it would have been because it had no cheese or noodles. We can actually be productive today because the meal was light on richness but heavy on flavor!
Now for a few nerdy details! I have the smallest version of the Benrimer Japanese Mandolin so in order to make my celeriac fit on it, I had to cut it in quarters instead of in half. No big deal, right guys? I also boiled the thinly sliced celeriac for 3 minutes because my 76 year old mom has a bridge in her mouth and she requested the celeriac to be as soft as possible. I do anything for my family because they mean the world to me! I invested in Rao’s marinara sauce and it was worth it! You can buy it from Amazon! Loved how the ingredients are all natural with no citric acid or other artificial flavors and/or additives.
Desiree, where and when did you add the pinch of dried oregano? I added it to the mushrooms before cooking them. That is my only question! 🙂 This epic vegan lasagna recipe was a huge hit and for my crew we are going to permanently replace it with our old recipes for traditional and vegetarian lasagnas. I highly recommend others to try this exceptionally flavored vegan lasagna! 🤗
Hi Jordanna,
Oh wow!!! Thank you for sharing all of this with us…I love the idea of boiling the celeriac first too, it would create a more soft and melting texture for the whole lasagna. Yes, you’re absolutely right about adding the thyme to the mushrooms. What a typo, ha! I have updated the recipe so it is more clear. Thank you so much 🙂
Hi Friends 🙂!
I made the epic vegan lasagna recipe again for lunch today and have two more fyi’s for anyone looking to try this fabulous recipe! I have now made 71 recipes total from Desiree and one thing I have learned is that there is a high likelihood the recipe will blow your mind! That is why I usually buy double the ingredients of any recipe. I initially bought 2 of Rao’s marinara sauces and used the second jar today.
Two fyi’s: 1. I tried steaming the celeriac root today after using the thinnest setting on my Benriner mandolin to thinly slice them instead of boiling them. Since the spinach is steamed too, it saves dishes. Also, steaming best preserves the nutrients so that the water soluble nutrients don’t leech into the boiling water. It took 5 minutes for the celeriac thin slices to steam so they were nice and tender! My steamer basket has a narrow surface area in it causing me to have to overlap the thin celeriac slices. So to compensate for this issue to evenly distributed the gentle heat, I flipped each thin celeriac slice in the steamer after 2 and 1/2 minutes. So each thin celeriac slice steamed 2.5 minutes on the first side and 2.5 minutes on the second side in my steamer basket.
2. My dad has a citric acid allergy so had to reduce the lemon juice in the cauliflower almond ricotta vegan cheese to 1/4 cup or 4 TBSP instead of 1/2 cup or 8 TBSP. We thought the reduction in lemon juice was equally delicious as the initial 8 TBSP. of lemon juice. I added 4 more TBSP of low sodium organic chicken broth to the 4 TBSP of lemon juice in the cauliflower almond ricotta vegan cheese so the total liquid was equal to the original recipe!
Another amazing lunch! 🤗 Thank you all for your time! Have a great weekend Desiree and Desiree fans! Jordanna
Ah, thanks for the update!! I really don’t steam things that often so I never think of it. Thank you so much for all of your support, Jordanna. It means so much that my recipes can find a place at your family table 🙂
It is such an honor and pleasure to give you five stars on this remarkably delicious recipe to go with my below comments! 🙂